Having flabby, unfit arms is a cosmetic issue that can cause low self-esteem and frustration. Transforming your physique through a dedicated three-day arm workout will not only improve your appearance but also boost your self-confidence. As an added benefit, you will walk away from the weight room with a mental feeling of achievement. Before you begin a new exercise routine, make sure to get clearance from your doctor.
Goal
The goal with an arm workout is to zero in on the key muscles -- the triceps and biceps. The triceps sit on the back of the upper arms and they have lateral, medial and long heads. The biceps, which are referred to as opposing muscles to the triceps, sit on the front of the upper arms and consist of the biceps brachii and brachialis.
Stretching
Before you begin your workout, take the time to do a thorough warmup. If you start lifting weights with tight, cold muscles, you risk injury. The best approach is five minutes of light cardio and then dynamic stretches. Cardio helps slowly raise your heart rate and get blood flowing to your muscles. Dynamic stretches loosen up your muscles through a steady range of motion instead of being held. This makes your body more aware of exercising movements. Perform stretches like arm circles, shoulder rotations, shoulder shrugs and arm crossovers.
Exercising Movements
Elbow flexion and extension are the two motions that recruit the biceps and triceps. Elbow flexion takes place when you decrease the angle between your forearm and humerus and extension takes place when you increase the angle. All your exercises will be based off these two motions.
Heavy Day
On your first day's workout, focus on lifting heavy weights. Perform close-grip bench presses,
two-arm seated dumbbell extensions and cable pushdowns for your triceps. For your biceps, perform barbell curls, twist curls and concentration curls. Aim for a resistance that is so heavy you can only perform eight to 12 reps and do four or five sets of each exercise.
Superset Workout
A superset workout is characterized by doing two or more exercises back to back. For your second day workout, alternate between your triceps and biceps in a superset format. Perform incline French presses with incline dumbbell curls, reverse grip pushdowns with cable curls and triceps kickbacks with hammer curls. Aim for 10 to 12 reps, do four supersets with each pair of exercises and rest for s60 seconds between supersets.
Bodyweight Workout
Bodyweight arm exercises require the use of a pullup bar and dipping bars. Use these tools for your third day workout. Include dips and close-grip pushups for your triceps, and wide-grip chinups and close-grip chinups for your biceps. Perform chinups with your palms facing your body. Wide-grip chinups target the inner part of the biceps and close-grip chinups target the outer part. Perform four sets of each exercise and do them until failure.
Proper Technique
Proper technique is crucial for making progress with your three-day program. The goal is to stay in control throughout your lifts and never rely on momentum to move the weights. Take barbell curls for example.
Start the exercise from a standing position with your feet shoulder-width apart, hands shoulder-width apart on the bar and palms facing forward. Keeping your upper arms tight to your sides, lift the bar up steadily by bending your elbows. Once your palms face your chest, squeeze your biceps forcefully for a full second. Slowly lower the bar to the front of your thighs and repeat. Keep your abs tight and back straight throughout.
Rest Days
Training your arms on consecutive days will lead to injury and compromise your gains. Perform your three workouts on alternating days to allow for recovery time.
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