Building Arm Muscle

Welcome to the big guns, the secret to building bigger biceps, toning triceps, and firming forearms.

By Paul "Batman" O'Brien 

B.A., N.C.E.H.S., Dip. Acu., Cert Clin. IMed., Dip. Adv. OBB, Dip. CHM, Pn1, PN-SSR, PN-NCA, M.AFPA., M.C.Th.A.

Building arm muscle and firming up the "guns" is no different then any other body part. If you supply intense stimulation and maximum fibre contraction you achieve firmer, larger, more toned muscle.

In this article I’m going to talk about some specific exercises you can do to really target those areas of the biceps, triceps and forearm.

The biceps are the muscle located on the front of the arm. As it's name suggests it is comprised of two parts, a large muscle belly with two tendons branching off. This is of interest because one of these tendons branches off and flows into the forearm and is called the radial-brachialus. You can see this if you make a really hard fist, your forearms will tense and then your biceps.

I've discussed training the biceps without weights all ready while introducing isometrics.

So here I'll offer a quick rundown of training the biceps with weights utilising isometric principals to create a greater contraction and thus greater gains.

For the best results of course you should combine this with the exercises I teach in Perfect Body. Now..

  1. Find yourself a power rack. It's a safety device available in most gyms. It allows you to place a barbell in a specific range of motion. Primarily used to make sure weights don't crash down on you, we are going to adapt it for our biceps.
  2. Place the bar at a level where when sitting on a bench with your back straight your arms come to a 45 degree angle in front of you to reach the bar.. Keep the elbows in line with the body. Essentially you want to place your arms two inches or so below the top point of your bicep curl. Place the stops of the power rack just below this point.
  3. Rack a load of weight on the bar. I mean a lot of weight. Tense the bicep muscle and pull upwards. You only need to lift the weight up an inch or so. Isometrically contract the bicep as hard as possible.
  4. Hold this position for 7-12 seconds. If you can hold it longer than that add, more weight. If you can't hold it to 7 take off some weight.
  5. Record that number and lift, at minimum, 10% more the next week.
  6. Buy new shirts. ;-)

Watch me demonstrate with over 240lbs below!!!!

This will probably be the most intense exercise you have ever performed for your biceps. Congratulations. Now you are building arm muscle faster and more efficiently than any other training program available.

In the next article I'll talk about building arm muscle in regard to the triceps. You can check it out here. 

Now...here's what I want you do next. 

  1. Practice the above Isometric contraction every day for a week. Come back here and post how you feel after a week below. I'll be looking for your comments and will keep you on track. 
  2. Subscribe to the newsletter - there's a few free e-books, isometric guides and even a few instructional videos for the abs. I'll also be able to keep you up to date with the next article in this series. 
  3. Join the Isometric Facebook fan page. I post tips, motivational posts, techniques, and articles there daily. I also do tons of Q & A's and answer your fitness questions. Say hi! - https://www.facebook.com/IsometricTraining
  4. Finally, if you're looking for a more comprehensive program or more isometric exercise help check out my Perfect Body system.





Leave Building Arm Muscle and Return to the Articles Page

Click here to See all the Articles on Isometric-training.com

For more info on isometrics and to stay up to date, please subscribe to my free newsletter

Click Here to Return to the Home Page

Should you have any questions, comments or suggestions please do not hesitate to contact me.

New! Comments

Have your say about what you just read! Leave me a comment in the box below.