Get Serious Arm Size With This Biceps & Triceps Workout

If you’re like so many other lifters out there across all parts of the world, then you got into training because you liked the thought of having big arms.

Who doesn’t want to walk down the street or in a gym with a tank top and have some massive meat hanging off your shoulders in the form of big biceps and tough triceps?

You got a pump just thinking about it, didn’t you?

3 Solid Reasons To Use This Workout

If you’re looking for a new program to stretch the sleeves on your shirts then keep reading because this is going to be the routine for you, for three reasons:

1. It’s intense and will be challenging because there are no straight sets involved here. Every set will be a superset or triset. For those that don’t know, a superset is two exercises performed back to back without rest in between, and a triset is three consecutive exercises without a break.
2. These supersets and trisets are convenient and require no travel from one station to another. This is great for you because that means no one else will grab any equipment you’re going to need when you’re not using it.
3. It won’t take you long to do so it saves time in your day.

I am not someone who will preach that you can get serious results in 10 or 15 minutes a day but I also know that many of us lead busy lives and there have likely been times when you’ve glanced at your clock, saw you would only have less than a half hour to train, and decided to wait until tomorrow.

If that's the amount of time you have to work with, then you can still get a good workout in because it beats not training at all. This workout may not be a marathon but you will see results.

Supersets & Trisets In-Depth

Here are the summaries for the four sets of exercises in the program explaining the proper way to perform the excercises for maximum effectiveness.

Are you ready? Finish that pre-workout drink and let’s clang and bang.

Superset 1: Cambered Bar Curl/Lying Tricep Extension

1 warm up superset of 20 reps each. 3 work supersets of 10-12 reps each. 1 minute rest between supersets

The benefit to using a barbell or cambered bar is both arms are involved in lifting one object which means you can add more weight than if you were using dumbbells.

This is why you might be able to bench press 400 pounds on a bar but likely can’t do the same with 200 pound dumbbells.

I feel the cambered bar is a better option because anatomically it’s easier on your wrists and elbows with your palms holding the bar at an angle than a straight bar where your hands are fixed in the palms up position.  If you feel a straight barbell is a better choice for you or that is all you have access to, then go ahead and use the straight bar.

Perform one warm up set of 20 reps each before going into your three work supersets of 10-12 reps each. Make sure that on every work superset that you’re using a weight that is getting close to failure.

Simply start by standing in front of the bench to perform your curls. As soon as you finish your last rep, lie on the bench, switch your grip so it’s overhand on the bar at a comfortable position for you, and begin your extensions.

Instead of lifting straight up and down over your head, extend your arms behind you with the weight to better isolate the triceps. You should lift like you’re trying to touch the wall behind you.

Once you finish your extensions, take a one minute rest period where you stretch and flex both the biceps and triceps. Drink some BCAA’s or water and get right back to work.

Superset 2: Incline Curl/Dumbbell Kickback

3 work supersets of 10-12 reps each. 1 minute rest between supersets.

Now that you’ve finished your barbell work, we’re moving on to dumbbells.

The advantage to dumbbells at this point is your muscles are pre-exhausted from the heavy barbell work and now each arm has to work individually. This means that all the muscle fibers will be firing to lift the weight now that the individual sides are on their own.

If you can use one pair of dumbbells for both exercises, then great. If you feel you need two, then grab both pairs now and hold on to them so no one else grabs them.

Position your bench so it’s at a comfortable incline position for you. Make sure you start the curls with the palms facing each other so when you curl the weights up you have to supinate the hands so the palms are facing up at the top of the movement. Squeeze those biceps for a second before lowering the weight back down.

Once you lower the weight, keep constant tension on the biceps. Don’t relax at all. You can do both arms at the same time or alternate them. For time saving purposes I do them both together.

Once you finish the curls, stand up and bend over at the hips. Keep your back straight, upper arms should be into your sides, and elbows bent with the dumbbells in your hand.

When you lift the dumbbells behind you, stop and hold that contraction position for a second before slowly returning the weights to the starting position.

As with the incline curls, you can either perform the kickbacks one arm at a time or with both arms simultaneously.

Triset 1: Lying Wide Grip Cable Curl/Lying Close Grip Cable Curl/Lying Reverse Grip Cable Curl

3 work trisets of 20 reps each. 1 minute rest between trisets.

The benefit to machines, and cables in this case, is that the exercise is a fixed motion so you’re less likely to suffer an injury. This serves you well now that we’re coming down the home stretch of this workout.

You may have noticed a couple of things about this triset - the first is that all three exercises are bicep exercises. The second is they’re movements that involve you lying on the floor.

Since all three exercises involve the biceps and you’ve already performed six intense supersets, you may have a tendency to “cheat” the last few reps. Lying on the floor helps prevent this from happening so the focus will be where it needs to be…on the biceps.

Choose a long cable attachment so you can use both a wide and close grip. Keep your upper arms into your sides as tight as you can throughout the exercises.

Once you finish the last rep of one exercise, sit up, change grip, and immediately get back to your lying position so you have as little time as possible to rest. You will notice your forearms are being used a lot when you get to the reverse grip curls. This is because the reverse curls are focusing on your brachialis and forearms which is what we want.

Triset 2: Kneeling Reverse Grip Pressdown/Kneeling Close Grip Pressdown/Kneeling Overhead Cable Extension

3 trisets of 20 reps each. 1 minute rest between trisets.

The principle of lying down for the bicep exercises in the last triset will apply for the kneeling in this group of triceps movements. Your triceps got a little more rest than the biceps did at this point but you still might be looking for a little momentum near the end so kneeling will help prevent that.

As tempting as it may be to pump out the reps now that you’re near the end, take your time with each rep so the triceps can be fully engaged and stretched throughout each rep.

This is what creates the growth that you’re looking for. Also squeeze the handle of the attachment as tight as you can so you know you’re activating every muscle fiber necessary.

When you get to the overhead extensions, simply face the opposite way but keep the attachment on a high pulley and extend in front of you as you lift.

So there you have it. Perform this workout once a week for eight weeks and you should see some serious gains in your wings. To keep the workouts interesting, alternate by starting with biceps one workout and begin with triceps the next time.

Biceps & Triceps Workout