Build Sleeve-Busting Arms: The 6 Exercises You MUST Include in Your Next Arm Workout

Whether they admit it or not, most exercisers have at least a passing interest in the size and shape of their arms. Bodybuilders are especially arm-focused, and I’ve yet to meet a lifter who didn’t want to know the secret to building stronger, more sculpted arms.

However, arm size and strength are more than just an issue of aesthetics; they’re important functionally too. After all, your arms connect the rest of your body to whatever you are holding, lifting, or carrying, be that your kids, pets, groceries, or an opponent during sports.

In the gym, strong arms will make the rest of your workout more effective.

Want to build a bigger back with pulldowns or pull-ups? Stronger biceps and forearms are the key. Need to increase your bench press one-repetition maximum (1RM) and build a more muscular chest? Stronger triceps are a must.

And yet, despite the interest in arm training, many people are frustrated by their lack of progress.  

I’m a veteran personal trainer with more than 30 years of experience and I believe that one of the main reasons for these poor results is too much exercise variety. Take a look at the average arm workout and you’ll see lots of different exercises. I call this the kitchen sink approach to program design – just toss everything in and hope for the best.  

Unfortunately, according to studies, excessive variety can hurt your progress (1).

I’ve spent the last three decades testing the effectiveness of hundreds of different exercises. During this lifelong journey, I have discovered what I believe are the best exercises for building strong, sculpted arms.

In this article, I reveal the six exercises that I believe should be the foundation of every arm workout.

Biceps Exercises

Located in the front of your arm, the biceps are arguably the most well-known muscle in the human body. Ask even a non-exerciser to “show you a muscle,” and they’ll probably throw up an arm and flex their biceps!

However, many of the most popular biceps are also the least effective, which helps explain why so many people are unhappy with their arm training results.

So, stop wasting your time and energy on unproductive exercises and design your next workout around what I’ve found to be the most effective exercises for building bigger, stronger, more sculpted biceps.

Related: Average Biceps Size: How Do You Measure Up?

1. Barbell Biceps Curl

If you only do one exercise for your biceps, this classic movement should be it. The barbell curl fixes your forearms in a supinated position, producing a powerful biceps contraction. Meanwhile, the two-handed action means you can use plenty of strength-building weight.

Finally, the position of your body means you can use your legs and back to help you lift the weight as your biceps start to fatigue. This “strategic cheating” is a useful technique for pushing past failure and stimulating additional muscle growth.

Of course, extreme cheating may actually make your workout less effective, so only employ body English toward the end of your set. Your initial reps should always be strict, smooth, and free from excessive momentum.

Steps:

1. Hold a barbell with an underhand, shoulder-width grip. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, shoulders down and back, and core braced.
2. With your upper arms close to your body, bend your elbows and curl the barbell up toward your shoulders until your forearms are almost vertical.
3. Smoothly lower the weight, pause for a second, and repeat.
4. Feel free to use a little body English to help you get past the sticking point if necessary.

Variations & Alternatives:

• EZ barbell curl
• Strict barbell biceps curl with your back against a wall
• Thick bar curl (for more forearm engagement)

2. Bayesian Cable Curl

Bayesian cable curls are a uniquely effective exercise. Firstly, each rep starts with a deep stretch, which research suggests optimizes muscle hypertrophy (2). Next, the movement ends with shoulder flexion, which hits the often-neglected long head of the biceps. Finally, using cables instead of freeweights keeps your biceps under near-constant tension.

The biggest downside of this exercise is how many people perform it – with too much weight and a lack of control. Bayesian cable curls work best when you do them with a light to moderate weight and using a smooth, strict movement.

So, make sure you focus on how your biceps feel during this exercise; maximize that all-important mind-muscle connection.

Steps:

1. Attach a D-shaped handle to a low pulley machine.
2. With your back to the weight stack, pick up the handle and take a step forward to tension the cable. Adopt a split stance for stability.
3. Starting with your arm extended behind you, bend your elbow and curl the handle up toward your shoulder.
4. Finish the movement by driving your elbow forward and up to hit your biceps long head.
5. Extend your arm and then your shoulder before beginning your next rep. Complete your set and then switch sides.

Variations & Alternatives:

• Two-handed Bayesian curl
• Conventional cable curl
• Incline dumbbell curl

3. Alternating Dumbbell Curl

The alternating dumbbell curl is a very functional biceps exercise. Starting with your hands neutral, i.e., palms facing inward, you must twist your dumbbell as you lift it toward your shoulder. This is called forearm supination. Supination is a function of the biceps and performing this movement increases muscle activation.

In addition, that neutral-grip start to each rep provides your forearms with a great workout. In essence, alternating curls combine hammer curls with conventional curls making it a very time-efficient exercise.

Steps:

1. Stand with a dumbbell in each hand, arms by your sides. Pull your shoulders down and back and brace your core. Make sure your palms are facing in toward your thighs.
2. Bend one arm and curl the weight upward. As your elbow approaches 90 degrees, smoothly rotate your wrist so your palm is uppermost. Without stopping, curl the weight the rest of the way up to your shoulder.
3. Lower the weight, switch arms, and repeat.
4. Alternate arms for the duration of your set.

Variations & Alternatives:

• Two-handed dumbbell curl
• Seated dumbbell curl
• Dumbbell hammer curl

Triceps

 

While the biceps are the most well-known arm muscle, it’s the triceps that actually make up more of your upper arm size. Consequently, if you want to build your best-ever arms, your triceps need as much attention as your biceps.

Some exercisers may even benefit from working their triceps more than their biceps, e.g., by doing additional exercises or sets.

The good news is that a little extra work goes a long way and provided you design your workouts around a few key exercises, you should have no problem sculpting the horseshoe-shaped triceps of your dreams.

1. Decline Barbell Skull Crusher

While conventional skull crushers are a good exercise, using a decline bench turns good into great! The decline angle forces you to use the long head of your triceps to stabilize your upper arm, significantly increasing muscle engagement. It also ensures that your triceps stay under constant tension, even at the top of each rep.

The long head is the largest of the three triceps heads and makes up the bulk of your triceps size. It also contributes a lot to the overall thickness of your upper arm, especially when viewed from behind.  

Steps:

1. Set your bench to a slight incline, i.e. 15-20 degrees.
2. Holding a barbell with a slightly narrower than shoulder-width overhand grip, lie on your bench with your head lowermost. Press and hold the barbell over your chest.
3. Keeping your upper arms stationary, bend your elbows and carefully lower the barbell down to just above your forehead.
4. Extend your elbows and repeat.

Variations & Alternatives:

• EZ bar decline skull crushers
• Dumbbell decline skull crushers
• Conventional skull crushers

2. Diamond Push-Up

Most people think of push-ups as a chest exercise – which they are. However, studies conducted by the American Council on Exercise (ACE) also rate them very highly as a triceps exercise (3).

In fact, in their study, ACE put push-ups at the top of their list of triceps builders, outperforming many other popular movements, including triceps pushdowns, kickbacks, and dips.

However, there is a caveat: to build your triceps with push-ups, you must bring your hands together and do diamond push-ups.

This is good news for home exercisers who don’t usually have access to the weights and machines that gym-goers sometimes take for granted. So, whether you train in your bedroom or a state-of-the-art fitness facility, you can still build the triceps of your dreams.

Steps:

1. Kneel down and place your hands flat on the floor so your thumbs and index fingers form a triangle.
2. Brace your core and walk your feet out and back so your body is straight.
3. Bend your arms and lower your sternum to the backs of your hands.
4. Drive your hands into the floor and push yourself back up to full arm extension.
5. That’s one rep – continue until failure, i.e., you are unable to perform any additional reps.

Variations & Alternatives:

• Kneeling diamond push-ups
• Decline diamond push-ups
• Parallel bar dips

3. Rope Overhead Cable Triceps Extension

Cable pushdowns are arguably the most popular triceps exercise on the planet. However, in my experience, most people fail to get good results from pushdowns because they use too much weight. This forces them to lean so far forward that they turn what should be a strict triceps extension exercise into something more akin to a decline chest press.

In contrast, rope overhead cable triceps extensions are much more “cheat-proof.” With less room for cheating, they force you to do each and every rep with perfect form, making your workout much more effective.

Additionally, the overhead arm position puts your triceps in a stretched position, which research says helps maximize the development of the long triceps head (4). Long story short, rope overhead cable triceps extensions are a top-tier triceps exercise that never fails to deliver awesome results.

Steps:

1. Attach a rope handle to a low cable pulley.
2. Hold a handle in each hand and, with your back to the weight stack, lift and hold the handles above your head.
3. Bend your knees slightly and brace your core.
4. With your upper arms next to your ears, bend your elbows and lower your hands behind your head.
5. Press the handles back up and repeat.

Variations & Alternatives:

• Single-arm overhead cable triceps extension
• EZ bar overhead triceps extension
• Dumbbell overhead triceps extension

Closing Thoughts

Contrary to what many people think, there is no secret to building strong, muscular arms. Instead, you just need to focus on a small, select number of effective exercises and do them consistently.

Combined with a balanced workout plan and a sensible diet, this punch-the-clock approach to training will help you develop the arms of your dreams.

Related: Compound Exercise Workout for Strong, Massive Arms

References:

1. Kassiano W, Nunes JP, Costa B, Ribeiro AS, Schoenfeld BJ, Cyrino ES. Does Varying Resistance Exercises Promote Superior Muscle Hypertrophy and Strength Gains? A Systematic Review. J Strength Cond Res. 2022 Jun 1;36(6):1753-1762. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000004258. Epub 2022 Apr 1. PMID: 35438660.
2. Warneke K, Lohmann LH, Lima CD, Hollander K, Konrad A, Zech A, Nakamura M, Wirth K, Keiner M, Behm DG. Physiology of Stretch-Mediated Hypertrophy and Strength Increases: A Narrative Review. Sports Med. 2023 Nov;53(11):2055-2075. doi: 10.1007/s40279-023-01898-x. Epub 2023 Aug 9. PMID: 37556026; PMCID: PMC10587333.
3. American Council on Exercise (ACE): ACE Study Identifies the Best Triceps Exercises https://www.acefitness.org
4. Maeo S, Wu Y, Huang M, Sakurai H, Kusagawa Y, Sugiyama T, Kanehisa H, Isaka T. Triceps brachii hypertrophy is substantially greater after elbow extension training performed in the overhead versus neutral arm position. Eur J Sport Sci. 2023 Jul;23(7):1240-1250. doi: 10.1080/17461391.2022.2100279. Epub 2022 Aug 11. PMID: 35819335.

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