Q&A: Big-Arms Workouts and Exercises

Q: What were the most effective arm programs you ever followed?

A: They were usually programs that didn’t specialize on my arms.

When I was young, I was fanatical about bodybuilding in general, but because I didn’t have terrific genetics for it, and because I never used bodybuilding drugs, arm-specialization routines didn’t do much for me no matter how much I applied myself. I wasn’t able to trigger much arm growth in isolation, and neither can most other typical bodybuilders.

The only way I could build individual -bodyparts, including my arms, was by building my entire physique as a whole. And the only way I could do that was by training my whole body—usually twice a week—using a simple routine that focused on a handful of big exercises, with the central creed of getting incrementally stronger, for plenty of reps, in good technique. If a routine included the chinup, a curl wasn’t necessary, but if a routine had a row rather than a chinup, I’d include a curl. I got triceps work from doing benches (or dips) and overhead presses. The programs were founded on building overall size, with my arms growing along for the ride, so to speak.