Would you like a bigger pair of arms? 

If you said NO, then I don’t believe you! 

I’m yet to meet a guy below 40 who doesn’t want bigger arms? 

A bigger pair of arms will boost your confidence, make you feel good in a t-shirt or vest, and turn heads! That’s right… bigger arms will get you more attention from friends and potential partners!

Now whether you want shirt busting arms like Jason Momoa or a body like Brad Pitt (Fight Club 1999), or Zack Effron’s physique in Baywatch, or even if you don’t want to go to those extremes BUT just want slightly bigger arms…

This article has been written to help you! And if you apply these tips and follow the workouts…you’ll add mass to your arms in less than one month. How would that make you feel? 

You see building muscle, whether it is building bigger arms, or pecs, or whatever muscle group, is a case of stimulating muscle hypertrophy. In this article, I am going to outline some actionable tips to specifically make your arms grow, but I also recommend reading this awesome article on muscle hypertrophy training.

One Inch Leads To Two Inches, etc…

The first goal should be to gain an extra inch to your arms! Don’t try to run before you can walk. 

Every goal starts with a single step, and the bigger your goal, the more you need to break it down. You may want to add 4 inches to your arms over the next year, but first of all, add 1 inch, then keep going. 

That’s what this post is all about, it’s about achieving a short term goal in 30 days, one that will boost your confidence, and then you can continue to the next stage! I’ll bet that you’ll want to keep going! 

I’m going to teach you how to get bigger arms over the next 30 days, and I’ll be giving you lots of tips and three shirt busting arm workouts to do each week to ensure that your arms grow! 

Let’s dive in…

#1 Measurements

The first thing I want you to do is to take out a tape measure and measure your arms. To do this, go around the middle of your arm with a tape measure. Take one measurement where your arms are relaxed like in the below video…

And then take another measurement where you tense each bicep, like below… 

Take both your right and left bicep and make a note. P.S. don’t be surprised if your more dominant side is bigger (this is normal). If this is the case, it’s worth doing more dumbbell work to strengthen each side separately. I’m going to be giving you some exercises later in the post.

#2 Tips To Grow Your Arms 

There are lots of ways to add mass to your arms. That said, the two most effective ways based on my experience (I’ve completed over 11,000 x 1-1- personal training sessions!) are doing a mixture of:

• Strength Work
• Hypertrophy Work

Strength Work for arms is where you do low reps and go as heavy as you can, for example, 3-5 reps. You pick exercises that recruit lots of muscle, for example, for the biceps: chin-ups, and for the triceps: dips and close grip bench press.

These exercises are going to add overall mass to your arms very quickly. The more weight you can lift, the bigger your arms will get!

Hypertrophy Work for arms is where you do higher reps (6-30 reps) and focus on squeezing your muscles as hard as possible. You typically work muscles more in isolation, for example, for the biceps: Dumbell curl, concentration curl, and for the triceps: rope pushdowns and tricep kickbacks. 

Hypertrophy work is what lots of bodybuilders do, and that’s why their muscles look enormous! You probably don’t want to take it to this extreme! However, you can still apply the same principles to get bigger arms (whether you want to add 1 inch or 4 inches to your arms!). 

Both strength and hypertrophy work is needed to get bigger, shirt busting arms!

#3 Arm Workouts

To gain an inch on your arms over the next 30 days, I recommend training your arms 3x per week:

• 1x Strength session
• 2x Hypertrophy sessions  

Arm Workout 1 – Strength Session (Monday) 

• Chin-ups (use assisted machine if needed, or bands) 
• Dips

Tips:

• Complete 5 sets of 3-5 reps for each exercise, taking 3 minutes rest in between each set.
• If you can do full chin-ups, and do more than 5 reps… add weight, use a weight belt. 
• If you can’t do full chin-ups, then use an assisted machine, or bands (to reduce body weight). 
• Aim to get stronger each week, either add weight or an extra rep. Once you can do 5 reps, make it harder and go down to 3 reps, keep building up and repeating the cycle, getting stronger over time. 
• The same as above can be applied for Dips. 

Arm Workout 2 – Hypertrophy (Wednesday) 

• Barbell Curls 
• Concentration Curls
• DB curls
• BB clean & press
• DB side to front raises
• DB round the worlds
• DB rear raises
• Push-ups
• Single-arm DB overhead extensions 
• Tricep pushdown

Tips:

• Complete 3 sets of each exercise and do 8-12 reps of each exercise.
• Rest for 60s between each set
• Go slow and controlled and squeeze your muscles as hard as possible every rep
• Your arms should be burning by the third set of each exercise! 

Arm Workout 3 – Hypertrophy (Friday) 

Circuit 1:

• BB curls x 6-10 reps
• Hammer curls x 10-15 reps
• Resistance band curls x 25-30 reps

rest 60s then go again — complete 3 total rounds.

Circuit 2:

• DB skull crushers x 10-15 reps
• Bench dips x 15-20 reps
• Overhead DB extensions x 20-30 reps

rest 60s then go again — complete 3 total rounds.

#4 Protein Intake  

Alongside training your arms 3x per week for the next four weeks, it’s essential to increase your protein intake. For best results consume 3-4x protein-rich meals each day – 3/4 hours apart from one another. 

Foods high in protein include chicken, turkey, steak, eggs, mince, steak, salmon, tuna, cod, nuts, protein shakes, protein bars. 

Protein is the key ingredient to adding muscle mass, and you’ll struggle to build mass without out – regardless of what the film The Game Changers says! The best athletes in the world are meat-eaters, and in my opinion, it’s much harder to get in a sufficient amount of protein without consuming meat, and fish. 

Putting It All Together: 

• Take Arm Measurements before beginning your four-week plan 
• Complete the above 4-week arm building program while upping protein intake.
• Take Arm Measurements again 
• Please message me with your results! Email: nick@lepfitness.co.uk, or you can contact me here. 

Thanks for reading.

Nick Screeton (Founder of LEP Fitness)