Arms Specialisation Programme

My birthday was on friday, and a happy birthday it was indeed! Why? For several reasons, but one of the main ones was I managed to gain half an inch on my arms in the space of 4 weeks – naturally of course. For an ex hard gainer I’d say that wasn’t too shabby! Anyway enough about me, here’s how:

Principles:

• Work your arms 3 times a week
• Do low, moderate, and higher rep workouts
• Different positions of flexion
• Maintain full body strength by strength training once a week
• Post workout nutrition – VERY IMPORTANT
• Stretching

The Workout:

Workout 1 – High Rep Day

• Standing hammer curls – 5 sets, 12-15 reps
• Standing dumbell tricep extensions – 5 sets 12-15 reps

Superset these exercises and rest 30-60 seconds after completing the superset. Don’t worry about lifting a heavy weight, this workout is more aerobic – the important part is the high reps and the short rest periods.

Workout 2 – Low Rep Day

• Skullcrushers – 5 sets of 5-6 reps
• Standing barbell curls – 5 sets 5-6 reps

You can either do these as single sets or supersets, rest 90-180 seconds between sets. You’re strength training today so go to failure on each set. You can start lighter and go heavier as the sets go on e.g. 6 x 25kg, 6 x 30kg, 6 x 35kg, 5 x 40kg, 5 x 42.5kg.

Workout 3 – Moderate Reps

• Concentration curls – 4 sets of 8
• Standing tricep pulldowns close grip – 4 sets of 8

Superset andtake 60 seconds rest after each superset.

Workout 4 – Strength Training

This is a simple 5 x 5 basic strength workout to maintain your strength levels. Rest periods are 2-5 minutes – If you are taking a long rest period then alternate between exercises in a circuits manner.

1. Squats
2. Bench Press
3. Wide Grip Pull Ups – add weight if necessary
4. Barbell Shrugs – you can go really heavy with a smith machine

This workout is very simple and low volume, this is just to keep your strength levels up, you may see an increase in strength, if you don’t, it doesn’t matter because we’re focusing on our arms.

After the Workouts

After each workout make sure you stretch out all your muscles, even the ones you didn’t train, I don’t think you can do too much stretching, besides It’ll improve your posture and help you recover quicker.

Make sure you take a protein and simple carbohydrate drink with you for during the workout, and after the workout – see this article. This drink will supply your body for energy during the workout, and help put you in an anabolic state quicker after you train.

Remember that your muscles only grow when they recover so while this workout may seem low in volume – it does work!

Try it out and post your comments below.

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Kirthi (Kirt) Nandakumar is a Personal Trainer based in Huddersfield. Kirt is based in the Misguided Muscle Personal Training studio in the Town Centre of Huddersfield. Kirt guarantees results with all his services, whether it’s personal training, buddy training or online coaching.

To enquire about personal training click HERE.

To enquire about online coaching click HERE.

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