Arms

We need strong arms for any number of physical and psychological reasons. In terms of health, being well-armed can save you from the kind of back pain that so often plagues men later in life, simply by virtue of the fact that, the more lifting your arms do, the less your back will have to deal with. Arms also serve as the strongmen that back up your hands, powering your grip while putting thrust behind a well-aimed throw or blow.

Plus, big arms are a great accessory of manhood, helpful when you want to see how you measure up to another guy. There aren''t a lot of appendages you can expose in public to make that comparison, but you can always roll up your sleeves.

Arms and the Man

"Next to the chest, the arms are about the single biggest area of the body where guys want big muscles," says Jeffrey Stout, Ph.D., assistant professor of exercise physiology at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.

And no wonder. Few muscles are nicer to flex, for example, than the biceps, those great cannonball muscles on top of your arms, just above the elbow. Biceps allow you to bend your arm, not only so you can actually make a muscle for your girlfriend, but also so you can cock your arm for a throw or pull your weight in a tug-of-war match.

While the biceps are the high-profile muscles on the arms, they''d be pretty useless without the triceps, which run beneath the biceps and make up about 60 percent of the muscles in your arms. If you were to flex to show off your bulging biceps, and you didn''t have triceps, you''d be stuck in that position. "The triceps are what allow you to extend your elbow joints; they''re just the opposite of the biceps," says Edmund Connors, a certified strength and conditioning specialist in Hingham, Massachusetts. The triceps enable you to extend a hand in greeting, throw that winning touchdown pass or keep danger at arm''s length.

Meanwhile, those of us who grew up watching Popeye can appreciate the value of powerful forearms. Since these muscles provide essential grip strength, keeping them well-toned is what makes us strong to the finish in any sport involving our arms, which is most of them (see Hands and Forearms on page 58).

Winning the Arms Race

The problem is that the arm muscles are deceptively hard to develop. You might work your arms out every other day at the start and, noticing that they quickly look better and feel stronger, think, "Hey, my arms are getting bigger." But Dr. Stout says what you''re looking at isn''t muscle growth, but a quick adaptation by your arms that gives them a toned appearance. "Toning is certainly better than nothing. But once you get up to a basic level of tone, most guys plateau. It can take a long time to stimulate the muscles to where you start to notice a significant increase in muscle size," he says.

Unless, of course, you take some shortcuts, the kind that bodybuilders and professional athletes use to build powerful arm muscles safely and efficiently. Here are some tips to help you, next time you heed the call to arms.

Make your arms last. As a general rule of thumb, save your serious arm workouts for the end of your weight-lifting routine. "You use your arms for a lot of exercises, especially back, chest and shoulder exercises," says Dr. Stout. "If you work your arms first, they''ll be worn out when it''s time to work these other muscle groups. You''ll end up cheating yourself."

Avoid a biceps bias. As nice as they might look, bulging biceps alone do not a strong arm make. "Try not to focus too much on the biceps," says Connors. "You need to work them, but not to the point where you have no time to work the triceps, which is what a lot of guys tend to do." If you don''t work out these muscles in equal measure, you''ll actually end up weakening your arm. "If the biceps are much stronger than the triceps, you''ll create a muscle imbalance that could cause a tear or other injury when you''re in the middle of heavy activity involving those muscles," warns Dr. Stout. For every biceps exercise you do, try to do at least one set of a triceps exercise.

Don''t fret your forearms. Forearms are certainly an important part of your arm strength, the vital link in channeling upper arm power to both your hands and whatever sporting implement you''re using. Forearms also have major muscular responsibilities in their own right—they''re the secret to a great grip, and they also help you pilot and aim whatever you''re throwing or swinging.

But their location on the arm also gives them a distinct workout advantage. "They get a workout from virtually every exercise involving your arms," says Dr. Stout. You also work them during chest exercises and shoulder exercises where you''re gripping a bar. Even when you''re on a circuit machine like a leg press, you''re working your forearms because you''re gripping the handles on either side of the machine.

"So I wouldn''t sweat doing specific exercises for them," says Dr. Stout. "They get a great workout, and the more your upper-arm strength increases, the greater the load they''ll be required to help hold, so they get stronger along with your upper arms." (For you diehards who want specific forearm exercises to improve your grip, see Hands and Forearms on page 58.)

Don''t alternate—isolate. For more advanced lifters, there''s a technique to assure that the arms are getting worked to their maximum, called isolation exercises. The idea is to work individual muscles until they are completely fatigued. Doing alternating exercises like dumbbell curls can work the arms individually, but there''s a better way, and you''ll need one hand free of weights to do it.

As Dr. Stout explains, the trick is to work the muscles in each arm until they can''t do any more lifts on their own, then use your free arm to help the fatigued limb do just two or three extra lifts. These are called forced reps, and they''re the secret to arming yourself with more bulk and muscle. By doing the forced reps, you''re pushing the arm to total exhaustion, then pushing it one step further. "It''s during those forced reps that the muscle really stretches, and that''s what will stimulate it to grow," explains Dr. Stout.

Use some strong-arm tactics. It''s a fact of life that one of your arms tends to be stronger than the other. That''s another important reason for exercising one arm at a time with dumbbells. "If you work them together, the weaker arm tends to cheat by letting the stronger arm do more work," says Connors.

When you isolate, be sure to make your stronger arm work to its individual limit. "Make sure it does more reps than the weaker arm. If the weaker arm can do 15 reps, you know the stronger arm can do at least one more rep, so do it," says Dr. Stout.

Biceps

Barbell Curls

"This is the basic lift everyone knows," says Connors, but it''s absolutely essential for crafting cannonball biceps.

Stand, and grab the barbell so your palms are facing up; your hands should be about shoulder-width apart. In the starting position, your arms should be extended, so the barbell will be at about thigh-level.

Now, with your back straight and your elbows close to your sides, lift the barbell, curling it up toward your collarbone. Lower the barbell back to the starting position—that''s one rep. Keep your wrists straight and do the curl slowly; if you move too fast, your body will start rocking, and momentum will be doing all the work. That''s cheating.

Preacher Curls

As arm exercises go, the so-called preacher curl is a tough one since it isolates your arms for some serious lifting and makes it nearly impossible for you to cheat by letting your shoulder or back muscles help with the lifting.

To do it, you need to use a preacher bend platform—an accessory found on some weight benches. Put your arms over the platform (the platform should be up under your armpits). Hold the barbell with your palms facing upward, hands about shoulder-width apart.

Now raise the barbell toward your chin. Don''t raise your elbows, and keep your wrists locked.

Dr. Stout recommends starting out with lighter weights than you''d normally use during a regular curl. "This is a tough exercise—you don''t want to overdo it," he says.

Hammer Curls

Sit at the end of your bench, knees bent, feet shoulder-width apart. Hold the dumbbells so your palms are facing your body.

Curl the weight up toward your shoulder—as though it were a hammer you were lifting in order to drive a nail. Don''t rotate your wrists. Keep your shoulders back and your back straight. You can alternate this exercise—first curling with your right hand, then your left.

Concentration Curls

Sitting at the end of your bench with your feet shoulder-width apart, lean forward and put your right arm between your legs. Your elbow and upper arm should be resting against your thigh. Keep your free hand on your other knee. Extend your arm, holding a dumbbell with your palm facing up.

Slowly lift the dumbbell to your shoulder. Brace your elbow against your thigh and lean on your free hand if you need support.

Triceps

Dumbbell Kickbacks

To work your triceps, hold a dumbbell in your right hand, palm facing your body. Rest your left knee and hand on a weight bench, then raise the dumbbell up toward your chest. Your elbow should be pointing toward the ceiling; your back should be straight. This is only the starting position, pal. Now it''s time for the real exercise.

Straighten your arm out behind you, extending the weight away from your body. Keep extending until you feel your triceps fully contract, then bend your arm and return the weight to your side.

Seated Triceps Press

Sitting on a weight bench, position a dumbbell behind your head. Interlace your fingers to hold the dumbbell at one end, underneath the weight.

Now extend your arms and push the dumbbell straight up. Keep your back straight, and lift slowly—you don''t want to drop the weight on your head. Then bend your arms to lower the weight. Keep your arms bent near your head, elbows pointing up.

Overhead Triceps Extensions

Get on your back on the weight bench. Make sure your back is in full contact with the bench. If your lower back arches when your feet are on the floor, pull your feet up to the end of the bench. Hold a barbell above your chest, arms extended. Your hands should be only four to six inches apart, palms facing away from you.

Now slowly lower the weight toward the top of your head, bending your arms at the elbows. Extend your arms back out to the starting position.

One-Arm Triceps Pull-Downs

If you''re working out at a health club, try this on the triceps pull-down machine.

Stand facing the machine, gripping the middle of the handle with your right hand, palm facing away from you. Keep your arm bent, elbow close at your side.

Now pull down on the bar and straighten out your arm. Keep your elbow close to your body, wrist locked and straight. As with the other one-armed exercises, once you''ve exhausted your arm, you can make it do a couple of extra forced reps by using your left hand to help complete the reps. Then switch arms.