How to get bigger arms as a beginner

What actually makes an arm bigger

An arm gets bigger when the biceps and triceps are made to work hard, repeatedly, against a load that goes up over time, and when there is enough food and rest for the body to rebuild. Nothing else is required, and no exercise is magic.

The exercises worth doing

Two exercises per muscle is enough. One in a stretched position, such as an incline curl or an overhead extension, and one in a straightforward position, such as a standing curl or a pushdown.

How many sets, how often

1. Step 1

   Start at six sets a week per muscle

   For example three sets of curls and three sets of triceps work in each of two sessions, which is simply a way of spreading six weekly sets across days rather than doing them all at once (Schoenfeld, Grgic and Krieger, 2019).

2. Step 2

   Work close to hard

   Stop each set two or three reps before you could not manage another one. Eight to fifteen reps suits arms well.

3. Step 3

   Add a set every few weeks

   Build towards ten to twelve weekly sets per muscle if you are recovering well and still enjoying the sessions (Schoenfeld, Ogborn and Krieger, 2017).

4. Step 4

   Put arms after the big lifts

   Rows and presses come first while you are fresh; arm work finishes the session.

How long before arms look different

A beginner training consistently and eating enough can expect a noticeable change in around three to six months, and a measurable one sooner than a visible one. Take an arm measurement now so you have something to compare against.

• Measure the upper arm relaxed, in the same place, once a fortnight
• Compare month to month, not day to day
• Expect faster change if you are gaining weight slowly at the same time
• Photographs in the same light beat memory every time

The mistakes that stall arm growth

• Swinging the weight so the arm barely works
• Curling only, and ignoring the triceps
• Training arms hard once a week instead of twice
• Never adding weight or reps from month to month
• Eating too little to build anything new

Making each set count

Arm exercises are the easiest in the gym to do badly, because the rest of the body can take over without you noticing. A set that becomes a whole-body swing trains very little. Four cues fix most of it.

1. Step 1

   Control the way down

   Take about two seconds lowering the weight. The lengthening half of the rep is doing real work, and dropping it wastes half the set.

2. Step 2

   Keep the elbow still

   On curls and pushdowns the elbow is a hinge, not a moving part. If it drifts forward and back, the load is coming from your shoulder instead.

3. Step 3

   Use the full range you own

   All the way out, all the way in. Partial reps with heavier weight look better and build less (Schoenfeld et al., 2017).

4. Step 4

   Pick a weight you can control for the last rep

   If the final rep needs a heave, the weight is choosing the technique for you.

That finding is useful for arms in particular: you do not need to load a curl heavily to make it work, which means you can train them properly without the sloppy technique heavy curls tend to produce.

What arm size is and is not within your control

Two people can follow the same programme with the same effort and end up with differently shaped arms. Where a muscle attaches to the bone, how long the muscle belly is, and where you store fat are all set by genetics. What training changes is how much muscle sits on that frame, and that part is entirely worth working on.