How to Build Thicker Ripped Arms

To develop massive arm muscles, your weight-training workouts need to completely overload both your biceps and triceps. Workouts designed to build muscle size involve little rest in between sets, as this stimulates the release of muscle-building hormones. You can adequately overload, and thus build muscle, in your biceps and triceps by following a superset workout structure, which means you’ll move from a biceps exercise right into triceps without rest. You’ll continue in this back and forth manner until all assigned sets are completed.

Instructions

    • 1

      Perform superset close-grip bench press with barbell biceps curl. Lie on a flat bench and hold a barbell over your chest with your hands positioned at shoulder width. Lower the bar to your chest, keeping your elbows close to your torso and then extend your arms to return the bar to starting position. For barbell biceps curls, stand and grip a barbell in front of your thighs with your hands set to shoulder width and palms facing up. Keep the elbows into the sides of your torso as you bend them and pull the barbell up to your shoulders. To finish, lower the bar back to the starting position.

    • 2

      Perform superset dips with dumbbell biceps curls. You can find a dip apparatus at most fitness facilities. Stand between the parallel bars and grip them with your hands. Push to lift your body off the floor, locking your arms out. With your knees flexed, bend your elbows to lower your body toward the floor. Once your elbows are bent to 90 degrees, push yourself back up, extending your elbows fully. For dumbbell biceps curls, sit on a bench while holding a dumbbell in each hand and your arms down by your sides. Your palms should face forward. Bend your elbows to bring the dumbbells to your shoulders while rotating your wrists to palm-up position. Lower the weights back down in a controlled motion.

    • 3

      Perform superset overhead triceps extension with 21s. Overhead triceps extensions involve holding a single dumbbell with both hands over your head and your arms fully extended. Bend your elbows to lower the dumbbell behind your head and then straighten your arms to return to starting position. Twenty-ones are a biceps exercise that can be done with either dumbbells or a barbell. Stand and perform seven repetitions of the first half of a biceps curl, lifting the weights up only until your forearms are parallel to the floor. Go immediately into seven repetitions of the second half of the biceps curls, curling the weights from where your forearms are parallel to the floor up to your shoulders. Finish with seven repetitions of the full biceps curl for a total of 21 repetitions.

    • 4

      Complete three sets of each exercise, with each consisting of eight to 12 repetitions.