The 21 “Gun” Salute: 

Pop quiz time! How many of us have gone to the gym purely with the aim to having bigger arms? Well I know the answer to that question even before I even bother to check the results out. I would wager 8 in 10 people join a gym to have huge arms. Like the Chest, the fascination of the average gym goer is understandable. After all huge and muscular arms signify power and strength. And of course who can ignore the vanity factor. Large arms impress people and especially the girls. 

Anyway being the objective person that I am, I view arms for all that they are, “vanity muscles”. Do not get me wrong arm development is an important part of muscular development, but from a bodybuilding and musculature scheme of things they are somewhere below the hamstrings and above the calf muscles. They are really small muscles that get undue attention, unfortunately at the expense of larger and more important muscles. 

Arm Musculature: 

Large arms are often associated with the “Biceps”. This probably is the biggest faux-pass that could be committed. The biceps is just a small part of the whole arm, which has a larger muscle group in the triceps that makes up a real “large” arm.  As a test please google the “front double biceps” and I am sure the results will baffle you if not surprise you. Anyway more on that a little later. 

Let us first understand the muscle groups that make up the arm. The arms as I am sure most of us are aware comprise of three primary muscle groups, 

1. The Triceps
2. The Biceps
3. The Forearms 

The Triceps: 

The triceps or the triceps brachii has three heads, the lateral, the medial and the long heads. These muscles connect the humerus and scapula to the forearm bone called the ulna. It's important to ensure you incorporate exercises that hit all three of these heads to fully develop the back of your upper arm. 

The following is a list of all the triceps exercises that I have used to some degree of success. I shall of course tackle the triceps in more detail in a later blog. 

• Bench Dips
• Cable Incline Pushdown
• Cable Incline Triceps Extension
• Cable Lying Triceps Extension
• Cable One Arm Tricep Extension
• Cable Rope Overhead Tricep Extension
• Close-Grip Bench Press
• Decline Close Grip Bench To Skull Crusher
• Decline Dumbbell Tricep Extension
• Decline EZ Bar Tricep Extension
• Dumbbell One Arm Triceps Extension
• Incline Barbell Triceps Extension 

The Biceps:

The muscle that is the crowning glory for every-one who works out. I have seen a huge number of people coming to the gym purely to build huge arms. More people love working arms as compared to working the quads or their back. The arms are the crowning glory of the “muscles”.

The biceps is properly known as the biceps brachii and is a two headed muscle. This muscle has two functions: Flexion - the action of bringing the arm up to the shoulder and Supination - the action of twisting the wrist, or turning the thumbs away from the body. The brachialis is a small muscle which lies just beneath the biceps. It is not really a part of the bicep muscle but an untrained brachialis muscle can add up to an inch to arm size. 

The common bicep exercises can be listed as below, 

• Hammer Curl
• Barbell Curl
• Concentration Curls
• Dumbbell Alternate Bicep Curl
• Dumbbell Bicep Curl
• EZ-Bar Curl
• Incline Dumbbell Curl
• Machine Preacher Curls
• One Arm Dumbbell Preacher Curl
• Preacher Curl
• Preacher Hammer Dumbbell Curl
• Seated Dumbbell Curl
• Zottman Curl 

I shall, as promised earlier, also talk about the biceps in greater detail in later blogs. 

The Forearms: 

The often neglected forearm is a key muscle and is the backbone of arm development. I mean imagine huge upper arms that are preceeded by thin and weak forearms. That would be wrong wouldn’t it? Forearms, inspite of the ease of getting worked, are often neglected and hence develop slower as compared to the rest of the body. I compare forearm development to calf development purely because of the neglect. I shall detail forearm development in detail a bit later. A point worth mentioning is that proper arm and back exercises help in forearm muscle development. 

A look at the forearm musculature is worthwhile. The forearm is composed of the three major muscle groups the extensors, the flexors and brachioradialis. Below is a list of simple lifts that shall enable to target and develop all aspects of the forearm complex.

• Reverse Barbell Curls
• Hammer Curls
• Barbell “Popeye” Curls
• Wrist Curls
• Reverse Wrist Curls
• Behind the back wrist Curls  

The only way to get big guns is to train your balls off. But training your balls off doesn't mean pounding the hell out of them every day either. It means starting by asking your-self this simple question: "Do I have the discipline, dedication, and desire it takes to build massive arms?" Let me tell you something, if you don't have the three D's in you, then don't even waste your time. 

The first thing you need to know about growing huge arms is this: Doing the same thing all the time will slow your progress. Your body is an adaptive biological organism that only responds to stimulus when it comes to building muscle tissue. If you do the same routine all the time, your body will adapt, and this will not create a stimulus. In other words, your body gets used to the same old shit and stops responding. It's that simple. This stimulus is not just caused by the routine, but also by the reps performed, the weight used, the exercises you choose, and the intensity. That's right. You need to push those muscles to failure. You need to train balls-to-the-wall. 

The ability to curl your sleeve up and display rock hard, peaked and striated biceps, triceps that overflow with mass and big snake like bands of muscle lining our forearms is one of the greatest sensations of the bodybuilding lifestyle. Definitely the most noticeable of muscle groups, it's no wonder why bodybuilders and also people beginning to exercise all around the world are striving towards jacked guns. 

The arms most definitely require the least amount of focus out of all other muscle groups. Arm movements feel the most natural to many bodybuilders, and it is very easy for them to concentrate on the muscle groups working. Remember this the next time you hit the gym to train arms. 

Peace Out…