If you’d like bulging biceps but don’t have access to a fitness center, free weights, home gym or dumbbells, you can still build arm muscle size and strength using alternative methods.
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Body weight exercises and resistance bands provide the resistance necessary to create hypertrophy, or muscle building through resistance stress. You can create and use a regular workout routine in the privacy of your home without any weights or special equipment.
Step 1
Begin your workout with a warm up. Coordinating muscular and cardio functions help produce better muscle contractions, according to UK Athletics national coach Brian Mac. Use arm swings, jumping jacks, punches and other arm movements to stretch, warm and increase blood flow to your muscles.
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Step 2
Perform body weight exercises such as push-ups, pull-ups, chin-ups and chair dips. Perform repetitions of each exercise to fatigue, repeating the exercises in three to four sets per workout. Vary your hand placement during each exercise to use your muscles differently.
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Step 3
Work out with resistance bands. Use enough resistance so that you are at or near your maximum ability to move the cords. You may fatigue after only three to five reps. Perform biceps curls, triceps extensions, triceps kickbacks, flyes, arm raises and chest presses. Repeat each set five times.
Step 4
Perform all three types of muscle contractions. When you contract your muscles, such as the uplift during a biceps curl or chin-up, or the downward movement during a push-up or chair dip, you use concentric muscle contractions. When you lengthen a muscle, such as when you lower your arm during a biceps curl or raise yourself during a push-up, you use eccentric muscle contractions. Holding your muscle still while it’s being resisted creates an isometric contraction.
Step 5
Perform all contractions using your muscles, not gravity or your body’s weight. For example, after you lift the weight during a biceps curl, don’t let the weight drop down–manually lower it with your muscles to take advantage of the contraction. After you reach the bar during a chin-up, don’t let your body drop–lower yourself using your arms.
Step 6
Rest between workouts to let your damaged muscles repair, recover and grow larger. Take at least 24 hours between workouts. If you are working on the your lower body and core, as well, alternate areas on different days to rest the area you’ve just worked.
Step 7
Cool down and stretch after each workout. Use your warm-up exercises. Cooling down helps prevent blood from pooling in joints and later muscle soreness, while stretching improves flexibility,
Develop arm muscles using Dumbbells
Performing dumbbell curls is one of the best exercises to strengthen the whole arm, but the emphasis is even more on the two-headed muscle; the biceps. I will explain to you how to perform this exercise, and I will provide you with different routines in order to have an idea how to have a better chance of making progress.
Dumbbell Curls (Seated Or Standing)
Instructions:
- Hold the dumbbells in your hands with palms facing forward
- Make sure your shoulders are not slumped forward by pinching the shoulder blades
- You can start lifting both dumbbells at the same time or alternating with both sides
- Elbows should be tucked in and glued to your sides so the focus is on the arms and not the shoulders
- Repeat for the desired repetitions
Hammer Curls (Seated Or Standing)
This exercise will have more emphasis on the forearms and less on the biceps because of the way you are holding the dumbbells.
Instructions:
- Hold the dumbbells like you are holding a hammer, in other words, the palms should be facing towards your thighs
- As I mentioned before, your shoulders should not be slumped forward so as to intentionally pinch the shoulder blades, and be sure to keep the chest high
- You can start lifting both dumbbells at the same time or alternating with both sides
- Elbows should be tucked in and glued to your sides so the focus is on the arms and not the shoulders
- Repeat for the desired repetitions
For both exercises you should have some type of time parameter type of workout where you can change the weight lifting parameters such as the number of:
- sets
- repetitions
- rest intervals
- workout frequency
That way you keep your body ready to adapt to new challenges, therefore, the arms keep growing and getting stronger.
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