Exercise Selection For Building Better Arms

Getting better toned and defined arms is a goal for many, however, many people approach this goal in the wrong manner.

If you walk into any gym during the busy time, you'll likely see a number of people standing in front of the mirror, pumping away with bicep curls.

Common thought is that bicep curl after bicep curl is the best arm exercise to get the results you're looking for.

While bicep curls will definitely help improve the muscular definition of the arms, bicep curls are not going to be entirely optimal in terms of arm development.

1. Body Fat Levels

First things first, you need to understand that regardless of how big your muscles are, you will not see definition unless you get down to low enough body fat levels.

If you're 35% body fat, I don't care how big your muscles are, definition won't be showing.

Keep in mind here that men and women have different levels of body fat requirements, so their target goal body fat level will be slightly different.

To get good definition, men should aim to get to around 10% body fat, while females should shoot for between 15-20%.

If females begin to dip down too low, this can cause big problems with the reproductive cycle, as the body senses it will not be able to sustain another living human being.

So, fat loss should be one of the top priorities here.

2. Focused Training On Triceps

Next up on this list is training of the triceps muscles. As stated in the introduction, many, many, MANY people focus too hard on the biceps.

What they fail to realize is that for the most part, your arm is primarily triceps.

If you can develop a good sized tricep, this will naturally make your arms look more muscular (for those who have this goal).

Sure, the biceps add that peak, but when you look at the total volume of muscle in the arm, the triceps most definitely over predominate the biceps.

So, rather than doing three variations of curls during your workout, put in some good triceps movements.

This would include things such as over head presses, rope pull-downs, tricep extensions, and tricep push-ups.

Keep in mind also that the bench will really work those tricep muscles as well - so be doubly sure it's included as well.

3. Arm Targeting Cardio

Finally, the last thing you should keep in mind with arm exercise is your cardio training.

While I don't particularly recommend hours and hours of cardio training each day as a way to experience weight loss, if you are going to choose to do cardio and arm appearance is a priority, consider doing cardio activities that will work those arms.

The elliptical, rowing, swimming, skipping - all are great choices.

So, next time you're looking at your triceps and are thinking they need some work, keep these points in mind.

Paramount though is getting on a good workout program that is designed for fat loss if you've got body fat to lose.