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What's the best exercise for
arms?
By Christopher Warden
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Let's begin
this answer with a story:
A guy requested my advice because he was
frustrated with the lack of progress he was making with his arms.
"3 times a week," he began. "I do 3
sets of 3 exercises for my biceps and triceps after training my
chest and back and shoulders. Why isn't the size and strength of my
arms improving?"
"Aside from the fact that you're
overtraining and not allowing your body to adequately recover?" I
inquired. "Do you have a minute? Come with me and let's check out your
stability and strength with a few exercises."
I proceeded to test his trunk stability
with some body weight squats, pushups and leg-lowering progressions . .
. and saw that he had really poor trunk stability.
"I've got two suggestions for you," I
said.
"First, decrease the number of
"arm" exercises that you do.
Second, increase the
strength of your core
-- it's so weak that it's actually limiting the amount of work you
can do with your arms."
I instructed him on a series of exercises
to perform that would challenge his entire body, and trunk in
particular, and told him to give me feedback on his results.
Fast forward one month. "Arms" guy was
one happy dude -- with immensely improved trunk stability and strength
coupled with (and most importantly to him) added strength and size to
his arms.
*********
Many people make the assumption that the
best exercises to strengthen the arms are specific arm exercises:
variations of barbell and dumbbell curls for biceps; “skull crushers,”
cable press downs and dips for triceps; and maybe some wrist curls,
extensions and grip work for the forearms.
But the body is only as strong as its
weakest link. For a lot of people, those weak links reside in the
shoulders, back, and hips -- parts of the core that are essential for
providing a pillar of strength from which the arms can work.
As such, exercises that emphasize those
muscles -- chest presses, rows, pull-ups, deadlifts, squats, overhead
presses and planks, to name a few – are some of the best for obtaining
stronger arms.
P.S. If you want a
proven,
complete, easy to use program to get leaner, get our instantly
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Report- The Dark Side of Dieting, today.
 Christopher
“Doctor” Warden, CSCS traded in his lab coat, latex gloves and
microscope in the late 90's as part of a transformation from
pencil-necked geek to, well, freakishly strong not-so-pencil necked
geek.
His ability to understand and teach the technical aspects of fitness,
coupled with his passion and intuitive sense -- hey, are we sure this
guy's not Spiderman? -- have made him one of the most coveted trainers
in NYC.
When he’s not busy studying, writing or
transforming client physiques, Christopher loves traveling, snowboarding
and chillin’ with his family and friends. You can learn more about him
and his training insights by visiting his
fitness and
self-empowerment blog.
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