While I hate to oversimplify, it’s like that most guys (and plenty of women) who work out diligently at the gym would like to have well-developed arms. Watch the number of people doing exercises for biceps and triceps the next time you’re at the gym and you will get the point.
But, while many of us perform plenty of exercises for arms, we aren’t all walking around with arms like Chris Hemsworth as Thor in the Marvel movies. What’s up? Well, one thing is that if you want to get ‘superhero’ arms, you have to really dedicate some workouts to achieve the goal.
With that in mind, check out this challenging arms workout and consider adding it to your routine to build some MCU-worthy bis and tris.
Reps and Weights
For each of these exercises, unless otherwise noted, the goal is to complete 20-25 reps per set. Each exercise should be performed in 4 sets. All but the last exercise are also designed as supersets with another exercise, to be completed consecutively for one finished set.
Superset 1
Cable Triceps Pushdowns
Find an adjustable cable machine at your gym and use the rope attachment. Complete 20-25 slow and steady triceps pushdowns, with a little wrist pronation at the end of each rep. Pick a weight you can manage, but that should be challenging by those last reps. You should feel the burn, especially after the first set.
Overhead Cable Extensions
Using the same cable and rope, complete an overhead triceps extension. I personally like to execute these with the cable in the same position as the tricep extensions, just leaning forward and extending overhead that way. But some folks like to shift the cable lower and reach up. Whichever you prefer is fine. But, make sure you get a legitimate superset, with little to no break in between exercises.
Superset 2
Cable Hammer Curls
Now that your triceps are on fire, let’s shift to biceps. Drop the cable position to the floor, keep the same rope attachment, and complete 20-25 hammer curls. Focus on good form and not cheating with any body momentum.
Forearm Blasters
I like to mix in something for forearms since we’re working arms. For these, I grab two small plates (like 5 lbs) and then hold them with your two middle fingers through the hole in the center and the other fingers splayed out on either side for support. Start with your arms out at shoulder height, with your elbows hinged forward with your palms facing down. Complete 15 reps where you flex your palms up, so that you would be giving a ‘hook em horns’ symbol if you weren’t holding the weight in each hand. After this, shift your arms down to your sides, hinging your elbows forward, palms facing inward. Then executive 15 reps of flexing your wrist up toward your body, basically pointing your thumbs at yourself. Finally, keeping your arms in the same position, flip your palms upward and now complete 15 reps where you are cupping your palms up/toward your body. These 45 reps will do a nice job of working your forearms from 3 different angles.
Superset 3
Dumbbell Hammer Press
Time to get back to triceps. Find a bench and a pair of dumbbells. Complete 20-25 reps of the dumbbell hammer press, really keeping your elbows tight to your body. Give a little pause at the top, so you aren’t just throwing the weights around.
Dumbbell Skull Crushers
Drop those dumbbells and pick up a pair that is just slightly lighter (at least for me they need to be a bit lighter) and complete 20-25 reps of skull crushers. Keep the dumbbells apart, so each arm is working fully independently.
Superset 4
21 Curls (with the EZ bar)
Back to biceps. Keep that bench handy, but grab an EZ curl bar and complete a set of 21s. Basically, this means you start with 7 reps where you start at the bottom and complete a partial curl about halfway up (so your elbows are at about 90 degrees), then raise the bar and complete another 7 where you start at the halfway point (90 degrees) and go up to a full curl rep. For the last 7, complete full reps from the bottom to the top. Do not pause in between these groups of 7.
Bench Dips
Triceps not totally blown out yet? Let’s superset those curls with bench dips. You can put weight on your lap if you want, but honestly, your tris should be just about done and bodyweight may be more than enough. Shoot for 15 reps.
Burnout Set
Alternating Dumbbell Curls
If your arms have anything left in the tank, I like to finish up with alternating dumbbell curls just to burn out those biceps. Shoot for 10-12 reps on each arm (20–24 total) for each set.
Add this Arms Day into your workout routine and you just might get cast in the next superhero movie… or at least you could be an Arms double. LOL!
