Your arm consists of several muscles that primarily act on your elbow and shoulder joint. Your biceps and triceps muscles make up the majority of your arm musculature, and they are the primary muscles that give shape and definition to your arms.
Your biceps muscles are located on the front of your arms and are responsible for flexion of your elbow, while the triceps muscles are found on the back of your arms and are responsible for extension of your elbow. Working out with these muscle groups in the gym will help to give your arm a better shape
1. Barbell Bicep Curls
This is one of the best exercises for promoting biceps muscle growth. The use of a barbell will allow both of your arms to work together and make the exercise more stable.
How to do it:
Step 1: Stand your feet spaced at shoulder width
Step 2: Hold the barbell in a supinated position (underhand grip)
Step 3: Keep your core engaged
Step 4: Lift the barbell by flexing your elbows
What to watch out for:
Avoid use of momentum in the shoulder joint to swing the weight up to the top of the movement arc. The shoulder is supposed to stay pulled back tightly over the torso during this exercise, and the anterior deltoid (front shoulder muscle) should just be acting as a stabilizer as the biceps contract.
2. Dumbbell Concentration Curls
This exercise allows you to focus on contracting the biceps muscles without the use of body momentum, thereby helping you to maximize the tension placed on the muscle. The stationary position of the elbow allows you to have greater control over the movement.
Because the arm is braced against the thigh, you are able to isolate the biceps contraction even more than in other types of curl. This results in greater activation of the biceps muscles, which promotes greater increase in muscle strength and muscle mass.
How to do it:
Step 1: Sit in a chair with your feet flat, knees spread wide
Step 2: Bend forward and brace the back of your elbow against your inside thigh or knee. Keep your arm hanging straight down
Step 3: Curl the weight up towards your shoulder by flexing your elbows. Keep your elbow braced against your knee throughout the movement
Step 4: Gently lower the weight back on the starting position
What to watch out for:
During this exercise watch out for the tilting of your body in order to overcome the weight. Your elbow should always be braced against your knee or thigh to effectively isolate the biceps during the exercise.
3. Triceps Dips
This exercise is a useful bodyweight exercise that targets your arm and shoulder strength. This exercise can be done almost anywhere and has many variations to match your fitness status. Aside from activating your triceps muscle, this exercise engages your core muscles as you hold your hips off the ground.
How to do it:
Find a chair, bench or step.
Step 1: Sit on the chair and grip (overhand) the edge next to your hip. Extend your legs, your feet should be about hip-width apart with the heels touching the ground. Look straight ahead with your chin up.
Step 2: Press your palm against the chair to lift your body and slide forward just far enough that your back clears the edge of the chair.
Step 3: Lower yourself until your elbows are bent between 45 and 90 degrees
Step 4: Slowly push yourself back up to the starting position. Control the movement throughout the range of motion.
What to watch out for:
Keep your shoulder down and away from your ears. Do not use your hip muscles to perform this exercise, your triceps and chest muscles alone should be able to lift you up and lower you down throughout the exercise.
4. Single Hand Triceps Overhead Extension
This exercise provides an effective way to isolate the triceps, and then puts emphasis on the contraction by stretching the long head of the triceps.
This exercise will limit the weight you can lift however, since this purely isolates the triceps during the movement. Choose a lighter weight to practice the exercise.
How to do it:
Step 1: Stand on your feet shoulder-width apart and keep your core engaged. Hold the dumbbell with one hand. Place your hand at the back of your head while holding the dumbbell. Bend your elbow greater than 90 degrees so that you feel the tension of the triceps muscle.
Step 2: Lift the dumbbell until your elbow is fully extended. Feel the squeeze (muscle shortening) of your triceps muscle while you approach the end range.
Step 3: Slowly lower the dumbbell back to the starting position.
What to watch out for:
Try to keep your elbow still as much as is possible, this will help to ensure the triceps muscle is being isolated. Be aware if your shoulder tries to compensate for the movements, keep your arms within the line of movement and avoid flaring your arm out to the side, keep your arm aligned with your body.
5. Skull Crushers (Lying Triceps Extension Exercise)
This exercise effectively isolates the triceps and puts minimal strain on the wrist joints.
How to do it:
Step 1: Lie on a flat bench with feet flat on the ground, and head hanging just off the top of the bench so that the edge of the bench rests in the pit between the neck and the head.
Step 2: Take the barbell with an overhand grip, hold it out above the head so that the arms are fully supporting the weight. Slightly angle the weight at 20 degrees away from your face.
Step 3: Bend the arms at the elbow, bringing the bar down close to top of your forehead.
Step 4: Keep the elbows in the same position and do not let the weight sway outward. Keep your triceps engaged.
Step 5: Extend your elbow back again to the starting position.
What to watch for:
Be careful when lowering the weight towards you. Keep your triceps engaged as you control the movement and do not rely on gravity to complete the exercise for you.