It’s not a far fetched idea to think that most guys that head to the gym want to build their “upper” pecs. After all, all the big bodybuilding magazines talk about it and it’s all over fitness discussion forums. In reality, there isn’t such a thing as the “upper” chest but the point of this article isn’t anatomy. The fact remains, in any male that trains to look good and is dedicated that, the fastest chest growth will occur if you have a good upper chest workout. That’s how you can build your pecs.

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In the pursuit for muscular arms, people do some pretty weird things. I mean take a look at most of the arm information that you see circulating online or in the magazines. You see all kinds of weird things being advocated and people will do anything, I mean anything, to build a set of impressive arms. From weight gainers, to wacky workouts to just weird advice, it all comes out when we talk about arm training. Most people just don’t have a clue as to what it takes to build an impressive set of arms.

Don’t overdo your sets and reps

In a recent conversation with the very first Mr.Olympia Larry Scott, we discussed arm training. After all he is well-known for having one of the best set of arms ever. Larry told me that at his peak he was only training his arm with 9 sets (9 for biceps and 9 for triceps) of around 6-8 reps. When he couldn’t complete more reps he’d do partial reps. That’s not like the traditional training methods that are used today. No more biceps and triceps blitzes that we see in the magazines everywhere. Less is more for your arm workout

Work with a wide variety of angles

Training at multiple angles has gotten wrecked in recent times due to strength coaches knocking pure bodybuilding training.  It’s not a good idea to waste your arm training time on perform various cable and machine angles. Don’t be obessed with hit your arms from every angle you can think of. Stay with basic movements that work your arms through a variety of angles. Think about this for a second. Just changing the height of the seat on the preacher bench substantially changes the stress on the biceps. So stick with your basic movements (dumbbell, barbell and preacher curls) and work through a wide variety of angles in your arm training.

Get real good at chin-ups and dips

Want big arms? Pick chin-ups and dips as your main movements. Focus on getting stronger, either more reps or more weight, every arm workout for six weeks. Most people lose sight of what a bodybuilding workout should look like. It’s not about the “pump”, it’s about increasing your muscle size and strength every arm training session. The only way to really change your body is to get stronger. So for four to six weeks you need to focus on using more reps or heavier weight each workout. Since chin-ups and dips allow you to use multiple muscles, in addition to your biceps and triceps, your entire upper body will get stronger and allow you to get stronger on your other arm training lifts.

So you get stronger in two movements then you get stronger in all the rest. You get stronger then you can do more reps at that given weight which leads to more growth.

Click here for more arm training tips and a 12 week arm training program

While the title says “rookies”, it applies to almost everyone really. You see with our arms we tend to either be very vain (which way is the bathroom, “that” way) or we get shy and don’t want to be typecast as a meathead. IMHO, the idea that someone should be ashamed of training their arms is about as dumb as the people that thought the world was square.

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