1- Take a weight off
You have to load the barbell until it bends and then grunt like Sharapova with a megaphone to forge bigger biceps, right? Absolutely not. Rather than trying to reach your personal best with each rep, load the bar with weights you can comfortably lift 12 to 15 times, says Frost. Why? Each massive rep actually uses up testosterone, so push your body too hard and you’ll actually deplete your body’s best muscle-building chemical. Take a leaf out of Jason Statham’s training tips and don’t overdo it.
2- Diet is such a subjective matter. But a diet that keeps an eye on protein, especially, is better than a diet filled with junk or haphazardly put together – it just goes without saying. After that, it should have ample protein and ample calories if growth is the goal.
The single biggest mistake amateur bodybuilders make, after the quality of diet, is getting the quantity wrong. You have to keep calories high, high and HIGHER if you want to pack on mass.
Calories need to come from 30% protein, 50% carbs and 20% fat when you’re building mass – no exceptions. Here’s a good meter of grams of each broken down by meal. If you don’t work out in the morning, then flip the pre and post meals around to afternoon.
Pre-WO Meal: 140 g carbs, 47 g protein
Post-WO: 140 g carbs, 47 g protein
3rd Meal: 90 g carbs, 60 g protein
4th Meal: 90 g carbs, 60 g protein
5th Meal: 30 g carbs, 45 g protein
Fat shouldn’t be metered out, despite me saying 20%…. flax, fish oil caps, peanut butter (natural), almonds, etc. are all fair game. This plan should net you around 4000 calories at the minimum and between 5000 and 6000 at the maximum.
A good example of what the above would be, using one meal as an example is this:
8-10 oz. steak (60 grams protein) + 2 cups of rice + bowl of mixed vegetables (90 grams carbs)
Your 140 gram carb meals should come from powdered carb forms and powdered protein forms in a shake mixture. There is no way you can eat that amount of carbs in solid food form, let alone protein, and train. Nor could you hack it after. Remember to add some flax oil into those shakes – a couple of tbsp. And don’t forget to add fat to the other meals, in the form of almonds, peanut butter, flax, fish oil caps, avocado, or in the form of fattier meats. It’s always best to eat lean cuts, but not so lean that you keep calories low.
3- Train one or two times per week. Many people think that working out every day builds bigger muscles, but muscle mass is actually built during resting days between workout sessions. Your muscles grow stronger as they recover between lifting sessions, enabling you to gradually lift more and more weight. If you don't give your muscles time to rest, particularly your arm muscles, you risk overtraining them and delaying the results you want to achieve.
4- Do dumbbell curls to build your biceps and triceps.[2] Your biceps and triceps are the main muscle groups in your arms, so focus on building them up to gain arm mass. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and hold the dumbbells at your sides with your arms fully extended and your palms turned inwards, curl the dumbbells to your chest, then press them over your head before reversing the dumbbells to the starting position.
Do between 8 and 12 reps, and 3 to 5 sets. Rest for about 45 seconds between sets.
This exercise may also be performed with a kettle bell or barbells.
5- Do chin-ups to work out your biceps. Grip a fixed bar with your hands shoulder-width apart and your palms facing you. Use your arms to lift your body, until your chin is higher than the bar then slowly lower yourself back to the starting position.[3]
Do between 8 and 12 reps, and 4 to 5 sets.
You can increase the difficulty of this exercise by using a weighted belt.
6- Train your forearms. No matter what your goal is, a set of big beefy forearms is always impressive and it completes your arms. It doesn’t matter how big your biceps or triceps are, if you have stick forearms you will still have small arms – that’s a fact.
The most effective way to build your forearms is to train with thick-handled barbells and dumbbells.
7- Use more exercises! There is NO such thing as the best exercise or best routine for any body-part. Anyone telling you other wise wants to sell you something. Everybody has different muscle insertion points, muscle belly lengths and muscle fiber make composition so everyone will respond slightly differently to an exercise and/or routine.