In this article, we have put together a few FREE programs for what we believe to be the BEST ARM DAY EVER.
And we don’t say that lightly either.
I have put my near two-decade lifting experience towards creating the best arm day ever.
Gone are the days of grueling 8-hour arm workout that nobody has the time to do — we are now more efficient and focus on what really matters.
Be warned, this routine will challenge you, but it won’t take all day to do.
The Best Arm Day Ever
Well, I will include two different arm days — one for natural lifters and another for enhanced lifters.
Natty lifters will require more emphasis on compound movements over enhanced lifters; either way, you will still get the most bang for your buck.
These arm routines are not for inexperienced lifters. If you don’t have at least 3 years solid training in the gym, I advise you to stick to your programs until you cease to progress linearly.
The Best Arm Day Ever: Natural Lifters
As we previously mentioned, natural lifters will be doing more compound movements than enhanced lifters. Compound movements will 1) elicit more of a total anabolic response from training stimulus and 2) force the arms to train with heavier workloads than with isolation movements such as curls and pressdowns.
There is also a lot of stretching and slow eccentric portions of the lift to induce maximal muscle growth. You are also to leave 1-2 reps in reserve at the end of each set.
| Best Arm Day Ever: Natural Lifters | Total Sets | Total Reps | Weight Used |
| Weighted Dips 3×6-10 | |||
| Weighted Chins 3×6-10 | |||
| Banded Close Grip Bench Press 3×6-8 | |||
| Banded EZ Bar Curl 3×10-12 | |||
| Tricep Trinity 3x | |||
| Single Arm Straight Bar Curl 3×10-12 | |||
| Tricep Pressdown with 20 second hold after each set 3×15 | |||
| Incline Curl with slow negative 3×8-10 |
The Best Arm Day Ever: Enhanced Lifters
Enhanced lifters will have faster recovery times and can handle more volume than their natty counterparts.
We will be more focused on isolation, but finish with a brutal compound combo.
| Best Arm Day Ever: Enhanced Version | Total Sets | Total Reps | Weight Used |
| JM Press 3×12-15 | |||
| Single Arm Straight Bar Curl 3×10-12 | |||
| Bodyweight Skullcrushers 3×15-20 | |||
| Incline DB curl w/ slow negatives 3×8-10 | |||
| Tricep Trinity 3x | |||
| Spider Curls 3×12 | |||
| Tricep Extension w/ 20 second hold at end of set 3×15 | |||
| Single Arm Cable Hammer Curl w/ 1-second hold at bottom 3×10 | |||
| Super Set: Weighted Dips and Weighted Chins |
Now, the superset at the end will be down as follows:
- one set weighted chins
- one set weighted dips
- one set bodyweight chins
- one set bodyweight dips
- one set AMRAP assisted chins
- one set AMRAP assisted dips
There is to be no rest between sets with the intention of finishing off the arms entirely.
The Best Arm Day Ever: How to Do The Exercises
Here’s how to do the Triceps Trinity:
By using the same weight throughout on an EZ bar, start off by performing Skullcrushers until you have 1-3 reps in reserve; then, perform JM Presses until you have 1-3 reps in reserve; and finally, do the same, but with Close-Grip Bench Press.
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If you don’t have a gym, then, not to worry, you can follow the same schema with your bodyweight or a low horizontal bar.
Start off by doing Bodyweight Skullcrushers, Bodyweight JM Press, then do Close-Grip pushups to failure.
The principle behind this is simple: you are to become progressively more fatigued as the tri-set continues.
Your Skullcrusher should be weaker than your JM Press and your JM Press should be weaker than your Close-Grip Bench.
This tri-set can be done with NO rest period between sets and take your triceps to exhaustion.
As each successive exercise should be, on paper, stronger than the last, which is why it is to be performed in said order.
We recommend that you perform these at the end of your session as you shouldn’t have energy for much else.
You will receive a skin-splitting pump from this tri-set and an opportunity to make your arms bigger than you ever dreamed of.
In the past, however, we have advocated for what we coined “rebound drop sets” to take your body beyond failure and using burnout sets themselves as an opportunity to rest!
One of my other favorite tricep workouts is to do mega JM Press dropsets on the Smith Machine — Julius Maddox, the world’s strongest bench presser by far, does them so I’m allowed to do them too! — until I am completely burned out.
But this can be unkind on the elbows if the weight load is too high.
This is why we have suggested performing this exercise at a lighter weight (no more than 25-30% of your bench press 1RM) and with the EZ bar.
You should perform this exercise with the EZ bar as it is gentler on the wrists, elbows, and shoulders.
And although we like to train hard, we are also training for longevity.
Strong triceps are key to a big bench press, if you wish to obtain a program specific to bench pressing, try our eBook here.
