Building big arms is a common goal. To get a strong upper body is not difficult, it just takes time and the right exercise plan; do the wrong exercises or the wrong number of repetitions and you could be spending a lot more time in the gym than you need to.

You need to start by making sure you build a well balanced arms routine that hits as much of the range of motion in the arms as you can. Below is a sample upper body workout; you can easily build your own, but keep reading to learn how to make the workout you build more effective.

Killer Arms Mass Building Routine 3 Sets, 6-12 Repetitions (2-3 days per week)

Bicep Curl
Overhead Tricep Extension

Incline Bench Bicep Hammer Curl
Single Arm Cable Tricep Pull Down (use a Single Grip Handle)

Underhand Lat Pull Down (single arm or double)
Deltoid Ventral Raise with Palm Up

Tricep Dips
Deltoid Lateral Raise with Palm Back

Barbell Jerk, Close Grip
Overhead Shoulder Press

Bicep Curl, Negative
Tricep Rope Pull Down, Negative

Start with a medium weight at 6 repetitions. If you can easily finish all three sets of repetitions, increase the number of repetitions next time. Continue increasing until you can finish three sets of 12 without having to pause. Then next time drop back to 6 repetitions and increase to the next closest weight. Each exercise will increase at a different rate and require a different weight to start with- never try to increase everything at the same pace. Do two exercises together back and forth until all sets are done, then move to the next two exercises.

Building big arms requires increasing the size of every muscle in the arm. If you sit around and do curls all day you wont end up with great arms, instead you might have oddly lopsided muscle development that will turn heads for all the wrong reasons. This upper body workout is only one example of how you can build strength and size in your arms, but when building any routine with these goals in mind, consider these rules;

Rule One: Form is everything!
Keeping your form as close to perfect as is humanly possible is the most important rule, no matter what your goal or training style.

Rule Two: Work the Biceps and Triceps Equally.
If you skimp on the biceps or the triceps you will end up with a lopsided looking arm that is smaller than it could be. Do the same number of exercises for each muscle group.

Rule Three: Work through a full range of motion.
This is a pitfall of many looking to add size, as they only work their arms in a range of motion where they are the strongest. Make sure you get a full range of motion from both your biceps and triceps, even if that means having to use a lighter weight.

Rule Four: Work to exhaustion.
If you can finish all of your repetitions with perfect form then you are either not lifting enough weight or not doing enough repetitions. You should never be able to finish your last set in one go. If you are shooting for 10 repetitions you should only be able to make it to 6 or so until your arms give out; rest for 5 seconds then finish the rest of your reps.

Rule Five: Never, ever, use momentum!
If you are swinging your weights around, you are wasting your time. When using a swinging or bouncing motion to complete an exercise you use momentum to help lift the weight, which allows muscles to “cheat” and defeats the purpose of the exercise. Your bicep moves your elbow, so if any joint other than your elbow is moving you are doing the exercise wrong.

Rule Six: Cap those arms with big shoulders.
Without focusing on your deltoids, your arms will not look complete or proportionate. You need to have a nice cap to accentuate your ever-growing biceps and triceps.