How to get bigger arms: triceps first, then biceps

To get bigger arms, train your triceps at least as hard as your biceps, because they’re the bigger muscle. Do 6–12 hard sets of direct work for each per week on top of your presses and rows, include an overhead triceps extension and a curl that stretches the biceps, and add weight or reps over time. Below is why the triceps matter so much, which exercises are worth your sets, and an arm day that puts it all together.

Your triceps are the bigger muscle

Gym wisdom says the triceps make up two-thirds of your upper arm. The real number is a bit lower, but the point stands. An MRI study measuring every muscle in the arm found the triceps averaged about 372 cm³, compared with about 144 cm³ for the biceps and 144 cm³ for the brachialis (Holzbaur et al., 2007). That makes the triceps roughly 2.5 times the size of the biceps, and larger than the biceps and brachialis combined.

So if your arm training is five curl variations and one set of pushdowns at the end, you’re spending most of your effort on the smaller muscle.

Triceps: overhead work is the key

The triceps’ long head attaches above the shoulder joint, so it’s stretched most when your arm is overhead. That matters: in a 12-week study, triceps growth was substantially greater after overhead extensions than after pushdown-style extensions with the arms at the sides, especially in the long head (Maeo et al., 2023).

The best triceps lineup:

1. A heavy press for overall triceps load: close-grip bench press or dips.
2. An overhead extension: overhead cable rope extension, dumbbell overhead extension or EZ-bar overhead extension.
3. A pushdown for the lateral and medial heads and a big pump: cable pushdown or rope pushdown.

Triceps · CableCable Overhead Triceps Extension with RopeAttach a rope to a low pulley. After selecting an appropriate weight, grasp the rope with both hands and face away from the cable. Position your hands behind your head with your elbows point straight up. Your elbows should start out flexed, and you can stagger your stance and lean gently away from the machine to create greater stability. This will be your starting position.How to do the Cable Overhead Triceps Extension with Rope →

The full breakdown, including skull crushers and elbow-friendly options, is in how to grow triceps.

Biceps and brachialis: stretch and grip

For the front of your arm, two exercises cover most of what matters:

• A curl that loads the biceps in a stretch. The incline dumbbell curl puts your arms behind your body, so the long head of the biceps is stretched at the bottom. The behind-the-back cable curl does the same with constant tension.
• A neutral or overhand curl for the brachialis and brachioradialis: hammer curls or reverse curls. A thicker brachialis pushes the biceps up and makes your arm look wider from the side.

Biceps · DumbbellDumbbell Incline CurlSet the bench to 45–60 degrees and sit back against it. Let your arms hang straight with the dumbbells, palms facing forward.How to do the Dumbbell Incline Curl →

A heavier basic curl (barbell or EZ bar) is a good third option. How to grow biceps goes deeper into long head vs short head and arm position.

How much arm training do you need?

Two things are true at once.

Compound lifts do a lot early on. In a study of untrained men, adding curls and triceps extensions to a program of compound exercises didn’t increase arm size more than the compound exercises alone over ten weeks (Gentil et al., 2013). If you’re in your first few months of training, focus on getting stronger at presses, rows and pull-ups.

Direct work matters more later. As you advance, total volume becomes a bigger driver of growth, with 10 or more sets per muscle per week outperforming less (Schoenfeld et al., 2017). Rows and pull-downs give your biceps some of that; presses give your triceps some. Direct work fills the gap.

Split it over two or three sessions. Arms recover quickly, so frequent short doses work better than one marathon. For counting compound sets, see how many sets per muscle per week.

A complete arm day

Use this as a dedicated arm session (for example the fifth day of an upper/lower week), or split it across two upper days.

That’s 8 triceps sets and 8 biceps-brachialis sets in about 45 minutes. Exercises 5a and 5b are a superset: no rest between them, rest after the pair.

Triceps · BarbellBarbell Close-grip Bench PressLie on the bench and grip the bar at shoulder width or slightly narrower. Lower the bar to your lower chest, keeping your elbows close to your body.How to do the Barbell Close-grip Bench Press →

Technique that grows arms (instead of egos)

• Elbows stay put. On curls, if your elbows drift forward, your front delts take over. On pushdowns, if they flare out, your shoulders and chest join in.
• Full range, controlled lowering. Arms grow from the stretch as much as the squeeze. Lower every rep in two seconds.
• No body swing. A little momentum on the last rep is fine. Swinging every rep from the hips means the weight is too heavy.
• Take isolation sets close to failure. Curls and extensions are low-risk: end the last set of each within 0–1 reps of failure.

How to progress arm exercises

Arm exercises use small weights, so jumps are relatively big. Use double progression with a wider rep range (8–12 or 10–15), and add weight only when every set reaches the top. Cable stacks and micro-plates help.

Track your numbers: a curl that went from 12 kg to 16 kg dumbbells over a year, or a close-grip bench that went up 20 kg, tells you more about arm growth than a tape measure taken after a pump.

Mistakes that keep arms small

• All biceps, no triceps. Flip your priorities.
• Ignoring the long head of the triceps. Add an overhead extension.
• Curling only in front of your body. Add an incline or behind-the-back curl for the stretch.
• Too much too soon. 25 sets of arms on Friday leaves sore elbows and little extra growth. Spread it out.
• Not eating enough. Arms grow when your whole body is in a position to grow. The pillar guide on how to build muscle covers food and sleep.