00:00here's what I think is the most
00:01effective arm workout I've ever designed
00:09principles welcome back Dr my wolf here
00:12PhD in sports science bro scientist and
00:15proud owner of wolf coaching before we
00:17go into what I think is the best arm
00:19workout I've ever designed I need to
00:20make you understand why it's effective
00:22so that you can then go away and design
00:24your own really effective arm workouts
00:26you know all right what makes a session
00:28effective for muscle growth first it
00:30needs to fit within your program the
00:32best most gruelling arm workout really
00:35only works if you do it the right way in
00:38the context of your program I could give
00:39you a 40 set arm workout 8 Hour Rich
00:42Piana style it's basically an 8 Hour arm
01:10and yet if you only do it once a year
01:12it's not really going to grow you all
01:13that much conversely if you did it every
01:15day it would probably be too much food
01:17to handle so good sessions only exist
01:20within the context of their programs now
01:22this specific session is designed within
01:24the context of being repeated with some
01:26variations two to four times a week if
01:28you run a body part split where you're
01:30only training your arms directly once a
01:32week you're not going to want to do this
01:34you're going to want to like double or
01:36triple the amount of training being done
01:37here importantly doing a similar session
01:39as this one two to four times a week
01:41Falls within the optimal frequency range
01:43of training each muscle at least twice a
01:45week another big thing a good session
01:47does is to limit redundancy if we have a
01:49session that's super redundant we may
01:51not actually Target all of the muscles
01:53we're trying to Target different muscles
01:55have different functions and importantly
01:57there is evidence of diminishing returns
01:59within a given session if you just keep
02:00training the same muscle group over and
02:02over again hammering it with tons of
02:04volume for example an older metanalysis
02:06by Creer and colleagues found that each
02:09additional set yielded less hypertrophy
02:11the first set you do with an ession for
02:13a muscle is the most important and each
02:15additional set has diminishing returns
02:18so we don't want to do a ton of very
02:20similar movements for super high volumes
02:22with an a session at the expense of
02:23other muscle groups being hit
02:24effectively for example doing some bench
02:26press then some dips and then some push
02:28Downs is going to be likely super
02:30effective for your medial and lateral
02:32head of the triceps but the long head
02:34that gets trained more effectively
02:35during overhead extensions for example
02:37won't get all that much love and
02:39certainly your biceps won't get that
02:40much love so we want to limit redundancy
02:43another thing we want to do is to make
02:44sure the rep ranges we pick within the
02:46session are maximally effective for
02:47hypertrophy while we used to think this
02:49was 8 to 12 reps per set and outside of
02:52that hypertrophy was compromised the
02:53reality is the hypert rep range is as
02:56wide as 5 to 50 repetitions per set and
02:58additionally there is some evidence that
03:00if we combine different rep ranges
03:01within our program we might see a little
03:03bit more hypertrophy compared to just
03:05using one and religiously doing sets of
03:07eight for example and so if I see a
03:09program that only has sets of eight or
03:103x 10 on everything not a good sign
03:12equally while we do want a variety of
03:14rep ranges and there a pretty wide range
03:16of maximally effective repetition
03:18targets for hypertrophy we likely want
03:20to have most of our training come from
03:21sets of 5 to 15 repetitions because it
03:24makes it easier for us According to some
03:26work by our own research group to tell
03:29how close to f with training and since
03:30training relatively close to failure is
03:32pretty important and your accuracy at
03:34gauging failure breaks down above around
03:3612 reps we want to do most of our work
03:39between say 5 and 15 reps to maintain a
03:42good degree of accuracy engaging our own
03:44proximity to failure next we want to
03:46make sure we're using optimal volumes
03:48what does that mean well based on some
03:50more recent research the best muscle
03:52growth for a muscle is usually seen
03:54somewhere between 20 to 35 sets per week
03:57per muscle in trained individuals so
03:59cross the week if we want to maximize
04:01growth we want to get up to this volume
04:03whereas if we just want robust growth
04:05for example we're not specializing on
04:07the arms between 10 and 20 sets might be
04:09very adequate since we're performing the
04:10session two to four times a week that
04:12means that we want to be training each
04:13muscle with maybe three to eight sets
04:17keep in mind that these numbers for
04:18maximum hypertrophy of the biceps
04:20triceps and forearms are based also on
04:22indirect volume meaning that bench press
04:25for your chest for example does count as
04:27it set for your tricep as well and so if
04:28we get 3day eight sets two to four times
04:30a weekend that gives us a range of just
04:33direct arm volume of between about 6 to
04:36about 32 sets and if you then add in
04:39your chest back and front delt training
04:42that can quickly get you up to these
04:44really effective volume ranges for the
04:45arms and importantly some of the
04:47research suggests the triceps might
04:48benefit from higher volumes slightly
04:51more than the biceps that's a menis by
04:53baling colleagues where the effect size
04:55was larger when it came to the triceps
04:57in favor of higher volumes above 20 C we
05:00also want to make sure that we're taking
05:01each set and each exercise sufficiently
05:03close to failure to maximize hypertrophy
05:05based on met aggression by Robinson and
05:07colleagues from around a year ago the
05:08closer a set is taken to failure all
05:10else being equal the more hypertrophy it
05:12stimulates however going closer to
05:14failure does likely also cause
05:16additional fatigue and so if we go too
05:17close to failure too often too early
05:19into a session we might compromise
05:21performance in that session overall and
05:23so to get the best of both worlds we
05:25might want to go a little bit further
05:26from failure earlier in the session for
05:28the first few sets of most exercises and
05:30a little bit closer to failure later
05:32into the session and for the last couple
05:34sets on most exercises next the
05:36exercises we pick to train our biceps
05:38triceps and forearms need to be
05:40maximally effective and there are
05:41certain things that make exercises
05:43better or worse for muscle growth I have
05:45a whole series of videos on exactly that
05:47topic that you can check out in the
05:49description below or above here but in
05:51the meantime here's what we look for in
05:52good exercises first the exercise we
05:54pick should Target one of the primary
05:56functions of the target muscle for the
05:58triceps that's going to be up extension
06:00for the biceps going to be AOW flexion
06:01mostly and for the forearms it's going
06:03to be a combination of wrist flexion and
06:04wrist extension Additionally the toret
06:06muscle should be delimiting factor and
06:08that's where unfortunately most of our
06:10arm training is going to have to be
06:12relatively isolation heavy if we want to
06:15optimally Target the arms whether that's
06:16the biceps or the triceps or the
06:18forearms most of the best exercises that
06:21do so will be isolation exercises
06:23because they allow us to make sure that
06:24the target muscle is what's limiting our
06:26performance but equally that doesn't
06:28mean you shouldn't be doing compound
06:30chest and back work in your program you
06:31should still be doing that because it
06:32provides a good overall stimulus and
06:35because it effectively trains your chest
06:36and back which hopefully you're also
06:38trying to grow and you're not just some
06:39Wido trying to grow only your arms if
06:41you are get off my channel next whatever
06:43exercises we do pick should be stretch
06:45friendly and there's three components to
06:47that first the muscle we're trying to
06:48train should be placed in its lengthened
06:50position so for the triceps that means
06:53flexing the elbow and for the long hair
06:55of the triceps getting it overhead for
06:57the biceps that means extending the
06:58elbow at the bottom of the exercise and
07:00getting your arm behind you and for the
07:02forearms that means either getting your
07:03wrist extended or Flex depending on what
07:05you're trying to train the second part
07:06of being stretch friendly is that in
07:07that position there should be a fair
07:09amount of tension and the third part is
07:11that it should be length and partial
07:12friendly whatever exercise we do pick as
07:14growing body of research comparing
07:15lengthen partials or doing partial
07:17repetitions in the stretch part of the
07:19movement to doing full repetitions
07:21generally finding better hypertrophy
07:23with length and partials or similar
07:25hypertrophy and so if we're trying to
07:26maximize hypertrophy being length and
07:28partial friendly is a positive attribute
07:30for an exercise the next component is
07:32being actually loaded or not essentially
07:34all us being equal having spinal loading
07:37or really loading any other non- triceps
07:40biceps form muscle groups isn't really
07:42doing anything to grow the biceps
07:44triceps or forms anymore but it is
07:46causing more fatigue and potentially
07:47making it less likely that the target
07:49muscle is the limiting factor and so
07:51something like a standing overhead press
07:52where you're stabilizing the load with
07:54your lower body and with your spine may
07:55not be as good of a choice of tricep
07:57hypertrophy as a seated dumbbell
07:59overhead extension and finally
08:00especially if you're someone who's time
08:01constrained the exercises we do pick
08:03should be time efficient selecting
08:05exercises that require minimum warming
08:07up and minimum loading of the bar and
08:09minimum setup are going to be more time
08:11efficient and that can be really helpful
08:13next up our rest times should be
08:15designed to be maximally effective for
08:17inducing muscle growth there's a few
08:19things we know first rest times of much
08:21under 60 seconds do likely compromise
08:24hypertrophy so rest for at least 60
08:26seconds the vast majority of the time
08:28however it turns out that even though
08:30resting for insufficient time between
08:32sets reduces how effective each set is
08:34for hypertrophy we can make up for this
08:36to an extent at least by just doing more
08:38sets and so there is a component of
08:40personal preference here do you prefer
08:41doing more sets with shorter rest times
08:43or fewer sets with longer rest times
08:45personally the approach I use and
08:47recommend is to Simply rest for as long
08:48between sets as you need to maintain a
08:51good level of performance from set to
08:53set for most arm training isolation wise
08:55it's going to be between 1 and 2 minutes
08:57between sets and for most arm training
09:00if it's compound in nature it's going to
09:02be closer to maybe 2 to 4 minutes but
09:05ultimately let your performance guide
09:06you as far as exercise order goes the
09:09research suggests it's not hugely
09:11important in fact a met analysis by
09:13Nunes and colleagues found essentially
09:14no effect of exercise order on
09:16hypertrophy however on a principled
09:17level as a coach there's a few things I
09:19like to do when it comes to exercise
09:21order first off generally the exercises
09:23targeting muscle groups that are more
09:25important to us if for example we really
09:27want to bring up our biceps and triceps
09:29will want to perform first in the
09:31session when refreshes probably doesn't
09:33make a huge difference but I think it
09:34makes sense second we may want to order
09:36exercises as a heuristic in a way that
09:39maximizes performance across a session
09:41if for instance starting your session
09:43with cable pushdowns negatively impacts
09:45your performance on the subsequent bench
09:47press exercise but benching first
09:49doesn't then impact your performance on
09:51push Downs the lateral rangement may be
09:54slightly preferable and third as a
09:55generalistic I would recommend starting
09:57your sessions with compound exercise and
09:59then moving into isolation exercises and
10:01this is where arm training gets a bit
10:03dicey because arms are generally best
10:04trained with isolation exercises in my
10:06view you will likely be training them
10:08after some compound training based on a
10:10research on exercise order that's likely
10:12not a huge deal but if your arms are a
10:13huge priority to you and you really just
10:15want to get bigger arms it may still
10:17make sense to train them first in the
10:18session and the final component of an
10:21optimal workout for the arms is going to
10:23be good technique on all the exercises
10:25you do perform we were actually involved
10:26in a recent review paper looking at
10:28exactly what makes a technique good or
10:30bad for hypertrophy and by our
10:32estimation there are three or four
10:34components that make up good technique
10:35for muscle building the first is an
10:37adequate Tempo repetitions should last
10:40somewhere between 2 and 8 seconds to
10:42maximize hypertrophy in all likelihood
10:44there's some more speculative evidence
10:45that a slightly longer Ecentric of say 1
10:47or 2 seconds at least per rep is
10:49beneficial and a slightly more explosive
10:51concentric is also beneficial however
10:53within this 2 to 8 second range roughly
10:56you likely won't see a difference in
10:57terms of hypertrophy so preference can
10:59be a play hit second range of motion
11:01specifically we want to be emphasizing
11:03longer muscle lengths as I mentioned
11:05earlier there is a growing body of
11:06evidence looking at the effect of the
11:07stretch on hypertrophy suggesting that
11:09lengthen partials might be a good idea
11:11for hypertrophy at the very least what
11:13you don't want to do is to avoid that
11:15loaded stretch or skimp on it so use a
11:17for ranging motion alternatively if you
11:19want to lean further into this then try
11:21using lengthen partials where you
11:22perform half reps in the stretch
11:24component of the movement the final big
11:26component that hasn't been studied
11:27extensively yet and we're actually
11:29planing a study on this is momentum
11:31generated by other muscle groups or
11:32other joints than the target muscle for
11:34instance during a bicep curl you could
11:36be using your hips and your back to
11:37swing the weight up is that a good thing
11:40probably not ultimately generating
11:42momentum through other muscle groups and
11:43other joints besides the one we're
11:45trying to Target does nothing to really
11:47increase the stimulus on the target
11:49muscle but it does generate more fatigue
11:51and overall makes it less likely that
11:54the target muscle will be the limiting
11:55factor as opposed to your glutes getting
11:57tired of jerking the weight up and and
11:59finally if a certain technique causes
12:01you less pain and still aderes to the
12:03above criteria and or you just enjoy
12:06doing it more by all means go ahead by
12:08the way I have whole videos on all these
12:09topics exercise order volume repetition
12:12ranges frequency and all that that are
12:14linked Below in the description so go
12:15check them out if you need more detail
12:17let me give you a few notes before we
12:18delve onto the arm walkout generally
12:20with this arm walkout start with some
12:22compound movements for your back and
12:24chest back and chest if it's an upper
12:26day or just chest if it's a push day or
12:28just back if it's p you get the idea if
12:31on the other hand you are following a
12:32body part split routine and you're
12:34training the arms directly once a week
12:35and then getting some accessory volume
12:37from your chest and back days just up
12:39the volume a little bit for this session
12:40and potentially do an additional
12:41exercise for the biceps triceps and
12:43forarms respectively if this is you and
12:45this is an arm day specifically I would
12:47probably start the session with a dip
12:50and pull down suet to cheekily increase
12:53the frequency for the back and chest as
12:55well to twice a week and get some pretty
12:57solid lateral and media head of the
12:59tricep hypertrophy and also biceps as it
13:01turns out one studies found similar
13:03hypertrophy from the pull down in the
13:04biceps as compared to cruel exercise but
13:06without further Ado let me give you the
13:08best arm workout I've ever designed or
13:10at least I think so using the most
13:12upto-date scientific research we'll
13:14start this session with a cable overhead
13:16extension and seated bench cable corl
13:18super set perform both of these for 3 to
13:21five sets of 10 to 20 reps with about 90
13:24to 120 seconds of rest between sets for
13:27the same exercise or however long it
13:30takes you to roughly maintain a good
13:31level of performance from set to set
13:33take the first few sets of each exercise
13:36to about two repetitions in reserve and
13:38take the last set all the way to failure
13:40one thing you'll notice in both of these
13:42exercises is that they're solid for
13:43hypertrophy and in fact both of these
13:46focus on the stretch when it comes to
13:47the triceps we have two studies directly
13:49comparing the overhead extension to the
13:51push down for example and the overhead
13:53extension the long head is lengthened to
13:55a greater degree by virtue of your arm
13:57being overhead one of these two studies
13:59found more hypertrophy from the overhead
14:00extension versus the push down in all of
14:02the tricep essentially and the other
14:04study found broadly speaking no
14:06difference between the two likewise when
14:07it comes to the biceps in my view the
14:09data also supports the importance of the
14:11lengthen position and so doing a cable
14:13curl on the bench where you're allow
14:14your shoulders to come back all the way
14:15and get a deeper stretch is likely a
14:17good thing for hypertrophy both of these
14:19exercises are isolation exercises
14:20targeting one of the functions of the
14:22muscle groups involved and are highly
14:24stable and make sure the target muscle
14:26group is the limiting factor by virtue
14:28of it being in isolation exercise
14:29finally if you don't want to suet these
14:31two exercises you just have too much
14:33time on your hand from being unemployed
14:35then consider not suting them and doing
14:37them separately but personally I like
14:39the pump it gives me and it saves time
14:41so win-win alternatively if you don't
14:43have cables or cables or pain to get in
14:45your gym you can superet the dumbbell
14:48overhead extension ideally seated with a
14:50dumbbell preacher curl once again these
14:52two excises take advantage of the
14:54stretch position or isolation exercises
14:56and generally just good picks when it
14:58comes to stimulating Hy tropy once
14:59you've done this first superet for your
15:01biceps and triceps it's time to move on
15:02to the forearms we'll be super setting
15:04the dumbbell wrist curl and the dumbbell
15:06wrist extension if you just want to do
15:08one exercise for your forarms feel free
15:10to miss the dumbbell wrist extension as
15:12you are getting into severely
15:13diminishing returns as far as training
15:14your arms the wrist extensors aren't
15:16particularly large muscle groups so
15:18training them is Not manatory By Any
15:19Means perform two to four sets of 5 to
15:2210 repetitions on the dbo wrist curl and
15:2410 to 20 repetitions on the dbo wrist
15:26extension rest for about 60 seconds to
15:2920 seconds between sets of the same
15:31exercise when you're training your wrist
15:32extensors you're essentially resting
15:33your wrist flexors and vice versa as I
15:35mentioned training the wrist extensors
15:37directly is very optional as you run
15:40into diminishing returns however if you
15:41go a little bit heavier or lower in reps
15:44on the wrist extensions and a little bit
15:45higher in reps on the wrist curls you'll
15:47find you can use pretty similar loads
15:49and so you just need one pair of
15:51dumbbells a bench and you can train your
15:53whole form pretty well by your whole
15:54form I mean most of your form and if
15:56you're the sort of person to be
15:57interested in this stuff check out the
15:59Strong by science article on Forum
16:01training for more detail on training
16:03forums than anyone could possibly ever
16:05need but is a phenomenal resource for
16:08people who are interested forums in
16:10general are an optional muscle group to
16:12train I don't think it's necessary for
16:13everyone but if you want your biggest
16:15arms overall I do think it makes sense
16:17to at least train your wrist flexers a
16:19couple of times a week when you're
16:20performing your wrist curls make sure
16:22you focus on finger extension as well as
16:24many of the wrist flexors are also
16:26responsible for finger flexion and so
16:28extending your fingers at the bottom of
16:30each rep gets you a deeper stretch in
16:32those muscle groups potentially being
16:33better for hypertrophy both of these
16:35exercises are stretch friendly they
16:37offer a good stretch better than the
16:39standing variation for the forearms
16:41dumbbells are typically a better option
16:42in my view than barbells from my
16:44coaching experience and my personal
16:46experience fewer people get pain doing
16:48the Dum variation because there's a bit
16:50more freedom in your wrist positioning I
16:52take it you're not locked into full-on
16:55Super Nation or pronation for either of
16:57the exercises as you would be with a
16:59barbell and additionally dumbbells save
17:01time compared to barbells on account of
17:02not needing to load them up so that was
17:04the arm workout as a note on this
17:07session if you are specializing on your
17:08arms or you're doing this as one arm day
17:11a week add in another exercise for each
17:12muscle group involved so two exercises
17:14for your triceps two exercises for your
17:16biceps and maybe an additional exercise
17:18for your fors as well before we wrap up
17:19this video let's check whether or not
17:21this session fulfills the criteria for
17:23what makes a session maximumly effective
17:25first off by doing one exercise for each
17:27muscle group we're limiting redundancy
17:29and the stimulus being provided we're
17:30also varying rep ranges across the
17:32session going a little bit higher in
17:34reps on your arm isolation work than
17:36you'll typically go in compound work
17:38which overall provides you with a good
17:39variety of rep ranges from your compound
17:41and your arm isolation work overall
17:43within your program potentially leading
17:45to a bit more hypertrophy if you repeat
17:46a similar arm walkout as this one two to
17:48four times a week as part of your upper
17:50body sessions or what have you you will
17:51get a really Sol amount of volume in
17:53across the week by taking the first few
17:55sets of each exercise a little bit
17:56further from failure and then going
17:57closer to failure in all the way to
17:59failure on the last set we're getting
18:01the benefit of going to failure on
18:02certain sets without compromising
18:04hypertrophy by having performance take a
18:05big hit we picked really effective
18:07exercises for each muscle group involved
18:09making sure that the triceps biceps and
18:11forearms are limiting factors that we're
18:13targeting one of their functions that
18:14the exercises we pick are stretch
18:15friendly and additionally the exercises
18:17we picked are time efficient as well
18:19we're resting for at least 60 seconds
18:20between sets but for as long as it takes
18:22you to maintain a good level of
18:24Performance Set to set while exercise
18:26order isn't super important we generally
18:28start with the bigger and more important
18:30muscles being the biceps and triceps and
18:32then moved into the forums with the fors
18:34being a bit smaller and additionally by
18:36not training the forums first we're not
18:38getting the potential knock on effect
18:39I've noticed from training forarms
18:41before biceps impacting your performance
18:43on the bicep training and finally we're
18:45using great technique on all exercises
18:47making sure our Tempo is adequate we're
18:49taking about 2 to 8 seconds per rep at
18:51the most having a slightly longer
18:52Ecentric a slightly more explosive
18:54concentric pausing in a lengthened
18:56position generally minimizing the
18:58involvement of non-target muscle groups
19:00and making sure we emphasize the loaded
19:02stretch by using a full range of motion
19:03or using length and partials that was
19:05the most effective arm walkout I could
19:07design in the context of a good program
19:09if you trained your arm once a year
19:11would you be better off with Rich
19:13piana's 8 Hour arm workout maybe but in
19:16the context of a good program I think
19:17this is a really solid arm workout that
19:19is the video If you enjoyed this video
19:21please comment like subscribe leave a
19:23comment down below letting me know what
19:25other muscle groups you want to see me
19:26break down similarly if you are
19:28subscribed already and around half of
19:29you aren't please do consider
19:31subscribing hitting the Bell as well so
19:32that you get notified whenever I release
19:34a video it really helps out the channel
19:36and helps me put out more good
19:37information for you guys if you're
19:39looking for a coach consider checking
19:40out the link above and we could be
19:42working together in the meantime have a
19:43fantastic day and I'll see you guys my
19:45subscribers in that next one peace
