Arm Exercises that will Strengthen and Tone your Arms ... and more!

I was looking at postings on arm exercises on a bodybuilder forum when I came across this question:

"How do male gymnasts have such big arms?Does anyone know how they have such big arms...like 18" bis. If they train them everyday...how do they grow so big? They all have small frames w/ huge arms."

An Insightful Question

An interesting question, don’t you think? Like most gym going muscleheads, he does betray an attitude that I don’t agree with. Meaning, he’s more concerned about the size and appearance of his arms, as opposed to how strong and functional they are. Nonetheless, the question is valid. How do gymnasts develop their arms without lifting weights? Here are some of the better and more insightful answers he received:

Some Possible Answers

"... a person working out arms is directly straining just the bi/tri muscle, where as a gymnast is going to be doing bodyweight movements that require the cooperation of the entire muscular system to perform it. So a gymnast isn’t going to over train their muscles because they are not directly training single muscles"

" I love the way they look, because they make all the experts look wrong [my emphasis added].They train the same bodyparts everyday and never lift heavy weights. And, yet they seem to have muscles most people would kill for. Crazy."

" The guy with the biggest arms on this years US team was in this month's Men's Health and he never lifts he only does training that involves his own bodyweight."

If you’ve learned anything at all from reading this site, you will already know the truth that these bodybuilder guys above are only beginning to grasp. If you want strong, functional arms, you don’t need to do arm exercises like bicep curls or triceps extensions. Just like animals in the wild, the only weight you need to work is your own. Performing natural, animal-like movements will give you all the strength and size you need. What’s more, as you’re training your body in a way that is consistent with man’s evolution, the strength will be functional as well.

If you are interested in acquiring the natural animal like strength and muscle tone of a gymnast, here are some arm exercises you can try:

Arm Exercises – Beginner – Power Cat Pushup

If you haven’t done any kind of arm exercise for a long time, start with this simple exercise. It will help strengthen and tone your arms, shoulders, and chest.

Forearm Exercises – Intermediate – Indoor Bear Crawl

Regular bear crawls are a fantastic exercise that work your entire body. This is a variation that you can do when you don’t have much room to crawl. It will develop your forearms like no bodies business.

Bicep Exercises – Advanced – One Leg In Air Push-Ups

This is as close as you can get to performing a one armed pushup without actually doing it. It’s a great exercise for developing powerful arms and shoulders.

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