Have you ever opened up a bodybuilding magazine and just felt frustration? You look at the level of development, particularly in the arms, and you cannot imagine how you will ever come close to that. Their upper arms – consisting of the biceps and triceps – are bigger than yours. They have better shape than yours. They are worlds more conditioned than yours. And they make it look easy. How is this possible?

Don’t beat yourself up too badly. You should remember that these men possess some of the best genetics on earth. They have trained for years, developing a solid base of muscle mass which you likely have not achieved yet. They have sacrificed their time and energy by trekking to the gym five times a week for grueling workouts, and they’ve eaten about a million more grams of protein than you have. By the time they reach the status of professional bodybuilder, their goal is no longer to add outright unadulterated mass. At this point, their focus is upon adding shape to their muscle, and displaying it well with low body fat. How do they manage to do this? Let’s examine the arm workout of a professional bodybuilder to see what he does differently from you.

This workout will take about 90 minutes. This will devote 40 minutes to triceps, 35 minutes to biceps, and 15 minutes to forearms. Triceps are trained first, with surprisingly few mass movements. While beginner and intermediate bodybuilders tend to start with movements such as skull crushers and close-grip bench press, the professional opts for cable pressdowns. This is done because his goal is the maintenance of muscle mass and preservation of triceps health. Close grip benching is ideal for you because you don’t have 25 years of triceps training under your belt – they do. Their joints are much more vulnerable to injury because of the heavy weights they move, and the number of years they have been doing it. Triceps are followed with moderate weight EZ curl bar presses behind the head. Repetition range is moderate, ranging from 8 to 15 reps. After four sets, the professional moves down to triceps machine dips, where he completes four sets of 12 to 20 repetitions. The name of the game is pump, not mass. The weights are heavy, but not as heavy as you’d think.

When biceps training arrives, it’s more of the same! Starting with a moderate weight, the bodybuilder completes alternate dumbbell rows. The form is a little loose, but the concentration is definitely there. This movement is followed by seated preacher curls using the Nautilus machine for three sets of 8 to 10 repetitions. Finally, the bodybuilder wraps things up with four sets of standing cable curls with the straight bar.

Forearms are last, and are hit with a few lackluster sets of forearm and wrist curls. Throughout the entire workout, the pro bodybuilder manages to stay focused and maintain a great pump, but without moving too much weight or risking injury with compound movements. The presence of an initial foundation of muscle means he doesn’t have to use compound movements any more – the pump is now the primary goal.

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