Arm Workouts without Weights: Body Weight Arm Blasters

The arms are the show muscles of the body. Who doesn’t envy peaked, full biceps, defined horseshoe shaped triceps and thick, vein popping forearms? Gyms the world over are full of guys desperately working to attain those guns of steel.

Most of them never get them. Instead, they end up with chronic lower back pain and years of wasted effort. That’s usually because they use too much weight, too little form and not enough common sense. With arm workouts without weights, there’s no risk of injury.

In this article, you will learn a smarter way to get the arms that you deserve. And to do it you are going to use nothing more than the body you were born with and a chin up bar.

A lot of people think that you can’t train arms effectively with body weight exercises. Nothing could be further from the truth – body weight exercises are the smartest, most functional, convenient method to develop and define muscular biceps, triceps and forearms.

Here’s why:

• It is a super time efficient form of exercise
• It is versatile and can be done anywhere, anytime
• It doesn’t cost money
• It doesn’t stress your joints like weights does
• It burns fat fast
• It is safer than weight training

Arm anatomy

There are three major muscle groups in the arms:

Biceps

The biceps brachii, a two headed muscle with point of origin under the deltoid and point of insertion below the elbow.

The basic function of the biceps is to lift and curl the arm and to pronate (twist downward) the wrist. The long head of the bicep bends the elbow and raises the arm forward at the shoulder. The short head supinates, or rotates, the hand.

The brachialis is a thick band of muscle that is hidden behind the biceps in the mid upper arm. It assists to provide upper arm thickness.

Training considerations

Because the biceps involves two functions, curling and supination, complete development requires doing exercises that involve simulations of both of those movements. The long head of the biceps, particularly, is developed by exercises that involve supination.

To develop the brachialis, you need to have your palm pronated, or facing away from your body.

Triceps

The triceps brachii is a three headed muscle that works in opposition to the biceps, also attaching under the deltoid and below the elbow. The three heads of the triceps are the long, lateral and medial heads. All three extend (straighten) the elbow. The long head also extends and adducts the shoulder, moving the upper arm straight back and in towards the side.

The basic function of the triceps is to straighten the arm and to supinate (twist upward) the wrist.

Training considerations

When training the triceps you cannot specifically isolate each of the three heads. However, by learning the function of what the different heads do, you can better emphasize particular areas. For example, the long head is responsible for extension of the shoulder.

To develop the long head, then, you need to do exercises in which your hands are above your head. The lateral and medial heads are more directly stimulated by pressing type movements, such as close grip push ups. Body weight dips are a great mass building movement that targets all three triceps heads.

Forearms

The forearm is comprised of a variety of muscles on the outside and inside of the lower arm that control the actions of the hand and wrist.

The basic function of the forearm flexor muscles is to curl the palm down and forward; the basic function of the forearm extensor muscles is to curl the knuckles back and up.

Training considerations

The forearms should be taken just as seriously as any other body part if you want to develop quality arms. As with other muscles, genetic structure is a factor in determining the potential size and strength of the forearms.

The reason some forearm muscles seem to extend all the way to the hand is that the person has an extremely long “muscle belly” – the actual contractile part of the muscle structure. Muscle size is affected by the length of the muscle belly because mass is a product of volume.

It is also possible to have high forearms – that is, to have a relatively short muscle belly and a long tendon, limiting the cubic volume of the muscle mass. No training will change you genetic structure, but you can enhance what nature has given you.

The workout

Building your arms with just the body you were born with can be thought of as the organic way to develop your biceps, triceps and forearms. The artificial light, the heavy iron plates, the cables and bars of the gym are neither natural nor ideal. If you’ve been stuck in a rut with traditional arm training, it’s time to break free and start loading those guns.

In this bodyweight arm routine, you will be doing a total of nine exercises. Biceps and triceps will be super-setted, while the forearms will be trained as straight sets. For each exercise, you will be doing 3 sets.

One arm pull ups

Primary target muscle: biceps brachii
Secondary focus: developing biceps split

One arm pull ups are a seriously intense movement that will not only make you super strong; they will help to create that enviable but oh so elusive split that separates good biceps from great ones!

To be able to perform one arm pull up you should be able to do 15 regular pull ups in a row. If you need to build up to doing a successful one arm pull up, perform normal pull ups, but gradually begin reducing the number of fingers that you are holding on the bar with one hand.

At the same time move your arms closer together. When you can do five reps with just one finger of the second hand holding the bar, you are ready to try the one arm version.

1. Reach up to grab the chin up bar with a firm overhand grip.
2. Keeping your body prone, pull up with bicep power to lift your chin up to the bar.
3. Lower with control and repeat.

Repetitions: Until you really can’t pull yourself up anymore.

Atomic triceps blaster push ups

Primary target muscle: medial triceps head
Secondary focus: lateral triceps head

This exercise is like a whole bodyweight triceps extension. By elevating your feet, you provide a deeper range of motion to ramp up the intensity.

1. Place your feet on a bench, chair or couch. Assume a push up position with your hands on the ground.
2. Place your palms facing directly forward and closer together than a traditional push up (they should be about 10 inches apart). Your hands should be higher than in a normal push up, about in line with your forehead.
3. Lower yourself down, keeping the elbows in front of the torso and bringing your forearms down to touch the floor. Use your triceps power to push back up.

Repetitions: Until your muscles fail.

Lateral chin walks

Primary target muscle: biceps brachii
Secondary focus: forearm flexors

This is an intense movement that sees you walking your hands across the chin up bar as you keep your body supported with the power of your biceps.

1. Grab the chin up bar with an overhand grip and your hands about six inches apart.
2. Pull yourself up to the top chin up position.
3. Now walk your hands across the bar, inching your way to one side. Make sure to keep your body upright and your chin at bar level.
4. Keep going!

Repetitions: Keep going until you fail!

Diamond dive bombers

Primary target muscle: long head of the triceps
Secondary focus: medial head of the triceps

1. Assume a position on the ground with your legs wide apart and your hands about 10 inches apart. Your fingers are spread out and planted on the ground. Your butt should be up in the air.
2. Bring your head down so that your upper and lower body form an upside down “v” shape.
3. Bend the elbows to swoop down and forward, coming close to the ground in a curving motion and then coming up to a bent back position.
4. Now, swoop down again and push back to reverse the motion.
5. Exhale on the push through, inhale on the return.

Repetitions: Until failure – when you start compromising your form, you have failed!

Head bangers

Primary target muscle: biceps brachialis
Secondary focus: forearm flexors

This is another advanced movement that uses the chin up bar. You will be moving your body vertically towards and away from the bar while suspended in mid air. This provides massive stress for the biceps, forcing even the most stubborn muscles to respond.

1. Grab the chin up bar with an overhand grip and your hands about six inches apart.
2. Pull yourself up to the top chin up position.
3. Now use your arm strength to force your head away from the bar and immediately back again. You head should move in a pulsing motion towards and away from the bar.
4. The key is to keep your head at bar height for as long as possible. Forcefully contract your biceps during each pulse.

Repetitions: Until failure.

Reverse close grip push ups

Primary target muscle: medial head of the triceps
Secondary focus: forearm flexors

1. Set yourself on the ground, face down with your hands about 5 inches apart (Note: In this exercise your hands are much closer together than in a traditional push up). Your feet should be touching. Keeping your body in a straight line, rise up so that your arms are fully extended. Tense up your buttocks and tighten your abs to prevent your butt from lifting you into a ‘v’ position. Look straight ahead rather than down.
2. Reverse the position of your hands so that they are facing away from your body. At the same time move the hands about six inches back towards your stomach.
3. Now perform a push up going down until your chin is nearly touching the floor. Make sure that you keep your elbows in at your sides throughout this movement.

Repetitions: Until you fail.

Forearms

The three forearm exercises that you will be performing to round out your workout will be performed as straight sets, with three sets being hammered out on each movement. You will again be performing each set until your body can’t do it anymore. Your rest time between sets is just 30 seconds.

Single handed dead hangs

Primary target muscle: forearm flexors
Secondary focus: biceps brachii

1. Grip the chin up bar with both hands and hang loosely.
2. Release one hand so that you are supporting your entire body weight with just one arm.
3. Hang for as long as possible.
4. Repeat with the other arm.

Chair curls

Primary target muscle: forearms flexors
Secondary focus: forearm extensors

For this exercise you will need a simple dining room chair.

1. Grab the chair as it is facing away from you by placing your palms, facing up, through the back rest.
2. Curl the chair towards you by pulling your hands toward your forearms. Tense the top contracted position before extending the wrist back down.

Perform 3 sets until failure. If you can get more than 20 reps on each set, use a heavier chair.

Chair reverse curl

Primary target muscle: forearm extensors
Secondary focus: forearm flexors

Use the same chair as you did on the last exercise.

1. Grab the chair as it is facing away from you by placing your palms, facing down, through the back rest.
2. Curl the chair up by flexing your forearms. Keep your elbows in at your side and focus on feeling the movement through the forearms.

Perform 3 sets until failure. If you can get more than 20 reps on each set, use a heavier chair.

You don’t need to join a gym or risk injury with heavy weight to build impressive arms. All you need is the body you were born with, a chin up bar and plenty of enthusiasm. Stick with the program outlined above for 3 months and your guns will be locked, loaded and ready for action.