ARMS ·

6 BEST EXERCISES FOR BIGGER ARMS

Top-five 212 Olympian Nathan Epler shares six arm exercises to help you fill out your t-shirt sleeves. Plus, follow him throughout a typical day of his offseason to see what he’s eating to pack on size, get a sneak peek at his new gym, and run some errands.

 

 

Nathan begins his day with fasted cardio which consists of incline treadmill walking for 25 minutes, 6 times a week. After his cardio Nathan eats his first meal.

Meal 1:

Nathan then completes some client work before having his second meal.

Meal 2:

  • 6 oz chicken breast
  • 240 g rice
  • ¼ tsp pink salt
  • 2 tbsp zesty ranch dressing

Meal 3:

  • 6 oz 90/10 ground bison
  • 180 g rice
  • 1 cup chopped lettuce
  • ¼ tsp pink salt
  • 2 tbsp zesty ranch dressing

After this meal, Nathan shows us some of his trophies and talks about the memories and shows associated with each. After this, Nathan takes us to his new gym American Muscle Factory and gives us a tour of the facility before heading home to eat his pre-workout meal.

Meal 4:

  • 1 Costco Muffin
  • 4 oz berries
  • 40 g ISO[H1] Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookie grass fed whey isolate protein
  • 5 g HOSSTILE Creatine
  • 5 g HOSSTILE Glutamine

Nathan fuels his arm workout with a full serving of HOSSTILITY pre-workout. This workout is a high volume, high intensity arm blast which will leave your arms begging for mercy.

Nathan's Arm-Blasting Workout

Cable Curl 21’s:
Set up a straight bar or EZ curl handle on a low cable pulley. Grab the handle and stand up nice and tall with your chest up and shoulder pulled back. Begin by performing 7 reps of bicep curls and stopping once the bar is at a 90-degree angle and returning it back to a fully lengthened position. Once those 7 reps are completed, immediately perform 7 more reps from the 90-degree point to a fully contracted position. Once those reps are completed, perform 7 reps with a full range of motion. Do this circuit 3 times with 60 seconds rest between sets.

Goblet Curls:
Grab a dumbbell and turn it vertically, grabbing the weight with both hands. Curl the weight up explosively and control the weight back down slowly. Perform 3-4 sets of 20 reps, taking the last two sets to failure.

Machine Dips:
Set the seat height so that your triceps bend to at least a 90- degree angle at the bottom of the movement. Make sure that you are sitting up tall with your chest up and shoulders pulled back. Drive handles down until arms are fully extended. Control weight back down. Do 3-4 sets of 20 reps to failure.

Single-Arm Preacher Curl:
Position yourself on a preacher curl so that you have one of your arms resting flat on the pad. Start with your arm outstretched and then being to drive the handle up and bring your hand towards your shoulder. Once at the top, contracting your bicep hard and then slowly returning the weight back to the starting position in a slow and controlled manner. Perform 3-4 sets of 20 reps per hand, taking the last 2 sets to failure.

Single-Arm Cable Curl:
Set up a cable pulley at about shoulder height with a single handle. Grab the handle and walk away from the machine so that your arm is outstretched from like you are doing a front double bicep pose. Curl the weight up as if you are trying to pull the handle towards your ears. Once the weight is by your ears, hold the contraction for a second and then control the weight back down. Complete 3-4 sets of 20 reps per arm, taking the last 2 sets to failure.

Single-Arm Cable Pushdown:
The last exercise of this workout is single arm triceps pushdowns. Set up a single grip handle on a high cable pulley. Make sure you are standing tall with chest up and shoulders back. Explosively drive the handle down towards the floor, straightening your arm. Once straightened completely, begin to bend the arm and control the weight back up without having the upper arm raise up. Complete 4 sets of 20 reps, hitting failure on the 2 sets.

Once Nathan is home, he eats his post-workout meal which is his favorite meal of the day.

Meal 5:

  • 220 g pasta
  • 7 oz of chicken breast
  • ½ cup of pasta sauce
  • 1 diet soda

Nathan enjoys this meal and relaxes with his wife, Alexis, watching TV until his last meal of the day.

Meal 5:

  • 6 oz top sirloin steak
  • Sweet potato fries topped with ground cinnamon
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