*So, You Want to Know My Arm Routine, Eh?

Jamie Chaos

October 22, 2009

A tremendously blurry self portait of myself ironing and watching Anchorman.

I find it somewhat odd and hilarious that I get so many compliments on my arms. Personally, I feel like a modern-day Mike Katz, with arms too small for my torso, and everything overpowered by my legs. It’s not as though I eschew most direct arm work out of some desire to not be a chest-and-bis douche at the gym- it’s because I quite literally detest lifting chest and arms. I loathe it. I abhor it. It sucks.In any event, you’ve asked, and I shall tell you the secret to my arms. Reverse grip curls and hammer curls for biceps, and close grip bench press and reverse grip bench press for my triceps. That’s it. It’s not rocket science.

Over the course of the last few months I’ve been using my “off” days to work arms, neck, calves, and abs, because my elbow hurt like shit when I’d do dips and my back is usually exhausted from cleans and deads and the like.

Thus, twice a week, I do the following: Superset of reverse grip fat bar curls 10-12, with pushdowns. I had been doing overhead extensions and overhead press with the same bar in a tri-set previously, but I’m still rehabbing my tricep.

For you guys: With a fat bar- this is critical for the forearms
Reverse Grip Curls
Overhead Extensions
Overhead Press

Walk to the water fountain, get a drink and repeat.

Do this for 15 mins, then do some abs and neck and go home. That’s it. There’s nothing exciting about it. It’s a way for me to get into the gym on an off day and have an innocuous workout that won’t detract from my real lifting. Mostly, I do it for vascularity. I don’t put any weight on the bar, and I do nothing fancy.

If I do anything else, it’s:
Kettlebell, log, or dumbbell hammer curls
Pushdowns
Repeat.

This is how my arms were built, outside of brutally heavy compound movements. Earth shattering? Hardly. The arm work I do is like adding filigree to an already impressive, massive bronze sculpture, rather than creating the sculpture itself.

This arm was built long before some pencil-necked asshole invented Hercules Curls.

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Jamie Chaos

I am a former all-time, all federation world record holder in raw powerlifting at 181lbs, a record I broke just to say fuck you to the internet’s “lifting” community and the powerlifting community at large. Over the last ten years I’ve written over 500 articles on strength training, nutrition, and supplementation, and continue to do so simply to fight the tide of weakness and sadness that currently pervades the scene I’ve called home for the better part of three decades. I’ve got personal trainin certs, BodyPump and BodyCombat certs, a BA in History and East Asian Studies from the University of Arizona, and MBAs from the Vienna University and University of South Carolina on my side, in addition to some sick lifts and a hell of a lot of rage. What the fuck have you got?

13 responses to “*So, You Want to Know My Arm Routine, Eh?”

Anonymous

October 23, 2009

You mean you don't do 5 different variations of curls!!! What kinda man are you!
Jippo
Jamie Lewis

October 23, 2009

I'm a man who discovered the wheel and built the Eiffel Tower out of metal and brawn. That's what kind of man I am. You're just a woman with a small brain. With a brain a third the size of us. It's science.
Anonymous

October 23, 2009

have you always done the fat bar or have you done the standard, cause that's what i've been doing just more reps…but your "arm medley" is awesome!
TomFLEX
Anonymous

October 23, 2009

haha touche good sir! Those pearls of Mr Burgundy ring more true every time i hear them. Damned awkward broads!
Anonymous

October 24, 2009

Hey man i also tend to do arms and core work on the lighter days, doesn't take away from the brutality of heavy days whilst still being nowhere near as gay as the majority of gym goers lifting days. Just wondered what benefit you feel reverse grip curls have over regular? Added forearm work?
Anonymous

October 24, 2009

"eh?" Have you made a break for the border and decided you are canadian now? (Eh?)
Jamie Lewis

October 24, 2009

I've been doing fat bar curls for a couple of years, but not always.

I like the reverse grips because they have a functional aspect, and because they hit forearms. And because they're generally manlier.
Doug Graves

October 24, 2009

You can do the reverse curls standing on a swiss ball to make them even more functional!
Jamie Lewis

October 26, 2009

This is true. I could also do them with a cock in my ass to work my sphincter. Alas, however, I shall not.
Anonymous

October 28, 2009

you have too many pumpkins on your shelf
Anonymous

October 28, 2009

Yeah. What are you doing with all those pumpkins? Are they heavy?
Jamie Lewis

October 30, 2009

I had no fucking idea what you people were talking about. I never even noticed the pumpkins. My roommate put them up at some point and I failed to recognize their existence. I'm sure this has a great deal to do with the fact that I studiously avoid being in the house when her children are awake, which means I'm rarely home.
Anonymous

July 9, 2010

Your roomate has kids? How do you survive?