You should not train your arms every single day for several reasons. If you train your arms every single day you will not be able to properly recover and gain muscle. If you train arms every day and your muscles are sore this means you’re not giving them enough time to recover. Even though you’re training hard you are not letting them recover. In addition, if you train arms every single day that foreshadows a different issue entirely, the lack of intensity in training. If you train every single day you could also risk injury.
There isn’t a single person out there that wouldn’t want to have bigger arms. Or, if they don’t desire to improve their arms surely there’s some other muscle group that they would like to improve upon.
It would seem logical to think that if you train more, then you will receive more benefits from that hard work but, this is not always the case.
Even if you train very hard every single day, no matter the muscle group, it is futile unless you are recovering just as efficiently.
So, this brings up today’s question, Why you should not train arms every single day, and How to build bigger arms the right away?
3 reasons why you should NOT train arms every day
As mentioned before there are many different reasons why you should not train arms every single day.
These reasons can range from things such as proper recovery, body imbalances and most importantly risk or injury.
If we really want to know how to train the arms properly and see the best muscle growth possible then we should also understand what not to do to avoid these very common mistakes.
# 1: Recovery
One of the most important details to remember when training any part of the body let alone the arms is recovery.
Whenever you train any muscle in the body those muscles develop minute muscle tears in them. Whenever these are healed is when the muscle themselves are built back stronger and bigger than ever before.
It would make complete sense to say that the real time that the muscles are growing is not in the gym while you’re lifting weights but instead whenever you’re resting and recovering.
There are several very important details to recovery. These would include things such as diet and rest.
The importance of diet in muscle recovery
Diet is very important detail to remember whenever we’re training any muscle in the body. It is the most important aspect along with sleep to maintain a healthy body and to recover and grow muscle as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
The most important thing to remember with diet is your protein intake. The most recommended protein intake by doctors and nutritionists around the world is anywhere close to 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight.
If we want to get more to specific the perfect amount would be .7 grams of protein per pound of body weight.
Along with protein, the next most important thing is calorie intake. If your body is burning more calories than you were consuming then you will unfortunately lose weight. This will make it extra difficult to gain muscle.
Rest is where the muscle is built
If you train with a proper intensity you will inevitably be sore sometimes after your workouts. This is another reason why you should not train every single day.
If you train every single day you will not have the proper number of days to rest and recover muscle. If you are able to train every single day because your muscles are not sore that indicates that you’re most likely not training with enough enough intensity.
Lacking of intensity can show up in ways such as poor form, not training to failure, and overall just not pushing yourself hard enough. If you never try to do more weight than last time then chances are you are not pushing yourself hard enough.
#2: Body Imbalances
If you’re working out chances are you care about how your body looks. If you even care just a little bit about the look of your body you should also care about the proportions of it.
If you are training your arms every single day then inevitably one day your arms will stand out like a sore thumb when compared to the rest of your body.
If you train arms every single day and don’t keep that same intensity in training with the rest of your body then your physique will not be as symmetrical as it should be.
This is especially true to consider among bodybuilders, or even those that are considering bodybuilding one day. It is always important to consider symmetry whenever working out for looks and also for bodybuilding.
#3: Injury
The most dangerous consequence of training any muscle group every single day is the increased risk of injury.
If you do not take the proper amount of time and care to rest your body then you have an exponential increase in risk of injury.
This can range from any type of minor injury like a pulled muscle to something major such as a torn bicep. These injuries can take anywhere from weeks to years to recover from.
Rest and Recovery are definitely not something you want to neglect for this reason.
How to build BIGGER arms
Arms are one of the most commonly trained and overtrained muscles in the entire body. Many individuals particularly teenage boys who start working out try to train their arms over and over again to see results.
This will oftentimes result in overtraining and lead to many undesired results as I prefaced above.
Now, that we know the reasons that you should not train your arms every single day we can get into the real topic at hand, How you train your arms properly and gain the most amount of muscle possible.
Intensity
The first and most important thing to keep in mind when training the arms is intensity. Intensity can be defined simply as pushing yourself harder than last time.
Intensity is very important when training the muscles in the body because often times and most of the time it is not the quantity of the amount we train but rather the quality.
Is it better to do three hard and very intense working sets then doing 10 crappy sets with very little intensity.
A common way to perform any exercise with intensity is to go to failure. Simply put, this means to train and keep pushing up reps until you can’t complete any more reps.
Of course, should not do this all the time, or you should definitely not do it when endangering your own safety. It is not always recommended when doing barbell movements such as bench and squat whenever you risk entry, but it is definitely okay to go to failure whenever performing machine lifts.
Another way to perform proper intensity is by using heavy weights. If you’re only training with a few pounds and doing that for a few reps and they are not very focused and intense then you will not see very good results, if any.
If you’re training with intensity you’ll train near to failure if not to complete failure with increasingly heavy weight every week.
This is not to say that weight is everything, in fact, quite the opposite. Using heavyweight when working out is important but more important than that is to have good quality reps.
How much volume is too much volume? The Best number of sets and reps
Whenever the goal at hand is to gain the most muscle possible you should train in a particular way.
If you want to do this you should keep in mind training in a particular rep scheme. If your goal is to gain just strength then the ideal rep scheme ( number of reps per set) should aim to be anywhere between 1 and 6 reps.
If your main goal however, as in this instance is to gain the most muscle then we should aim to achieve a rep scheme of anywhere in the range of 10 to 18 reps.
Sets?
The next question that naturally arises after addressing the right amount of reps would be the right amount of sets. One thing that we should address as well is the common term working set.
A working set is any set that you are performing that is difficult. A set that actually counts. Warm-up sets and sets to get your body ready to perform the hard sets do not count in this instance.
So, what is the most optimal number of working sets that you should do to train the arms? Well in general, it is most recommended to work out 3 to 5 working sets per muscle group per workout.
This roughly equates to doing 35 reps per exercise per workout. These reps are the ones that are actually helping you gain muscle.
Why GOOD form is so crucial
One commonly forgotten element you must remember when working out is the quality of the rep. Not only is the number of sets and reps very important but also equally important is the form of the rep itself.
It is very important to maintain a full range of motion in any exercise performed. Whenever a full range of motion is performed then you will see the best results from your effort.
As an example, if you train bicep curl in a slow and controlled fashion with a full range motion you will see exceedingly more results when compared to swinging the weight and a lack of intensity.
It is certainly okay to see some form of degradation as you perform a set, especially towards the end whenever it starts becoming more difficult, this is only natural. But, this should not be the case from the very start of exercise. It’s important to maintain form throughout the very beginning and in most of your working sets.
You should try to avoid swinging the weight as much as possible or bouncing the weight. Any using of momentum will eliminate muscle recruitment to some extent and therefore muscle gain.
So, how many times should you workout arms a week?
As addressed by this article it is critical and crucial to not train any muscle group let alone the arms every single day of the week. So, why is this?
If you’re training your arms every single day without feeling any soreness or decreased muscle strength output then the chances are you are not using enough intensity in your workouts.
The key to getting muscle is finding out and fine-tuning the balance between working out and resting. If you can work out as much as possible and rest the optimal amount then you can gain the most muscle.
So, what does this mean for the arms in particular? Any individual should aim to train the arms anywhere between two to three times a week.
It doesn’t necessarily matter how much you spread out these workouts as long as there is at least one rest day between each arm workout.
The amount of time that is needed to rest and recover can differ from person to person especially if you train harder than another individual.
The most important thing to remember when training the arms is to push yourself hard but to also rest and recover just as hard.