In my current round of workouts has my triceps getting hit on two different cycles: on chest day and on arm day. When these days fall one after the other without more than 24 hours of rest, the triceps fail fast and the biceps get bored. Today was such a day.

The chest routine performed yesterday has the following exercises for the triceps at as the last two:

• Pushdowns 3×10, 8, 6
• Weighted Dips 3×6-8

Doesn’t seem like much, but coming after flat bench presses, inclined presses, pec-deck, standing military press, upright barbell rows and barbell shrugs, it doesn’t take much to finish off the triceps.

And now, here’s arm day.

The exercises for arm day are meant to compliment the rest of the week. They are here to finish off and stimulate more directly the triceps and biceps. Sometimes the forearms are coaxed to come out and play. Some sets are done in a 1 second positive, 3 second negative cadence. Others are in a more conventional 1 second, 1.5-2 second. After warmup and stretching, the routine is this.

• Triceps
  • Bar pushdowns 3×30, 20, 15
  • One-arm dumbbell extensions 3×30, 20, 15
  • Rope pushdowns 3×30, 20, 15
• Biceps
  • Dumbbell Hammer Curl 2×10, 12
  • Rope Hammer Curl 3×30, 20, 15
  • Dumbbell Curl 1×15-20
  • Preacher Curl 1×8-10, 8, 8

There you go. That looks good, doesn’t it? The triceps, being tired from yesterday, didn’t take much to reach lactic acid buildup and fail. Ok, bicep time. Warm up. Stretch. Go. The rope hammer curls were hard. Had to pause a few seconds to get to 30 and 20 reps. Perhaps the 45 pounds is too much. Keep pushing.

Preacher curls are odd for me. With my long arms and short muscle bellies, I have a great deal of bone with no support. The weights are way out there on the lever and the bar plus a total of 30 pounds is more than enough. I squeezed out each rep required. Cool. Done.

But wait. My biceps are not burning. They are not cramped like my tris. They are also not getting hit directly on other days, so they need a burn out set. What to add? What to use as a speed set to really work the biceps and finish them off for the day?

Ah, the bicep curl machine. Yes! I sat down and did two sets of 15 reps, 1.5 seconds for each rep at 40 pounds, keeping form good. Just because a set is done at speed doesn’t mean the form is allowed to be sloppy.

The result? Holy cow, yes! This exercise has been added as the last one for the arms. Can’t wait for next time.

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