Weapons of Discipline
30 minutes alternating biceps and triceps. Zero rest between antagonist pairs — while one works, the other recovers. This doubles your effective volume in half the time and keeps blood pooled in the arms the entire session.
The Science: Arms respond best to high frequency, stretch-position loading, and metabolic stress. Antagonist supersets (bicep then tricep, no rest) increase blood flow, extend time under tension, and let you fit 2x the volume into 30 minutes. Both heads of the biceps and all three heads of the triceps get targeted. (RP Strength / Jeff Nippard)
Superset Pairs
4
Bi/Tri alternating
Finisher
1
Drop set burnout
Rest
0s / 45s
Between pair / rounds
S-tier bicep exercise. The incline puts the long head in a fully stretched position at the bottom — this is where the most hypertrophy stimulus occurs. Recent research shows lengthened-position training produces up to 2x the growth of shortened-position training.
The tricep equivalent of incline curls. Overhead position puts the long head (the biggest head — 50% of tricep mass) in a deep stretch. Cable keeps constant tension through the full range. This is the single best tricep exercise for size according to both RP and Nippard.
The pad eliminates all momentum and cheating. Targets the short head and brachialis for that thick, wide look from the front. Machine preacher is even better — keeps tension at the top where free weights go slack.
Targets the lateral head — the one that creates that horseshoe shape from the side. Rope lets you split at the bottom for extra contraction. Keep elbows pinned to your sides the entire time.
Targets the brachialis — the muscle underneath the bicep that pushes it UP and makes your arm look bigger from every angle. Cross-body variation increases brachialis activation over standard hammers. Also hits the brachioradialis for forearm thickness.
Heavy compound for all three tricep heads. By this point your triceps are pre-fatigued from overheads and pushdowns — bodyweight dips will be plenty. Keep torso upright (lean forward = chest emphasis, upright = tricep emphasis).
Cable keeps tension at the top of the curl where dumbbells go slack. Your biceps are trashed by now — go light, chase the pump, squeeze every rep. This is about flooding the muscle with blood, not moving weight.
Highest tricep EMG activation of any exercise at peak contraction. Cable version is superior to dumbbell — constant tension throughout, no dead zone at the bottom. Light weight, maximum squeeze. Your triceps will be screaming.
One set, maximum pain, ultimate pump. Do this as the very last thing.
EZ Bar 21s
7 reps bottom half → 7 reps top half → 7 full range. No rest between. One set to absolute failure.
30s rest
Pushdown Drop Set
Start at working weight → failure → drop 25% → failure → drop 25% → failure. Three drops, no rest between.
That's it. Your arms should be so pumped you can barely pick up your water bottle.
Biceps
11 sets
Long head: Incline curl (3 sets)
Short head: Preacher curl (3 sets)
Brachialis: Hammer curl (3 sets)
Pump: Cable curl (2 sets)
Finisher: 21s (1 set)
Triceps
11 sets
Long head: Overhead ext (3 sets)
Lateral head: Pushdown (3 sets)
All heads: Dips (3 sets)
Peak: Kickback (2 sets)
Finisher: Drop set (1 set)
Antagonist supersets work because: Biceps recover while triceps work and vice versa. You cut session time in half with zero volume loss.
Go lighter than your ego wants. Arms are small muscles. If you're swinging or using momentum, the weight is too heavy. Perfect reps with 25s beat ugly reps with 40s.
Squeeze every rep. The mind-muscle connection matters more for arms than any other body part. If you can't feel the contraction, slow down.
Arms grow from frequency. Training arms 2-3x per week (even with lower volume per session) beats 1x per week with high volume.