Have you ever watched a professional athlete celebrate after a great play by striking the double bicep pose? This pose has become the ultimate sign of strength. Yet, the deadlift is currently considered one of the
best exercises you can do for strength. It requires overall strength with an emphasis on your lats and glutes, but I have yet to see a powerlifter turnaround and show off his glutes after performing an impressive lift. We’ve all taken a moment and looked at a side profile of our arms when passing a mirror, some of us more than others, and I don’t think there is anything wrong with that.
The argument was made a few years ago that arm training didn’t have a place in a well-rounded fat loss and strengthening routine. Biceps and triceps are considered small muscles and don’t generate a high caloric burn. This is the reason we prioritize squats, lunges, and deadlifts in a fat loss program. The biceps and triceps are also secondary muscles in all pressing and pulling type movements. They play a purely complimentary role in most exercises, affirming that your time in the gym is better spent doing other exercises. So why do we work arms at the studio?
You are as strong as your weakest link. If you possess poor core strength when performing a push-up, the power leak will be your ability to maintain a stiff trunk while pressing yourself up. In the same exercise, if your triceps lack adequate strength to extend the elbow (the primary job of the tricep), in this scenario, the power leak will be your arms. Arm training should not be the priority in your workout, but should have a place.
If there is not enough time to get everything in, I would never select curls over rows. My reasoning is that you receive bicep engagement while performing back strengthening row variations, and nothing is obtained in the lats from a bicep curl. In the quest of being efficient, I recommend performing heavy rows and presses first and, if time allows, mixing in either extensions or curls as complimentary work. I think the better question to ask is how is my time in the gym better spent? Where will you get your biggest bang for the buck? I tend to prioritize efficiency in my workouts and programs. I have not had a person approach me recently asking for a workout that takes 2 hours to complete and needs to be done 5 days a week to see gains.
The strength and conditioning world got turned upside down when legendary powerlifting coach, Louie Simmons, founder of the famous Westside Barbell Club, shared that all his athletes train their arms in
his programs. Louie hit national acclaim when he was featured in the documentary movie, “Bigger, Stronger, Faster”. Westside Barbell has been the home to power-lifting world record holders for years. In powerlifting, it’s all about moving the weight. You don’t receive points for aesthetics. You can imagine the surprise when Louie said, “You will limit your pressing and pulling strength with weak arms.” We’ll continue to work our arms at the studio.
I’ll see you at the studio.