Arms
34 pieces
- Exercise19 October 2026Straight-bar press-downThe triceps press-down with a straight bar on a high pulley. Elbows pinned, bar from chest height down to your thighs, and nothing else moves. It rewards strict reps more than heavy ones.
- Exercise19 October 2026Single-arm cable triceps extensionA triceps press-down done one arm at a time with a single handle on a high pulley. Each arm has to do its own work, so a stronger side cannot cover for the weaker one. Pin the elbow, straighten the arm, and finish one side before the other.
- Exercise19 October 2026Reverse EZ bar curlA curl with your palms facing down on an EZ bar. Reckoner counts it for the forearms first, with the biceps helping. It asks for straight wrists and a lighter bar than you expect.
- Exercise19 October 2026JM pressA triceps lift that sits between a close-grip bench press and a skullcrusher. The bar comes down toward your chin while your elbows travel forward, then you press it back up the same path. It is easy to get wrong, so learn it light.
- Exercise19 October 2026Incline dumbbell curlA curl lying back on an incline bench, arms hanging straight down behind your body. That position starts the biceps stretched, and in a twelve week trial it grew the biceps a little more than a preacher curl did[1]. It is a curl to do slowly and with less weight than you think.
- Exercise19 October 2026Dumbbell preacher curlA one arm curl with the back of your upper arm flat on an angled pad. The pad stops the shoulder helping, so the elbow does all the work. It grows the brachialis and the forearm flexor a little more than an incline curl, and the biceps a little less[1].
- Exercise19 October 2026Dead hangYou hang from a bar with straight arms and your feet off the floor, and you hold it. It is grip work: the forearms hold you up for as long as they can. Simple to do and hard to do for long, which is the point.
- Exercise19 October 2026Cable rope hammer curlA hammer curl on a low pulley with a rope. Thumbs up, palms facing each other, elbows at your sides. The cable keeps the pull on through the whole rep, and Reckoner counts it for the biceps and the forearms together.
- Exercise19 October 2026Bayesian cable curlA one arm cable curl with your back to the stack and your arm behind you. The cable keeps pulling all the way down, so the biceps work at full stretch. It grew the biceps as well as a preacher curl did in a ten week trial[1], so it is a choice to make for comfort and kit, not a secret.
- Exercise13 October 2026Machine triceps extensionA seated machine that does one thing: it straightens your elbow against a stack. Nothing else is asked to help, so it is easy to learn and easy to take close to failure. It is also not the only arm position that trains the triceps, and the longer of two trials that compared arm positions found overhead work grew the muscle more[1], while a shorter one found no difference[3].
- Exercise13 October 2026Machine biceps curlA seated curl with your upper arms resting on a pad, so the elbow is the only joint that moves and the weight cannot swing. Because the pad holds you in place, what you log is what the arms lifted. The part people skip is the bottom of the range, and a trial on the seated preacher curl found it was worth keeping[1].
- Exercise12 October 2026Assisted dipA dip with a counterweight under your knees. The machine carries part of your bodyweight, so the number you pin is help rather than load, and getting stronger means that number coming down. It is the same movement as a bar dip, working the triceps, the chest and the front of the shoulders, at a share of your weight you can move properly for a whole set.
- Exercise9 October 2026Wrist curlSit with your forearm resting on your thigh and your palm up, and curl a dumbbell using nothing but your wrist. It loads the muscles on the palm side of the forearm that bend the wrist[1]. It is a small movement, and it goes wrong the moment the weight is bigger than the wrist can control.
- Exercise9 October 2026Reverse wrist curlSit with your forearm resting on your thigh and your palm down, and lift a dumbbell by bending your wrist back. It loads the muscles on the back of the forearm that extend the wrist[1], the ones a wrist curl leaves out. Start light, because this is a small movement with no room to hide a weight that is too heavy.
- Exercise15 September 2026Dumbbell triceps kickbackOne hand and one knee on a bench, the upper arm held level beside your ribs, and a dumbbell pushed back until the elbow is straight. The lift gets harder the straighter your arm gets, so the last part of every rep is the part to own.
- Exercise5 September 2026EZ bar skullcrusherThe lying triceps extension, loaded on a cambered bar. Both arms work against one weight that goes up in small steps, and the bends let your forearms turn slightly inward instead of holding them square on a straight bar. The grip is the only thing the bar changes. Everything else on this page is true of any lying extension.
- Exercise2 September 2026Inverted curlLie under a bar with an underhand grip, keep your elbows at your sides, and curl your chest up to your hands. It is a curl with your own bodyweight as the load, and the bar height is the dial.
- Exercise2 September 2026Farmer's carryTwo heavy weights, one in each hand, and a walk. There is almost nothing to learn and almost no way to fake it, which is why it is in the library. The grip goes first for most people, and the upper back is not far behind.
- Exercise2 September 2026EZ bar preacher curlArms over a sloped pad, bar in your hands, and nowhere to hide. The pad takes the swing away completely, which means the load you finish the set with is the load your biceps moved.
- Exercise2 September 2026EZ bar curlThe zigzag bar exists for one reason: it lets your forearms sit part way between palms up and palms in, which is a position a lot of wrists tolerate far better. That comfort is not free, and it is usually worth paying for anyway.
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