If you believe the supplement companies, there are literally thousands products on the market that are "guaranteed" to help you pack on muscle. Based on my experiences, some supplements work, some supplements might work, and some supplements are nothing but a waste of your hard earned money! Before going down this road it is advised to do some research.

If you believe the bodybuilding magazines, you are going to be trying some goofy state of the art drop set laden, ultra periodized, body-type arm blasting workout. While this approach may work for professional bodybuilders, it is certainly not the best approach for the average fitness junkie in search of a few extra inches of arm growth.

If you believe me, you will make sure to pay attention to the basics:

1.) Weight Training - Basic compound exercises, heavy weights - Low reps.

2.) Nutrition - Smart balanced approach, Adequate h20 consumption.

3.) Rest and Recovery - Plan your workouts, Rest your body.

While certainly not revolutionary, I guarantee that this approach works!

Weight Training

If you've been hanging around the muscle building game long enough, you are no doubt aware that in order to build muscle, you must first stimulate muscle growth through some type of weight bearing exercise. In my experience, it is generally best to focus on basic compound exercises performed with free weights rather that using machines or performing isolation exercises, to build muscle mass. Compound exercises allow you to move heavier weights through a more complete rang of motion, thereby stimulating a larger amount of muscle cells than isolation exercises alone. If you stimulate more muscle cells, then you will get more muscle growth.

In order to ensure that you are proving enough stimulation for muscle growth, you will want to perform a minimum of 2 sets of each compound exercise. On the flip side, you will want to limit the number of sets that you perform to no greater than 5 per body part per workout.

Each set should fall somewhere in the 4-8 repetition range. This does not meant that your arms will grow if you pick a light weight and perform 4-8 reps. The idea here is to perform each set with a weight that allows you to perform at least 4 strict repetitions, but no more than 8. If at the end of your work set you realize that you could have performed 10 repetitions with the weight that you used, you have not provided enough stimulation for muscle growth, period!

Now that you have the basic idea, here is a workout that I have been using with clients for years to help them build bigger arms.

Bicep Exercise

Straight Bar Curl - 3 Sets of 4-8 Repetitions

Z- Bar Curl - 2 Sets of 4-8 Repetitions

Triceps Exercise

Skull Crushers - 3 Sets of 4-8 Repetitions

Triceps Pushdown - 2 Sets of 4-8 Repetitions

If you allow for 2 minutes of rest between sets, this workout should take you about 30 minutes to complete.

Nutrition

Make sure to eat every 2 - 3 hours throughout the day. Make sure that every meal contains protein, carbohydrate and fat. Also make sure to eat a meal consisting of protein and simple carbohydrates within 20 minutes of completing your workout. Also, make it a priority to consume a minimum of 1 gallon of water per day. There is simply no way to increase muscle mass without properly hydrating your body.

Rest and Recovery

Make sure to only perform this workout one time each week. This will ensure that your body has adequate time to recover and repair the damage that you inflicted on your muscle tissue by performing this workout. Also make sure to get a minimum of 8 hours of rest each night.

By following the recommendations found here in The Bicep Exercise Guide for 4 weeks, you should begin to see some impressive results.

Since 1998, Nick Andrade has been involved in the fitness industry as a personal trainer, success coach and fitness consultant. Nick is an ACE certified personal trainer, with over 8 years of combined experience in the health and fitness industry. Nick has helped countless people take control of their lives to produce the body of their dreams! In order to subscribe to Nick's free, bi-weekly newsletter the Fitness Fire Ezine, Visit: http://www.fitness-fire.com. You can also browse through all of Nick's articles and free fitness resources at http://www.free-fit.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nick_Andrade