{"id":9020,"date":"2025-06-23T21:30:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T21:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/9020\/"},"modified":"2025-06-23T21:30:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T21:30:13","slug":"these-5-mistakes-are-killing-your-arm-gains-says-exercise-scientist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/9020\/","title":{"rendered":"These 5 Mistakes Are Killing Your Arm Gains, Says Exercise Scientist"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’re hammering away at your hammer curls to no avail, sports scientist Dr Mike Israetel delivers a sharp dose of reality, highlighting the top arm training<\/a> mistakes we’re making. <\/p>\n

In a recent YouTube video<\/a>, he outlines five of the most common mistakes people make when training arms, from range of motion to outdated programming habits and forgetting to train our forearms. Whether you\u2019re training your arms for aesthetics or performance, these are the principles<\/a> you\u2019ll want to revisit.<\/p>\n

5 Arm Training Mistakes You Need to Avoid1\/ You Don\u2019t Need a Dedicated \u2018Arm Day\u2019<\/p>\n

The myth that biceps and triceps<\/a> must be trained together, on the same day, is both outdated and unnecessary. ‘There is no distinct benefit of this,’ Dr Israetel explains. ‘In fact, if your biceps are sufficiently pumped, it actually limits the range of motion on your triceps.’<\/p>\n

He continues to explain that the problem lies within recovery strategies: ‘Triceps get sore for like two or three days. Biceps recover in a day or two. So if you\u2019re always trying to train them together, you\u2019ll have to needlessly constrict the amount of effort or volume you do for triceps.’<\/p>\n

Sure, an arm day can be fun, but ‘if you have to screw up the rest of your programme to keep an arm day in the mix, consider not doing that,’ advises Dr Israetel.<\/p>\n

2\/ Getting Stuck in Fixed Rep Ranges<\/p>\n

‘Sets of 5 to 8 can 100% grow your biceps and triceps really well\u2026 so can sets of 12 all the way up to even 30,’ says Dr Israetel. ‘Any rep range<\/a> that works best for a while will eventually get stale, and variation will promote more growth.’ In other words, don\u2019t be afraid to explore varied rep ranges when your current ones get easy.<\/p>\n

3\/ Not Maximising the Stretch\"man<\/p>\n

Isbjorn\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

‘People do cable extensions halfway down\u2026 bicep curls when they don\u2019t ever get a deep stretch<\/a>.’ And while standing curls might feel tough, Dr Israetel warns they\u2019re often ineffective due to gravity\u2019s unhelpful angle.<\/p>\n

The fix for this? Lying dumbbell curls. Which Israetel says is ‘probably one of the most brutal and effective ways to train your bicep’. Why? Because ‘It stretches your bicep under its most maximum load\u2026 at that very deep part of the stretch.’<\/p>\n

He says this is the same for exercises such as skull crushers: ‘going all the way down\u2026 you\u2019re going to get more pumps, more soreness, more growth.’<\/p>\n

4\/ Not Training Arms Enough<\/p>\n

If you’re hitting your arms once a week, and are serious about increasing size, you may want to up the ante says Dr Israetel, ‘Your triceps, you can train in most cases, hard, two to three times a week. Your biceps you can train in most cases hard three to four times a week.<\/p>\n

‘These are small muscles, they do not take one week to recover’. If your split allows for it, slot in two to four dedicated arm sessions per week \u2013 assuming recovery is on point.<\/p>\n

5\/ Forgetting the Forearms<\/p>\n

‘Your forearms<\/a> can contribute massively to how big your overall arms look,’ says Dr Israetel. If you want to really maximise how big our arms look, he advises: ‘Three to six sets of some kind of forearm curls\u2026 multiple times per week will get you notably bigger forearms.’<\/p>\n

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