You can put together a training split in all sorts of different ways, but I like to train my biceps and triceps together. I feel like they get more detailed when you don’t train them after complementary body parts. A lot of people like to train biceps after back, and triceps after chest and/or shoulders. But giving them their own day has its advantages.
Here are a couple of these:
1) Having an arm day helps you really focus on the development of these smaller muscles. The weaknesses in your arm muscles are going to become more obvious as you diet, and having a day where you target them helps to improve detail if you’re lagging in any aspect of your arm development.
2) Arm day is the easiest day of the week, and it helps give you a jumpstart on your recovery for the more challenging body parts that are front-loaded at the beginning of the week on Operation Aesthetic. You’ll only have one rest day between arm training and your leg workout for the next week, so I like to keep that Day 6 workout a little easier so I’m better recovered at the beginning of each week.
OPERATION AESTHETIC NOTES
*I begin my arm workouts with biceps because I want to focus on them more than triceps. Choose the body part that you want to emphasize and train it first—you can rejig this workout for your needs, or even mix up the workouts from one session to another.
*For biceps, I like to start with heavier bilateral moves before hitting brachialis and unilateral exercises. Regardless, always keep your elbows still to make sure you’re working your target muscles.
*For triceps I start with moves that target the individual heads of my triceps before I go with a compound move like dips that hits the whole triceps, encouraging both mass and detail. Then I finish up with a detail move such as rope pressdowns.
Early morning cardio
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1
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25 minutes
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Don’t check your phone until you’re performing cardio. Get on your cardio ASAP.
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EXERCISE
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COMMENT
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EZ-bar curls
Choose the grip that allows you to feel your biceps work the most.
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5 SETS / 12, 10, 7, 3, 15 REPS |
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Seated incline curls
This exercise is great for the added stretch it provides, giving you a longer range of motion.
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5 SETS / 12, 10, 7, 3, 15 REPS |
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Hammer curls
This biceps move targets your brachialis, which lies underneath your biceps.
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4 SETS / 12, 9, 6, 15 REPS |
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Standing one-arm cable curls
After using all free weights, transitioning to cables at the end of biceps training should feel really good.
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4 SETS / 12, 9, 6, 15REPS |
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One-arm dumbbell triceps extensions
Triceps work begins with this move, which I like to perform standing.
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5 SETS / 12, 10, 7, 3, 15 REPS* |
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Lying dumbbell triceps extensions
I perform half the set to the back and the other half across the front to hit the triceps from a couple different angles.
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5 SETS / 12, 10, 7, 3, 15 REPS |
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Triceps rope pressdowns
Choose the weights that allow you to feel your triceps working at the end of your workout for every set. No momentum for this move.
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5 SETS / 12, 10, 7, 3, 15 REPS |
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Dips
Rest about 60–90 seconds between sets, and just perform as many reps as you can for each set without cheating.
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4 SETS / Burnout*
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Post-Workout cardio
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1
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25 minutes
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You can get in RE-KAGED as you’re performing your post-workout cardio.
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TIP: You need recovery supplements as much after easier workouts as you do after those for larger body parts. Remember, the muscles you just trained need to be replenished to fend against catabolism (breakdown of overall muscle tissue, including from muscles you didn’t train). RE-KAGED® delivers 28 grams of protein in addition to fermented Glutamine, BetaPower® betaine, and creatine hydrochloride. This combo of key ingredients helps you re-feed and repair your muscles after training.