We reached out to Vaughan’s top trainers to get the inside info on everything arms. Fear arm day at the gym no more!

Admit it, you probably haven’t been the best at arm day. From benching weights way too heavy for you, to not working the proper muscles, there might be some things you’re missing when trying to get those killer arms. Lucky for you, City Life’s guide for arm day has you covered. Read on to see what top trainers have to say about getting in shape.

1. Christine Des Lauriers
Fitness Director, Body Vision Fitness
bodyvision.ca

If you want tight and toned arms for the summer, follow these easy exercises that you can do at home or at work.
For your triceps, try “dips,” using a chair or coffee table. Keep your elbows close to your body and your hands close to your glutes for proper technique and form. You can also try “pushups” — keeping hands close together to work your triceps — or “kickbacks”: using dumbbells or exercise bands, keep your elbows in close to your sides and kick back your arms until they are fully extended.

For your biceps, try “dumbbell curls,” making sure to fully extend your arms downward and keeping your elbows in. Use your bicep muscles to pull the weight up toward your shoulders.

Try to do 15-20 repetitions and two or three sets of each exercise. Keep in mind your arms should be burning after 12-15 reps. If not, it’s time to increase the weight or do more repetitions.

2. Luke Durward
Owner, The Village Gym Vaughan
thevillagegymvaughan.com

If you want toned arms, you MUST do some sort of strength training. You need to be doing exercises that challenge your muscles enough that you can do, at the absolute most, 15 reps only. Preferably you should choose weights that you can’t do more than 12 reps with. This means that three-pound dumbbells won’t cut it. Our favourite exercises to get toned arms are the bench press, shoulder press, triceps press-downs, ring or TRX rows and bicep curls.

3. Joseph Martino
Asst. General Manager, The Motion Room
themotionroom.ca

While there are no new exercises to replace the tried and true standbys for working the muscles of the arms, you can get creative with combinations and use various fitness props to keep boredom at bay.

It’s important to have a variety of exercises to change things up and target your muscles differently. Try replacing the same old with an exercise you haven’t done in a while to provide that challenge again — for example, reversing your grip on bicep curls.

Don’t forget training your shoulders as well. Not only will you get results faster, you’ll see the difference in the well-rounded shape of your arms.

4. Michael Gatbonton
Manager, Spartan Fitness
spartanfitness.ca

Move well prior to starting any arm workout. Many people pump out multiple repetitions of arm curls and extensions with heavy weights, but get poor results. Your body may be able to arm curl a 50-plus-lb dumbbell, but that alone does not ensure all muscle groups are properly engaged and contracting. A muscle contraction occurs when the muscle lengthens and shortens effortlessly in its range of motion. If your goal is arm toning, first ensure that your shoulders, biceps and triceps are activated and moving well. Once a professional has assessed you, and you’ve been cleared to perform a safe arm-toning workout, consider buying fitness equipment to add variety to your routine, as there are many types of fitness equipment to help you tone.

5. Ian Walling and Robina Abramson-Walling
Co-founders, Wholistic Body-Building & Wellness
wholisticbodybuilding.com

Muscle confusion is great for building mass in your arms. The key is to hit all three heads of the bicep and triceps.
A great way to target muscle growth is to train both these muscles on the same day.

Incorporating drop sets recruits a certain amount of muscle fibres in any given set. With each set, decreasing the weight and lifting a higher increment will allow you to recruit different muscle fibres and shock the muscle more than you would by sticking with the same weight. This is an effective way to stimulate muscle growth.