The 20 bodybuilders who appear in this 25-page training guide possess the 40 best arms of all time. Any such list is subjective, and a few well-armed men just missed our final cut, including Casey Viator and Mike Mentzer. Like those two, 11 of our top 20 were at their best in the 1960s, '70s or '80s, while only four are currently competing. This is in sharp contrast to our similar leg list ("Wonder Wheels," July 2005), which featured only four men who reached their prime in the '80s and none before then. Unlike lower limbs, the standards have not changed dramatically for upper appendages in recent decades. The majority of these 40 arms peaked before the first President Bush took office, but all of them could hold their own in the next Olympia lineup.

Welcome to the ultimate gun show. Each of the 20 top gunmen have something to teach you about arm training. Carry their advice to the trenches, and you'll be well on your way to heavily arming yourself.

THE OLD WAY

Most modern champs train arms no more than once every five to seven days, but the 11 men on our list who peaked pre-1990 all worked bis and tris twice or even three times per week. For most of their careers, Vince Taylor and Kevin Levrone also hit guns twice weekly; Ronnie Coleman still does. With 28 of the 40 arms on our list built with twice- or thrice-weekly workouts, is that the secret to arm-growing success? Their results mostly prove their superior genetics. FLEX recommends five to seven days between workouts for most individuals. Still, every body is different. Try a greater arm-training frequency. If it works, stick with it, but be prepared to back off at the first signs of overtraining.

BRIAN BUCHANAN



Britain's Brian Buchanan had a brief but promising IFBB career, placing in the top five in half of the dozen IFBB contests he entered in 1988 and '89, before retiring at age 27 (he made two even briefer comebacks in the '90s). His ridiculously small waist garnered much attention, but his vast globular arms were equally preposterous. His high-volume workouts emphasized heavy weights for six to eight reps.

GOOD GENES

"Let's be blunt and define the two qualities that a bodybuilder needs if
he's to have any chance of reaching the very top. First, he must be born
with outstanding physique genetics--a natural ability to respond to
training and build muscle. Second, he must have the mental tenacity, the
will, to harness and develop that physical potential."
--Brian Buchanan

BRIAN BUCHANAN'S UPPER-ARM ROUTINE

EXERCISE SETS REPS

Barbell curls 5 6-8
Seated dumbbell curls 5 6-8
Cambered-bar preacher curls 5 6-8
Concentration curls 5 8-10
Lying triceps extensions 5 6-8
Bench dips 5 6-8
One-arm dumbbell extensions 5 8-10
Rope pushdowns 5 8-10
ALBERT BECKLES

Unlike the others here, Albert Beckles didn't grow his way into our top 20 until well past his 40th birthday. At various times, Beckles has claimed birth years of 1930 and 1938, but even if the more recent date is true, it still means he placed second in the 1985 Mr. Olympia at age 47 and he won his eighth IFBB pro show at 52. Despite high biceps and forearm attachments, evergreen Beckles triumphed with history's most freaky peaky bis, coupled with a devastatingly delineated side tri shot.

TAKE A PEAK

"I like to place special emphasis on the peak contraction of curls. I
often resist supinating until I get very close to contraction. Then I
twist my wrists outward as far as they can go just as I reach the top of
the curl. This creates a tremendous contraction, and I hold it for a
second or two."
--Albert Beckles

ALBERT BECKLES' BICEPS ROUTINE



EXERCISE SETS REPS

Seated dumbbell curls 4 8-10
Cable curls 4 8-10
Concentration curls 3 8-12
One-arm cable curls 3 8-12
BERTIL FOX

Touted as an Olympia favorite in the early '80s, Fox never won an IFBB show, but he was second twice. Unfortunately, he's currently serving a life sentence on the island nation Saint Kitts and Nevis after being convicted of double murder. In better times--focusing purely on his bodybuilding exploits--Fox sported bis and tris so thick from every angle it was as though two large legs were attached to his shoulders.

FOX'S PHILOSOPHY



1 Use maximum weights for relatively low reps.

2 Rest for one and a half to two minutes between sets.

3 Train with high volume (25-30 sets for biceps and triceps, respectively).

4 Use forced reps to eke out one or two final repetitions.

BERTIL FOX'S TRICEPS ROUTINE

EXERCISE SETS REPS

Lying triceps extensions 5 6-8
Bench dips 5 6-8
One-arm dumbbell triceps extensions 5 6-8
Cable pushdowns 5 8-10
One-arm pushdowns 5 8-10

RONNIE COLEMAN



Throughout his 14-year pro career, the seven-time Mr. Olympia has showcased two of history's biggest and baddest arms. In fact, in Coleman's first years as a pro--before the rest of his body caught up and he started winning Sandows--he was known for his mountainous arms. He trains his biceps and triceps separately and works them both twice per week.

COLEMAN'S ARM RULES

1 Never do the same workout twice in a row.

2 Focus on free-weight basics.

3 Cheat slightly at the end of sets to help squeeze out another rep or two.

4 Use supersets and trisets to boost intensity.

RONNIE COLEMAN'S TRICEPS ROUTINE

EXERCISE SETS REPS

Seated cambered-bar triceps extensions 4 10-12
Seated two-arm dumbbell triceps extensions 4 10-12
Close-grip bench presses 4 10-12

BOYER COE



Coe first took to a bodybuilding stage at the 1964 Mr. Louisiana, finishing third, and over the course of the next 30 years, he would compile nearly two dozen wins. Known for a stellar physique, top to bottom, his biceps, which he trained twice weekly, often garnered attention because of his uncanny knack for showcasing their pronounced biceps split. A few weeks before that first contest, he was practicing posing. "I started goofing around with some awkward arm poses, when all of a sudden I noticed I was contracting my biceps in such a way as to actually bring out a split. I could feel that I was controlling each side of my biceps," he says. If the rest of us could only be so gifted.

ON THE INCLINE

"I remember reading a copy of Joe Weider's MUSCLE BUILDER magazine and
seeing an article by Steve Reeves on biceps training. He wrote about
doing dumbbell curls while sitting on an incline bench. That advice was
good enough for me, so the first exercise I ever did for biceps was that
incline dumbbell curl. As a matter of fact, it was the only biceps
exercise I did for almost five years. All I did was eight to 10 sets of
the good old incline curl, then I'd move on to triceps."
--Boyer Coe

BOYER COE'S BICEPS ROUTINE

EXERCISE SETS REPS

Standing barbell curls 3* 8
Incline dumbbell curls 3 8
Machine curls 3 8
Standing cable curls 3 8
Reverse incline dumbbell curls 3 8

NOTE: Coe also would superset biceps exercises, as well as exercises for
biceps and triceps.
* Preceded by two warm-up sets of 15-20 reps apiece

SERGIO OLIVA

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Thirty-five-year-old photos of the three-time Mr. Olympia (1967-69) known as the Myth still astonish viewers today. The sheer hamlike bulk of Oliva's bis and tris was stupefying even when his arms were posed unbent. His workouts focused on heavy volume (up to 60 sets for biceps and triceps together) and maximizing blood volume through minimum rest and techniques such as supersets.

FRENCH-FRIED TRIS

"My favorite triceps exercise is the French press [a.k.a. triceps
extensions]. Don't let your upper arms move; your elbows should remain
pointing directly upward. Always lock out the movement at the top for a
peak contraction. The descent should get slower as you go, really
feeling the weight stretch your triceps as you resist."
--Sergio Oliva

SERGIO OLIVA'S UPPER-ARM ROUTINE

EXERCISE SETS REPS

Barbell curls 6 8
superset with
Standing barbell extensions 6 8
Cambered-bar preacher curls 6 8
superset with
Cable pushdowns 6 8
Dumbbell preacher curls 6 8
superset with
Cable kickbacks 6 8

DEXTER JACKSON



The reigning Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic champ is so frequently praised for his crisp conditioning and pleasing proportions that it's easy to overlook the fact that he owns two of the world's best guns. Jackson is frequently the lightest man in posedowns and, yet, his curvy bis and tris compare favorably with those of any other bodybuilder. Currently, his arm workouts feature mostly machines, but he used the biceps routine here to pack on mass.

POSING ROUTINE

"I find that posing improves the shape and hardness of my arms. Before a
contest, all the posing practice I do improves my arms day by day. Try
flexing your arms after each set to push more blood into your muscles."
--Dexter Jackson

DEXTER JACKSON'S BICEPS ROUTINE

EXERCISE SETS REPS

Standing barbell curls 4 6-10
Cambered-bar preacher curls 4 8-10
Seated dumbbell curls 4 8-10

PAUL DILLETT



Virtually everything about the 1999 Night Of Champions winner was so outlandishly inflated as to appear unreal, but his monstrous arms--veiny, grainy and zany--may have been the freakiest parts of the man known as Freakenstein. Reportedly measuring a ridiculous 24" in diameter (3" larger than the average male thigh), Dillett's arms were so big they seemed to have been grafted together from the muscles of a half-dozen mortals.

ON THE ROPES

"I like using a rope instead of a handle for triceps movements. The rope
pushdown is more of an isolation movement than a mass builder, because
you can twist your arms out away from your body at the bottom. You're
not able to go as heavy with a rope as with a handle, but you get the
full muscle-shaping and separating benefits."
--Paul Dillett

PAUL DILLETT'S TRICEPS ROUTINE

EXERCISE SETS REPS

Seated machine dips 4 12
Cable overhead extensions 4 12
One-arm reverse-grip pushdowns 4 10
Rope pushdowns 4 12

LOU FERRIGNO



Whether he was winning the 1973 and '74 Mr. Universe contests during his early twenties or making his Olympia comeback during his early forties, 6'5" Lou Ferrigno's arms were incredibly hulking. They were touted as measuring 23", and the cephalic veins that traversed them looked like garden hoses. He trained biceps, triceps and forearms together.

FORTUITOUS FOREARMS

"I certainly don't agree with the bodybuilders who say you can get big
forearms just by squeezing the dumbbell handles when doing curls. In a
few cases this may be true, but those guys would build big forearms by
merely eating eggs in the morning. Most bodybuilders, myself included,
have to work very hard for any kind of meaningful forearm development."
--Lou Ferrigno

LOU FERRIGNO'S FOREARM ROUTINE

EXERCISE SETS REPS

Barbell reverse curls 3 10-12
Barbell wrist curls 5 15-20
Barbell reverse wrist curls 5 15-20
JAY CUTLER

The three-time Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic champ has cartoonishly exaggerated upper limbs to go with his superhero physique and jawline. Cutler trains biceps and triceps separately and with high volume and moderate reps, and he is one of the few modern champions who directly stresses forearms within his workout scheme.

WIDE-GRIP REVERSE CURLS

"Most people do reverse curls with a narrow grip or shoulder-width grip.
I like a grip a little wider than shoulder width. I feel the curls more
in my forearms that way and less in my biceps. It's those little tweaks
and angles that make all the difference in a lift."
--Jay Cutler

JAY CUTLER'S FOREARM ROUTINE



EXERCISE SETS REPS

Standing behind-the-back wrist curls 3-4 8-12
Reverse curls 3-4 8-12

LARRY SCOTT



The first Mr. Olympia (1965-66) had unparalleled fullness in his bis, tris and forearms. Scott often posed an arm with the elbow nearly straight, and his long biceps seemed to leap out of his forearm and balance on a triceps of equal size and shape. The effect was like three hams suspended in space. He so favored preacher curls that the exercise is still sometimes called "Scott curls" in his honor.

BENCH PREACHING

"I used the preacher bench almost exclusively for my biceps workouts.
During each rep, it allowed me to stretch my biceps and keep tension on
the bottom half of the rep. The preacher bench also locked my arms into
place so I couldn't cheat. Every set of each biceps exercise got six to
eight full-range repetitions, followed by four 'burn' reps (quarter-rep
movements)."
--Larry Scott

LARRY SCOTT'S UPPER-ARM ROUTINE

EXERCISE SETS REPS

Dumbbell preacher curls 6 6
superset with
Barbell preacher curls 6 6
Reverse barbell curls 4 8
Close-grip bench presses 6 8
superset with
Cable extensions 6 8
Dumbbell kickbacks 4-6 8-10

KEVIN LEVRONE



The one quality that most separated the Maryland Muscle Machine from the challengers who saw him win 20 IFBB pro contests was his fullness. Levrone's biceps didn't peak, but they didn't need to; they remained at the same lofty height from shoulder to elbow, as if he had filled in the valleys beside the mountains. Coupled with his tremendous triceps, he seemed to have cinder blocks for arms.

CONTRACT SPORT

"It's important that you do full movements for your triceps, because
locking out is when your triceps work their hardest. Flex and squeeze at
the contraction of each rep to hit all three triceps heads."
--Kevin Levrone

KEVIN LEVRONE'S TRICEPS ROUTINE

EXERCISE SETS REPS

Close-grip bench presses 4 6-8
Lying triceps extensions 4 6-8
Cable pushdowns 4 20-25
One-arm dumbbell triceps extensions 4 6-8

MIKE MATARAZZO



When he won the 1991 NPC USA Championships and for the next 10 years on pro stages, Matarazzo's prodigious upper limbs were notable for their density. It seemed as if all the fibers of his biceps, triceps and brachialis were straining to push their way out of his skin, shoving out the tangle of snaking veins. He trained with high volume and a wide variety of exercises.

GOING SIDEWAYS

"Larry Scott told me about sideways one-arm dumbbell preacher curls when
I first turned pro. I tried them, got tremendous results, and I've been
using them ever since. Sit or stand sideways in relation to a preacher
bench. This locks your arm in position, away from your body. I also
supinate each rep, which tends to pull the dumbbell even farther away
from my body."
--Mike Matarazzo

MIKE MATARAZZO'S BICEPS ROUTINE

EXERCISE SETS REPS

Cambered-bar preacher curls 4 10-12
Seated alternate dumbbell curls 4 10-12
Concentration curls 4 10-12
Sideways one-arm dumbbell preacher curls 4 10-12
Reverse cambered-bar preacher curls 4 10-12
ROBBY ROBINSON

The Black Prince was one of the all-time great bodybuilders--finishing second in the 1977 and '78 Mr. Olympias and winning eight IFBB pro contests from the '78 Night Of Champions to the '94 Masters Olympia. Robinson did so largely because he had a matching set of absurd arms: biceps like traffic cones, brachialis like baseballs cleaved in half and triceps that--when his arms were flexed--mirrored his gravity-defying biceps peaks upside down.

BARBELL CONCENTRATION

"To up the intensity, I'll do my concentration curls with a barbell,
taking a close grip and leaning over so my torso is parallel to the
floor. I will slowly curl the barbell upward, feeling resistance along
each millimeter of the range of motion. At the top of the movement, I'll
hold the weight for several seconds, flexing and cramping my biceps.
It's hard and painful work, but it builds density."
--Robby Robinson

ROBBY ROBINSON'S UPPER-ARM ROUTINE



EXERCISE SETS REPS

Barbell curls 4 6-10
Barbell preacher curls 4 8-10
Concentration curls 4 8-10
Overhead rope extensions 4 8-10
One-arm dumbbell triceps extensions 4 8-10
One-arm cable pushdowns 4 8-10
FREDDY ORTIZ

At 5'5", Puerto Rican-born Freddy Ortiz was the Lee Priest of the '60s. In an era of height classes, he dominated his fellow short men, and his sharply cusped biceps and deeply horseshoed triceps dwarfed those of much taller bodybuilders. Forty years later, the dense detailed arms that were arguably the best in the world then still appear distinctly modern today.

OLD-SCHOOL TRIS

Training in gyms without today's modern machines, Ortiz favored the heavy basics. Here's how to pack on tri mass with only dipping bars and barbells.

** DIPS To focus dips more on your triceps and less on your chest and delts, stay as upright as possible throughout each rep.

** CLOSE-GRIP BENCH PRESSES Grip a barbell (or cambered bar) with your index fingers approximately 6" apart. Go to full lockout for each rep.

** LYING TRICEPS EXTENSIONS Use a cambered bar to lessen stress on your wrists. Try doing extensions before doing dips or close-grip benches; in this way, you pre-exhaust your tris and focus the compound lifts more on your arms.

FREDDY ORTIZ'S TRICEPS ROUTINE



EXERCISE SETS REPS

Dips 6 12
Close-grip bench presses 5 10
Lying triceps extensions 5 10
LEE PRIEST

When he turned pro in 1993 at age 20, the Australian Blond Myth had already grown two of the world's ultimate arms. Despite standing only 5'4" and weighing little more than 200 pounds, Lee Priest is now a posedown perennial who won't lose an onstage "gun duel" with anyone. He trains with high volume and low reps.

CHEATING TO PROSPER

"Since I do only six to eight reps per set and use such heavy weight, I
cheat slightly, not to make the movement easier, but to add stress to
the muscle. The most I do to cheat is to progressively lean backward to
counterbalance the weight when it starts getting awkward on later reps,
but I never swing the weight. I never start the rep with a swing. When
the muscle fatigues to the point where you can't power smoothly through
the rep from start to finish, then you might as well stop."
--Lee Priest

LEE PRIEST'S TRICEPS ROUTINE



EXERCISE SETS REPS

Cable pushdowns 5 6-8
One-arm dumbbell triceps extensions 5 6-8
Bench dips 5 6-8
Seated cambered-bar triceps extensions 5 6-8

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER



Even in his teenage years, the future winner of seven Mr. Olympia contests had fantastic arms, and many contend that the biceps standards he set at his peak in the '70s have yet to be superseded. Schwarzenegger's right biceps, especially, reminded one of a mountain in the Alps of his native Austria. A typical biceps routine consisted of barbell curls, incline dumbbell curls, concentration curls and standing alternate dumbbell curls.

FORMIDABLE FOREARMS

"The reason I was able to devastate the other champions is simple: I did
not leave things to chance as they did. Forearm work was always as
important to me as, say, biceps or calf work. Usually, I worked forearms
after biceps, though sometimes I did them after triceps, because the
gripping involved in curls tired the forearms. My favorite forearm
movements were reverse barbell curls and end-of-bench wrist curls."
--Arnold Schwarzenegger

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER'S FOREARM ROUTINE

EXERCISE SETS REPS

Barbell wrist curls 4 10
Reverse curls 4 8

VINCE TAYLOR



Taylor won more IFBB pro contests (22, including six masters events) than anyone except Ronnie Coleman. Two key reasons for Taylor's success were his right and left arms. At his peak in the early to mid-'90s, Taylor's upper limbs were nearly unmatched for their combination of shape, size and delineation.

HAMMER TIME

"I consider hammer curls an essential biceps movement. They build
the brachialis, the lower biceps, the tops of the forearms where they
blend into the elbows and, if you perform them my way, the belly and
peak of the biceps. When I perform hammer curls, I move the dumbbells
alternately, bringing one across my chest and trying to touch it to my
opposite shoulder. For each rep, I hold the weight in that top position
and tense my biceps hard."
--Vince Taylor

VINCE TAYLOR'S BICEPS ROUTINE

EXERCISE SETS REPS

Barbell curls 5 6-12
Seated dumbbell curls 5 10-12
Hammer curls 5 10-12
KAL SZKALAK

Of Hungarian birth, Szkalak won his adopted country's 1976 Mr. America title at only 23 and the Mr. Universe the following year, only to prematurely quit the IFBB after finishing fifth in the '78 Mr. Olympia. If the Mr. O was judged on upper-body muscle only, Szkalak would've won at least one Sandow. The arms he sported then--superabundant and yet freakily peaked--still rank as two of the best ever.

ARMY INTELLIGENCE

"The mind-to-muscle connection is the key to great arms. More than any
other bodypart, you can easily watch your biceps moving with each rep,
and with a simple hinge joint, you can focus on getting a maximum
stretch and contraction. Make the reps harder, not easier."
--Kal Szkalak

KAL SZKALAK'S BICEPS ROUTINE



EXERCISE SETS REPS

Incline dumbbell curls 5 8-10
Barbell preacher curls 5 8
Machine curls 5 12
Cable concentration curls 5 12
Reverse curls 5 12
FLEX WHEELER

The winner of 17 pro bodybuilding contests between 1993 and 2001, Flex Wheeler also finished second in the Mr. Olympia three times. Known for his symmetry and flowing lines, his upper arms were so abundantly curved that they looked like bowling balls beneath his equally circular delts.

LOW VOLUME

"The biceps are relatively small muscles, and it shouldn't take much
work to exhaust them if you're training them hard. I do no more than 10
sets once per week, but if I push every set to failure, that's the
perfect amount to keep my arms consistently growing without
overtraining."
--Flex Wheeler

FLEX WHEELER'S BICEPS ROUTINE



EXERCISE SETS REPS

Cambered-bar curls 3 10
One-arm preacher curls 3 10
Concentration curls 3 10