Ask most men why they are in the gym and you’ll hear the same answers. “I just want to lose some fat”, “I want to build some muscle”, “I want to improve my fitness”. But dig deeper and you’ll find out that most men want bigger arms. Ask most women and they’ll say that bigger arms would be off-putting but ask them if they want toned arms and you’ll probably get a different response.

No matter who you are, man or woman, you could benefit from training your arms more. But most training programs leave the arms as an afterthought. This is understandable, some lifters tend to overly-focus on arms and ignore legs or back.

But in recent years, it feels as if training arms is seen as a waste of time. Why focus on such small muscles when bigger muscles will provide greater strength gains? There are even some trainers out there who claim that training arms is pointless as chest and back exercises provide enough stimulation, and no isolation work is required.

This is understandable, but it ignores a common issue – particularly in new lifters. This is that weak biceps and triceps can prevent you from realising your potential in the bench press, or pull ups, or similar chest and back exercises.