Exercise Scientist: Stop Doing 'Arm Day.' Here's a Better Way to Grow Your Arms
Forget arm day. According to Mike Israetel, it may be time to retire the classic bicep and tricep workout. His argument? There are smarter ways to build your arms without dedicating a whole session to them.
Israetel is an exercise scientist and co-founder of Renaissance Periodization, known for his evidence-based approach to training. With years of experience coaching—and a Ph.D.—he's a respected authority on maximizing hypertrophy and performance.
Everyone has their own workout splits to reach their goals, but according to Israetel, there are more effective ways to build big arms than dedicating a full day just to them. For one, getting a bicep pump during arm day actually impedes your range of motion for the triceps.
"Biceps and triceps just don't heal at the same rates," he says. "Your triceps are roughly double the size of your biceps, so the triceps typically take longer to heal."
If you're determined to keep arm days for the pump they provide, the key is ensuring you don't disrupt the recovery of those larger muscle groups—and Israetel offers a couple of workout split suggestions.
One option is to follow this five-day split:
Chest and triceps
Back and biceps
Legs
Shoulders and arms
Rest day
The other six-day split option involves organizing muscle groups based on their recovery times and ensuring they don't interfere with each other:
Chest, triceps, and side delts
Legs and biceps
Rest day
Back, biceps, and side delts
Chest, triceps, legs, and biceps
Rest day
Ultimately, keeping an arm day in your program is fine, as long as it follows sufficient recovery from chest and back training, you've taken a rest day, or trained another muscle group before doing arms.
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