Getting Buff: If You Want Bigger Arms, Work Your Legs

By Russ Klettke

For every guy who works out, there is a slightly different reason he exercises. It can range from getting in shape for a class reunion or tropical vacation to avoiding heart disease or diabetes. But there is a secret, universal motivator that few will admit to but none can deny: it’s about what you see in the mirror.

I’m not saying everyone is like mirror man. And God bless the guy who monitors his progress with a little, um, confidence. But a certain degree of male vanity is noted throughout the pages of recorded history, and that has only come full flower in the 21st century. Heck, if it motivates a person to pursue better health, what’s the problem?

A predicament occurs when you use a single, face-on mirror. We live in a 360-degree world, so what you’re checking out is not necessarily what the guy to your right or the girl behind you is seeing. So if it’s about appearances, consider all the angles.

A second level of problems arises, physiologically, from the mirror mentality. This is where your body becomes distorted by hard work on the front half, or upper half, of your full physique. For example, it’s when a guy’s shoulders pull forward by his considerably well-developed chest because he fails to work the upper back muscles (rhomboids, traps, posterior deltoids and lats). And then there’s the Mr. Toothpick Legs Syndrome, the guy who obviously skips the lunges, squats, abductors, adductors and calf muscle exercises because he has a crazy focus on his abs, arms, chest and shoulders. He thinks he’s hot at the beach, but keeps his sweat pants on even there.

A third problem from imbalanced exercise contributes to the first two. It’s based in how muscular development in men is assisted by testosterone. This is nature’s own Catch 22: The more muscle you work, and the more strenuously you work it, the more testosterone that is naturally produced. Nature having a sense of humor – or is it cruelty? – the biggest muscles are in the back and legs. So as it turns out, the non-mirror muscles are most crucial to creating testosterone to help you build muscles everywhere else. Bottom line: if you want to build bigger arms, work on your legs.


Working hard by looking back
Maybe it’s time to rethink your own workout. Here are fundamental exercises that every guy should incorporate into his routine to round out his body and kick up his testosterone levels in the process (all at the introductory levels, just to get started).

Legs and glutes
• Bodyweight squats (no weight to start, just get the form right and go slow)
• Walking lunges
• Abductors and adductors (here’s an abductor routine that doesn’t require a machine)

Back muscles
• Rhomboids
• Traps
• Lats

So how do you gauge your progress if you can’t see it? Get one of those tri-fold affairs like they have in a men’s suit department store – or ask the girl walking behind you.