Written by Garett Reid | NSCA, CSCS, CISSN, M.S.E.S.S
Fact checked by Kiel DiGiovanni, Co-founder
FACT CHECKED
Did you know a calisthenics arm workout can add pounds of lean muscle mass to your arms? It can if you train right!
Calisthenics is an awesome form of training that helps people put on muscle mass, increase strength, and improve overall athleticism. However, exercise selection is limited compared to going to the gym, and the selection of isolation exercises to train the arms is even lower. This causes many to believe you're out of luck when building your arms using calisthenics. We understand why someone may think this, but lucky for you, it's not true.
This article will lay out a complete calisthenics arm workout that will have you rethinking your arm training. No equipment is necessary for this calisthenic arm workout!
What Is Calisthenics?
Calisthenics is a form of resistance training that uses the body as the loading mechanism. It consists of bodyweight exercises such as push-ups, dips, and chin-ups.
It's known for using more advanced movements such as muscle-ups and planches. However, before you get there, you need to build a strong base with the basics, which includes building some powerful arms.
Training Arms With Calisthenics
Due to its nature, calisthenics is not known as the best method for "training arms." It primarily uses compound exercises to lift and push the body as a means of resistance.
Calisthenics training confines you only to use these bodyweight movements, which ultimately means your choices of isolation exercises are limited. Automatically, this can make having a calisthenic "arm day" tough.
Well, perhaps not tricky, but it will look drastically different from training arms in the gym. To have a good workout, you'll need to understand what exercises and hacks to help isolate the arm muscles, specifically the biceps and triceps.
It can be done.
Best Calisthenics Arm Exercises
Many people falsely assume that calisthenics does not include "arm" exercises. There most definitely are, and in fact, some of the best arm exercises are calisthenics. To simplify things, we will break these exercises into biceps and triceps exercises.
4 Best Biceps Calisthenics Exercises
If you thought you couldn't build your biceps with calisthenics, you're about to find that you couldn't be farther from the truth. In fact, perhaps one of the best biceps exercises is a calisthenic exercise.
We need to remember that the biceps job is to flex the elbow. Therefore, you're training the biceps every time you do this, whether in isolation or a compound movement like a row.
1. Chin-Ups
Chin-ups are our number one exercise on our list because they are the best calisthenic exercise for building massive biceps. Actually, they may be the best biceps exercise period: calisthenic, free-weight, or machine.
Chin-ups are performed with a supinated grip, meaning your palms face towards you. Further, the elbows are placed in front of you, which alters biomechanics and allows a wide range of motion in the elbows.
To perform a chin-up, you must bring your body all the way up to the bar so that your head passes above the bar. This requires full elbow flexion, which ultimately lifts the entire body!
Be sure to perform chin-ups with proper form. Keep your shoulder blades pulled back, lean slightly, and consider driving your elbows down to the ground.
If you want to increase the biceps' activation, use a slightly narrower grip. You can also add a load, such as wearing a weighted vest or holding a kettlebell with your feet.
Related: Pull Ups vs. Chin Ups
2. TRX Curls Or Towel Curls
TRX curls are one of the few true calisthenic arm isolation exercises, making them a must in any workout for building bigger arms.
You'll need a TRX or suspension trainer set-up right off the bat. If you don't have one, you could use a towel; just be sure it's long enough.
Set up your TRX on a stable support or wrap a towel around the support to hold both ends. The exact height doesn't make a massive difference; just be sure it's at least at head level.
Once set up, you'll grab the handles with an underhand grip and stand back. Lean back so the TRX becomes taught and your arms hold your body weight. You can adjust the angle of your body by moving your feet forward, which will lower your body and increase the load you lift. On the other hand, you can stand back so your torso stays more upright, decreasing the load you lift.
Either way, tighten your core and get ready to curl your body up. Keeping your elbows stationary, perform a curl and lift your body up until your chest is brought to your hands. Slowly lower yourself down and repeat.
Keep your hips extended and your core tight throughout the movement so your body can simply pivot on your feet.
Related: 16 Best TRX Exercises To Target All Muscle Groups
3. Reverse Grip Pushup
A reverse grip pushup is a unique calisthenics exercise for training the biceps. It involves performing a pushup but placing your hands backward so your forearms face forward.
Now, we want to say this exercise is more about increasing the strength of the biceps and elbow joints rather than muscle hypertrophy. Regardless, a stronger bicep has the potential to be a bigger bicep.
4. Isometric Curl
An isometric curl is just curling up against an immovable object so that you contract the muscle isometrically, meaning the muscle length doesn't move.
Due to the nature of the movement, isometric training can be helpful when training with limited equipment, such as calisthenics.
There are several ways you can perform these:
- Standing on a towel and holding the ends to curl.
- Holding a railing and curling.
- Curling up on an immovable object such as a countertop.
You're probably wondering at what part of the rep you should perform the curl. Should your elbow be at a 90-degree angle? Lower? Higher?
The truth is you could perform an isometric curl at any angle. With that said, there's now a theory that you should perform it with the muscle in a lengthened state, with your arm more extended, as research shows contractions in the lengthened state result in more muscle growth.¹
However, we'd recommend you alter and train the arm at different positions.
4 Best Triceps Calisthenics Exercises
A great calisthenic arm workout isn't complete until you hit the triceps, too! As you'll see, there are some intense triceps calisthenic exercises, just as there were with the biceps.
Just like the calisthenic exercises for the biceps, we'll start with the biggest triceps exercise and then work down into some smaller isolation work. Again, this is the order in which you'll train them with calisthenic arm workouts.
1. Triceps Dips
The triceps dip is the answer to the chin-ups for the biceps. It's another big compound movement that puts tremendous stress on the arms, specifically the triceps.
Dips are known as the squats of the upper body. They're a fantastic calisthenic exercise that improves upper body strength and adds pounds of mass. You should do them regardless of what equipment you have access to.
You'll need to use the proper variation to hit the triceps.
When you perform the triceps, keep your body vertical and head up. Leaning forward will shift some of the load to your chest, which isn't bad, but it's not what we're looking for here. Let your body down while keeping your forearms vertical.
2. Close-Grip Pushups
Close-grip pushups are another compound calisthenic exercise that targets the triceps. They are an amazing exercise and will definitely add size.
Let's first consider that pushups have almost identical muscle activation, in terms of sequencing and intensity, as the bench press.² The only caveat is that you use similar loads. For example, loading a pushup to a maximum of 10 reps is similar to a 10-rep max bench press.
That said, it's no surprise that training your triceps is such a brutal exercise! However, you'll perform close-grip pushups because we want to target the triceps.
You will place your hands slightly narrower than shoulder width to perform close-grip pushups.
Then, when you perform the pushup, keep your elbows tucked into your body. To be clear, this does not mean at a 45-degree angle; this means tucking them so your elbow grazes your torso at the bottom position.
Performing a close-grip pushup in this manner will do three things.
- Mitigate activation of the pecs.
- Maximize the range of motion of the elbows.
- Make the triceps the primary mover.
3. Triceps Pushups
The triceps pushup is a variation of the pushup that isolates the triceps.
To perform these, lie on your belly on the ground. Place your forearms on the ground in a pronated position with your palms on the floor. Your hands should be at about shoulder level, and your elbows should be tucked straight back so they are up against your torso.
At this point, your forearms should be flat on the ground. Let your body come down so your shoulders come down towards your hands; this is the starting position.
From here, you will keep your forearms and elbow on the ground while you press your body until your elbow is at a 90-degree angle. You will then continue coming up and pressing all the way up so you come up on your hands and fully extend your arms.
4. Bodyweight Triceps Extensions
Overhead triceps extensions are one of the best exercises for triceps, but you need a cable machine or dumbbells. The next best thing is bodyweight triceps extensions.
You'll need a bench or a sturdy ledge against which you can press your body weight to perform these.
Stand back from your support and place your hands on it. Use a narrow grip so your hands are just about touching. If you were a triceps rope extension, they should be that close. In this position, you should lean forward so that your arms support your body.
Brace your core, and then let your body move towards your hands. It's important to keep your elbows close as they extend back. Control the descent with a slow rep and bring your head to your hands.
Your head should be on your hands with your elbows tucked underneath. You will then extend your elbows and push your body up.
Best Calisthenics Arm Workout
And now we'll lay out your workout. You probably noticed that there are many more calisthenic arm exercises than you thought—too many to do in a single session.
That's why we will lay out two days of arm training.
Calisthenics Arm Workout 1
| EXERCISE | SETS | REPS | REST |
| Chin Ups | 4 | 4-6 (controlled eccentric) | 60 sec |
| Triceps Dips | 4 | 8-12 | 60 sec |
| TRX Curl | 3 | 8 | 60 sec |
| Triceps Push Ups | 3 | RPE8 | 60 sec |
| Reverse Grip Push Ups | 3 | RPE8 | 60 sec |
Calisthenics Arm Workout 2
| EXERCISE | SETS | REPS | REST |
| Tricep Dips | 4 | 4-6(controlled eccentric) | 60 sec |
| Chin Ups | 4 | 8-12 | 60 sec |
| Close Grip Pushups | 3 | 6-15 | 60 sec |
| Isometric Curls | 5 | 10 | 60 sec |
| Bodyweight Tricep Ext. | 3 | RPE8 | 60 sec |
You'll notice you'll do the chin-ups, triceps dip, and chin-ups on both days. However, you'll switch rep schemes, and some people will need to perform these weighted, especially for doing 4 reps.
The close-grip pushups have a wide rep range; for these, work in the range, so if you need to, perform them weighted. If you are training solo and can't have a partner, place a weight on your back, wrap a band around your back, and then hold it in your hands to increase the load.
Finally, your other exercises have RPE8. This simply means to perform as many as you can until you hit a rate of perceived exertion level of 8, which is basically 80% maximal effort. Read our post What is RPE Training? to find out more about this fitness concept.
Running The Calisthenics Arm Workout
Depending on your program, you can run this workout independently or integrate it into an existing program. You could also simply use the exercises—either way, they will help build muscle mass.
Besides, you'll need to follow the same principles of progressive overload with calisthenic exercise, just like any other program. Therefore, over time, your goal is to be able to increase the intensity of the exercises. There are several ways to do this with calisthenic exercises:
- Add a load if you can (weight vest, hold kettlebells, etc.)
- Increase reps
- Increase time under tension
Another option is to pre-fatigue your muscles. For example, perform one of the smaller exercises before your main movement.
For example, perform isometric curls before you perform weighted negative chin-ups.
4 Tips On Training Your Arms With Calisthenics
Now that you have the exercises, we will give you a few tips on how to make the most of them and blow up your arms.
1. Mind-Muscle Connection
The mind-muscle connection is more than just bro-science. Research has shown that concentrating on a muscle as you train can increase its activation.³ Over time, this could theoretically lead to more muscle growth.
Bodybuilders have used this hack for a long time, but it can play a crucial role in calisthenics. Due to the nature of the arm exercises, it can be hard to isolate the muscles fully, even when performing exercises that are more arm-focused.
Concentrating on the biceps or triceps can help fully optimize the activation during calisthenic exercise.
2. Slow Reps, Especially Eccentric
Calisthenic arm exercises can be challenging, meaning you may only be able to do a few reps.
Don't stress.
Take advantage of these exercises' eccentric contraction (going down phase). Research has shown that eccentric contraction plays the most significant role in muscle growth and strength gains when compared to a full rep.⁴ You can make good use of this.
For example, let's pretend you can only do 2 full chin-ups. Instead of doing the entire rep, jump up to assist you in pulling your body to the top of the bar. At the top, hold yourself for a second and then slowly lower your body, taking at least 3 seconds at a minimum.
Ideally, you can hit 5 or more seconds!
Once you're back down on the ground, rest (10 seconds) and jump back up to repeat the process.
Related: Concentric vs Eccentric Muscle Contraction
3. Overload Reps
Another option is to overload a calisthenic arm exercise and only perform the eccentric exercise. This takes advantage of the eccentric contraction mentioned above but purposely increases the load.
For example, you could perform a chin-up, hang kettlebells from your feet, or use a weighted vest. You'd then jump to the top of the movement and slowly lower yourself.
4. Use Controlled Reps
Calisthenic movements require great body control to perform correctly. For example, when performing pushups, your hips can sink, or your elbows may flare out. Or, when performing chin-ups, your body may swing.
All of this extra movement will change the biomechanics of the movement and alter the muscle activation. Therefore, you must control these movements under control to optimize muscle growth.
Final Say On Training Arms With Calisthenics
Training arms with calisthenics will look different than training at the gym, but you can still build some massive guns. The calisthenic arm workouts laid out in this article will help you get there, so it's just up to you to put in the time and effort. Calisthenics can be more challenging at some point, but it makes the progress that much more satisfying.
Check out our full collection of calisthenics articles!
References
- Maeo, Sumiaki, et al. “Greater Hamstrings Muscle Hypertrophy but Similar Damage Protection after Training at Long versus Short Muscle Lengths.” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, vol. 53, no. 4, 2 Oct. 2020, pp. 825–837, https://doi.org/10.1249/mss.0000000000002523.
- Tillaar, Roland van den. “Comparison of Kinematics and Muscle Activation between Push-up and Bench Press.” Sports Medicine International Open, vol. 03, no. 03, 5 Sept. 2019, pp. E74–E81, https://doi.org/10.1055/a-1001-2526.
- Calatayud, Joaquin, et al. “Importance of Mind-Muscle Connection during Progressive Resistance Training.” European Journal of Applied Physiology, vol. 116, no. 3, 23 Dec. 2015, pp. 527–533, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-015-3305-7.
- Schoenfeld, Brad J., et al. “Hypertrophic Effects of Concentric vs. Eccentric Muscle Actions.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, vol. 31, no. 9, Sept. 2017, pp. 2599–2608, https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0000000000001983.
Garett Reid
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