That's Fit

To get sleeve-stretching arms, the common misconception is that you must focus on building your biceps bigger and stronger. The reality of the matter, however, is that your triceps make up around 70 percent of your upper arm's muscle mass, which is why pressing exercises are just as important for your guns as pulling movements.

The prevailing belief used to be that in order to build a muscular body, you had to perform a workout split -- you know, Monday: back and triceps; Tuesday: chest and biceps, Wednesday: legs and abs, etc. And though this approach may still work quite well for certain people (especially seasoned bodybuilders), the more trusted method these days is to focus on compound moves that target large muscle groups.

So, getting back to your goal to build arms that look like an anaconda that just swallowed a pig, don't spend too much of your time with isolation moves for your triceps ... or your biceps, for that matter. Instead, stick with exercises like the bench press, a compound movement that targets your chest, shoulders, and also hits your triceps with a vengeance. The same logic applies for your biceps. Don't spend 30 minutes of your workout on dumbbell curls; rather, focus your energy on compound pulling exercises, such as the pull-up or the bent-over row, as these moves will work your back, rear delts, and biceps all at once.