THE BEST BARBELL-ONLY ARM WORKOUT

A barbell’s main selling point is that it allows you to maximally stimulate muscle, but it isn’t written in stone (or, perhaps, iron) that you must use heavy weights, or any weight at all. If a barbell is all you have to train with, we’ll assume that you don’t have a lot of weight at your disposal any way , so this workout is a minimalist’s dream.

HOW IT WORKS

The Poundstone curl is simply a barbell curl done with the empty bar alone— for an enormous number of reps (in this case, we prescribe 100). It’s named after professional strongman Derek Poundstone, who, despite being 350 pounds with biceps like footballs, still swears by this deceptively hard exercise. The point is simply to give the biceps shock treatment with a protocol theyv enev er encountered before—very high reps and short rest until exhaustion. The pullover/triceps extension works your lats as well as your triceps. By getting the lats involved, you incorporate strong stabilizing muscles that will let you go a little heavier on the triceps extensions—even if all the weight you have left to add is a couple of 2.5-pound plates.

DIRECTIONS

Perform all the sets for the first exercise before mov ing on to the second.  

1 POUNDSTONE CURL

SETS: AS MANY AS NEEDED REPS: 100 TOTAL REST: AS NEEDED

Grasp the barbell at shoulder width. Keeping your upper arms at your sides, curl the bar  

2 PULLOVER/TRICEPS EXTENSION

SETS: 6 REPS: 12–15 REST: 45 SEC.

Hold the bar with an overhand, shoulder-width grip and lie back on a flat bench. Press the bar toward the ceiling and then reach it back over your head while bending your elbows until you feel a stretch in your lats. Then pull the bar back over your chest and extend your elbows.