Arm Supersets That Will Tone & Transform Your Arms

If you’re looking to get a toned, sculpted look to your arms, you’re in luck. 2x Ms. Figure Olympia Erin Stern took us through an arm superset workout for toned, lean arms. This isn’t your typical arm workout; this exercise involves lots of supersets to maximize calories burned.

 

Why supersets?

Supersets are a lifting method where two exercises are performed in succession with no rest between them. Some of the benefits of supersets include:

• High intensity: Supersets are an effective method for increasing the intensity of your workout. Doing two exercises back-to-back with limited rest makes your workout feel more challenging and generates a great deal of metabolic stress in the muscles.
• Time efficiency: If you’re short of time, supersets are an easy way to get a lot of work done in less time. Since you’re moving directly from one exercise to the next during a superset, you’re spending less time at the gym resting and doing a higher volume of work in a shorter time frame.
• Muscular activation: Super setting can be a helpful way to target lagging muscle groups with a higher volume of exercise in a variety of angles. This can be helpful for recruiting more muscle fibers in areas where you may struggle to grow.
• Muscular endurance: Doing supersets requires you to work a muscle group for a longer period continuously than you would during a normal set. This increased workload can help you improve your muscular endurance.

When it comes to getting the toned look, calories burned during a workout is something that can be overlooked, Erin had this to say: 

It’s really important to understand that when we’re talking about toning, this includes building a certain amount of muscle and being lean. You have to be lean for the muscles to show. We do this by being in a caloric deficit, but also by increasing calorie burn. Arm workouts in general do not build a ton of calories, so we’re going to incorporate some compound movements to increase your calorie burn.

Keep in mind that form is the most important thing here, before you go heavier make sure your form is on point.

You can do Erin’s superset arm workout once a week. If you do this work out once a week, make sure you add weight as you go, or you add reps so that you can get progressively overload to maximize.

Erin’s Superset Arm Workout 

Decline Push Ups - 3 x AMRAP 

Inverted Rows – 3 x AMRAP 

Bench Dips – 3 x 10-12 

Hammer Curls – 3 x 10-12 

Overhead Extensions – 3 x 12-15 

Drag Curls – 3 x 12 –15 

Triceps Kickbacks – 3 x 12-15 

Rope Curls – 3 x 12-15  

Arm Superset #1 

Decline Push Ups + Inverted Rows 

 

Our first superset is on the smith machine. We do the decline push-ups with a close grip and the inverted rows with an underhand grip. For these two exercises, it’s very important that you keep your body in a plank position. Your shoulders, hips, and feet need to be in a straight line. For the decline push-ups, keep your elbows close to your body and get your hands as close together as possible. For the inverted rows, make sure you’re wrapping your thumb around the bar, you want to think about pulling your body to where the bar hits about mid-chest level. We’re looking for three AMRAP sets, as many reps as possible. It’s ok to get less reps in each set as you go, just make sure you’re keeping track of progress. 

Arm Superset #2 

Bench Dips + Hammer Curls 

 

Bench dips are a compound movement, this is a bodyweight exercise but feel free to place a plate on your lap if you need a little more resistance. When doing the bench dips, think about keeping your upper body nice and tall, pointing your elbows back, and keeping your elbows close to your body. You want the bench far enough away to where you can keep your upper body close to the back bench. For the hammer curls, really think about standing nice and tall, keeping your elbow close to your body, and keeping constant tension on the muscles. Really think about range of motion here and limiting momentum, stand nice and still, keep soft knees and your weight evenly distributed across your feet. As you lower the dumbbells think about stopping just before your arms reach perpendicular to the floor, this will keep constant tension on the biceps which can lead to major gains. 

Arm Superset #3 

Overhead Extensions + Drag Curls 

 

For the overhead triceps extensions, really focus on pulling evenly with both sides, this is going to ensure you develop triceps evenly. Make sure you’re keeping your elbows close to your body, keeping your body nice and tall, and not moving momentum at all. Drag curls are a golden era bodybuilding exercise that we’re bringing back. Drag curls are excellent for building the peak of the biceps. You perform drag curls just how they sound, keep the dumbbells close to your body and think about dragging them up the front of your body. Also be sure to keep your shoulders low and lead with your elbows. 

Arm Superset #4 

Triceps Kickbacks + Rope Curls

Think of this superset as the icing on the cake. We’re going to be working the long head of the triceps. I’ve got a little trick for you, if you’ve got two ropes at your gym, take it. We’ll do this exercise with two ropes instead of one, this gives you more range of motion. Think about pulling the rope apart on the curls and kickbacks. Just like our other exercises, you want to think about just moving at the elbow so that we’re focused on triceps for the kickbacks and biceps for the curls. Keep your knees nice and soft and your weight evenly distributed so you don’t waste any momentum.  

Erin's Arm Day Stack  

C4 Ripped Sport Pre Workout: With ingredients that support elevated energy, fat burning and cellular hydration - and proudly NSF Certified for Sport - C4 Ripped Sport is the choice of athletes both on and off the field. 

Super HD Fat Burner: SuperHD is a dynamic formula with ingredients to help you look and feel your best. Including clinically studied ingredients to support weight loss plus added antioxidants, SuperHD has been the go-to for smooth energy & metabolism support for nearly a decade. 

COR Performance Whey Protein: For nearly a decade, COR Performance Whey has be setting the standard in delicious high-quality protein. With incredible gluten free flavors and digestive enzymes in every serving, COR Whey continues to raise the bar with every scoop. 

Cellucor Gear: If you’re looking to elevate your look and show off your game-changing pump, then grab some Cellucor gear.