Chef Rush shows you how to build the biggest arms in the world with his ultimate workout.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been publishing exercise guides courtesy of Chef Rush. You may also know him as Chef Rush the Bodybuilding White House Chef. Rush went viral a few years ago due to his massive size and physique – particularly his gigantic arms. Some have even gone as far to claim that he has the biggest arms in the world.
While that might not be statistically true, it showcases just how impressive his arms are. That’s why we met up with Rush to get an in-depth guide on how to build biceps and triceps on an ultimate arm day workout. In our latest GI Exclusive, Chef Rush breaks down in detail his entire arm workout routine.
Chef Rush’s Ultimate Trisets for Massive Arms
Before Chef Rush jumps into the exercises, he makes a point to focus on lifting lower weight first. Unless you’re an advanced lifter, it’s important to focus on perfecting the movement and form first before diving into heavy weights. Learn the limit of your body. If the weight you selected doesn’t adequately push your body far enough – add more reps. Low weight with high volume can still be an effective way to build massive muscle.
For the video guide, Chef Rush selects 25lb dumbbells. He usually does 15-25 sets for each exercise set. For this arm workout guide, Rush uses these three exercises during his trisets:
- Alternating dumbbell curls
- Alternating side dumbbell curls
- Alternating hammer curls
Chef Rush then goes through the movements of each set. He emphasizes the focus on perfecting the movement. No jerking motions utilizing momentum to finish the rep. It should be slow and focused movements. The most important part is to get a full range of motion. This stretches the muscle fully – thus helps build muscle fully later during recovery.
Pros Of Including Trisets Into Your Workout
As you can see from the video explanation above, using this kind of dumbbell triset allows for a lot of versatility in your workout without needing much equipment. Chef Rush briefly reflects on his past – detailing how he didn’t have access to a gym in his younger years. In order to train as effectively as possible, he focused on tactics such as trisets to help give his body a hardcore full workout he needed without the bells and whistles a gym could provide.
During these trying times of the pandemic, either due to gyms being closed or lifestyles being shifted, being able to focus on fitness and health goals are more important than ever. While many of us might not have an outlet such as a gym for the time being, these kinds of workout tips can be performed anywhere with minimal equipment.
Standing Incline Concentration Curls
While you can do standing concentration curls without a bench, Chef Rush prefers to use the bench in order to give even more support for the movement. He first finds the correct incline setting on the bench to find the best support for the movement – but without making the curl too easy to perform.
At this point, using the bench as support, you simply perform the movement by curling the dumbbell up from your elbow joint and squeezing your bicep. The key concept here is to look at your elbow like a hinge with the forearm being the only moving part of your arm. when your bicep is at the maximum contraction, squeezer for a second and then reverse the movement.
Chef Rush points out that there are two key elements to this exercise. One is to focus on the hinge-like movement. The second is to perform the movement slowly. The fast your perform the movement the more momentum your utilizing. This not only can lead to injury but also puts less stress on the muscle and thus leads to less growth.
As for reps, Chef Rush usually does about 15 reps per set. He does point out that reps are different for each individual. Instead of focusing on how many number of sets you do, focus on percentage. Aim to complete 100% your max reps. If you do 15 easily and feel like you didn’t struggle enough, do more. Find the right balance of reps and sets so that you know you truly exhausted the muscle.
Sitting Concentration Curls
The sitting concentration curl is largely the same as the incline standing. The big difference is that you will not use the bed of the bench to support your arm. Instead you will sit on the bench set at a height so your knees are bent at a 90 degree angle. Your feet should be flat on the floor.
Next, Chef Rush shows how you place the back of your upper arm on the inner part of your thigh. Your leg will now be providing support for your upper arm. With your arm extended holding the weight off the floor – you’re ready to start doing the movement.
Just like we mentioned previously, utilize your elbow like a hinge and only move your forearm to perform the curl. Do this at your 100% capacity for the correct amount of reps. Focus on completing the full movement slowly without using momentum.
How To Perform The Strict Curl
There’s a few notes that Chef Rush mentions here that we want to bring up at the top. First and foremost, this exercise can be dangerous if you go in overconfident with too much weight. Chef Rush himself shares a story of a friend he knows who tore both of his biceps doing strict curls.
To avoid this make sure to warm up first. Never underestimate the importance of warming up before going heavy into weightlifting. Not only does it get the blood pumping, it also gets you in the right mindset for where your body is at and how much weight it can handle that day.
Chef Rush suggests doing 15-25 reps unless you’re going for heavier weight. In that case decrease the reps down to 8-12. Again, testing it out with warm ups are key to know what you can handle with this movement.
Now to get into the actual movement. First you’ll need a curl bar or as Chef Rush calls it a “crooked bar.” Then depending on how you want to perform the exercise you can grip the bar either with an inside or outside grip. Chef Rush prefers outside grip as he believes it optimizes muscle activation.
Next, while standing, simply pick up the barbell and let it hang in front of you with your arms relaxed. At this point you simple curl up the bar to your chest. The key here is to do slow focused movements. It’s also important to do a full range of motion, don’t give up before curling it up to your chest and do not start a new rep until your arms are already back at the starting position.
Chef Rush recommends keeping your elbows tight to avoid injury. It also allows for a more focused strict curl.
In general, it’s a rule of thumb to avoid momentum while doing any exercise. This can lead to poor form and potential injury. This remains true for the strict curl but Chef Rush does suggest allowing for a little momentum if you don’t have a spotter.
What is important is to not go overboard here. Also this momentum should only be used at the start to bring up the bar initially. Chef Rush puts it best – if you cheat 15%, you’re still getting 85% of a good lift. Think of this as providing yourself what a spotter would do when you’re struggling on a lift. It provides a little push so your muscles can do the rest of the work and still be exhausted.
How to perform skull crushers
Skull Crushers can be done with a barbell or dumbbells. For this particular video, Chef Rush is using dumbbells. The reason? Rush explains that using dumbbells forces you to equalize the skull crusher lift on your own rather than relying on the barbell. This takes more effort and thus provides better results.
Here’s a rundown on how to properly perform the skull crusher exercise:
- Lie down with your back on the bench holding a pair of dumbbells directly above your chest with your palms facing each other. Feet should be flat on the floor.
- Without moving your upper arms, bend your elbows and slowly lower the weights toward the sides of your head (imagine that you are bringing a barbel down directly onto your forehead – thus the term skull crusher). Avoid widening your elbows.
- Once you complete the full movement down, squeeze and count two seconds before returning back up to the starting position.
Chef Rush also offers a tip for making the skull crushers even more challenging and effective. Instead of bringing your arms back up to a complete straight position, you can have them kept at a slight angle towards you. This keeps the time and tension going at all times. With every rep, your full movement will always be under some sort of tension thus working out the triceps even further.
Superset: Add the Chest Press To Push Your Tricep To The Max
Chef Rush traditionally likes to turn his skull crusher sets into supersets by including a traditional dumbbell chest press between each set. After completely the full range of reps for the skull crushers, he adds a set of dumbbell chest presses. This helps push you further towards total exhaustion getting the most out of your tricep workout.
Wrap Up
As you can tell from the tips and guidance for each exercise in this workout, the key is not only knowing the tricks for each exercise – but to know how far you can push your body. This is the hard part as each body is different. You can’t just look up a guide that nails your situation perfectly. Hopefully with this video workout breakdown, Chef Rush’s guidance can help you better discover what works best for you.
You can watch the full GI Exclusive arm blasting workout routine from Chef Rush above!
