Powerlifters tend to fall into one of two camps on arms: ignore them entirely (“the big lifts are enough”) or train them like a bodybuilder and wreck their pressing recovery. Both are mistakes. The right approach is arms trained like a powerlifter: brief, triceps-biased work that adds pounds to your bench lockout and keeps your elbows healthy, without stealing from the squat, bench, and deadlift. Here’s how to do it.
Why Powerlifters Should Train Arms Directly
The old “you don’t need direct arm work” dogma is fading, and for good reason. Yes, pressing and pulling hit your arms, but for most natural lifters that isn’t enough to fully develop them or to bulletproof the elbow. More importantly, this isn’t about vanity: your triceps are the primary driver of bench lockout. If your bench stalls a few inches from the top, it’s often your triceps, not your chest, failing you. Strong triceps mean a stronger lockout. And healthy, strong biceps tendons make your pulling and mixed-grip deadlifts safer. Arms are performance tools here, not mirror muscles.
One honest caveat: some elite lifters have big arms with almost no isolation work. They’re often genetically gifted or enhanced. The average natural lifter will need some direct arm work to get the most out of their arms and their bench.
The Principles
Arm work for a powerlifter follows a few firm rules:
- Powerlifts first, always. Arm work is an accessory, never the main event. It comes after your main lifts, in the session and in your priorities.
- Keep it brief. Think a 15 to 30 minute finisher block, not a 90-minute bodybuilding arm day.
- Train it 2 to 3 times a week in short doses rather than one massive session.
- Bias the triceps. Roughly two triceps movements for every one biceps movement, because the triceps drive your bench.
- Autoregulate. If your elbows are cranky or your main lifts are suffering, cut the arm volume. It’s the first thing to go, not the last.
Timing: When to Train Arms
The golden rule: never do heavy triceps work right before a bench-focused session. Pre-fatigued triceps will sabotage your lockout on the lift that matters most. So:
- Do your arm work after your upper-body sessions, once the pressing is done.
- You can also slot lighter, higher-rep arm work after lower-body days, where it won’t interfere with pressing.
- Avoid heavy curls right before heavy deadlifts to keep your biceps tendons safe, especially if you pull mixed grip.
During a peaking phase, pull arm volume back and keep it as far from your heavy bench and deadlift days as possible.
Triceps First: For Bench Lockout
Since the triceps drive your lockout, they get the priority and the volume. Build them with a mix of compound-style and isolation work:
- Compound triceps: close-grip bench press, weighted dips, JM press. These let you load heavy and carry over directly to the bench.
- Isolation triceps: EZ-bar skull crushers, cable pushdowns, overhead extensions. These target the muscle with less systemic fatigue.
If you fail near lockout, lean into the heavy compound triceps work. High-rep pushdowns (even sets of 20 or more) are a joint-friendly way to add volume and blood flow.
Smart Biceps Work
Biceps get less volume, but they aren’t optional. They stabilize your pulling and your setups, and keeping the biceps tendon strong protects your elbow, valuable insurance for mixed-grip pulling. A little goes a long way: hammer curls, incline dumbbell curls, and EZ-bar curls, done with control. Done well, direct biceps work can even help settle nagging biceps-tendon irritation. My full guide to training biceps as a powerlifter digs into this.
Volume, Reps & Elbow Health
Here’s a practical starting framework:
| Focus | Sets | Reps | Effort |
|---|---|---|---|
| Triceps (strength) | 3-4 | 6-10 | RPE 7-8 |
| Triceps (size and pump) | 3-5 | 12-20 | RPE 7 |
| Biceps | 2-4 | 8-12 | RPE 7-8 |
Keep most sets a rep or two shy of failure to manage fatigue and protect your joints. If your elbows start complaining, swap straight bars for EZ-bars or cables, drop the load, favor higher-rep pump work, and cut volume before it becomes an injury.
A Sample Arm Finisher
Here’s a 15 to 20 minute finisher to run after an upper-body session. Note the two-to-one triceps-to-biceps balance:
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| Close-Grip Bench Press | 3 | 6-8 |
| EZ-Bar Skull Crusher | 3 | 10-12 |
| Cable Pushdown | 3 | 15-20 |
| Hammer Curl | 3 | 10-12 |
| EZ-Bar Curl | 2 | 10-12 |
Squeeze the bar hard, use a full range of motion, control the lowering, and keep your torso stable, the same intent you’d bring to a heavy lift. For overall strength progression, see my 17 tips to gain strength.
Wrapping It Up
Trained like a powerlifter, arm work becomes a strength asset instead of an aesthetic afterthought. Keep the powerlifts first, keep arm sessions to 15 to 30 minutes, never fry your triceps before you bench, run roughly two triceps movements for every biceps movement, and guard your elbows. Do that and watch your bench lockout, and your arms, grow together. Track it like you track your main lifts. Now go move some heavy ass weight. Let’s do this.
Resources Used in Research
These are the sources pulled from during research for this article. Worth a skim if you want to verify a stat or grab a more detailed quote:
