I’ve got big arms. Like, seriously big arms. That’s me in the photo above. Not freaky on-stage pro-bodybuilder arms, but compared to guys walking down the street, or even your average gym-goer, my arms are big. And for a guy my age (45), I’m off the charts.

Genetics play a role, of course, same as almost everything else in life. Trainers and fitness models who pretend it’s all hard work and clean living are either kidding themselves, or intentionally deceiving clients and customers.

But it’s not like I was born with these arms.

I’ve been lifting systematically since I was 28. I’d say it took at least a decade to get to the point where strangers on the street would stop and point at my arms. Since then I’ve become a certified strength coach, opened my own gym in New York, and have represented the United States in international Olympic weightlifting competitions.

I don’t share all this to brag, but rather to point out that I’ve tried it all and learned a lot along the way. I recently distilled my experience into a 12-week training guide called Badass Arms from Men’s Health — it uses my proven techniques to get you the fastest, most noticeable gains. But here’s the cheatsheet on my muscle-building strategy.

When the guys who’re seriously jacked train their upper bodies, they devote most of their time and energy to basic, heavy, multi-joint lifts. They know their arms aren’t going to grow out of proportion to the bigger, stronger muscles in their back, chest, and shoulders.

Why? Allow me to digress for a moment: A lot of experts these days subscribe to the philosophy that size and strength are separate phenomena — that strength doesn’t serve size and size doesn’t serve strength. They say that to optimize either — to get really big or truly strong — you should never train for both.

I disagree. A bigger muscle can produce more force. A stronger muscle allows you to work with more weight, which, in turn, builds a bigger muscle.

The key is to hit a balance between training for strength and training for size, which you’ll find in Men’s Health Badass Arms. You’ll discover a three-month workout plan that uses this exact setup. (The program also incorporates my favorite cutting-edge exercises and advanced bodybuilding techniques to accelerate gains.)

Ready to get started? Click here to get your copy of Men’s Health Badass Arms today!

— Dan Trink