Your arms are too small. Or at least you feel that they are. But chances are it’s not because you’re neglecting those muscles. In 15 years of training clients, I’ve yet to come across a would-be arms dealer who hasn’t tried every biceps curl and triceps extension in the book.

So what’s the problem? Your upper back. And your core. And your glutes. (Yes, butthead, your glutes.) When those muscles are weaker than they should be, they act like brakes on the size and strength of everything else. Especially your arms.

The problem is simple to correct, as long as you’re willing to invest time doing the Big Arms Workout featured on this month’s poster. In 4 weeks, you can build new muscle from head to toe, and put yourself back in the arms race.

Step 1: Call in the reinforcements

Physiology 101: Your biceps bend your arms, and you work them with curls. You probably figured this out as a kid when Dad told you to “make a muscle” for one of those photos parents use as blackmail for when their sons start dating. Chances are you did a curl the first time you ever picked up a dumbbell, and you’ve been doing them ever since. Now ask yourself: When’s the last time I increased the weight I use on my arm exercises?

Physiology 201: If you want your arms to grow, you need to create overload and challenge them with progressively heavier weights. They’ll adapt by growing bigger and stronger. Since they aren’t receiving that overload from curls, you need to recruit bigger muscles to help them grow in tandem.

Start with the chinup. This move forces you to lift your entire body — several times the amount of weight you could curl — on each repetition. Your lats, which are the fan-shaped middle-back muscles that run from your armpits to your spine, do a good deal of the work. But your biceps are more than just bystanders. They’re working as hard as they can. Without their help, you couldn’t do a single rep.

Target your triceps the same way. Do bodyweight dips or close-grip bench presses with a loaded barbell. You’ll be able to lift multiples of the weight you use for extensions.

Make these heavy, multimuscle exercises the focus of your upper-body training. After you’ve performed them, add curls and extensions to give your arms some extra oomph.

Step 2: Restore your core

Next time you hit the gym, try this test: Go to the triceps pushdown station, select the heaviest weight you can use for 10 reps, and do a set. Rest a few minutes, and then repeat the set . . .standing on one leg. You won’t be able to knock off 10 reps, and the reason is obvious. Your triceps didn’t become weaker; they simply lost some of their support base. A weak or unstable core limits how efficiently your central nervous system controls your muscles; this can raise your injury risk.

So even though your triceps aren’t part of your core, their performance is affected by it. A weaker or less balanced base of support limits the strength and power your arm muscles can generate, while a stronger core enables all your muscles to work harder, longer, and more productively. That’s why the exercises in the poster workout challenge and strengthen your core as well. It’s a two-for-one bargain: You develop better abs while creating the base that allows you to build bigger arms.

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