David Laid Arm Workout (Full Routine + How to Adapt It)

David Laid trains arms once a week, near the end of a six-day push/pull/legs split, with five exercises: hammer curls, bodyweight dips, EZ-bar curls, cable pushdowns and a finishing barbell curl.

The order isn't random. Compound movements that hit multiple joints go first, then the isolation work finishes the muscle off once it's already fatigued.

That's the short version. Here's the full breakdown, the sets and reps, why it's built this way, and the one piece almost nobody mentions when they write about his arms.

In this guide:

• Who David Laid is and why people copy his training
• His arm-day routine, exercise by exercise
• The logic behind the order
• Where his split places arm day
• How to adapt it if you're not training at his level yet
• The forearm gap in every "David Laid workout" article
• FAQs

Who Is David Laid?

David Laid is an Estonian-American bodybuilder, fitness model and content creator who built an audience from his teenage transformation videos, going from a skinny 14-year-old to a competitive physique over several years of documented training.

He's since become known for a lean, wide-shouldered look built on compound lifts rather than a pure bodybuilding split.

If you're here for his arm day specifically, skip ahead. If you want the full picture of how his training is organized, keep reading.

David Laid's Arm Workout Routine

This is his reported arm-day session, based on his own training content and routine breakdowns.

Five exercises, moderate volume, no wasted sets.

That's roughly 13 working sets for the whole session.

It's not a marathon. It's short, dense and built around getting the most out of a muscle group that's already been worked indirectly on push and pull days earlier in the week.

The Logic Behind the Order

A few things stand out if you look at this like a program instead of a list.

The compound-adjacent move comes first

Hammer curls recruit the brachialis and brachioradialis, which thickens the arm beyond what a straight-bar curl does alone. Starting here, while energy is highest, makes sense before fatigue sets in.

Dips sit in the middle, not at the start

Dips are a real compound lift that also hits the chest and shoulders. Placing them second rather than first keeps the heaviest joint-stressing movement from eating into curl performance, while still hitting it before the arms are cooked.

Ascending weight on three of the five lifts

Going 10 then 8 then 6 reps with increasing load is a simple way to build toward a top set without needing a true 1-rep max test every session. It's an efficient way to get stronger without burning out.

The single AMRAP set at the end

One all-out set after four other lifts is a volume-efficient way to add intensity without adding a sixth or seventh exercise. This is a pattern worth noticing if your own arm day keeps getting longer without getting better.

Where Arm Day Fits in His Split

David Laid trains on what's commonly described as a six-day DUP (daily undulating periodization) powerbuilding split, rotating through push, pull and leg days twice each week, with arms getting their own dedicated session.

A simplified version of the week:

The important part isn't the exact day labels, it's that arms already get indirect work from pressing and pulling days earlier in the week. Dedicated arm day is the finishing touch, not the only stimulus his arms get.

This is why the arm session itself can stay relatively short: the biceps and triceps have already been under load from bench pressing, rowing and overhead pressing days before this session even starts.

If you're building your own week around this idea, our guide to calisthenics core exercises and best pull exercises cover the back and core work that typically surrounds a split like this.

How to Adapt This If You're Not There Yet

Copying five exercises is the easy part. Getting the same results from them depends on things a routine list can't show you: training age, genetics and how much volume your joints can already handle.

If you're newer to lifting:

• Drop the AMRAP burnout set until your joints have a few months of consistent training behind them. Chasing failure on an isolation curl too early is a fast way to earn elbow pain, not bigger arms.
• Replace ascending-weight triples with straight sets of 10 to 12 reps until your form is consistent at every rep.
• Two arm-focused sessions spread across the week (rather than one dense day) tend to suit beginners better, since recovery capacity is usually the limiting factor early on.

If you've been training for a while and want to add this style in:

• Keep the compound-then-isolation order. It's the most transferable part of this whole routine.
• Add a wrist or forearm finisher (see below). Laid's published arm day never includes one, and it's the most common missing piece in copycat versions of this workout online.

For broader pressing and pulling work to pair with this, see our dumbbell shoulder exercises and close grip push-up guides.

Every "David Laid Arm Workout" Article Skips the Forearms

Here's something you'll notice if you read through the routine breakdowns floating around the internet: not one of them mentions forearm or wrist training.

That's a gap worth filling, for a simple reason. Your forearms and grip are what connect every one of those five lifts to the bar, the handle or the dip station in the first place.

A hammer curl, a barbell curl and a weighted dip all demand a grip that can hold on through the set, and a pushdown relies on wrist control to keep the bar path clean. If your grip gives out before your biceps or triceps do, you're not getting the full benefit of the session Laid is actually running.

Grip strength isn't one thing, either. There are 4 distinct types of grip strength, and most arm-focused programs only train one or two of them by accident, through whatever bar or handle they happen to be holding that day.

A simple way to close the gap: add a short finisher to the end of an arm session, built around wrist flexion, wrist extension and crush strength, in that order.

A 5-minute add-on to any arm day:

Do it after the main lifts, not before. Pre-fatiguing your grip before dips and curls will only cost you reps on the exercises that matter most.

If you want the full breakdown of grip training rather than just this quick add-on, our guides to how to use a hand gripper properly and 18 wrist roller workouts go deeper. Not sure where your grip stands right now? Test it in under five minutes.

You can browse the full lineup in the hand gripper collection or the forearm and grip training tools collection.

Mistakes to Avoid When Copying This Routine

• Doing arm day as your only arm stimulus. Remember that push and pull days are already loading the biceps and triceps earlier in the week. Copy the whole split, not just the one session, or you'll be under-training.
• Going straight to the AMRAP burnout set with bad form. That last set is meant to be a finisher on fatigued muscle, not a max-effort test on fresh joints.
• Ignoring the ascending-weight structure. Doing all three top sets at the same weight defeats the point of building toward a heavier top set.
• Never training the forearms. As covered above, this is the one piece missing from every version of this routine online, Gripzilla's included until now.
• Copying volume before copying consistency. Thirteen working sets done well, every week, for months, will outperform a "perfect" routine done inconsistently.

David Laid's Arm Workout FAQs

What exercises does David Laid do for arms?

His reported arm day is seated hammer curls, bodyweight dips, EZ-bar curls, cable triceps pushdowns, and a finishing barbell curl, in that order, for about 13 total working sets.

How many sets does David Laid do for arms?

Around 13 working sets across five exercises: three sets each of four lifts, plus one all-out burnout set on barbell curls.

Does David Laid train arms every week?

Yes, arm day is a dedicated session within his six-day split, on top of indirect biceps and triceps work from his push and pull days earlier in the week.

Can beginners follow David Laid's arm workout?

With adjustments. Drop the AMRAP burnout set early on, use straight sets instead of ascending weight, and prioritize consistent form before adding volume.

Why do some David Laid arm workout breakdowns leave out forearm training?

Because his published routine focuses on biceps and triceps only. Forearm and grip work isn't part of the reported session, even though grip strength directly affects how well you can execute every lift on the list.

Is David Laid's split good for arm growth?

The structure is sound: compound movements before isolation, ascending load, one high-intensity finishing set. Results depend on consistency, recovery and whether your training age matches the volume.

Final Word

David Laid's arm day isn't complicated, and that's the point. Five exercises, a clear order, ascending weight, one hard finishing set.

What makes it work is consistency across a split that's already hitting the arms indirectly several times a week.

If you're building your own version of this session, the one addition worth making is the one nobody else talks about: a short forearm and grip finisher that protects the exact joints and connections every curl, dip and pushdown depends on.

Ready to close that gap in your own routine?

Start with a wrist and forearm roller builder for rotation work, a friction-based forearm trainer for multi-angle grip endurance, or a graduated hand gripper set to build crush strength from light to heavy.