21s

C

cnegotiator

New Member
are 21s for biceps a good mix with HST?
last two cycles i have had little if any bicep growth, and i have room to grow (my biceps are about 14 inches, i'm 5"6', 150ish) and i have seen massive growth everywhere else so this cycle i threw in 21s and i have seen some newer definition but i dont know if it will work well with HST. Opinions?
 
I wouldn't forsee them as bad, as long as you test the RM's for 21's, oh say a 21RM, 15RM, 9RM instead of 15, 10, and 5 phases. The problem with 21's is that people do them with heavy weights to failure. As long as you avoid failure, and do linear progression up to those RM's, then it is like any other exercise.
 
I would try 20 reps max-stim style. That way you can build the loads as per standard HST but probably do more work with your biceps than they are used to. I did just 15 reps for bb curls max-stim style last w/o using my 5RM and my bi's were sore deep inside the following day. Haven't had that for a while now. I'm going to keep using max-stim for bis for the rest of the cycle to see how it goes (ie. instead of doing negs).
 
If you are after pure arm size, then you are better off concentrating on triceps. They make up 2/3 of your arm size. For size, I think dips and close grip bench presses are the best followed closely by french presses.
 
Of course, O&G is right. If you are just after overall arm size then blast those tri's. I have made my best gains doing heavy dips and adding in a stretch-point iso during 5s. I also think tri's tend to respond more quickly than do bi's. If you have made good progress elsewhere but your arms have stalled then strap on the weight and hit those dip bars. Now, if you say that you've been doing them already and made great gains in your pecs but they did nothing for your arms, switch to close grip bench. If neither of them work I'll be amazed. My arms have gone from 14.75" to nearly 16.75" in 9 months of HST (I'm 5'10"). I'm pretty sure this is mainly due to dips as my dipping strength has increased way more than my curling strength in that time.
 
My tris have come along very nicely, almost have that horseshoe in maybe another 2 cycles or so it will be perfect. Just the bis have done nothingggggg.

Im on my 4th cycle, my past 3 i have seen growth everywhere except, biceps. While yes I want to go for size, I also want to keep my arms balanced and strong (when I was young and stupid aka 4 years ago, all I did was bis, chest, and calves and that combination with baseball led to an injury. Thus my doctor stressed the need to work every part equally not letting one get much better then the other so i dont hurt myself again). Yes, I didnt go for surgry when i should of, i was stubborn.

Currently i have been doing 21s and just progressing in weight, im in my third week and up my weight for 21s every 2 or 3 workouts (once or twice a week).

For tris i have been doing over the heads, and machine pulldowns (alternated these in since i havent done him in a long time in place of reverse skull crushers {PS AWESOME for tris, try it with your palm facing down!!!} and i'll go back to crushers next cycle).
 
maybe you have overtrained your bis over the years,try doing a cycle with no isos see what happens.
also if they are not reacting to chins or pulldowns try concentrating on working your bis while you do these exercises the extra weight from these should hit them.
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<div>
(Lol @ Jul. 26 2006,20:22)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">My arms have gone from 14.75&quot; to nearly 16.75&quot; in 9 months of HST (I'm 5'10&quot;).</div>
LoL: i'm just wondering if you used compounds only to do this or did you do arm isolation to get these kind of results?

Thanks.
 
<div>
(jonsmith @ Jul. 27 2006,14:29)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"><div>
(Lol @ Jul. 26 2006,20:22)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">My arms have gone from 14.75&quot; to nearly 16.75&quot; in 9 months of HST (I'm 5'10&quot;).</div>
LoL: i'm just wondering if you used compounds only to do this or did you do arm isolation to get these kind of results?

Thanks.</div>
I alternate between a bi and tri iso each w/o if I have time at the end. I still think my best arm gains have come from compounds though. Chins and dips are so heavy by comparison. Eg:

I'm currently around 205lbs and I add over 100lbs for dips whereas I am only using a 100lb bb for overhead tri extensions during 5s.

For chins I only add a 40lb db for 5s and I use around 120lb bb for curls, Max-stim style.
 
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