Arms lagging behind

L

letorricelli

New Member
Hi everyone! I've been working out with HST for a couples of months now. The results have been amazing. My clothes feel much tighter and haven't gained much fat either. But my arms have been growing TOO slowly in comparison to other parts of my body, specially chest and back, and during the past few weeks they haven't grown at all, whereas other body parts have. Some people have even told me that my arms seem very small in proportion to my trunk.

My workout is

Squat
Leg curls
Dumbbell fly
Inclined bench press
Bent Over Row
Close Grip Lat Pulldown
Barbbell upright row
Shrug
Preacher curl
Tricep rope extension
Calf Raises
Abs

I do 2 sets during the 15, 10 and 5 rep phases and have already changed preacher curl and tricep rope extension for other iso exercises with little/no success.

I know there must be something wrong, but I can't imagine what. What can I do to deal with it?? Should I add more reps to the iso ones? Or maybe do more iso exercises for arms? After reading Simplify and Win I'm considering not doing the arm isos, but is it a good idea for my case??

Thank you!!!
 
If I were you...

I would add dips (weighted if possible) to my schedule, or lying tricep extensions (skullz), which I believe is the best tricep iso. For biceps, I would focus on an exercise that will allow you to use more weight, such as standing BB curls or DB curls (which I prefer for a better contraction and less wrist torque). Progress the exercises the same as any other muscle group HST style. Triples may help you break though a plateau as well...so you can try increasing weight and doing 8 sets of 3, for example, then filling in reps until you can manage 5x5 of the heavier weights.

Simplify and Win is great, and works for many members here, but I believe the arms need some specific attention to reach their full potential. Good luck.
 
I agree with soflsun, it seems to me the exercises you have selected for your arms are not necessarily ideal.

Skullcrushers and standing barbell or EZ bar curls would definitely be better choices, as an example.

If changing the exercises themselves doesn't seem to work, you could always manipulate the volume of your arm stuff on future cycles, i.e. add an extra set (either in the form of the same exercise or another set of a new one) for each or something.
 
I've been doing barbell curls (now with an EZ curl bar) and close grip bench presses. Very old school. and it took my arms forever to finally start getting up with my chest and legs. Same with my shoulders.

BUT....after packing on SERIOUS size now, in the last week I have seen a BALLOONING of my arms and shoulders. I'm at the beginning of another cycle and at the very end of my 15 rep range, so this could be due to more circulation getting in those smaller muscle groups.

But, it has finally happened and boy are they catching up!

So my (very HUMBLE) opinion would be to do one exercise per body part, stay compound/old school as you can with everything, and be patient it WILL happen.
 
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