Focus on Arms

  • Thread starter Thread starter imported_dmd243
  • Start date Start date
I

imported_dmd243

Guest
Hello everyone:

This is my first post here, but I'm actually in the second cycle of my HST workout.  I've been around these forums as an observer for the past 8 weeks, and I will say I really appreciate all the commentary and tips you all have provided.  

I clumsily stumbled through my first cycle and I think I will be much better off this time around and see more results.  

The main reason for this post is that I am trying to put some extra focus on my arms.  Yes, vanity muscles, I know - but it's actually a quasi-necessity, as my chest grows almost effortlessly.  Just a little background - I'm 5'9'', 190-195# with a 46'' chest, 33'' waist and arms at 16'' fully flexed.  So not really all that proportioned, and I'd like to see them grow at least another half-inch to full inch eventually (end of year, perhaps?).  I am considering adding a short arm workout day in between my three days.  

So far I do my routine on Mon, Wed and Sat. I thought Thurs might be appropriate for something focused on arms, but not too crazy.

Has anyone done anything like this, or have any tips on how to go about doing it?

Thanks in advance, everyone!

--Dante
 
id stick to the basic core lifts and a basic arm routine,your arms will take care of themselves.

it has been said that an increase of around 15lbs of bodyweight(lean)gives an inch on the arms,id have to agree,from personal xp.

the greatest improvements i had,as far as arms go,was when i switched to heavy tricep pullovers(or dips if you have the means),and chins for biceps,all done in strict form.
 
M-W-Sa is standard 3x/week frequency just shifted back two days, hence your weekend break is actually on Thursday and Friday.

What exercises do you want to do? I suggest sticking to dips, chins, rows, and deadlifts if you want to shift focus to your arms from your chest.
 
there was another thread just like this somewhere around here.

regardless, i agree with the above posters concerning exer. used. if you dont have close grip chins and some type of dip (or close grip bench) in your w/o i would start including those first. these are obviously compound exer. but work for most in building decent arm size due to the signif. amount of wgt used (when compared to iso's).

although this works for most it does not work for all..... BUT.....it should still be given a full cycle or two (or more)of effort before coming to that conclusion. almost everyone thinks their arms are a weak point when they begin b/c they are the most obvious muscle (next to quads) and everyone compares themselves to folks who have been at it for a while.

good, heavy compounds + excess calories + time = bigger arms.

good luck
 
I've always had the same issue with my arms.

I did my first three HST cycles with standard compound movements only and saw very little growth in my arms while experiencing great gains with chest, back and legs.  During my fourth cycle I added some arm isolations during the 5's but unfortunately still didn't see a growth in my arms.

I'm now nearing the end of my 5th HST cycle and have added barbell curls, incline curls, tricep dips and skull crushers to all of my minicycles and have gained almost a half inch on my arms over the past month.  I couldn't be happier.  

So for me, an HST program and eating for size along with many arm isolations have helped me to grow where I wasn't able to before.  I say go for it!
 
Emoran, here's a question for you: what kind of weights were you moving for those compounds?
I believe there are different results for different levels of Bb'ing when it comes to the arm factor... a noob may make better gains using iso's, although that's not always the case. And then we'd have to consider how your diet went; you may have started putting on weight at the end. BW and arms do seem to go together. I made gains by STOPPING the iso's during strength training, or at least only doing them once a week.
 
Quad,  for 99% of experienced lifters I would agree with you that it's about eating and moving heavy weight with compound exercises.  Unfortunately, I seem to be the 1% exception that rule!  

The reason I'm confident of that fact is that everything in my program remained constant from cycle to cycle i.e. strict eating over maintenance, heavy compound exercises, reps, sets (Obviously each cycle I added more weight to my lifts).  The only time my arms have grown significantly is during this cycle where I added in serious arm isolations.  

I'm not complaining, I just wish I discovered HST and the way to get my arms growing when I was in my twenties!
 
When you get to where you are still gaining weight, and mass (not just fat) but the arms quit growing; then switch to less iso's and see if they don't come up some from that then. You're probably just in a different place, but you don't have an alien body or anything. Anything that works I have found will only work for so long; then you change for something else until that quits working.
The neat part is you'll get to grow without iso's all the time!
biggrin.gif
 
sounds like youve been round the block a few times and have a given compounds a good amount of time to work. do you feel your arm size is lacking due to tri size, bi size or both?
like quad mentioned its easy to go overboard on the isos' so certainly switch them up as well as give them a rest from time to time. personally my tris grow just fine with the compounds but my bis not so much so i sympathize with your situation.

im not sure what will work for you but a few things come to mind.
for tris i still think you need signif wgt in order to make an impression. take whatever compound your doing for chest (bench, dips, db press) and try to add a tri exer that you can use good wgt. cg bench is great but keep it some distance from your chest w/o or it will suffer greatly. also wgt dips in a more upright position for tris can help. anything lighter like bw dips or kickbacks will give you an incredible burn but just arent heavy enough to stimulate a rugged muscle group like the triceps.

for bis i find almost the opposite to be true. this isnt to say you shouldnt use good wgt but its much easier to turn a heavy curl exer. into low back, deltoid, swinging, cheating exercise. even seated you can find a way to involve the body and delts when things get heavy and you get tired. personally i like 2 exer. heavy weighted chins done max stim style (1rep, short rest, 1rep etc). when its real heavy the short rest allows me to fully complete each rep while still allowing me to use serious wgt. otherwise the reps get shorter quickly negating the effectivness of the heavy wgt. i also like curls with an e-z curl bar while my back is supported by a wall or upright equip.. done with good form it takes all the "sway" and cheating out of it and my bis are usually dying but more importantly ONLY  my bis are dying.

i dont do all of these all the time mind you. usually 1 bi iso per cycle and every blue moon a tri one. these may help but they are certainly not going to "cure" any type of genetic shortcomings. most recently i was 220+ but still hadnt reached 17" arms, almost, but still not yet. thats ok, someday i will and then ill be doing my damnest to get to 18.

ok enough rambling for now.
good luck
 
17" arms is damn good for a lean natural. I don't care too much about arm size and just skip arm iso's (man I am such a liar...I think all guys who lift -even powerlifters- secretly want huge arms
laugh.gif
)
 
<div>
(quadancer @ Apr. 05 2007,22:58)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">When you get to where you are still gaining weight, and mass (not just fat) but the arms quit growing; then switch to less iso's and see if they don't come up some from that then. You're probably just in a different place, but you don't have an alien body or anything. Anything that works I have found will only work for so long; then you change for something else until that quits working.
The neat part is you'll get to grow without iso's all the time!  
biggrin.gif
</div>
Quad,  this is great advice for everyone!  At this point I'm gaining lean muscle slowly and still gaining size in arms every week but at that point when that stops, I'll be taking out some iso's and relying on the compounds.
 
bluejacket, my biceps are probably more of a problem than my triceps but I've got to give them some blame too.  

You're ideas are right on for me.  I love cg bench for tris.  And although I am a former &quot;Arnold&quot; student I did take away some important ideas from him.  One of those being what you said about bis, strict movement is the key to growth.  I've only briefly read about max-stim but I really like the idea with the heavy chins you mentioned.  I'm going to read more about that and use it during my next cycle. Thanks.

My current goal is also 17&quot; but I've got a longer way to go than you!
 
I always perk up a bit more when Blue or Lol post. They have a tendency to come about with these profound revelations that us lesser masses haven't cogitated upon just yet.
Thinking about what Blue was saying about a difference between bi's and tri's, I think we lump them together too often and work them identically. Bi's are definitely a weaker BP than tri's and should be done somewhat differently. I wonder just how many of us have missed that.
I keep hitting 17's and backing back down to anywhere from 16-1/2 to 16-3/4&quot; and it's disgusting. I wonder if about a 1/3 - 2/3 split for arms (bi's and tri's) would be better? (in reference to total load)
rock.gif
 
although a good routine is helpful,i think it all boils down to genetics with arms,my tri's keep on growing but my bi's a real slow movers.where as my freinds bi's are freaky yet his tri's are really small.
rock.gif


i just tend to pick one good exercise for each and hit 2 to 3 sets,job done.like i said i let my arms take care of themselves.
 
Hey all:

Thanks for all the great comments here.  Nice to feel welcome, even though I'm clearly asking a question that's likely been discussed a million times before.  

As it sounds, it def does seem to be different things that affect different people.  For me, arms have always been my trouble spot.  I've been lifting on and off for about 11 years now (I'm 25 now), and no matter what kind of routine I did - heavy pyramids, iso lifts, etc - my arms have decided to lag behind my chest, shoulders, legs.  

I think I will heed the advice here to incorporate a complex arm lift into my cycle.  I was doing a tri pulldown and a barbell curl, but perhaps the others would work better - i.e. close-grip bench and chin ups.  

This is actually an arm exercise I thought to incorporate.  Check it out here.

I used to do this twice a week, as recommended, when I was formerly doing a usual workout routine (Chest one day, Back another, etc etc) and this actually helped me put on about 1/4'' on my arms.  I might make this my Thurs arm focus. Could this be too much, though?

Thanks again...the commentary is very heartening.

--Dante
 
personally, i would skip the bb.com arm workout. if your arms where going to grow an inch in 45 days they would have the last time you did the w/o.

give the heavy compounds a shot for a cycle or two. doing heavy chins (max-stim or clustering) and heavy cg. bench will add size to your arms. keep in mind its not going to be a magic &quot;cure&quot; to suddenly give you masive arms but you will add size. after youve given the compounds some time then eval. to see if adding an iso (either bi or tri) would be of any use.

good luck
 
dmd - That workout is a variation of the 'Progressive Rest-Pause' that I'd done last year...the third one IS the PRP, except we started with 10 seconds rest, not 30. These will act as shock techniques, and are all failure-training. If you are on a failure type program, they fit in well (to be done ONCE a week, we were told; he does them twice), but if you're on an HST cycle, they could interfere with your progression in other lifts, and could easily overtrain arms if you have compounds in your routine.
They are pretty brutal though, and I used to swear by them. But so is &quot;railroading&quot; where you go down the db stack and lift all the db's, set by set, drop sets, and many other shock-related routines. But they are pretty much the same in regards to HST.

As Blue said, the compounds will do you good; maybe even amaze you, although I got just what he said. Some arm growth. The problem at MY age is KEEPING it!
 
Dante,
Something I've found over 5 or 6 HST cycles, is that I've had the best upper arm increases by not doing any bicep or tricep iso's until the 5's. I completely skip direct arm exercises the rest of the time.
I then do incline curls and skull crushers. I've added 2 inches over approx the last 8 months (I'm at 18 + a fraction inches now).
Of course this is 'anecdotal', so you have to take it in that light.

Anthony
 
Adb - it's good advice regardless. I'd also not blow them completely out with too many sets; the fives are hard work allready.
 
My opinion is almost the same as all others:

Reverse close-grip Chins for biceps, for extra superset with incline (30 degrees) dumbell curls, want more? Drop set twice but dropping weight 20% each time, reps? Go 5, 10, 15, one set should do.

Dips for chest will always hit the triceps, top this up with pushdowns as a superset or overhead tricep extensions, drop set, Yah if you want, same as above.

But the truth still remains, many of the guys here do not practice the iso route at all, I on the opther hand think I need a little extra so I do the above for one set only, it is enough, I feel.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top