Quickest way to Bigger Biceps

Turk Malloy

New Member
I know from my Bigger Biceps HST book thread, im sure you get the idea
im interested in increasing my bicep size.

Ive been following the grecian ideal:
Eugen Sandow (known as the first bodybuilder) measured the marble artworks in museums and helped to develop "The Grecian Ideal" as a formula for the "perfect physique". He built his physique to those exact proportions.

Grecian Ideal Chart
Grecian Ideal Calculator

Well Im a small boned guy and have 12 inch biceps at the moment (yes they are small!) I lifted weights for a year when i was 16 and never got bigger than 11.5 inch biceps. Now im 22 and have 12 inch biceps! and my goal since 16 is to have 13 inch biceps, so at least my arms look good in a
t-shirt.

My question is: what is going to be the best HST routine to add an inch to my arms the quickest, also my diet is fine as I see a nutritionist weekly.

This is a very sad question, considering everyone else has HUGE biceps!
 
Well I am not even going to go into trying to convince you to train your entire body...b/c we all know that is the correct thing to do. You should never just train one muscle group. So what I am about to recommend....I simply dont recommend...but you asked for it so here goes
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.

If all you wanted to do was train biceps then here is what I would do.

Standing barbell curls
Standing dumbell curls
Cable curls

Close grip bench press for triceps
Dips for triceps
Pressdowns for triceps

I would cluster to 36 reps 3 times a week and I would do it HST STYLE.

Again...this is not recommend nor is it the best way to go building a physique....but I guess if all one want is biceps then they could??? just train there arms.

Of course you will need to eat and eat some more...you will need to gain prob around 10 to 15 pounds to put an inch on your biceps....which again is why I would train my whole body hst style if I were you.
 
you can try two ways,
do a HST cycle using all compounds this will allow you to use more weight so should give your bis more load on things like chins etc.
if that doesnt work do a HST routine with arn isos at the end.
that way at least you can have an idea what stimulates your arms better.
 
>What are you doing now?
> Dan Moore

Im doing a Vanilla HST cycle. 15's, 10's, 5's
2 sets of each

Seated Dumbbell Curls
Tricep Kickbacks
Dumbbell Presses
(I only own dumbbells)

Iam in the second week of 15's and have gained .2 inch

i was doing full body workouts but im trying to
reach the smallest 'grecian ideal' with a 36.4 chest and 13.1 biceps,
and since it been hard even to get to here and my chest is now 36.2
im hesitant to do a full body routine.

I have a chin up bar, how do I incorporate chin ups?
What Reps do I do for 15s, 10's, 5s as i dont have any way to add weight to myself.
 
Narrow grip chins, weighted hst style. I don't have huge biceps and like you have always wanted bigger arms. I have always done B/B and D/B curls and yes they did grow some from those, but after doing a hst cycle without arm iso's they are finally growing at a nice(ish) pace.
 
<div>
(Turk Malloy @ Apr. 24 2007,08:48)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">&gt;What are you doing now?
&gt; Dan Moore

Im doing a Vanilla HST cycle. 15's, 10's, 5's
2 sets of each

Seated Dumbbell Curls
Tricep Kickbacks
Dumbbell Presses
(I only own dumbbells)

Iam in the second week of 15's and have gained .2 inch

i was doing full body workouts but im trying to
reach the smallest 'grecian ideal' with a 36.4 chest and 13.1 biceps,
and since it been hard even to get to here and my chest is now 36.2
im hesitant to do a full body routine.

I have a chin up bar, how do I incorporate chin ups?
What Reps do I do for 15s, 10's, 5s as i dont have any way to add weight to myself.</div>
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Seated Dumbbell Curls
Tricep Kickbacks
Dumbbell Presses
(I only own dumbbells)</div>

Are these the only exercises you are doing?
 
&gt; Are these the only exercises you are doing?
&gt;Dan Moore

Yes at the moment they are, I was doing full body but have stopped.
so right now im doing 15 reps, 2 sets of the above exercise.

Im sorry for the stupid question, its actually very depressing as been training for 6 months this year and trained for a whole year :-( when i was 16 and have never gotten that far. I guess I am seeing results with HST
so far but maybe im too impatient.
 
Well the only way I can see that you are going to get the arms you want is by doing heavy compound exercises. Dips, Pull-ups, Bench Press, BB Rows. And you have to eat, eat, eat! What is your diet like? Are you putting on weight but your arms aren't growing? If you aren't gaining weight then your arms aren't going to grow.
 
I think 1&quot; on your bi's is totally do-able. As Bulldog stated above HEAVY COMPOUNDS are the way to go. Forget looks and measurements for a good cycle or two and re-direct that energy/focus into numbers (load). Get your numbers significantly higher than they are now in BBRow, Deads, Bench and military press and you will get that inch. In fact if you took just the above mentioned  4 exersizes and did a 3x/wk fullbody HST cycle , remembering that using only 4 compounds is not a way to make anything easier but a way to give more recovery/intensity/energy   to moves that have the highest return- and EAT... you will see growth in arms.

DONT DO ANY CURLS- you will just be sapping recovery/intensity/energy   from the exersizes that will actually grow those arms(they have their place- but not for you , not yet; first make the cake THEN put on the icing...).

if you need inspiration to go simple, heavy and streamlined ,surf some powerlifting sites and check out thier arms -   with no direct work to speak of (usually) they tend to put most curl happy BB types limbs to shame!


Dont worry about feeling it in the bi's just do the compounds.... you will SEE it in the bi's (and tri's)...
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<div>
(Turk Malloy @ Apr. 24 2007,14:04)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">&gt; Are these the only exercises you are doing?
&gt;Dan Moore

Yes at the moment they are, I was doing full body but have stopped.
so right now im doing 15 reps, 2 sets of the above exercise.

Im sorry for the stupid question, its actually very depressing as been training for 6 months this year and trained for a whole year :-( when i was 16 and have never gotten that far. I guess I am seeing results with HST
so far but maybe im too impatient.</div>
If you can't load your dbs so that you can get close to your 1RM loads then you should get hold of some more weight for them.

If you want bigger bis and tris you have to shift a lot more weight than a load that allows for 15 reps. I appreciate that you are on your 15s for this cycle but most of the growth inducement won't come until the loads are higher. Be patient.
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Never overlook the fact that if you do heavy chins (ie. more than your bodyweight), rows and weighted dips your arms will have to grow if your training program and eating are in order. I got my upper arms to grow from around 13.5&quot; to 17&quot; in a year with HST and I very rarely worked them directly. Granted, some of the size was fat but even after a four month cut (from Jan this year) they are still over 16&quot; (flexed).

If you want to do arm isos then seated incline db curls are good for a stretch in the bis, particularly if you lower the dbs out to the sides. And don't forget that your tris make up a large proportion of your upper arm mass. Close grip bench and/or dips will allow you to use a lot more load than any form of kick-backs. Overhead tri extensions are good for stretch if you keep your upper arms back at the lowest point.
 
Here are some goals for you to achieve:

bench 1.5 x bodyweight
squat 2 x bodyweight
Deadlift 2 - 2.5 x bodyweight
Chin 1/5 of bodyweight
Dip 1/5 of bodyweight

All for 5 reps.

Once you get these targets you'll have boigger arms, you're small?

Advantage, they tendto look thicker quicker.
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<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Once you get these targets you'll have boigger arms, you're small? </div>

I have only hit the dips goal.. must mean I have small arms!

The exercises laid out there in those goals will be enough focus on your arms. You will not need any other exercises other than possible alternating between chins and rows.
 
I don't know if your joking Fausto, but your advice was a little off the wall... There is absolutely no need to become an elite strength athlete to get bigger arms. Deadlifting 2.5X bodyweight and all those goals you posted are great, but less than 5% of the weightlifting population will ever get that far, and it is not necessary to get bigger arms.
 
I think what Fausto was trying to point out was that focusing on some heavy compound lifts that involve the arms will inevitably lead to decent arm growth along the way (not sure how squats fit into to that mind you?
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Yeah sci...don't get too excited, Lol is on track, that is exactly what I am saying...nothing I say is &quot;written in stone&quot; it is all relative, they are nice goals by the way and many can achieve them!
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For instance benching your body weight is a duuuuh target, and should be one of the first to be achieved, that is almost my warm up weight and I am no big bencher.
laugh.gif


But yeah, stick to big componds and you will get arms in no time. Of course the squats do not build arms but legs, I guess no one here wants to walk on sticks (Reminds me of Johnny Bravo he...he...he, you can Bi it, and you can Try it, but I'll Trap you)
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Colby - Dipping 1/2 my body weight is also a target of mine, that does not mean I am doing it, my max is 30 Kg for 5 which is below 1/2 my bodyweight (that being 35.5). And I definitelly need to work on my arms (according to the pics I posted).

Best mix? Dips + skullcrushers or pushdowns for triceps and Reverse close grip weighted chinups + Incline d/b curls
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<div>
(Turk Malloy @ Apr. 24 2007,13:48)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">&gt;What are you doing now?
&gt; Dan Moore

Im doing a Vanilla HST cycle. 15's, 10's, 5's
2 sets of each

Seated Dumbbell Curls
Tricep Kickbacks
Dumbbell Presses
(I only own dumbbells)

Iam in the second week of 15's and have gained .2 inch

i was doing full body workouts but im trying to
reach the smallest 'grecian ideal' with a 36.4 chest and 13.1 biceps,
and since it been hard even to get to here and my chest is now 36.2
im hesitant to do a full body routine.

I have a chin up bar, how do I incorporate chin ups?
What Reps do I do for 15s, 10's, 5s as i dont have any way to add weight to myself.</div>
sorry fella but just doing arms on there own is not going to make them grow IMO.
do a full cycle &quot;fullbody&quot; without isos and a fullbody with isos and see what works for you.
 
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