Advice about Arms

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

Hey guys. So I am an aspiring powerlifter, been training hard and with dedication for a few years now, and I’ve done very well thus far putting on strength and size. Except for my bench haha. Its been a weak point of mine for a long time, and I have done a LOT to try and get it moving - tried every variation of sets/reps that seemed like it would work, tried speed work, cycling max effort exercises, 5/3/1… basically every trick in a powerlifters arsenal. And while it’s moving, it is slow and painful - it’s taken me 2 years to put maybe 40 lbs on my bench, after the initial noob gains I made.

To put that in perspective… Ive put around 160 lbs on my squat, almost 200 on my deadlift, and around 50 lbs on my strict press in that time. Which just doesn’t seem to add up, and is driving me nuts.

But anyways, the reason I have wandered into the BB forum is because I have decided to try something very different - I’m going to make my arms huge. None of the powerlifting stuff I have tinkered with has made much difference, so it’s time to try something very different. I figure, bodybuilders have some pretty big benches compared to a lot of powerlifters, and it seems to me that a lot of that has to do simply with how massive they are, probably in conjunction with the fact that they better know how to use their muscles to grind weight out.

Anyways, my arms aren’t twigs but they certainly aren’t big and I figure if I can put 2 + inches on them, my bench is gonna start moving at least a LITTLE bit faster than it is now. I haven’t really done much direct arm training at all. Anyways, I decided to start getting pretty serious about training my arms. The plan was to basically go from training them shittily, once a week, to training them seriously 2 times a week with another day where I do some lighter bodybuilding type accessory work for my arms back and shoulders after my normal benching and strict press work.

Anyway, got started on this new plan of attack a couple weeks ago, and I’ve been having a lot of fun with it and working hard. But after sort of feeling arm training out for a number of workouts, I have some questions and concerns that I figured some people who are much much more experienced at bodybuilding and arms training could help me with.

  1. What type of training do you prefer for getting your arms bigger? Part of me wants to do heavier training, try and focus on squeezing the shit out of the muscle… part of me thinks I should go the “typical” bodybuilding route, stick with sets of 8-12, that sort of thing, and part of me thinks maybe I should go lighter weights for much higher reps, as some people seem to have a lot of success with really hiigh-rep stuff to gain size. I don’t know. Right now I am pretty much just trying to limit my rest while experimenting with a bunch of differrent movements, set/rep schemes, weights, etc, but I haven’t found anything that really feels like “oh yeah, that’s right.” Some days I can really feel my muscles working, and I get a nice pump, and others I just can’t seem to get the workout I want.

I don’t really know what I’m asking I guess haha… I just really don;t know much about training my arms, and Despite some experimentation I still feel like I haven’t found anything that I really like/really feel like is productive. So I’m just curious if anyone has some solid advice of a good starting point, something that has worked really well for them, etc.

  1. I am really worried about not snapping my bicep up. I feel like this shouldn’t be a problem, because there are tons of guys who go into the gym and curl every damn day without fail and without problems. But tearing a bicep is a something I’m seriously squeamish about, especially since I haven’t done much arm training in the past. It’s part of the reason I am concerned about training my arms heavy… that is probably the style that I have liked the most, but I get worried about just popping my tendons haha.

For example, yesterday I called my workout a set early, because I started feeling warmth and a tingling right in the crook of my elbow when I was curling - not pain, just a weird, warm, prickling feeling, that I keep feeling all day today. I honestly don’t know if it is completely psychosomatic, or if it is actually something to worry about. Can anybody give me an idea of how realistic or unrealistic my squeamishness is, what I can do to avoid a bicep tear, or any sort of “warning signs” that it might happen? would you guys suggest, since I haven’t trained my arms much in the past, taking it easier or going lighter for a while to avoid hurting myself, or am I just paranoid and I shouldn’t worry about it? I know it’s a very individual thing, but I’m just feeling very uptight, and any sort of advice would be appreciated.

Anyways, just hoping for some people who know more than me to help me out. I know a lot about powerlifting, but not so much about making my arms grow haha so I appreciate any input, ideas, whatever. Thanks all.

2

Bump. Come on, no one wants to give N.K any arm advice?

3

No one wants to read a book. Me any way. Sorry

4

To give a non sarcastic response. I don’t know about the pain sensation, but but from my limited experience, Chase the pump. That seems to be the most common advice. Should be better for avoiding injury and arms respond the best to “pump the shit out of them”. Good luck man

5

Dude, what are you benching, I can’t see if you put that number?

Try close grip bench press and fat bar curls

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yeah sorry about the novel. I didn’t really realize how long it was till I posted, which is why I wasn’t really surprised no one answered. Thanks for the bump

Bicep tendon sensation seems to be slowly fading, so I think it was just a little bit of a strain. Hasn’t gotten worse, even with heavy deadlifts and some light bicep work, so I’m not too worried anymore.

PR bench is 235. That was a few months ago, since then I doubled 230 fairly easily, which is progress but not great progress. Pretty lame bench, especially considering my bodyweight is around 225.

And thanks for the advice on arms growth. Seems like chasing the pump is the way to go - last few sessions I have stayed pretty light and focused on getting a big pump, and I felt like it was productive training with little to no bicep trouble. Thanks for the close grip bench/fat bar curl idea as well, my training partner had fat gripz so I’ll have to give those a try.

7

That was long AF!
Come’on me m3athead, only cuurl to arm burnz then curlz mo’.

8

In over 20 years of training I have personally known only one guy to tear his bicep. This was after he attempted to bar curl with 120 kilos. His pals helped him lift the bar to the top and he tried to control the negative.
On the very first rep his left bicep just collapsed down to his elbow.
He was a recreational gear user, spent most of his time chatting and would just attempt some massive weight every 10 minutes or so. A cool guy, but completely bonkers.
He’d also bent loads of bars doing tiny partial reps on the squat rack.
My left bicep has been causing me grief for the last 2 months, I’m certain it’s because I lifted a washine machine from my kitchen into the back of a van. The prolonged gripping of the heavy and awkward weight would have caused this strain. This is the one and only time that I’ve ever suffered a biceps injury.

If you want to increase your bench then you need to relearn how to do it correctly.
Increasing your bench could be something as simple as proper breathing and your grip-width.

Practise the powerlifter style and not the bodybuilding way. There are at least 3 T-Nation videos on their youtube channel about this.
How many times a week are you benching?
I’m currently benching 3 times a week, the 3rd day is a light/speed day.
I’m less than 4 weeks away from a 100k bench for 5 reps at a bodyweight of 190. My PB 10 years ago with 100k is 5x15 without a spotter at a bodyweight of 180.

Long term I want to do 100k for 20+ reps.

Good luck with your training, you’ll be increasing your bench in no time.

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Trogolo - that makes me feel better. I know it’s probably not serious at this point, but it’s still good to hear that it’s pretty seriously unlikely that I’m going to hurt it unless I’m doing something stupid. Mainly I was just worried because I have never really done much direct biceps work, so I was nervous that perhaps my muscles were getting stronger and my tendons weren’t quite there yet. But it’s feeling better now, so that’s good.

I hear you on the technique. Especially since my strict overhead press (195) is so close to my best bench press (235), I have often thought that it might be a form issue. But I have done a lot of exploring with my form - changing arch, grip width, rep speed. And I have watched just about every video you can imagine haha. That’s basically how I came to this current plan of attack - I have really tried most of the typical powerlifting tips and tricks, without much success, and noticed that some of the better benchers like spoto, rahman, efferding, mark bell, tend to be guys with big ass arms and upper bodies, who bench without too much arch. I’m not by any means completely abandoning powerlifting technique, I just figured I might focus on building up my arm size and strength and see if that helped.

It definitely could be a technical issue on my part, but I have some pretty strong and knowledgeable training partners, none of whom have spotted any glaring errors or whatnot, so I feel like the problem isn’t just shitty technique.

10

Also, I bench twice a week, but have been adding in a bench variation on some of the arms days as well. And heres a video of my last max out, at 235, so people can take a look at form. It’s pretty similar now, except I have been playing with my grip a tiny bit closer, and am working on controlling the weight down a little bit more and flexing the lats harder at the bottom.

11

Your technique doesn’t look too shabby, but you really are at your limit right now aren’t you. What you don’t need is for this to begin to feel like some insurmountable weight barrier.

I am not a powerlifting coach but speaking from experience, my bench increased massively for two reasons.
1: Rack presses, starting from the bottom position. I read about this in Musclemag back in the late 90’s. I only started them as I was desperate to build my pecs. There might be the odd compromise in terms of where you set the bars. I was lucky to be able to set the bars so that the barbell could be pressed from right just above my chest, even with my back arched.

135 (60k) was a struggle at first. I was surprised how wonky my presses were, even though I had been doing DB presses for years. It took a while but I began pressing 100k for reps. It felt ace. I’ve not done them since leaving that gym back in 2001.

2: I started pressing for high reps, I had a training partner who was 50, I was then 30. I just thought I’d start pressing the same weight as him for a while, but whereas he would do 60k for 7 reps, I’d do 20. We peaked at 100 for 3 for him and 15 for me. Not the most conventional approach but it worked.

As for your arms, they do help but I’m pretty convinced that to improve your bench then you just need to bench. Also, the powerlifting superstars might not look like they’re arching, but they’re all built like the He-Man character,Ram Man. It’d be hard to spot it on someone so barrel chested. I should imagine that also the really restrictive lifting suits would also hide this.

12

Your triceps are weak, that’s why your bench isn’t moving

Try 3x8 heavy sets of flat bench, 3x10 sets of incline dumbbell press, then 3 sets of cable flies getting a good contraction.
Afterwards, hit your triceps hard with heavy 3x8 lying extension and 3x12 tricep rope pushdown

Give yourself about a 5-6 day recovery window,and make sure you don’t do back the day before chest.

This should get you going in the right direction. For reference, I have trained almost 2.5 years and am over a 3 plate bench.

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[quote]NurseE wrote:
Your triceps are weak, that’s why your bench isn’t moving

Try 3x8 heavy sets of flat bench, 3x10 sets of incline dumbbell press, then 3 sets of cable flies getting a good contraction.
Afterwards, hit your triceps hard with heavy 3x8 lying extension and 3x12 tricep rope pushdown

Give yourself about a 5-6 day recovery window,and make sure you don’t do back the day before chest.

This should get you going in the right direction. For reference, I have trained almost 2.5 years and am over a 3 plate bench.[/quote]

ohh ethan hey. did you get banned from GSF again?