Arms Flexed vs. Un-flexed

Training Bodybuilding
41

[quote]Sliver wrote:
Professor X wrote:
Sliver wrote:
Doesn’t matter how much time someone spends training. Just as long as they’re doing it right. And if you’re arms aren’t growing with the rest of your body you’re doing it wrong.

It doesn’t matter how long someone spends training? If someone is the typical New Year’s Resolutioner, it matters a whole lot. I personally wouldn’t waste the time worrying about someone who isn’t serious and won’t even be lifting in 6 months.

Let me elaborate on my comment. Bad training is bad training. And the less time someone spends doing it the better. [/quote]

Half assed training is half assed training. The more time they spend doing that the more time they spend in my way.

42

I don’t understand the use of all the titles – powerlifter, martial artist, etc. What makes people give themselves these titles? Shouldn’t you compete to carry the title? Or at the very least,reached some level of proficiency.

I like baseball, but I haven’t played in years. I don’t call myself a baseball player.

Just because you own a shotgun and some blaze orange clothing doesn’t make you a hunter. Going out and trying to shoot something makes you a hunter.

Why is there a need on this board to claim you are a powerlifter(or a martial artist, or a strongman) when you never have competed? I guarantee a lot of people here that claim to be powerlifters have no intention of competing. Claiming you’re a powerlifter won’t automatically make you stronger. It’s okay to just say you lift weights.

With bodybuilding, I’ll admit, it’s a little different. Most people that train for looks never will compete. That’s probably a good thing. I guess it’s okay then to call yourself a bodybuilder.

Why can’t people just be weight lifters? Even if you only goals in the gym are to increase the bench, squat, and dead, and never compete, you don’t need to call yourself a powerlifter. (As a side note, why would someone do that? Why train specifically for three lifts you have no intention of competing in). It’s ok to be a bodybuilder and have strength be a priority. Really it is.

Coming from someone who has put himself out there and competed, this type of labeling bothers me.

43

[quote]malonetd wrote:
I don’t understand the use of all the titles – powerlifter, martial artist, etc. What makes people give themselves these titles?

[/quote]

Because it makes people feel better about themselves. When somebody calls themselves a “powerlifter”, they feel like they can be associated with Dave Tate. When they call themselves a “MMA guy”, they feel like they’re associated with Fedor.

Better to stand on one’s own achievements, even if they aren’t that great yet.

44

Has this bodybuilding vs. powerlifting nonsense always been around? Personally I can see the benefits of both compound exercises and isolation work which is why I do both, seems like common sense to me but maybe I’m missing something.

To the OP, I’m currently a small guy too, I want bigger arms and I plan to get them by getting bigger. Sounds like you need to figure out your priorities, either you’re prepared to do what is necessary to build bigger arms or you’re not.

If you are then increase your calorie surplus and start including some direct arm work (if you have a weakness you should attack it not ignore it). If you’re not then don’t worry about it, just continue what you’re doing and learn to be happy with what you’ve got.

Good luck either way.

45

[quote]keaster wrote:
Tribulus- I hardly ever train lateral delts but mine are overpowering. I thought my arms would come along for the ride like my shoulders did.

John S- I am not sure where I said I didn’t train squat and deadlift.

Calilaw- If you read up a little bit you would see that I got stuck in the no arm training craze. I thought I could hit them with compounds like Close grip, board presses, lockouts, Close grip chin ups etc. It worked for my shoulders but clearly not my arms. Was it wrong, yes. Was it a mistake, yes. Will it be corrected, yes.

Prof x- I understand what you are saying. However, my main goal for lifting is to increase my Bench, Squat, Deadlift poundages. Does every powerlifter that tries to get bigger automatically become a bodybuilder? There are divisions in types of lifters.
And yes, I would like bigger arms, but I wouldnt add a whole arm day when I could be working on upping my maxes or practicing martial arts.

Thanks for [almost] everyone posts. [/quote]

Look man, you want to increase your heavy lifts? great. You want big arms? awesome. But if focussing on your heavy lifts isn’t giving you big arms, then you have to make a choice. Either the size of your arms matters to you or it doesn’t.

If it does, you’ll add an arms day (or at least some serious direct arm movements). Getting caught in a training craze is something that happens to (almost) everyone, but sticking with it when it doesn’t give you the results you want doesn’t make sense. Try the prof’s suggestions, and if that doesn’t work, try something else.

If you want bigger arms, start mixing things up till you find something that works for YOU.
peace,
d

46

If you took your Squat and deadlift seriously your arms wouldnt be a problem. Ever seen a good deadlifter with small arms? Ever see a good squatter with small arms? Get in the Gym, If your a powerlifter take the 3 lifts and work them as hard as you do in the bench(im hoping you train your bench hard at least), If your a bodybuilder start isolating the arms to get them bigger.

47

Actually, I’ve seen tremendous squatters and deadlifters with small arms. The simple fact is that if someone does not EAT TO GROW and train their muscles with sufficient volume and intensity, they WON’T GROW.

If, like some people such as myself, you purposefully do not eat enough to grow substantial amounts, then you won’t grow substantial amounts.

I think that the important thing here is that the trainee (whether they are a PLer, BBer, MMA guy, etc) must train hard and constantly try to improve.

I have a hard time respecting any kind of lifter that simply trains to maintain their qualities, but thats just my opinion.

-MAtt

[quote]John S. wrote:
If you took your Squat and deadlift seriously your arms wouldnt be a problem. Ever seen a good deadlifter with small arms? Ever see a good squatter with small arms? Get in the Gym, If your a powerlifter take the 3 lifts and work them as hard as you do in the bench(im hoping you train your bench hard at least), If your a bodybuilder start isolating the arms to get them bigger.[/quote]

48

Well I guess size is in the eye of the beholder, But all the good deadlifters and squatters i have seen have had big arms.

49

[quote]John S. wrote:
If you took your Squat and deadlift seriously your arms wouldnt be a problem. [/quote]

Bullshit.

50

Just throw in some curls for good measure. lol

51

Thanks guys for all the responses. I will try and respond to everyone.

Prof x- I see what your saying about having to look at what people with big arms do.

Eddy- Well, I am not so sure that they didnt recive some stimulus from indirect trainig. When I started lifting last christmas, They were maybe 10.5-11 tops flexed. So they have grown.

Fulman- Uhh, maybe you should look around at some powerlifters in the
lower weight classes. But thanks for the dickheaded response.

Malonetd- I have competed in martial arts. But I do understand not giving yourself a label. I think that was wrong of me. I am in the process of signing up for a powerlifting contest. I just have to get a doctors note for my hrt.

John S. Are you retarted. I train my squat and deadlift. When did I say I didnt. I merely stated my pull-up was way more than my bench because they are both upper body movements and someone mentioned weighted pullups. And the fact that you mentioned training squat and deadlift hard for arms doesnt really make sense.

Yes they provide a good growth stimulus, an anabolic respone but they are NOT arm movements. My back takes on most of the work for my deadlift and my outer quads and ass do most the of the in my squat. If they had magic arm building properties my arms wouldnt be lagging.

Matt- There are many “small” guys out there with crazy lifts.

Lurker- Thanks- I think I will shift my focus slightly to include more isolation work.

So now a plan is in order.

I structure my workouts by lift days

Sunday is squat and assitance(quads, abs,)

Tuesday is bench and assitance (triceps, shoulders, chest)

Thusrday is deadlift and assitance (hams, back, biceps)

I guess you could call it legs/ push/ pull

I usualy do about six exercises a session.

I will start adding in some isolation work to cover all angles.

Either that or I could add in another day for arms on saturday night after morning martial arts.

Again thanks [almost] everyone.

52

keaster, Im going to explain a lift to you like you are a newbie so you can understand something about these lifts.

First off, In the squat you are right they dont directly work them, But they do stimulate them which will cause some growth.

Second, Lets examine the deadlift for a second, Lets say you deadlift 300(going to use this for a example). You will be holding the 300lbs in your hand which will cause your forearms to work(which will cause them to grow), Next they work the bicep, Are they as good as doing some curls for the arm? No, But will deadlifts get your arms bigger? Yes. Take a look at Andy Bolton and say he has small arms.

Third, You claimed to be a powerlifter, When you do powerlifting your not going to have arms like Ronnie Coleman, Expect arms like Andy Bolton,Fred Hatfield,Charles Bailey, and the list goes on. If you want bodybuilder arms do Bodybuilding.

53

[quote]keaster wrote:

Matt- There are many “small” guys out there with crazy lifts.

[/quote]

That is what I was saying.

54

[quote]Matt McGorry wrote:
keaster wrote:

Matt- There are many “small” guys out there with crazy lifts.

That is what I was saying.[/quote]

Sorry, I thought I had posted something different for your response.

55 
   How long is this "DEBATE"

going to continue. The TRUTH has been told. Almost the only ones that have made any sense are the Professor and my Paisano (friend in spanish dont know about Italian). Freak Genetics aside you need to work every individual muscle, at some time on its own(isolation).

And for the Cunuck or oiler whatever you want to be called barbell presses arent enough your “stronger” muscles will take over, namely front delts. Now for my point. Regardless of your goals (PL,BB,MMA, Whatever) MUSCLES WORK TOGEHER. If you want to get better in deadlifts (and i dont mean necessarily stronger) you need to do cleans.

In turn to get better in cleans you need to get better in shruggs so on and so forth. SO IN ABLE TO DO BETTER IN ANY COMPOUND MOVEMENT YOU NEED TO WORK EVERY MUSCLE INVOLVED IN THAT MOVEMENT BY ITS SELF WHILE NOT NEGLECTING THE LIFT IN SUBJECT. You might be good at chin ups, (doing 60 reps might get boring) but to get better and possibly better faster you need to make your Biceps, Rhomboids, etc. better.

THUS THE TRUE REASON TO WORK ANY MUSCLE INDIVIDUALLY IS TO GET BETTER OVER ALL.

Brothers in iron, holler at me.

56

Brothers in iron, holler at me.

Hollah.

I don’t see what the big fucking deal is about throwing in an arm day. Yeah, you should work out with a sufficient intensity & volume blah blah blah, but at the end of the day 5 sets of curls isn’t gonna hurt ANYBODY’s goals.

You’re curling, not squatting a grand plus the bar plus kettlebells plus Louie Simmons and Dave Tate hanging onto the ends of the bar. It just ain’t that taxing, recovery wise.

(At least not for me. Maybe the sight of an EZ curl bar makes other people break out into hives, or something, I dunno.)

Plus, let’s be honest: it’s just plain FUN to train arms. The pump is magnificent, you have all those cool veins throbbing on your forehead, and you can scream “GET TO DA CHOPPAH!” and other classic lines on your last set.

57

[quote]HuffDaddy wrote:
How long is this “DEBATE”
going to continue.
[/quote]

Already too long

58

[quote]LUEshi wrote:
Brothers in iron, holler at me.

Hollah.

I don’t see what the big fucking deal is about throwing in an arm day. Yeah, you should work out with a sufficient intensity & volume blah blah blah, but at the end of the day 5 sets of curls isn’t gonna hurt ANYBODY’s goals.

You’re curling, not squatting a grand plus the bar plus kettlebells plus Louie Simmons and Dave Tate hanging onto the ends of the bar. It just ain’t that taxing, recovery wise.

(At least not for me. Maybe the sight of an EZ curl bar makes other people break out into hives, or something, I dunno.)

Plus, let’s be honest: it’s just plain FUN to train arms. The pump is magnificent, you have all those cool veins throbbing on your forehead, and you can scream “GET TO DA CHOPPAH!” and other classic lines on your last set.[/quote]

That was some funny shit. I did train arms last night and it felt good. I love that arnie reference.