I get the most gains on my arms when I surprize them.
Kind of periodization but with a twist. I will do all the main compounds but two to five times a month I will pick at random some direct arm work and hit the hell out of it.
I at least keep it spaced out a bit but I incorporate different techniques each time. One time may be focused on volume. another speed, yet another on strength.
My main goals are to add functional strength and size.
The best way to get your arms big hands down is common sense. Or, applying common sense rather. How many times do we see some moron ask a question about how to make his arms big when he hasn’t even tried the obvious?
My plan? DO THE INVERSE AND OPPOSITE FOR GAINS!!! There’s no plan that works better than this come on!
Let’s pretend we have some guy, we’ll call him T-stud. T-stud has been training his arms by doing all pronated exersizes with machines, all hammer-grip exersizes with freeweights and all reverse grip exersizes with freeweights. Not only this, but t-stud doesn’t really want to get strong, he’s a bodybuilder! Therefore, he’s been training in the rep ranges of 10-12 reps for hypertrophy, holding steadfast to a tempo of 613.
After a while, T-stud notices that he doesn’t get sore at all no matter how many sets he does with this program and his gains have reached a plateu. “Damn I’m totally screwed now!” WRONG. Just do the inverse and the opposite. The five components of any exersize in a workout IMO are reps, exersize mechanics, tempo, weight, and sets. Let’s change his routine so his body starts to freak out.
Change rep range from 10-12 to 6-8. Change weight from relatively low (come on, he’s a T-stud) to extraordinarily high. Change the tempo from the arduous 613 to a faster 312. Finally, we take the inverse of what he was doing originally for mechanics: pronated exersizes are now done with freeweights, while all other grips are done with machines. Change the number of sets to relatively low to high.
See? We’ve turned his entire training program upside down and backwards! The next day T-stud goes into the gym feeling like a new man. And chances are his arms are going to get alot bigger over time following this logic, remember, do the inverse and the opposite when you hit a plateu and your gains won’t stop coming until you reach your genetic limit. (provided you aren’t a retarded E-bitch and aren’t eating right.)
Pretty generalized but eh, works for my guns. ~Commander
Okay, but only because I love the Grow!
When training Biceps, your greatest potential for load is highest in a standing barbell position (unilateral deficit and other phenomena not withstanding).
Problem is that most lifters cheat on both the eccentric and concentric portion of each rep. Here’s what I recommend to avoid this:
On the Concentric Portion:
The tendency is to bring the elbows forward and under the bar, especially at the top while leaning back. To counter this I cue slight extension in the shoulder joint (drawing the elbows back) and a slight lean forward from the hip joint. Barbell will finsih at the strenum, height depending on length of forearms.
On the Eccentric Portion:
The tendency is to pull the elbows back and lean forward in order to decrease the range at the elbow joint and consequently decreasing the emphasis on the biceps. To counter this, I cue a slight lean back along with slight flexion at the shoulder joint (holding the elbows slightly forward) while lowering the weight.
The usual warnings of having to decrease your weight by 25% apply here.
Basically, you end up doing the exact opposite of that moron in the squat rack attempting the bicep power cleans with 95 lbs is doing.
We’ll call it the See-Saw curl.
Use pully push down. 10-15 overhand grip then right after that do 10-15 underhand. IT works well for me. I also think bench dips with wieght work well.
No real secret, but both biceps&triceps are a small muscle group, so they don’t need much direct work.
Pull-ups palms facing with an emphasis on biceps are a great way of overloading your bi’s.
I also found that JM Presses build the triceps real well.
Try some heavy low rep lifting, and do a dropset after it.
I like to do Semi-close grip Pin Presses out of the Power Rack with Bands attached for 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps for triceps. Cable pushdowns are also good if you push your elbows back so they are positioned behind the back which is where the tri’s should be most activated. For bi’s i like to do them quick and hard with lots of variation, also like doing a static hold at the half way point on the last rep of each set for max time. For forearms i like hexagonal DB Holds, where you hold the actual hexagon part of the DB, and Plate holds.
Read Flex. 32 sets of arm curls has gotten me 16" arms.
Check out EDT for arms…excellent program. Stick to mostly basic exercises with maybe 1 or 2 iso exercises thrown in as well (depending on how big you are to begin with).
I like to do mostly compound lifts, then at the end of my workout throw in maybe three sets of curls or skullcrushers just to finish off the arms.
I’ve tried the suggestions for eliminating direct arm work and what I got was smaller gains in proportion to chest and back. Since I am 6’6" any lag in my arms is VERY apparent. With the longer lever of my arms I’ve found that my elbows and tendons ache if I don’t warm up a lot on arm days. So, I switched about a year ago and train chest/tri’s, upper back/bi’s, and legs/lower back. Since then I haven’t had any elbow soreness. I train each body part twice a week. Once 5x5 and once 5x10. I train 3 on 1 off. I put more size on my entire body with 5x5 and 5x10 training than any other method I’ve ever used. Not including the programs I used with Mag-10.
pause at the bottom and top of every rep using strict form. laters pk
I’ve found that doing dips between two benches with plates loaded on the lap and doing drop sets(ie. doing some, remove a plate, do more, remove plate, etc.) always makes my tri’s swell!!
Chad Waterbury has it right: weight is everything. But I’m not talking about swinging curls. As far as curls go, weight is a distant second in my opinion and form is far more important. What I mean is heavy compound lifts. Weighted dips have done wonders for my triceps. And heavy chins(eccentric only as well) have put an extra inch on my arms in a month and they seem to feel more dense(if that makes sense).
Well, a few months ago, I read little Chrissy Surgart’s article about training your arms by rope pulling and climbing. I picked up a 3" diameter x 25’ rope from a marine supply place that gives away used rope. This rope has been used for mooring big ass boats and has creasote and grease all over it. The only tree I found that worked with this length of rope happens to be right next to my goat barn and the area obviously stinks like hell. Anyway, I like to rock climb when I can but, don’t have much time to train so I’m pretty weak and had been keeping eye out for a good way to keep these pulling muscles in good shape.
This was perfect, I had to feed the goats every night, so three times per week I’d latch onto that big old rope and start pulling. Initially I had a hard time getting halfway to the top, and wanted to give some assistace with my feet. Problem was, I had goat turds smooshed up all over my boots and didn’t want to get the rope and my hands covered with that stuff, it’s pretty nasty! So, I had to tough it out and just haul my butt up there without any help from my feet. After a couple months, I was able to get two reps up and down and now am performing 4 trips up and down, (simulates a 100’ pitch of rock climbing) with a good burn going by the end of the 4th rep. Now I’m good to go for the summer climbing season. As a bonus, with good nutrition, my upper arms have gone from 15.5" to 17" and forearms from 13" - 14". If you are going to do one exercise, pull on a fat, filthy rope with goat shit on your boots so you can’t cheat.
Or was it Waterberry’s article? Shit!
My arms get a lot of work from the O lifts, pulls, rows and presses that I do. So I only take one day a week to work on specifically. Usually my leg and ab day.
I’ll warm up with a set up pullups and bench dips to get the blood flowing in my arms, then it’s go time:
Standing barbell curls
~back against the wall if possible
45x14 bar only
55x12
65x10
75x8
85x6
95x4
85x6
75x8
65x10
55x12
45x14
Loading Pin Rope Twists
5 times up and down with 20# on l/p
Two Handed Overhead DB Extensions
40x2x8
50x3x8
(between presses and throwing my elbows take a beating, luckily my tris respond well to minimal work)
Reverse Cable Curls (strip sets)
55x6
45x8
35x10
25x12
15x14
Triceps: Heavy close-grip bench off pins in a power cage. Use chains/bands to ensure that you’re really working your tris through the entire motion, particularly where they’re strongest at the top of the movement.
Biceps: I find ballistic movements to be a great growth inducer. Heavy bag work, sledge hammer work, sandbag “scoop” throws, etc. For some reason my arms never really responded to even heavy poundages until I started using this approach.
Abandon a push/pull split and train biceps with chest, and triceps with back. Doing this allows you to gain the benefits of more training, especially if you generally only train body parts once a week, since this essentially gives you a heavy day (direct training) and a light day (support training) during the week, obviating the need for two separate days for arms. Also, it has built in agonist/antagonist training.
ok limpin donkey made this point so no proteinaliscious gubbins for me, but for beginners, pinning a wee plate against the torso with the elbows while doing standing curls works wonders, especially as in the weights room i train in we like to train bare foot!
also the age old supersets and compound sets arent original, but they work!
(keep form over ego and you wont go wrong)
I agree with the 1,000 other posts. Direct arm work is not the best way to get big pythons growing off your shoulders.
My favorite bicep pumping excercise has got to be the 1 arm Rope row. Thats a seated row with a rope, one arm at a time, heavy as hell. Pull that bad boy all the way back. Your biceps will thank you.