I am looking for advice to gain some size with my triceps, i’ve read more compound lifts for growth everywhere but i need a bit more then that. what works good for a guy like me whose 6’1 166lbs. I seem to get results with biceps because they seem to be extremely easy to work out. but my triceps have always been my down fall and its starting to piss me off. as of right now my work outs for arms are
Barbell curl 4x12
Tricep push down 4x8
Hammer curls 4x8
Reverse Grip Curls 4x12
Overhead Tri Extensions 4x12
Tricep Dip (elevated feet 35lbs on lap) till failure
any advice is appreciated, my arms arent gaining as fast as the rest of my body and i am hurting for bigger guns! thanks for your guys time.
Tricep pushdown AND tricep dip? Just do the dips. Dips are the best thing ever for triceps. They have been called the upper body squat, and there’s a reason for that. (I use gymnastic rings which are much more shoulder and elbow friendly)
You could swap the pushdown for flat bench dumbell pressing, neutral grip throughout, really foucusing on keeping your elbows in, so they brush your obliques and follow that path all the way up and down.
That would give the triceps a lot of varied stimulation.
But unltimately, if you’re lifting heavy weights and your arms aren’t ‘gettin hooge’ then the reason for that is probably just genetics and your body’s batural limits. Give it 10 years of hard work. Haha. Not an answer the internetz want to ever hear eh? Good old fashioned gym logic doesn’t quite cut it in today’s instant society
Eat more.[/quote]
i second this motion dude. if you’re 166LBS i doubt it’s your arms that need to grow, its your whole body! i’m basically your height and 215LBS and i still consider myself a skinny bastard.
if you’re doing arm workouts that are any way decent (which you probably are) then the missing link must be your diet. your body cant spurt big arms out of nowhere, it needs the fuel to build them: food.
Let me start by saying that I was 6’2" and 170 in high school, so I absolutely know where you’re coming from.
[quote]ronix08 wrote:
my arms arent gaining as fast as the rest of my body and i am hurting for bigger guns![/quote]
I’m going to bet that you’re rowing less than 200, squatting and deadlifting under 225, and overhead pressing under 135. Am I close?
Also, as has been said, getting plenty of food is even more important than a better training plan.
With that said…
"What I’m saying, and what Hoffman, Poliquin, and plenty of other coaches are saying, is that in order to get your arm size into the high teens (or upwards of 45cm for my Euro brothers), you’ve got to be doing specific biceps and triceps work in addition to putting plenty of time and energy into squats, deadlifts, and other big exercises.
That might seem like common sense for more experienced lifters, but common sense is a rare commodity in the 15-to-22 year old gym member demographic. These are kids whose idea of lifting heavy involves quarter-rep shrugs with 30 pounds less than their bodyweight, but they’re exactly the guys who need to be deadlifting, rowing, and pressing more often than they hit the incline hammer curls and overhead one-arm cable extensions.
Hoffman couldn’t have said it more plainly: You can’t build a 17-inch arm on a 120-pound body. To build significantly bigger arms than you’ve got right now, you need to build a larger complete body, and the fastest path there requires a training plan that gives plenty of attention to the big lifts while also giving some attention to direct arm work, not the other way around."
thanks, feed back is appreciated and Chris yes that’s accurate. I’ve always been a slim dude i was 148 when i started in May of last year, but i never really took it all to serious until the last few months. Eating more and better has been something i’ve been trying to do. just a matter of wtf to cook with my protein source haha.
also dude stop with the bench dips. those are fuckin terrible for your shoulders and just because they burn doesnt necessarily make them a good exercise. do real dips on parallel bars or a dip station.
[quote]GreatAjax wrote:
also dude stop with the bench dips. those are fuckin terrible for your shoulders and just because they burn doesnt necessarily make them a good exercise. do real dips on parallel bars or a dip station.[/quote]
that’s what ive read but the odd part is when i’m done normal dips i can feel my collar bones to my shoulders some what hurt, sort of an odd feeling. any idea why that would be?
[quote]GreatAjax wrote:
also dude stop with the bench dips. those are fuckin terrible for your shoulders and just because they burn doesnt necessarily make them a good exercise. do real dips on parallel bars or a dip station.[/quote]
that’s what ive read but the odd part is when i’m done normal dips i can feel my collar bones to my shoulders some what hurt, sort of an odd feeling. any idea why that would be?[/quote]
RINGS RINGS RINGS. The same with pull/chin ups. To to rings and your shoulders and arms will thank you. They can be picked up very cheaply these days.
[quote]ronix08 wrote:
thanks, feed back is appreciated and Chris yes that’s accurate.[/quote]
And there’s no problem with that. I was just trying to make a point that by the time you’re big enough and strong enough to even get to those modest numbers, you’ll be filling out more, so there’s no point stressing about anything being underdeveloped before we’re even there.
That’s not slim, bud. That’s Ethiopian. Congrats on building up a bit so far. Keep it going.
This article has a good list of some basic foods to focus on:
But just remember that you’re not a bodybuilder getting ready for a contest, so you have some leeway. If you want a Coke with lunch, have a frickin’ Coke with lunch.
I’m the exact same way. I broke my collarbone when I was a kid and I can’t do bodyweight dips without pain, but I can do bench dips. Also, I find that machine dips are no problem at all because they let me angle my body however I need to, and I can still hit my tris or chest.
Machine dips are actually one of my “favorite” chest exercises. If your gym has one, try playing around on it to see if you can make it work.
[quote]GreatAjax wrote:
also dude stop with the bench dips. those are fuckin terrible for your shoulders and just because they burn doesnt necessarily make them a good exercise. do real dips on parallel bars or a dip station.[/quote]
that’s what ive read but the odd part is when i’m done normal dips i can feel my collar bones to my shoulders some what hurt, sort of an odd feeling. any idea why that would be?[/quote]
RINGS RINGS RINGS. The same with pull/chin ups. To to rings and your shoulders and arms will thank you. They can be picked up very cheaply these days.[/quote]
Is there a website you can look at stuff like that?
The city i live in dont have store with that kind of stuff haha
you can definitely find them on the internet. just google it. and the collar bone, shoulder problem could possible just be the result of weak or tight ligaments or something. i had the more common pain in my sternum when i first started them. that hurt like a bitch and i had to increase the depth and volume gradually over a month or two to until it went away. it just took time for the ligaments in my chest to gain some flexibility and strength. you could try doing that too, being conservative with depth and volume until you can handle it. also try using different body angles (i.e. leaning forward or backwards) to see which is more comfortable.
[quote]GreatAjax wrote:
you can definitely find them on the internet. just google it. and the collar bone, shoulder problem could possible just be the result of weak or tight ligaments or something. i had the more common pain in my sternum when i first started them. that hurt like a bitch and i had to increase the depth and volume gradually over a month or two to until it went away. it just took time for the ligaments in my chest to gain some flexibility and strength. you could try doing that too, being conservative with depth and volume until you can handle it. also try using different body angles (i.e. leaning forward or backwards) to see which is more comfortable.[/quote]
assuming this does help that feeling, should i be weighting the dips eventually and shooting towards a specific rep range?
[quote]GreatAjax wrote:
you can definitely find them on the internet. just google it. and the collar bone, shoulder problem could possible just be the result of weak or tight ligaments or something. i had the more common pain in my sternum when i first started them. that hurt like a bitch and i had to increase the depth and volume gradually over a month or two to until it went away. it just took time for the ligaments in my chest to gain some flexibility and strength. you could try doing that too, being conservative with depth and volume until you can handle it. also try using different body angles (i.e. leaning forward or backwards) to see which is more comfortable.[/quote]
assuming this does help that feeling, should i be weighting the dips eventually and shooting towards a specific rep range?[/quote]
if you want to use dips as a primary movement for triceps, then yes. if you want to use it more as a finisher then you can just crank out reps at bw, though personally I prefer some kind of machine/cable extension for a tricep finisher.
also, if you are losing or gaining bw then progressing with weighted dips gets a little tricky. for instance I gained 30 lbs in six months, and my dips went from 1 to 2 plates for reps… so then did I progress by 45 lb or by 75??
Frequency. Do an exercise for tri’s Mon/Wed/Fri and one for Bis Wed/Fri, ontop of your arms day, when ever that is.
Just do 3 sets or so on the non arm days, and drop the arm specific day by an exercise for both. So overall the frequency goes up, and volume is up slightly. Try that out.
[quote]sexyxe wrote:
Frequency. Do an exercise for tri’s Mon/Wed/Fri and one for Bis Wed/Fri, ontop of your arms day, when ever that is.
Just do 3 sets or so on the non arm days, and drop the arm specific day by an exercise for both. So overall the frequency goes up, and volume is up slightly. Try that out. [/quote]
so should my arm day be on a tuesday or thursday or on a mon wed fri?