205x8 incline
[quote]Mighty Matron wrote:
[quote]Apoklyps wrote:
[quote]Mighty Matron wrote:
You guys are awesome. I haven’t ever posted over here, but finally feel worthy. Sort of.
After stalling out for a couple of weeks I benched 135 last night. I know that’s what most of you warm up with, but I’m psyched. Other PRs from this week include 220x2 squat and 255x3 conventional deadlift. [/quote]
Hey, that’s a great start! Most of the young guys that go to my gym couldn’t squat 2 plates to proper depth to save their lives.
If you don’t mind me asking, how much do you weigh? Because a 135 bench for a woman is pretty good!
Today I hit a 100kg bench for 2 sets of 4. Could’ve pushed it to 5, but I didn’t want it to get too ugly. Maybe next week 
Hit an incline bench rep PR after (155lbs x10), so I’m pretty pleased with how today went given that my bench has been stalled for a while.[/quote]
Nice work, Apoklyps! And thanks! Been hitting it pretty hard for about 6 months now. Currently weighing in about 151, planning to compete as a 148 at the end of March. BTW, how’d you get that old picture of me for your avatar? :)[/quote]
You are off to an excellent start for such a short time training. Good luck at your meet. I did my first meet last November and it was a great experience. It might be a bit stressful, but try to enjoy it as much as possible.
Today’s PRs:
Strict press: 135lbs x 7
EZ curl: 110lbs x 8 (6 strict)
Skullcrushers: 100lbs x 11
[/quote]
Today’s PRs:
Strict press: 135lbs x 7
EZ curl: 110lbs x 8 (6 strict)
Skullcrushers: 100lbs x 11[/quote]
Somebody’s enjoying some direct arm training lately. 
Bench 235x1 225x2x2
Deadlift 305x5 cake
Dips BW+70 x6
Getting a little more cut up too
[quote]Andrewdwatters1 wrote:
Somebody’s enjoying some direct arm training lately.
[/quote]
Haha it’s true. Decided to take a break from PLing while I bulk into a higher weight class and pursue some of my physique related goals in the meantime. Which includes getting 17" pythons.
[quote]Apoklyps wrote:
[quote]Andrewdwatters1 wrote:
Somebody’s enjoying some direct arm training lately.
[/quote]
Haha it’s true. Decided to take a break from PLing while I bulk into a higher weight class and pursue some of my physique related goals in the meantime. Which includes getting 17" pythons.[/quote]
How’s that coming along for you? I just started hitting the arms more often with my eyes on 17" too. Currently at about 16.5".
strict overhead press 190X1
old school one arm T bar row 145X6
Apok, how do you use more weight for your biceps than triceps? I’m the opposite lol.
[quote]Teenagestrength wrote:
Apok, how do you use more weight for your biceps than triceps? I’m the opposite lol. [/quote]
I like to do skullcrushers with a straight bar and false grip. I find it much easier on my (fragile 
) wrists that way. The gym I was in didn’t have straight bars at 110lbs and I didn’t feel like grabbing a barbell lol.
My bis and tris are fairly even normally.
I’ve also neglected triceps extension exercises completely until recently, so that might also be a factor. They’ve moved up quickly though 
As far as current size goes, I started January a little under 16" (15 7/8" or so). As of today I am a little over 16.25". The guy with the biggest arms (who isn’t a 6’4" behemoth) in my PL club has 17" arms. I want to beat him lol.
[quote]Apoklyps wrote:
[quote]Teenagestrength wrote:
Apok, how do you use more weight for your biceps than triceps? I’m the opposite lol. [/quote]
I like to do skullcrushers with a straight bar and false grip. I find it much easier on my (fragile ) wrists that way. The gym I was in didn’t have straight bars at 110lbs and I didn’t feel like grabbing a barbell lol.
My bis and tris are fairly even normally.
I’ve also neglected triceps extension exercises completely until recently, so that might also be a factor. They’ve moved up quickly though
As far as current size goes, I started January a little under 16" (15 7/8" or so). As of today I am a little over 16.25". The guy with the biggest arms (who isn’t a 6’4" behemoth) in my PL club has 17" arms. I want to beat him lol.[/quote]
I’m rockin 14’s
Ah, that makes sense. I put tricep work as a priority because I really like the look of big triceps, and big triceps are important for a big bench/press in my opinion. I can bust out 105X10+ for strict skull crushers to the chin, and I think the last time I’ve done tricep isolation I did 110X9 for rollback tricep extensions. Oh, I also don’t use an EZ bar, just a normal barbell.
[quote]chobbs wrote:
[quote]Apoklyps wrote:
[quote]Teenagestrength wrote:
Apok, how do you use more weight for your biceps than triceps? I’m the opposite lol. [/quote]
I like to do skullcrushers with a straight bar and false grip. I find it much easier on my (fragile ) wrists that way. The gym I was in didn’t have straight bars at 110lbs and I didn’t feel like grabbing a barbell lol.
My bis and tris are fairly even normally.
I’ve also neglected triceps extension exercises completely until recently, so that might also be a factor. They’ve moved up quickly though
As far as current size goes, I started January a little under 16" (15 7/8" or so). As of today I am a little over 16.25". The guy with the biggest arms (who isn’t a 6’4" behemoth) in my PL club has 17" arms. I want to beat him lol.[/quote]
I’m rockin 14’s[/quote]
You measure unflexed though, am I right? My measurement was cold, flexed.
[quote]Apoklyps wrote:
[quote]chobbs wrote:
[quote]Apoklyps wrote:
[quote]Teenagestrength wrote:
Apok, how do you use more weight for your biceps than triceps? I’m the opposite lol. [/quote]
I like to do skullcrushers with a straight bar and false grip. I find it much easier on my (fragile ) wrists that way. The gym I was in didn’t have straight bars at 110lbs and I didn’t feel like grabbing a barbell lol.
My bis and tris are fairly even normally.
I’ve also neglected triceps extension exercises completely until recently, so that might also be a factor. They’ve moved up quickly though
As far as current size goes, I started January a little under 16" (15 7/8" or so). As of today I am a little over 16.25". The guy with the biggest arms (who isn’t a 6’4" behemoth) in my PL club has 17" arms. I want to beat him lol.[/quote]
I’m rockin 14’s[/quote]
You measure unflexed though, am I right? My measurement was cold, flexed.[/quote]
Yes…they’re still small if I would measure them during my workout lol
[quote]chobbs wrote:
[quote]Apoklyps wrote:
[quote]chobbs wrote:
[quote]Apoklyps wrote:
[quote]Teenagestrength wrote:
Apok, how do you use more weight for your biceps than triceps? I’m the opposite lol. [/quote]
I like to do skullcrushers with a straight bar and false grip. I find it much easier on my (fragile ) wrists that way. The gym I was in didn’t have straight bars at 110lbs and I didn’t feel like grabbing a barbell lol.
My bis and tris are fairly even normally.
I’ve also neglected triceps extension exercises completely until recently, so that might also be a factor. They’ve moved up quickly though
As far as current size goes, I started January a little under 16" (15 7/8" or so). As of today I am a little over 16.25". The guy with the biggest arms (who isn’t a 6’4" behemoth) in my PL club has 17" arms. I want to beat him lol.[/quote]
I’m rockin 14’s[/quote]
You measure unflexed though, am I right? My measurement was cold, flexed.[/quote]
Yes…they’re still small if I would measure them during my workout lol[/quote]
Me too… 
Apoklyps, what are you doing for them? I’m starting to get bored of 14.5s, but at the same time whenever I’ve tried doing any sort of real volume beyond for them I stall on my pressing cos I can’t recover.
[quote]MaazerSmiit wrote:
Apoklyps, what are you doing for them? I’m starting to get bored of 14.5s, but at the same time whenever I’ve tried doing any sort of real volume beyond for them I stall on my pressing cos I can’t recover.[/quote]
Haha slowly but surely becoming the big arms thread. I’m with y’all in the 14s
My little arms benched 87.5kg for 11 today, then 100kg for 5, both 2 rep PRs. Then added the ghetto slingshot and got 105 for 5.
Squat 285x2
Leg press 6x8
405 for 4 Front Squat
405 for 13 Back Squat
495 for 5 at 210 body weight but. might as well be 500 lol 4 of those plates are heavier than 45lbs. This is after working up to 405 for 4 on Front Squat, 405 for 13 on Back Squats and then 455 for a few just to feel.
[quote]MaazerSmiit wrote:
Apoklyps, what are you doing for them? I’m starting to get bored of 14.5s, but at the same time whenever I’ve tried doing any sort of real volume beyond for them I stall on my pressing cos I can’t recover.[/quote]
Sorry, I totally missed this!
I think arms are a part of my body that responds reasonably well to training in terms of growth. Most of it has been built with compounds (chins, DB rows, presses, bench, CGBP) and very little direct arm work.
Lately, what I’ve found is that I respond very well to high frequency training. So basically, rather than completely demolishing a body part once a week, I find I respond better on just about everything when I do it 3x a week, but don’t kill myself in terms of intensity (but still challenging!). That’s what I’ve been doing to make really quick progress with my arms lately. Did that for a few months last year with my lats to bring them up. They don’t suck anymore
Keep in mind though that I like really high intensity workouts in general. I just compensate with less volume.
What I’m doing now:
On my main direct arm training day (also shoulders), I do two biceps/triceps supersetted exercises. First exercise is typically done for strength. I like to do a few light work set, ramp up to a heavy set and AMRAP that shit! The second supersetted pair is light and higher rep, avoiding rest at the top or bottom to get a lot of TUT and have you leaving the gym with a hyooooge pump. The goal of the second exercise is to get the pump.
I have another day (for each) where bis and tris are trained directly. I usually use sets of 8ish and work pretty heavy.
I’m a big fan of EZ curls and skullcrushers for direct arm work. I find that cheating is fairly easy to do with these movements, which is something I find helpful on the last few reps of arm exercises to increase the intensity.
As far as recovery goes, it’s all about finding your sweet spot in terms of volume IMO. Right now, for example, I’ve been finding that drastically upping the pressing volume in my routine and adding in a lot of direct arm work has led to progress in my bench, arms (duh :P), and overhead press (first time in months!).
Bench: 100kg x 5 (easy! 1-2 reps in the tank) and two more easy sets of 4 after. Was content with my PR and left something in the tank on all sets of bench. I think I’ll go for 6 next time I flat bench.
Incline Bench: 185lbs x 6, 155lbs x 11. Felt a little unstable on this one today, but still put up some rep PRs.
Bench with Rest/Pause: 92.5kg x 12+5+3
Also noticed my first stretch mark in about ten years between shoulder and chest.