I have a buddy who started training with me Christmas of 1999. He was 41 yoa and had never trained in his life. We work out doing free weight stuff, and he has been pretty dedicated and works hard. To my mind his progress is not satisfactory. He has progressed well in the lower body, started deadlifting with the 35s and has now done 295 for doubles, but upper body is weak as shit. At 190 his bench (max) is 155. His arms are skinny as shit. I consider this a reflection on me as he relies on me to pick our regime. I am thinking of going on Ian Kings “Great Guns” program to try to build strength in his arms cause I think that is his weak link. Question is would he be off continuing a more balanced program (as a relative beginner) or trying to (for Gods Sake!!) build up his arms a little. Any insight would be appreciated.
Hey Tinman, go find Poliquin’s article “Achieving Structural Balance”. Test your friend on all of the lifts (don’t do a true 1-rep max…have him use a weight that is very hard but doable…wouldn’t want him to blow out a pec or anything, eh TC?). IMHO this is one of the best training articles ever published. You will identify his weaknesses and know just what to address. My weakness was my arms…I am 6’4" tall w/ long arms. Although I’ll never have 19" guns I have seen some definite improvement doing Ian King’s great guns wkout. I am just starting the second phase and I already have a noticable improvement in the size of my arms (even though I’ve been eating like shit, and my son was in the hospital for a week…can we say “inconsistent training”). I am confident that I will have great results in my arm size and strength by the end of the program. Bottom line…address your friends weaknesses first, then concentrate on a more balance all around program. BTW I train legs once a week alternating deadlift focus with front squat focus. Good luck with your friend.
You really didn’t give any other specifics such as how much weight he’s lost/gained, diet etc. Without knowing all the additional information I can say that when a persons diet is not up to par it usually shows up in the arms first. So in the case of your friend maybe he’s not eating enough calories and/or protein…Maybe he’s been trying to get ripped for the last 2 years…??
Why don’t you give 12 weeks to super strength a try? I did the Great Guns and liked the results, but I thought the results were somewhat temporary. My tri’s got really big, but my bi’s retained only a part of the gains. When I did the super strength program right after that, I felt like my arms got as good a development as the Great Guns program, although this is supposedly is a chest and back program. Maybe it was latent effect of the Great Guns program–I don’t know. I just got back in the iron game a year and a half ago after being away from it many years, so that may have something to do with it, but I feel that the Great Guns program may work better for someone with a couple of years of training under their belt. Give the super strength program a try.
Hi! My name is Tiffany and I’m an ACE certified personal trainer. I think you are neglecting cardio. You talk about using weights, but what about aerobics? If he wants to tone up his arms, he really should use a ski machine or maybe a bike that has moving arms. That will get his arms burning and growing in no time. Also make sure he eats enough carbohydrates and no fat. A vegetarian diet is best for this. If this doesn’t work you could always have him try to bulk up by using heavy weights and low reps. Be careful though, he may get too big and bulky. That’s why I always do 20-30 reps on my strength training exercises. Hope this helps, and keep movin’.
Gets a big bat and smacks Tiffany upside the head…that had BETTER be a fake post!!! This is T_MAG baby!!! Bring your PT backside over to the dark side and learn what it is all about baby…once you have been with ANY T-guy…you will know what DANGEROUS HARDCORE is dear!! GO BACK TO YOUR FOO FOO GYM!!!
I have a weird suggestion, one that may fly in the face of all that is writtenand some of the articles and a lot of ceritfied trainers. If your friend wants to bench more weight, the one sure way is to bench more weight. Huh? Closer to 1 RM, very few sets, very often. I dont think much about arm specialization for someone as weak as your friend. Overtraining is neural. Strength is the ability for the central nervous system to recruit enough muscle to perform a desired task. 5 sets to total failure even once a week will burn anyone out. What is your training goal? If it is merely size then hell hit the anabolics and end up huge and weak as hell, comparaively. I think the biggest deception in the trainng community is that getting stronger requires a calculator and exotic movements and 100’s of dollars in supplements and 24/7 dedication. If strength is the goal, this can happen without a huge gain in muscular mass once the body knows how to recruit enough fibers. Most top out at WELL below half. wanna lift a lot of weight, lift a lot of weight. Search for “the law of repeated efforts” Wanna get huge, lift weights a lot. GVT2K. In neither case is going to failure needed. I have seen too many “monsters” who couldn’t stand up off a chair without rocking nor carry a suitcase any appreciable distance. Try it.
I HOPE that trainer message was a joke! Remember t-folk- “There’s no such thing as too big…only too fat!”
I really hope that the “Ace Trainer” post is a joke.
I’m hoping ACE Trainer Tiffany is a joke… please, pleeease let it be a joke.
Okay, it was just a joke. I didn’t think anyone would really take it seriously. But the fact that some of you did, shows how bad the ACE certification (or most trainers for that matter) really are. Hope you all had a good laugh. :o)
Hey I got an idea, train for size, no strength specialization yet, for upper body (dont negelect other methods, but primarily do submaximal, and rep method). In Science and Practice of Strength Training, Zatsiorsky says that athletes can get something like 300% of their original 1RM in a few years. He says that Myofibular (muscular) hypertrophy is responsible for atleast 2/3 of this. SO bottom line, Reps between 5-12 (roughly), and dont always goto failure. I am not saying always train the repitition method, but do for majority. Also do compound excercises, try dips, and yea they are a bitch and I recognize he may not be able to do many, I cant- yet. BTW I recommend the Science and Practice, its a very VERY INFORMATIVE BOOK.