Overtraining Triceps? taking out arm day

[AndreAnabolic]

hey all, my arms are my weakest point on my body because i think i over train them...i do Chest day 1(high volume starting with compound 5x5 first exercise than 3x10 throughout) legs day 2 (high volume same 5x5, 3x10 idea) arms day 3 (4 tri exercises and 3 bi exercises high volume) back day 4 (same idea) shoulders day 5 (high volume same idea) im thinking of just cutting out my arm day and doing 3 sets of one bi and tri exercise on both my chest and back day...will i see more gains? because i think im overtraining my arms....my diet is in tact.

 

[maurice02]

are you sure you are giving enough rest in between training?

Personally, I had to increase training on my arms. Well, sort of. I added a day dedicated to arms only. I was previously doing back/bi and chest/tri. Well I cut that out and arms got stronger. Also, it gave me an extra workout day in between.

you might just need to give them more rest......but I know different ways of training work for other people.

I say try it for two weeks and if no gains, check your rest periods.

 

[CHAPS]

hey all, my arms are my weakest point on my body because i think i over train them...i do Chest day 1(high volume starting with compound 5x5 first exercise than 3x10 throughout) legs day 2 (high volume same 5x5, 3x10 idea) arms day 3 (4 tri exercises and 3 bi exercises high volume) back day 4 (same idea) shoulders day 5 (high volume same idea) im thinking of just cutting out my arm day and doing 3 sets of one bi and tri exercise on both my chest and back day...will i see more gains? because i think im overtraining my arms....my diet is in tact.

Cut back to only 1 exercise for tri's and one for bi's, so maybe dips or close grip bench, and incline curls or alternate db curls for bi's, even try 1 set rest pause style.

 

[Frank Reynolds]

Here is a post by SKIP, from IM on this subject.

I have been wanting to write this for a while but have been really busy the last couple months and just hadn't gotten around to it. I keep hearing from so many people about what I am doing for arm work over the last year or so. I don't think my arms are all that great but they obviously stand out or I wouldn't be getting the questions that I, quite frankly, didn't get until the last year or so.

"Why aren't my arms growing?" - seems to be one of the most asked questions in the gym and one that I am hearing quite a bit, lately. When I am asked what I do for my arms I usually lie because when I tell them the truth, they don't believe me. You will believe me, though, because I have a journal here at IntenseMuscle that proves that I am telling the truth. Why aren't most guys arms growing and mine are? I am not overtraining them and 95% of guys out there, are. You may also be one of them.

Everyone loves to train arms. Well, everyone except me. I don't like to do anything that hurts or burns real bad. Yes, I am a giant pussy but I am an HONEST, giant pussy. Give me exhaustive work all day long like squats, deads (when my back would allow me to do them), rows, etc., and I am just fine. Give me biceps and I hate them because they hurt. It is like someone is holding a blow torch on them while training them. Thank God my arms aren't a weak point because the thought of working the **** out of them just doesn't sit well with me.

Funny thing happened when I evaluated my training about 2 years ago: I decided to kick back on two main areas to allow for more focus and recovery on my weaker bodyparts. I decided to kick back on legs and arms. Now, I don't go in and do 3 sets of leg extensions and leave but I figured I would change up my training to at least not tax my CNS as bad and I have pretty good legs but that is another thread, entirely. As for arm training, I figured I would still train them (I contemplated letting back and chest take care of working them, at one time) but train them very quickly and not very heavy. My thinking was that my back and chest/delt training was going to be so heavy that it would likely keep all of my arm size without a problem. The plan: to rip through warm ups and then hit about 4 working sets for bis and 4 for tris without much regard for the amount of weight that I was using. I would also not do tris and bis on the same day but rather do bis after back and tris after chest and shoulders.

Weeks and months went by and I didn't really notice too much and I don't tape my bodyparts so I didn't see them growing but figured that they looked to be holding their size just fine. I then start to get quite a few compliments that have continued to this day about how big my arms have gotten and what am I doing to get them larger?

Truth is, with the tris and bis getting hammered from chest and back work, most people simply do too much arm work and the muscles end up overtrained. I know this is what I was doing and after doing this with quite a few clients, as well, they have proved this for me, too. If you are in doubt, take a week or two off from doing direct arm work and just do everything else as you normally would. When you come back to the direct arm work, tell me you aren't stronger than before you took the break. What does THAT tell you??

This should apply to delts to a certain degree, too, but I haven't played with that yet. My point is that if your arms are lagging in development or your strength seems to be sitting where it was 3 months ago, try cutting your volume and hitting the bis and tris very quickly with a smaller volume and see if you don't start to see growth. I am talking about flying through warm ups and working sets in less than 10 minutes, easily. The intensity will be high due to the quick pace and you won't be able to train them all that heavy for that very same reason. Much safer and yet you won't be overtraining them, either, allowing for more growth.

I originally figured that the lower volume would maintain my arm size and, instead, my arms were growing without me really wanting them to. Less work and more growth. Not a bad combo.

Skip

 

[suncloud]

your triceps have 3 different heads, hence the word "tri". each movement should have a different grip - overhand, parallel, underhand. if you're doing 3 overhand movements, you're not activating most of your tricep. try doing one exercise with each grip, 3 sets of 10.

my favorites are:
CG bench
dips (keep your body as parallel as possible)
reverse grip tricep pushdowns - you'll have to find a "w" shaped bar to do this

 

[Marsh11]

hey all, my arms are my weakest point on my body because i think i over train them...i do Chest day 1(high volume starting with compound 5x5 first exercise than 3x10 throughout) legs day 2 (high volume same 5x5, 3x10 idea) arms day 3 (4 tri exercises and 3 bi exercises high volume) back day 4 (same idea) shoulders day 5 (high volume same idea) im thinking of just cutting out my arm day and doing 3 sets of one bi and tri exercise on both my chest and back day...will i see more gains? because i think im overtraining my arms....my diet is in tact.

Your split is pretty much the exact same as mine. I wouldnt say your vastly over training your arms. If you were doing 20 sets for Tris and 20 sets for Bis I would say you are most def. Having said that if I am unable to go to the gym one day during the week I will cut out arms day and sometimes they only get hit once every 2-3 weeks. When I train arms I like to do 1 heavy movement such as cgbp, dips, or skull crushers and then just throw some super sets and drop sets in. I always try to stay within 8-10 sets for Bis and Tris. But obvi everyone is different. Good luck