ARM BULDING ROUTINES
- Thread starter bi0hazurd
- Start date
R1balla
Board Sponsor
i wish i was shorter. i have so many friends shorter than i am that they get mass so easy. me being 5'10" takes a bit longer. i always mix up my rep ranges and this past year has been my best arm year in means of growth. ill go rep ranges from 20 to 5. i am always mixing it up, never doing the same thing every week for muscle confusion.
Tone
Member
I was just reading up today on getting guns. I can't remember who was saying this but its 1 inch in 1 month or something where on your arm day workout your arms and only arms 2 days a week where it is a switch from bis to tris and so on with little to no break for a full hour. sets of 3x10 each exercise and just do any that you want but make sure you go for a full hour with little to no rest inbetween. I think I am going to try this so i'll keep ya posted if you want to know about my gains in one month
JT54
New member
yea def easier for me to pack on mass but losing it is a different story. Ive been all the way up to 225 at 20% bf back when i was powerlifting and it took me forever to get down to 9 percent. Now i am strict as hell as to what i eat bc im trying for 6 percent and it sucks but i feel better at this weight then at 225.
SprtNvolcoM
On a Mission!
I never understood the use of the olympic barbell for curls. You muscle doesnt know your using it, it only knows stress levels applied to it. So other than grip, I dont see any added benefit to using Olympic barbell verses a normal barbell. I totally agree with you on the close grip bench for tris though ... that's a lovely exercise.
If you want big arms, work on your tris ...
Sprt
phL8Tme
Member
After 20 yrs on and off lifting I've found that curling to failure once a month works. Other than that I mix it up every arm day, and do a "little" every arm workout.
i.e. close grip incline presses on chest day. Or when doing flys incline curls a couple sets of 8-10 whatever feels good (also works the shoulders).
While there is no one routine that works for everyone, over time you will find your sweet spot. I'm a HUGE fan of muscle confusion. Hit 'em from every angle spaced out over each lifting day.
i.e. close grip incline presses on chest day. Or when doing flys incline curls a couple sets of 8-10 whatever feels good (also works the shoulders).
While there is no one routine that works for everyone, over time you will find your sweet spot. I'm a HUGE fan of muscle confusion. Hit 'em from every angle spaced out over each lifting day.
UKStrength
Guest
Perhaps it's to do with increasing overall grip strength, increasing the amount you can lift and hold for a set? There's quite a few strength trainers who propose that grip strength has a big role to play in overall arm size, hence doing extra forearm and grip work.
Tone
Member
that is interesting, i neglect my forearms completely- i feel they get enough work everyday with each exercise.... Any recommendations on a quick but effective forearm/grip exercise that works the every muscle?
RcMonahan
New member
For forearms I would usually superset Reverse curls (anything from 10-20 reps) with wrist curls (lighter weight and make it burn until it hurts!)
One last thing I did for the top of my forearms. I made this at home by putting a hole through a broom stick or something similar to that and tying a string through the hole and tying a weight at the other end. Then roll it up and very slowly unrolling it with your wrists. This made my forearms blow up in size! You can also do this by attaching a bar to a floor cable machine and do the same process.
Sometimes I will set all three of these together with no rest in between. I believe it helped with about every lift involving my arms.
RAZORBACK09
Member
Do you guys hit both bis/tris in one day or do you spread it out? If you spread it out, what do you work them with?
xink
Member
Interesting.... Thanks for the info.
RcMonahan
New member
I spread mine out.
I work back and biceps together
and shoulders and triceps together.
SprtNvolcoM
On a Mission!
I can understand that ... makes sense. That's one reason I refuse to ware straps (of any sort) for any exercise, however. One reason being, I don’t want to be strapped to a weight when my muscles fail and I can’t let go. lol. I see it happen all the time. I've always been this way. So unless you have wrist problems or some sort of injury, I don’t see a place for them - PLing maybe, but that's it.
I think it’s funny when you see kids all wrapped up in the gym and they're not even pulling heavy loads. This kid last week was wrapping up for 45lbs dumbbell shrugs and incline shoulder presses ... lol ... I couldn’t help but laugh, but then again I don’t his story.
I like the way you think ... HST??? Love it!!!
Sprt
kingk0ng
Active member
HST is a great program. Never split your body up according to muscle groups; it is not designed to operate this way. Work movements instead.
To build big arms focus on heavy movements. Get your row up to 225, get your pullups up to 10 or so per set with a 45 lb weight plate attached to you, deadlift 4 plates; that is the best way to get your biceps to grow. Triceps on the other hand usually require more work, because it is a much larger muscle group. Throwing two tricep exercises in twice per week is fine and will work and help your bench press.
To build big arms focus on heavy movements. Get your row up to 225, get your pullups up to 10 or so per set with a 45 lb weight plate attached to you, deadlift 4 plates; that is the best way to get your biceps to grow. Triceps on the other hand usually require more work, because it is a much larger muscle group. Throwing two tricep exercises in twice per week is fine and will work and help your bench press.
SprtNvolcoM
On a Mission!
Compound movements ... yes, but a little isolation movements won’t hurt depending on your routine. I've customized mine and have NEVER seen results like the ones HST has produced for me.
The secret is low volume, high frequency, with a constant increase in loads every few workouts - this is done to provide muscle confusion and keep continuously adaptation occurring (i.e., growing). Low volume allows individuals to workout muscle groups more frequently without over training. Also, changing exercises per muscle group every other week to further creates muscle confusion which forces the muscle to adapt to the new movements.
Point being, HST is the best style of training I've ever used in terms of muscle growth, losing BF, and helping lagging body parts catch up. I'll have to print a detailed layout of my routine(s) and lengths of my HST workout cycles. I've had cycles as short as 4wks and as long as 16wks; which is what I love about this style of training - its flexibility. There is no such thing as platues with HST either ... you simply S.D. (take 1-2wks off from the gym) and start another workout cycle. I could go on and on about HST, but that's not what this thread is about. Until I find another training program that makes as much sense or works as well, I'm HST for life. I also incorporate a little DC style training into my HST programs - utilizing techniques from both training styles.
P90X uses similar techniques, but focuses more on high intensity aerobic activity - mainly to cut or lean out individuals holding excess BF, but the overall concepts the same. You see how P90X does just shred people, it builds muscle as well ... and its all through muscle confusion and prevent adaptation. Again low volume, high frequency, and continuously changing exercises/movements is key.
Sorry, I always get a little excited when I run into HST fans. Research HST and apply its techniques to the muscle groups you want to focus on (yours being arms) and come back in 4wks-6wks and tell us what you think. I'd be interested to see your results.
Best of luck,
Sprt
kingk0ng
Active member
No. It won't hurt your gains, but for each flexion there needs to be an extension to balance it, which means you're going to need to include tricep exercises too. And to what benefit? As long as your row is progressing your biceps are getting overloaded. I do not see any reason to add bicep isolations to any program until your row and chinup stalls.
I agree with this; it is why I like HST and recommend it to anyone.
SprtNvolcoM
On a Mission!
Ya ... that makes perfect sense. I only do isolative bis/tris every once in a while. other than that its a lof of compound movements. So to each his own, but you have a very valid point.
Sprt
UKStrength
Guest
I think reverse curls are excellent, as well as the wrist rollers posted earlier.
Farmers walks and doing any heavy compound work without straps is also a good idea.
I find that the forearms are quite a stubborn muscle group so frequent training is better, up to what your can manage and recover from.
RAZORBACK09
Member
1 inch in 12 days only doing it 3 times? Is that even possible...
trojanman1016
Member
Thats not true, skullcrushers are a great exercise, but alone arnt enough to blast those tris
bi0hazurd
Active member
Thats exactly what i thought? ANYONE KNOW?
RcMonahan
New member
I honestly doubt that is possible. maybe performing this work out a little longer, say maybe over 4 weeks, could add an inch or close to it. but most likely not in 12 days. not in my experiences anyway. Now put me on some Decabolen or M-drol and I could make this happen. lol
But the resting part he was talking about is very true. No rest, no gains.
kingk0ng
Active member
That's not possible. Bodybuilding.com is full of stupid optimistic promises like that.
If you want big arms you have to gain weight. It's a general rule that for every 15 lbs you gain, with most of it being LBM, you add 1 inch to your arms. Add about 50 lbs to your barbell row, add weight to your chinups, add about 50 lbs to your bench press, and do ONE tricep isolation and focus on getting that tricep isolation as strong as possible and arms lifts will explode.
If you want big arms you have to gain weight. It's a general rule that for every 15 lbs you gain, with most of it being LBM, you add 1 inch to your arms. Add about 50 lbs to your barbell row, add weight to your chinups, add about 50 lbs to your bench press, and do ONE tricep isolation and focus on getting that tricep isolation as strong as possible and arms lifts will explode.
RAZORBACK09
Member
Your full of great input :thanks:
RcMonahan
New member
kingkong knows his stuff. haha thanks man.
bi0hazurd
Active member
Ive recently put on some great weight gains with 5x5 routine but i injured my shoulder and stubbornly trained through it... i took a week off and it got better but its worse again... i need to deload on my bench press so im thinking of taking two strait weeks off. I was thinking of starting an arm buildinbg routine after those two weeks.... also do u guys kno if there will be any big decrease in strength and performance with a two week rest? also will the deload affect it?
kingk0ng
Active member
Here is most likely what happened. I have to leave for work in a few minutes, so if this is short and not informative just let me know and I'll add more detail in the next post.
Bench presses focus on development of the internal rotators of the shoulder and their protractors: particularly the anterior deltoids, serratus anterior, and pectoralis major.
When you focus too much on bench presses, the internal rotators overpower the external rotators and the protractors of the scapulae begin to pull the shoulder girdle forward. The result is a forward hunch or an internally rotated humerus. The effect is a swollen bursa that leads to rotator cuff tendonitis. This means that the rotator cuff must constantly be stressed to hold the humerus in place. This affects a lot of things like:
1- Bench press progress; your bench will slow down significantly through lack of stabilizer maturity.
2- Presses will work the external rotators much less.
3- Shoulder pains and discomfort.
The solution is to stretch the overstimulated muscles: lats, chest, subscapularis, and anterior deltoids and focus on strengthening the shoulder retractors and external rotators; which are the rhomboids, trapeziums, posterior deltoids, teres minor, and infraspinatus.
How to do so? Simple. Perform horizontal pulls (barbell rows) at a 2:1 ratio over horizontal pushes. 1:1 ratio for vertical pushes and pulls and incorporate scapulae depression exercises (Google it).
When you do your rows, widen your grip to hit the retractors of the scapulae harder and focus on the squeeze at the top. Start each rep from the floor. Get the rowing weight the same weight as your bench weight. Remember to stretch the internal rotators through doorway stretches and try not to sleep on your back; which can significantly worsen the condition.
If you want, incorporate exercises to work the rotator cuff specifically like cuban rotations at the beginning of each workout and maybe incorporate face pulls at the end of your workouts once per week.
When you do bench press, tuck your shoulders (powerlifting style) to take focus off the anterior shoulder muscles and apply it to the triceps.
Good luck. Hope this helps.
tuberman
Active member
If you've been doing 5x5 routines for awhile, you're likely at a peak, and you need to look at it as such. That means give your self the space to back off of your PR levels to do other things. Simply don't worry about it as you can get it back, plus more. Constantly moving forward in a one dimentional way leads to injury.
About the original question: Since you been lifting heavy so long, you've laid a great foundation for mass gain. It should be easy for you, with the change being fun. From my experience you can make exceptional progress in arm size with about a 6-7 week program. In 7 weeks you could add at least 1.5 inches and maybe over 2 inches to the bicep measure.
I currently have a bet going that I can add 2 inches to my arms in 50 days. I increased one inch in the first 19 days, and I didn't even do everything right. I, like you, had spent a lot of time lifting heavy with complex exercises for a long time before starting this present routine, and my reps were usually in the 3-5 range. I almost never went to failure while working that range and had very little mass gained. I was after strength and didn't care about mass. But, just for the fun of it, for 50 days, I do now. My arm measures are taken cold with no pump. I started at 16 1/4 inches and was at exactly 17 1/4 inches after 19 days ( or two days ago).
During the first 25-30 days of my arm growing current routines (I'm at day 21 now) I'm still doing complex exercises at the 5 rep range -- for the first 40% of the workouts, and then I switch to isolation exercises for the remaining 60%. This is all the "muscle confusion" necessary for a few weeks. I just add various isolation exercises that blast the bi's and the tri's and even the forearms (although that's unnecessary to win the bet). I take my isolation exercises close to failure on the last couple of sets as this fatigue aspect promotes growth for me. These isolation exercises are in the 8 to 12 rep range.
But what everyone has failed to mention is the eating. The biggest secret to gaining muscle size is EATING BIG. Add another 20% to your protein intake, and don't neglect fats either. Mega-dosing fish oil does help, and consume lots of either extra virgin coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil. Buy organic, cage free eggs and keep the yokes in your omlets. Get rid of hydrogenated fats and most of the typical vegatable oils. If you are not taking ZMA already, you should, as the lack of any of it's three elements limits natural test production. It's not a matter of test boosting so much as a matter of anabolic optimization through diet.
RAW LOCKOUT
New member
Arm size is a by product of overall body weight, you will never see a guy with 20 inch arms @ 165lbs
Ricky5145
Active member
i would love to have 20 inc arms solid. im rocking 19's right now on my bulk but after my cut thy'll prob end up 18's. i built them up from 16s by actually hitting them less. i used to hit them twice a week with 4-5 exercises and 4-5 sets. and they were stagnant at 16, then i cut back to once a week, 3 exercies with only one working set and they blew up to 18s, then they were stuck there so i concentrated more on the long head (for peak) and they creeped up to 19s with sick peak. however since ive done that ive noticed they dont match in thickness. ive got huge peaks but not much width, so now im conentrating on the short head, hopfully getting to 20s but highly unlikely since im about to start cutting and start my PCT. i just hope i can maintina my 19s until my next bulk and then finally hit the 20 mark.
tuberman
Active member
Maybe you're right, and I certainly can't disprove you right now. Yet when I was 46 years old my arms were 19 3/8 inches at a body weight of 200 pounds even. I was not even trying to get big arms, just strength.
bi0hazurd
Active member
Well im 6ft 208lbs as of today... 16 in arms flat... my ultimate goal is 18 and any more would be greatly welcome... if any of u could recommend a routine for me that i can do alongside my 5x5 that would be perfect... and btw i do already eat a ALOT 2 months ago i was 6ft and weighed 177lbs and gaines 31lbs by eating 400 cals and 5x5 ONLY my plan is bulking to 230 then cutting to 210 but the 18 in arms are the ultimate goal... and i wanna maintain a 210 once i get there after the cut... So Any ideas on a routine
RcMonahan
New member
I know i might sound a little like an amature asking this, but could somebody give me an example of their 5x5 workout? i realize that its 5 sets of 5 reps and all, but im just not very familiar with this program and the preferred lifts for this kind of workout. I've never tried it and it sounds like a great mass builder since everybody's doing it. lol
50 posts!
arty:
50 posts!
arty: