After a couple years of training, I feel like I have made no progress on my ARMS

[Trent Ament]

Hello everyone, I apologize in advance for yet another arm thread. About two years ago I bought a used smith machine from a local high school, as well as a set of dumbbells ranging from 10-75 pounds. On top of that I added the standard curl bar, Olympic bar, and some olympic plates.

Started training around the summer of 2007 and I basically got most of my work-out routines from magazines and online articles. Well forward two years later, and I feel I like I look pretty much the same as far as my arms go, and actually maybe my OVERALL physique has not changed much.

I will jump right into my arm routine and my "diet"

I train arms once a week and it usually consist of something along the lines of

1. Strait barbell curls  (3 sets) 8-10 reps
2. seated / incline dumbbell curls (3 sets) 8-10 reps
3. preacher curls (3 sets) 8-12 reps using either a curl bar or cables

Instead of posting my tricep training, I figured I would start with this to avoid posting too long of a thread.

As far as diet goes, I know it needs work. I work a 9-5 job and I am usually guilty of just not eating enough. I eat a regular breakfast in the morning. Then to work.I get one break and that is for lunch. During that time I try to get some protein such as a couple of grilled chicken sandwiches. However, That is one meal for an 8 hour shift. Then I come home and work out and take one protein shake right after my work out, about 45 grams worth along with my dinner.

I just have a huge sense of frustration because I can't see a whole lot of growth in my arms, or anything for that matter. To me, I sometimes think that they don't even resemble someone who trains them. I almost feel like giving up due to the fact that I just can't see any results anymore.

I know many will say I need to eat more and I agree, but what about even guys behind bars who get probably less calories but have big arms? Or the college athlete who is burning tons of calories, yet has some nice guns on him? I am 5'7 and weigh about 175, and to be honest, I appear soft at times when I take my shirt off. So it is hard because I feel like I have to do cardio to get rid of the flab, yet I feel like this could be affecting my muscle growth too

sorry everyone for the long post...I just don't know this would be the best place to ask for advice

[benchmstr]

bags of tuna, and cans of chicken are your friend. i worked 12 hour shifts for a long time and i always ate.

as far as the guys in prison goes. they get enough food and rest. those two things in my opinion are more important than training sometimes.

and do powerlifting for a while

monday:deadlift

wed: bench

friday:squats

and throw in some arms if you feel like it, but remember, as long as you are getting stronger you are growing

bench

[Montague]

You probably don’t have the genetics of the prison inmates or the 19-year-old college athletes, so don’t use them as a measuring stick to compare your own progress.

If most of your body has not progressed (as you admit it hasn’t), then I’m venturing to guess you don’t eat enough.

Is your job conducive to making up a large protein shake and drinking a little bit at a time throughout the day? Another option is to keep some amino or liver tablets on you and pop a few with some water every hour or two. It’s better than nothing, but I realize that not all jobs allow for even what I just mentioned.

You’ll definitely want to add more calories and nutrients.
Consider waking up a bit earlier to eat a good breakfast sooner. Then when you get to work, have another small meal like a can of tuna or a protein shake.
Do the same when leaving work rather than waiting until after your evening workout to eat again.

If you still need additional calories to go with your meals, remember that fats & oils are very important for muscle building and all around health - flaxseed, olive, wheat germ, canola oil's, etc. can all provide you with additional good calories without stuffing yourself with solid foods. A teaspoon of most good oils can contain around 125 calories. Taken 4 times throughout the day, that adds up to 500 extra quality calories!

[Trent Ament]

wow..you guys are great! I appreciate the informative advice. I knew this would be the best place to ask about training/diet and gains. I am going to head out tomorrow and stock up on some tuna to take to work, as well as looking into the aminos, fats/oil suggestion. I take a bag of almonds to snack on pretty much each day, but the tuna will be something new for me. I am not a big fan of tuna because I usually would just eat it out of the can like I am sure all of you in here do. I might try and see if there are some good recipes online that I can use to add some flavor to the fish.  I am going to post back for some progress reports as well. Thanks again for the helpful suggestions and advice

BTW- I never thought about making a big protein shake and consuming a little throughout the day...I am going to try that as well.

[mass 04]

Do you work your whole body, or just arms? Heavy chest, back, shoulder work will add a lot of size to your arms. Most people get results training them alone on their own day. The other guys covered the eating part. They are a pretty small muscle gropu and involved in all upper body stuff, once a week 9-12 sets would be good IMO. In my own experience reps in the 12-15 range has worked well.

[Trent Ament]

Do you work your whole body, or just arms? Heavy chest, back, shoulder work will add a lot of size to your arms. Most people get results training them alone on their own day. The other guys covered the eating part. They are a pretty small muscle gropu and involved in all upper body stuff, once a week 9-12 sets would be good IMO. In my own experience reps in the 12-15 range has worked well.

I work the whole body on different days, but I know it is time to mix it up a little, since I have been doing pretty much the same routine for a while. I do back and arms on Monday. Chest and triceps on tues, shoulders on wed, and then finish with some legs on thurs. Since I only have a smith machine, I pretty much just do squats for legs and nothing else. I know I can implement more exercises for legs, I just haven't done that yet

[mass 04]

I work the whole body on different days, but I know it is time to mix it up a little, since I have been doing pretty much the same routine for a while. I do back and arms on Monday. Chest and triceps on tues, shoulders on wed, and then finish with some legs on thurs. Since I only have a smith machine, I pretty much just do squats for legs and nothing else. I know I can implement more exercises for legs, I just haven't done that yet

so you train tris 2 days in a row?

[benchmstr]

I work the whole body on different days, but I know it is time to mix it up a little, since I have been doing pretty much the same routine for a while. I do back and arms on Monday. Chest and triceps on tues, shoulders on wed, and then finish with some legs on thurs. Since I only have a smith machine, I pretty much just do squats for legs and nothing else. I know I can implement more exercises for legs, I just haven't done that yet

squats are all you need, try to get in some hammy curls every once in awhile.

and do back and bi's, not back and arms.

bench

[benchmstr]

and before i forget. DO NOT EAT TUNA BEFORE YOU GO TO BED. your insulin levels have the tendency to spike when you eat seafood, and elevated body temp makes it impossible to sleep.

drink a whey, or casein shake before bed

bench

[Trent Ament]

so you train tris 2 days in a row?

Well, I do chest and tri's on the same day, but that is something new for me. I used to do chest and shoulders, but I heard chest and triceps on the same day are better.

What I meant by back and arms, was back and biceps

[Trent Ament]

and before i forget. DO NOT EAT TUNA BEFORE YOU GO TO BED. your insulin levels have the tendency to spike when you eat seafood, and elevated body temp makes it impossible to sleep.

drink a whey, or casein shake before bed

bench

Thanks Bench for the tuna heads-up. I will remember to stick with the whey shake before I hit the sack

[Montague]

Whey is good, but you may also consider a slower absorbing protein source such as casein.
Sleep is a 6-8 hr. fast, and it’s better to have stuff entering into the blood stream slower and over a longer period of time.

You can also consume your last nighttime feeding with a TBS of healthy oil (mentioned earlier). Fats help slow absorption as well.

Search the nutrition board for advice on diets.
We had some good discussions not too long ago regarding different protein sources & timing, the effects of healthy fats on testosterone levels, and the importance of vegetables & fiber.

To add to training, squats (and many forms thereof) are superior leg mass builders.

Since you have a good selection of db’s, you may also consider carrying a pair for some walking lunges. With proper form lunges destroy your glutes and upper hammy’s.
Walking lunges are great to do outside on a level sidewalk or a back alley (if you live in a bad neighborhood, fear and personal safety are great motivation to lunge quickly and with no breaks).

When the weather is bad you can always lunge in place indoors, or you can find a bench or wood crate to use for step-ups.
You can also perform one-legged squats on the Smith.
Search youtube for examples.

[buffbong]

A good way to get some calories in is mixing oatmeal in with your shakes. You can put a cup of oatmeal eight onces of liquid egg whites and some fruit. Thats about five hundred calories good for in between meals.

There is alot of leg training variety you can do with what you have. Ill give you a couple routine examples.

Smith machine squats 12-10-8-8
Walking dumbell lunges 3x10
Stiff leg deads can do on smith or with barbell 10-8-8

OR
Smith front squats 12-10-8-8
dumbell squats     3x10  done holding the dumbells at your side
stiff dumbell deads       3x10

If you want a entire workout example ill give you some suggestions just let me know.

[ngm21084]

for the tuna you could gtry dicing up some chicken and hard  boiled eggs throw some iceberg lettuce in there and youve got a great protein filled snack i usually add in some hot sauce but to each his own...and as the others have stated if your getting stronger your getting bigger...you def need to eat more the big protein shake is a great idea there are also protein bars some of which arent bad at all...i agree with the high reps for bis you ever try any 21's try them....and as far as legs youve got enough to do plenty you can do lunges standing calf raises squats in all kinds of variety....good luck bro

[Montague]

Trent:
Since most of your body is lacking progress you may also do well to research some different training protocols, pick one or two and give them a shot for 8-10 weeks each.
Variables such as volume, frequency, weight & reps, etc…once you learn what your body responds best to, you can try other similar protocols and even come up with some well thought out programs on your own.

Begin here:
http://www.getbig.com/boards/index.php?topic=4944.0

[splinterhands]

and do powerlifting for a while

monday:deadlift

wed: bench

friday:squats

and throw in some arms if you feel like it, but remember, as long as you are getting stronger you are growing

+1

For me, going through the motions of "lifting weights" just doesn't excite me.  Going to a powerlifting routine and actively pushing to increase the weights really gets my blood flowing and motivates me to stay with it.  I spent several months on a 5X5 and made really good gains on it. 

I don't know how hard you trained before but for me if it gets over about 6-8 sets a workout, I start to lose energy and interest.  I may not do a lot of sets, but I do work those sets to failure or close to it using heavy singles, doubles and triples.  Always try to increase the weight you use.  After nine months, I still set PR's almost every workout.  I would cut the curls to a few sets of barbell and a set or two of hammer curls.  Spend your energy on deadlifts, squats, bench presses and close grip bench presses and  as long as you're adding weight, you'll add muscle.  You can always do some extra accessory exercises after your base routine if you'd like.

JMHO...

[Trent Ament]

You guys are great! I really appreciate the responses. I actually feel a lot more motivated and encouraged just by reading through the suggestions. Especially since I plan on taking it all in and using the suggested tips. I am already planning on trying out the training tips, as well as the diet advice. Thank you all again
 

[chaos]

Do you always train in the 10/12/15 rep range for arms?

[ngm21084]

You guys are great! I really appreciate the responses. I actually feel a lot more motivated and encouraged just by reading through the suggestions. Especially since I plan on taking it all in and using the suggested tips. I am already planning on trying out the training tips, as well as the diet advice. Thank you all again
 

something else that i have done almost always while training that have worked for me is to vary the rep range what i mean is like on chest day im doing incline db press 3X8 flat db fly 3X8 skullcrushers (for tris) 3X8 2 hand db overhead extensions 3X8 then as a so called finisher wide grip flat BB presses 3X 12-15i find that those last wide grip presses really get the blood flowing and exhaust your chest tris and front delts (not as much but some) not to mention it leaves feeling good and pumped (which i love the feeling of nad am kind of addicted to that feeling)...either way good luck bro and update your progress so we can see your progress

[dyslexic]

You say you are 5'7" @ 175.

You may want to get your bodyfat tested just so you can see exactly what your body composition is. If you "take off your shirt and look soft"- you might just have to ad that cardio to harden up.

As far as size and hardness, you are looking at adding more muscle mass and decreasing bodyfat.

If this is the case, you have a decision to make. Which direction do you want to go?

[tonymctones]

I noticed you didnt post your tricep routine, triceps are supposedly 2/3rds of your arm so if you want bigger arms you need to hit them up. I used to train in my garage at home when i was a kid, go buy a set of dipping bars or if your mechanically inclined build your own. You got a smith so close grips, weighted dips, maybe overhead tricep ext. or something like that.

Like other have said also if you lean out your arms will look better to you and others so diet is key to gaining muscle and losing fat both will get you to where you want to be.

[ngm21084]

I noticed you didnt post your tricep routine, triceps are supposedly 2/3rds of your arm so if you want bigger arms you need to hit them up. I used to train in my garage at home when i was a kid, go buy a set of dipping bars or if your mechanically inclined build your own. You got a smith so close grips, weighted dips, maybe overhead tricep ext. or something like that.

Like other have said also if you lean out your arms will look better to you and others so diet is key to gaining muscle and losing fat both will get you to where you want to be.

the most truthful and for some people hardest part of training...

[tonymctones]

the most truthful and for some people hardest part of training...

no doubt for years i never really understood that part of my training, Id work out and never quite look like I wanted but it was b/c i ate whatever I wanted. I never knew exactly how bad I ate until I started to focus on my nutrition.

[ngm21084]

no doubt for years i never really understood that part of my training, Id work out and never quite look like I wanted but it was b/c i ate whatever I wanted. I never knew exactly how bad I ate until I started to focus on my nutrition.

if you had any reaction to it like i had i was like GOD DAMN i cant believe i ate like that....since ive been eating more nutritionally and healthy i cant believe how regular people eat and how they cant realize that its not that hard to get into eating cleanerand healthier it takes a little work to start like anything else but once you get into it it all just feels better and you feel better

[wild willie]

Concerning arms, make sure that you are performing preachers or concentration curls, as they alleviate any cheating.

Also, focus on your tris, as they make up 2/3 of the arm.

close grips......dips......mac hine dips.....skull crushers......all good exercises.


get one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight......and don't overtrain.....8 sets for bis.....and 8 sets for tris.......concentrate on the arms.......meaning put the mind to muscle connection before any crazy poundages.