critique my arm day

[texasRUSH]

typical once a week regimen....


what do you guys think? my arms aren't growing anymore...they hit 17" and 16.5" and wont go any farther..yes my right is larger than my left.  i blame tennis i swear!

bi's get...

dumbbell hammer curls... 10x50x1,8x55x1,8x60x1
dumbbell preacher curls   8x50x1,8x60x1,8x65x1
incline dumbbell curls....   10x35x3   dear god these things are painful
low cable rope curls....      8x140x1,8x150x1,8x170x1

tri's get...

rope press downs 10x140x1,10x155x1,8x170x1
closed grip benches   10x225x1, 10x275x1, 4x335x1, 6x285x1   (as of last night...was trying for bigger weights and gas'd)
skull crushers-3 sets of 135 on the camber bar
dumbbell kick backs  10x60x1,8x70x1,8x75x1


and that's all i can handle before they just give out.... i do that once a week after chest on monday and back on tuesday.....should i move them to later in the week? 

[an123]

Dump the sissy stuff... Load up a 45 pound bar with as much weight as you can and rep that till your arms grow.

[headhuntersix]

What your doing or not doing is a matter of opinion exercise wise. I don't see standing BB curls. Great for mass, can be hard on the wrists.  Tri's could use some weighted dips. Maybe your over trained. I'm hitting bi's once every 4 weeks until Sep. Mine are shot and my forearms are even worse so i have to cut something. Try laying off for a while.

[pumpster]

Remove one exercise from both, then re-arrange the order and focus on increasing weight using less sets and 6-10 reps/set. Twice a week for arms. It's normal for one arm to be slightly bigger.

-Standing BB or cable curls along with either preachers or incline, 3-4 sets each. Follow with 2  sets of something else like hammer curls or do wrist curls.

-Close-grip & extensions should be first two-close grips are a good way to warm up the elbows. Other times, substitute bench dips for close-grips. On extensions try both seated with back braced and lying to behind the head, not to the forehead. Then choose either push-downs or pulley kickbacks to finish for a couple of sets, not both and not a lot of sets needed if you've done the work on the other exercises first.

One min. rest max. between sets.

Ensure that extra protein is being consumed.


Try this; if progress slows, superset the first two exercises of each for a month or so.

[JPM]

Too many sets, too many exercises and too much wasted time. Other than that, take a trip over to T-nation.com. It's a different slant on arm training. Check out the article Bigger Arm Challenge by Ellington Darden. It's the original Art Jones program.

 I'm not sure what you mean by 10X50X1, for example. Is that 10 reps with 50lbs for 1 set?  Or 10 sets of 50 reps with 1 minutes rest? Or, whatever. If you work arms once a week after chest on monday and back on tuesday wouldn't that be twice a week, two days in a row?

All this aside (and you being the strong stud you have suggested in past post) load a BB up and do half reps to waist high only. Though I haven't done a direct bicep exercise in years (in my view one of the more boring of all exercises are any kind of bi/tri work), I have done 205-215 for 7-9 reps in my teens. So you should be able to handle at least 30-50lbs over regular BB curls. Next exercise start with the BB from the top position of the curl and only lower half way down. Anothe exercise where lot's of weight can be used. Lean a little forward from the waist for extra tension on the biceps themeslves. Last Bicep exercise, close curl grip chins (all the way up, touching the upper chest to the bar) Using 80-100lbs over bwt should be achieved over a short period of time.

Triceps are pretty simple. Dips (weighed) body straight up. Either have a Bud hold your feet in a straight line with your  body or brace the feet against a bench, box, etc to keep them in line at 180 degrees. Look straight ahead or up while doing these. These are not to be confused with triceps dips that are preformed off a bench, box, etc. Incline French presses (an EZ bar seems to work best for a lot of guy's) and one arm tricep extensions (upper arm held against the head throughout the movement..no wide arc of the elbows) complete the triceps work. For bicep & triceps, one set each exercise if you work arms 3 times a week. Two sets each if you work arms twice a week. Good Luck.

[texasRUSH]

sweet! i figured it needed some rearranging and maybe less...

so as a consensus..less sets....les exercises...and heavy?!


i wondered if heavy back and chest days were killing my arms..


how long should i give doing them twice a week before deciding to nix them or not?


barbell curls kill me...lmao 140lbs on total bar weight would kill my arms...i'd think about wrapping my wrists before i attempted this.

[JPM]

Try an EZ bar if a straight bar gives trouble.All EZ bars do not have the same angle (surprise) for gripping so you might want to check around for what suits you. As a last option you could use a shrug/trap bar which is going to mimic Hammer curls with that thumbs up grip. For a whole different feel to the biceps than do reverse BB curls, if that doesn't bother the wrist. In any case, go heavy.

You should, as a rule of thumb, stay on a program at least 3 weeks....for the most, 4 weeks max. Usually if noticeable progress is not gained by 3 weeks, and you should see some, than juke it and try another program.  Heavy back and chest work does affect the arm's strongly for most guy's. That's the  main reason I don't do direct arm work of any kind. Also why less set's for direct arm work can be a better option. Good Luck.

[pumpster]

3-4 weeks should tell you if anything new is working.

E-Z curl bars are not particularly effective for many, but are easier on the wrists. The better alternatives IMO would be cable curls on a straight bar, which don't stress the wrists in the same way, or standing DB curls. You can also do triceps first, to warm up the wrists. Better to do this separate of other muscle groups, 3-4 days between arm workouts.

Less sets but work harder-after reaching failure do a few extra cheat or rest-pause reps on one of the sets of each exercise.

[WOOO]

doesn't anyone work forearms anymore?

[blondmusclhunk]

Definately less sets and heavier.  Bis and tris are smaller muscles and can be overtrained. Def throw in barbell or ez bar curls.

[WOOO]

Definately less sets and heavier.  Bis and tris are smaller muscles and can be overtrained. Def throw in barbell or ez bar curls.

blood volume training works wonders for some... you can't generalize about this kind of stuff..

[buffbong]

how about training tris first,and dropping a exersize from current routine  hers a suggestion routine.

tris
v-handle push downs 15-12-10-8-6 first two warm ups
seated behind head dumbell ext 12-10-8
dips on a dip station 3x 12-15
biceps
e-z bar curls standing 15-12-10-8-6
one arm dumbell preacher curls on incline bench 3 x 10-8-6
concentration hammer curls 3x 10

[Hayabusa]

Personally I would drop training  arms to once a week. I usually do two exercises for bi's and 2 for tri's. I do like to do both high rep light weight and low rep heavy weight in the same workout. Tris and bi's really like to get pumped and will hold alot of water, atp, glycogen etc after training with high reps. To get your weak arm up to par do some forced reps, cheat reps, drop sets, etc but not ALL of those every workout for your weak arm only. In a month or two it will catch up. Ohh also flex your weak arm anytime you think about it. If you show someone your arm show them your weak arm. Practice holding it for a minute and then two, and then three. It will catch up. Oh yes we all know why your right arm is bigger than the other.

Hayabusa

[texasRUSH]

so as of last night..things went like this

bis!

hammer curls:12x50x1,10x55x1,8x60x1
dumbbell preacher curls:  12x45x1,10x60x1x8x70x1
rope cable curls: 15x140x1,12x155x1,10x170

tri's

some kinda plate press down machine that you sit in..dunno wtf ist' called but it looks like you're doing seated dips:  12x180x1, 12x275x1,10x360x1
kickbacks: 12x55x1, 10x65x1, 8x80x1  (yes i cheated the last few reps with 80's...sue me..it felt great)
rope pressdowns: 15x125x1, 12x155x1,8x170x1



any better?! 

[pumpster]

You reduced the sets but really haven't done much differently in regards to content or sequence.

Bis: hammer curls AFTER the other curls. Wrist curls are as good or better than reverse curls for forearms BTW.

Tris: Seated dip machine, CG bench or bench dips, followed by some form of seated or lying extensions to behind the head. Go heavy on these two, then do a couple of pumping sets on kickbacks or pushdowns.

[texasRUSH]

gotcha thankyou sir