Arm size

[Bear03]

2-3 days a week

please tell more on this, like what exercises and what days you do em ?

well, you have to cut back on volume each day.  I usually do six sets for bi's and six-to-eight sets for tri's in each workout....so that is equivalent to one workout of 18 sets for bis, 24 sets for tris per week.

Now, when doing a workout of this volume, you tend to lag by set 10.  Breaking it down into three smaller workouts allows you to use high volume, which WORKS, and high intensity for all sets.

[Army of One]

I'm looking for a way to jump-start my arms into some new growth. I'm currently 270lbs@ 6'1". My chest is 54", quads are 29", but my arms are only 19.5". I'd like to get another inch on them to even out my proportions. I'm considering taking 6 weeks or so and really prioritizing arms and putting the rest of the body on basically maintenance. Anybody ever try this to bring up a lagging bodypart?

Lose some BF fatty.

[pumpster]

I do the same, it works-3 workouts per muscle per week, using less sets.

Bis get 4-6 sets, tris 5-8. If you make each set count-go to failure and sometimes beyond failure, you still fry the muscle but recovery is faster and frequency can go up, from my experience.

Do this effectively and you might wonder why you bothered with more sets in the first place.

[Bobby]

But if you still 'fry' the muscle, how is the recovery quicker?

[blaster]

I have always trained hard and for volume on arms and they are my best body part. At one stage, they were 21' and I'm 6'4". Admittedly, I was as fat as Kimali in the off season, but still, they looked ok to me. 

Volume is the key for any growth. U need to make the muscle believe it needs to grow because it is being used so much.

I train all my body parts to get maximum pump, especially arms.

I never go by sets or reps. That is limiting yourself and is an easy way out. Many of the pros will tell u when u think u can't do anymore, do ANOTHER light drop set to force that last little bit of blood into the muscle.

Good luck.

[pumpster]

You can pulverize a muscle with 4-8 sets if you put more work into less sets using cheats, forced reps, partials, etc. I used to do volume. Volume's advantage is for refining pre-contest, it's not needed for size, from my experience. Your muscles respond to amount of work done, which can be achieved using moderate numbers of sets done intensely, or by doing more sets done using less intensity. Those extra sets are a waste of time from my experience, if you put the work in on less sets.

Bottom line: progressive overload of the muscle over moderate sets by increasing the weight equals size increase, not doing marathon sets. Get a pump by doing 8-12 reps per set while keeping the weights heavy.

If you do more work in a few sets, the muscle's still worked hard in terms of growth, but recovery doesn't seem to take as long as volume, which wears out the muscle by doing marathons. Marathons do NOT equal size, increasing the resistance and getting a pump do. This is my experience. I wish i'd known this when i was doing 20 sets a muscle.

The best analogy remains runners. Marathon runners do the equivalent of volume-do they have size? No, but the muscles are competely exhausted. Sprinters do the equivalent of moderate sets, but done with intensity, always seeking to increase the intensity rather than the number of sprints AKA sets. Sprinters have big legs by athletic standards.

[blaster]

I think the thing to remember is EVERYONE is different. What works for u may not work for me.

[Bobby]

Pumpster, good info! i'm gonna try it for biceps, do em tuesdays and fridays see what happens

Do you do this even for the bigger musclegroups as chest, back and legs? i don't see 6 sets cutting it for a leg workout, but for smaller groups it seems right.

[pumpster]

Go a little higher on bigger muscles: 10-12 sets for legs, lats, chest. For any muscle, 3-4 sets per exercise, determine for yourself which works better.

 A good leg program from my experience would be warmup, then 4 intense sets of box squats, 4 sets leg press, 4 sets leg curls. When you want to cut up, substitute hacks for leg press. Leg extensions aren't necessary IMO, if you do hack machine squats.

Experiment with exercises of course-the best i've found for bis are cable curls (Coleman's favorite size builder) and preacher cable or free weight curls.

Always ensure good warmups-the increased intensity demands it given the added stress from cheats, partials or extra rest-pause reps on the last 1-2 sets of each exercise. Bottom line's progression in resistance and intensity. Thus, adequate  warmups are essential.

And of course, extra protein has to be in place to allow for bodyweight gains that usually accompany increases in arm size.

I agree that everyone's different, but at the same time there are collective tendencies - for a majority, moderate sets using 8-12 reps per set and reasonably heavy weight is best. Of course there are exceptions, some will prefer lower reps and heavier weights, which does nothing for me and many others-the heavier weight puts more focus on the ligaments and less on the muscle, from my experience, and also increases the injury potential. Experiment with each approach for a couple of months and see what works.

[BigAlski]

Well you are a tall guy so arms could be tough for y ou.  I think you should start by recognizing that your arms have shallower muscle bellies compared to shorter guys (and in comparison to length).  I used to do a lot of supersets and drop sets for my arms because the goal is pump and fatigue here, not power as in compound motions.  I would do a lot of hammer curls seated, STRICT olympic barbell curls for high reps.  Also, the power head of the tricep (under the armpit) that drives the bar off the chest in the flat press (from 6in to maybe 10 in off the chest) can really grow although it is not as noticable.  Camber bar french presses on an incline and some close grip work can help this, as well as a lot of painfull burnouts for high reps on cables or dumbells like overhead french presses and one/two arm kickbacks on cables.