Any advice on arms workout?

joker77

Just wondering if there are any tips anybody would like to share on building up arms?

I had to quit working on biceps completely because of a pain I get in my left forearm when doing curls.

I plan to do an arms day in the near future, maybe 2/3 exercises for biceps and triceps.

amazingemmet

You wanna add mass to your arms you gotta add mass everywhere, I think to gain an inch on your arms you need to add 15lbs all over.

Money Shot

For Biceps - keep the weight low enough to keep proper form. Throwing around 40/50 kilo on bb curls will do very little if your using the momentum of your legs, back etc., Use a weight that you can get your reps with good form i.e keeping the tension on the bicep and feeling the squeeze at the end. Then Lower the weight slowly and in control. You don't need heavy weights to work biceps hard imo - some may find heavier works best.
I also like negative reps for biceps i.e taking around 6 seconds lowering the bar and raising as normal -killer, you can also do negative pull ups. Hand position is important too - hammer curls work different muscles to standard curls, and this muscle needs to be worked to if you want to get a fuller look to your arm.
Other than that, pull ups are great for biceps, and the fact that biceps don't need much work, (assuming your working back too) I do between 3-6 sets for biceps, usually 2 sets of two or three different exercises. Quality not quantity of work.

Triceps are the key to bigger arms for me. They get a pounding when working chest and shoulders, so shouldn't need a lot of work either. I like supersets for triceps - usually skullcrusher curls and dips or pull downs with db extensions. Triceps tend to need heavier work to grow - experiment with exercises and see what works best for you. Again I only use 3-6 sets for triceps depending on time, but dips would be my favorite grower.

joker77

Cheers for the replies, yea I haven't been doing any curls over the last while but have still noticed growth.

My days are split between chest, shoulders, back, and legs at the moment, but on the back day I do pull ups/dips

I suppose I'd just like to see more growth on the arms

Dragan

joker77 wrote:

Cheers for the replies, yea I haven't been doing any curls over the last while but have still noticed growth.

That would imply to me that you were most likely over training. You biceps get plenty of work from your back day , this is the case for most people. If you do want to do direct work then do 2 genuinely tough sets AFTER you work you back and you should be good.

For triceps, do 3 sets after chest and call it a day.

Work hard..... i mean hard enough to cry.

joker77

So the consensus is an arms day is a no-no and just build in some tricep sets on chest day and bicep sets on back day

J.S. Pill

Dragan wrote:

That would imply to me that you were most likely over training. You biceps get plenty of work from your back day , this is the case for most people. If you do want to do direct work then do 2 genuinely tough sets AFTER you work you back and you should be good.

For triceps, do 3 sets after chest and call it a day.

Work hard..... i mean hard enough to cry.

Hmmm...

My bicep and tricep routine looks something like this:

Back/Bicep day:

Bent over fly

Chin up

Face pulls

Standing lat pulldown

Concentration curl

Hammer Curl (rope attachment on cable pulley)

Straight bar reverse curl (cable)

Close grip curl (cable...again)

Chest/tricep

Chest press (machine)

DB Decline flys

EZ bar Pullovers

Decline push ups

Tricep Dips

Lying cross face tricep extension

Tricep press (machine)

Straight arm pushdown


3 sets on all the above

Do ye reckon thee could be too much isolation work on the biceps and triceps there? My triceps are looking alright but my biceps seem to be lagging a bit behind.

Any general comments on the program would also be appreciated.

Money Shot

joker77 wrote:

So the consensus is an arms day is a no-no and just build in some tricep sets on chest day and bicep sets on back day

Definitely - it would be hard to fit in an arm day to any routine without effecting the other more important compound parts of your workouts.
As Dragan says - you shouldn't need much work after doing chest/Back, 2-4 sets should be plenty. If you want to concentrate on your arms for a while, you could maybe drop sets from your chest/back workouts and do 4-6 sets at the end for Biceps/triceps.

tribulus

Yeah I'd generally agree with just pick a curl variation and hit a few sets, or an extension for triceps.

It's funny if you look at a lot of people's training you'll see maybe one exercise for legs - *maybe* squats lol or one or two for back but about 4 or 5 different arm exercises!

I'd also tend to agree with Emmet about the overall mass thing. I've rarely seen someone with impressive arms that didn't have a good physique overall in the first place.

Money Shot

J.S. Pill wrote:

Hmmm...

My bicep and tricep routine looks something like this:

Back/Bicep day:

Bent over fly

Chin up

Face pulls

Standing lat pulldown

Concentration curl

Hammer Curl (rope attachment on cable pulley)

Straight bar reverse curl (cable)

Close grip curl (cable...again)

Chest/tricep

Chest press (machine)

DB Decline flys

EZ bar Pullovers

Decline push ups

Tricep Dips

Lying cross face tricep extension

Tricep press (machine)

Straight arm pushdown


3 sets on all the above

Do ye reckon thee could be too much isolation work on the biceps and triceps there? My triceps are looking alright but my biceps seem to be lagging a bit behind.

Any general comments on the program would also be appreciated.

TBH isolation work isn't terribly important for a beginner / recreational lifter. It's a trap a hell of lot of people fall into - endless biceps exercises. The big growers are the compounds - and I've never seen someone who can bench press 100kg with small arms.
IMO that is just way to many sets. You could pick three of four exercises and do one good set of each maybe.
Anyway, - you said it's not working for you, so your doing something wrong. I'd recommend a different approach if a routine is not working.

J.S. Pill

Money Shot wrote:

TBH isolation work isn't terribly important for a beginner / recreational lifter. It's a trap a hell of lot of people fall into - endless biceps exercises. The big growers are the compounds - and I've never seen someone who can bench press 100kg with small arms.
IMO that is just way to many sets. You could pick three of four exercises and do one good set of each maybe.
Anyway, - you said it's not working for you, so your doing something wrong. I'd recommend a different approach if a routine is not working.

I'm really just doing what my trainer is telling me to do. How would you recommend I modify this? Is it just a case of more sets on the larger muscle groups and less on the small or do I need a complete overhaul?

Money Shot

J.S. Pill wrote:

I'm really just doing what my trainer is telling me to do. How would you recommend I modify this? Is it just a case of more sets on the larger muscle groups and less on the small or do I need a complete overhaul?

Essentially- yes. Well, you should speak to your trainer first off, but I can tell you what I would do. I'm not sure if even the current Mr Universe would hit his triceps with six different exercises (18 sets) at one session.
For each day, I would start with one major compound exercise - for Chest I would pick one press (flat/Incline/Decline), with a couple of warm up sets and three good working sets. Then you can do your flyes, then dips - personally I would do dips after bench as this works chest and triceps and I'd rather give this more energy. Then I would pick one other tricep exercise and do three good sets and call it a day. However if you need more, from the below list, I'd recommend the pullover as again your working both chest and triceps and getting a good stretch at the end.

For Back day, I'd start of with Dead lifts. If that's not your thing, pick another from bent over row/ lateral pulldown or Pull ups. Working from your list, you could do pull ups first then lateral pull downs. Then I would do a seated row or your bent over flyes would be fine. Then three really concentrated tough sets for Biceps would be adequate. If you really have to do more sets - pick one standard curl and one hammer curl type. Or even four sets - two sets of each.

TBH there are numerous routines you could employ, and it's good to change things regularly to find what works best for you and to keep things fresh. They should all concentrate on compound movements IMO, with much less emphasis on isolation exercises. You're routine is isolation exercise dominant at the moment.

Aedh Baclamh

Anyone with me on thinking that bicep curls feck up your wrists big time and are a pretty useless exercise as your biceps would be able to handle a big weight but your wrists wouldn't be able to support it?

J.S. Pill

Money Shot wrote:

Essentially- yes. Well, you should speak to your trainer first off

I really don't know how to approach my trainer about this. I don't know if he'd be too appreciative of a novice like me questioning his methods. I'm sure this program has worked well for some of his clients but it may not be that suitable for me. Well f**k it, its his job to listen as well so I may well raise what you've said with him - thanks man

Sorry for hijacking the thread aswell!

Money Shot

J.S. Pill wrote:

I really don't know how to approach my trainer about this. I don't know if he'd be too appreciative of a novice like me questioning his methods. I'm sure this program has worked well for some of his clients but it may not be that suitable for me. Well f**k it, its his job to listen as well so I may well raise what you've said with him - thanks man

Sorry for hijacking the thread aswell!

No problem - there's a few personal trainers on here who might throw in some advice on how to broach the subject in a manner that will be most appropriate.

I'm sure he gave you the program in good faith and he may have misunderstood your intended goals (maybe you said 'big arms'). You could just say you would like a new routine with focus more on compound movements and less emphasis on isolation exercises as you think that might be suitable for what you want to achieve- I'm assuming your goal is to grow and build muscle.

J.S. Pill

Money Shot wrote:

I'm assuming your goal is to grow and build muscle.

Yes . I never said anything to him about any specific areas. As I said my current program probably worked quite well for some people. I'll certainly talk to him about it - whats the worst thing that can happen?

J.S. Pill

Money Shot wrote:

Essentially- yes. Well, you should speak to your trainer first off, but I can tell you what I would do. I'm not sure if even the current Mr Universe would hit his triceps with six different exercises (18 sets) at one session.
For each day, I would start with one major compound exercise - for Chest I would pick one press (flat/Incline/Decline), with a couple of warm up sets and three good working sets. Then you can do your flyes, then dips - personally I would do dips after bench as this works chest and triceps and I'd rather give this more energy. Then I would pick one other tricep exercise and do three good sets and call it a day. However if you need more, from the below list, I'd recommend the pullover as again your working both chest and triceps and getting a good stretch at the end.

I met my instructor today and suggested something along the lines of the above. He basically said that I wouldn't be hitting the triceps/biceps hard enough if I was to follow this. I didn't quite know what to say back to him.

I said to him that the aproach hasn't been too successful so far (only a couple of pounds gained since the start of the year) and that I'd have little to loose trying something different for a few months. He's drawing up a new program for me now which is going to change the split a bit. As soon as I get it I'll post it up.

In the meantime, has anyone had any experience with the more abbreviated approach outlined by moneyshot and anything to say about it??

Thanks

Hanley

It's not what you do... It's how you do it.

Pick a program. Stick to it for 4-6 weeks. Bust your ass. Evaluate. Then decide what if it was effective.

J.S. Pill

Hanley wrote:

It's not what you do... It's how you do it.

Pick a program. Stick to it for 4-6 weeks. Bust your ass. Evaluate. Then decide what if it was effective.

I've basically had the same approach for the last 6 months and I vary the mix exercise every 6 weeks - Now, I've kept a decent record of what I've been lifting for the last 2 months and its consistently gone up and I'm quite happy with my strength gains. Intensity is something I've been a lot more conscious of in the last 2 months so I know what you mean about ass busting .