Arms - I want guns

[Cuts]

I get decent results off of training everything hard once a week EXCEPT arms. My bis are the size of friggin ping pong balls! Is it o.k. to hit bis and tris hard TWICE every week, or is that overdoing it? What do y'all guys with big guns--or actually those of you who HAD pistols and BUILT them into GUNS--do for arms? Frequency, sets, reps? Thanks!

 

[JOKER47]

I think that whatever you decide to do for workouts, focus primarily on your tri's. They are 2/3 of the total size of your arms. I don't have the biggest "guns", but have gotten compliments over the last few months after I really focused the majority of my arm workout on my tri's.


.02,
Joker

 

[beastboy]

Mine responed much better after cutting my volume to 9 sets total for direct arm work......I personally feel twice a week for a small muscle group is too much if you are talking in regards of direct arm work.

 

[Thaibox]

My arms have always been my weakness.

So, I stopped isolating them and started doing deadlifts like a madman. Now they're growing

 

[Getdownonit]

I do 6 sets on my bi's once a week. The rest is done from deadlifting and back day. Since dropping the volume and going as heavy as i can on deads my bi's have started to grow quickly

 

[Cuts]

Wow, I'm surprised at how many of y'all actually deadlift... on this thread and on my "Legs" thread. I've never deadlifted before, but maybe it's time I start. What day do y'all incorporate this into... legs or what? And how many sets and with what kind of weight?

 

[Thaibox]

You'll love deads bro, I promise. Here's what I did on my last back day

135 x 20
225 x 12
405 x 6
495 x 1
405 x 5

then stiff-legged
225 x 10
315 x 4
Had to stop here because I was starting to feel a prior back injury

Then some pull-ups

 

[Thaibox]

Also, in my opinion deads should always be done on back day. They hit your entire back, so it only makes sense to me.

 

[Welsh power house]

Yeah deads should deff be the first exercise on back day!!!!

Follow with barbell rows and chins or pulldowns and your back, delts and bis will explode with new growth!

As for your arms, do 9 sets on bis, 9 sets on tris.

My split:

day 1- chets, tris

day 2- legs, bis and abs

day 3- back, delts

My arms used to be weak, now have really grown. My arms are getting worked every session. Directly on days 1 and 2 and the indirectly on day 3...but still take a pounding from rows, deads, pulldowns and doing shoulder presses.

Shut up and start deadlifting!

 

[curling]

Welsh,

I have to disagree with you on the deadlifts should be first on backday. I reserve the first slot for wide grip pull ups. I think pullups are the staple of lat development. Then I do my deads then I do my bentover db rows. Then some varariation of cable rows.

Btw do you do do both straight leg and regular deadlifts on back day?

 

[brianmincher]

You both can and should do arms twice per week. Maybe more often if they are a real weak point. smaller muscle groups can recover in 24 to 48 hours, while larger muscle groups take 72 hours to recover. You can speed up recovery times by doing feeder workouts the day after your main exercises, which are very light weight high rep movements to get some blood flowing into the affected muscle groups.

I have gained an inch in my arms in the last 8 months doing the westside program, which involves, among many other things, doing arms twice per week.

hope this helps.

B.

 

[needsize]

I used to have pathetic arms but they're pretty impressive now, these are the concepts that worked for me.
Same as any other muscle group, heavy compound movements are what will build mass. For tri's, that means close grip bench, heavy weighted dips, skull crushers, heavy overhead extensions with EZ curl bar. For bi's, barbell curls, standing dumbell curls, incline dumbell curls, preacher curls.
I also do arms 2x per week when I'm specializing on them. One workout is just arms, heavy and hard. Then I also hit them fast and lighter after doing either back or chest.
Here's my split:
day 1 chest/calves/abs and light/fast tri workout
day 2 back/shoulders and light bi work
day 3 rest
day 4 rest
day 5 bi's/tri's/forarms
day 6 quads/hams/calves/abs
day 7 rest

 

[b fold the truth]

I rarely ever work bi's...but hit my tric pretty hard a time or two a week. Works for me...but I do a lot of event training too.

B True

 

[gettinlarger]

after reading all this, i think i may drop the volume of my arm workout. i usually hit like 12 sets for bis, 9 for tris. think i should drop it? i just started deads once a week with back, so im sure with time this will help them grow.

 

[Cuts]

I used to have pathetic arms but they're pretty impressive now, these are the concepts that worked for me.
Same as any other muscle group, heavy compound movements are what will build mass. For tri's, that means close grip bench, heavy weighted dips, skull crushers, heavy overhead extensions with EZ curl bar. For bi's, barbell curls, standing dumbell curls, incline dumbell curls, preacher curls.
I also do arms 2x per week when I'm specializing on them. One workout is just arms, heavy and hard. Then I also hit them fast and lighter after doing either back or chest.
Here's my split:
day 1 chest/calves/abs and light/fast tri workout
day 2 back/shoulders and light bi work
day 3 rest
day 4 rest
day 5 bi's/tri's/forarms
day 6 quads/hams/calves/abs
day 7 rest

I like that... it's like working arms 1 1/2 times per week...

 

[Haz]

I do deadlifts on my back days, and stiff leg deadlifts on my leg days).

I've tried doing deadlifts first when working back, but it takes everything out of me, leaving jack for my lats and traps. So now I do it towards the end of my workout. This way my back is already warmed up, and I'm less likely to hurt myself. My typical back day goes something like this.

Wide Grip Chins
Bent over rows
Deadlifts
Shrugs

Pretty basic and simple, but its been working good. I don't do much for Bi's cause I get plenty of work from my back day. I'll usually do 3 sets of dumbell, barbell curls. Sometimes I'll throw in some hammer and reverse curls to mix things up.

 

[Primal X]

My arms have always been my weakness.

So, I stopped isolating them and started doing deadlifts like a madman. Now they're growing

Does that work for everybody you think?

 

[Thaibox]

Does that work for everybody you think?

No, I know guys that are still responding great to just isolation stuff. I just don't unfortunately.

 

[Welsh power house]

Isolation movements dont pack on mass. They are used to bring out details to muscle groups.....peaks, sweeps ect are brought out with the aid of heavy llifts alongside isolation movements.

You have to ask your self what you really want. You say your arms are small and that you want GUNS....then you have to focuss
on gaining all over bodyweight....a rule of thumb is to add an inch of muscle to your arms, you have to add 8-10 lbs of bodyweight.

That means squats, deads, bench, dips, shoulder press, barbell rows, barbell curls, close grip bench press and not much else...keep it simple...keep the workouts heavy and short, get home and eat like a mad man!

 

[curling]

Isolation movements dont pack on mass.

You don't think wide grip pullups put on mass? (this question only applies if you were answering my above post)

 

[needsize]

You don't think wide grip pullups put on mass? (this question only applies if you were answering my above post)

Wide grip pullups are a compound movement as they involve both the back and bicep muscles, and yes they do build size