Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below Just curious what is the best way to get bigger arms? Right now my muscle looks more raw and not really a solid form other than just mass. They are around 14.5 inches. I want atleast 16. I am a fairly small dude too. I weigh 160 and I am between 5'7" and 5'9". I am not fat though as you can probably tell by my arm size. I gained 20 pounds just from going to the gym. I just want to have bigger arms. I usually take the 80 and 90 bar and curl it as many times as I can.
Best way to get bigger arms?
- Thread starter Eric1987
- Start date
You didn't say much about your training experience and your age, but without knowing more the best advice I would give you is to build up your entire body mass by doing basic strength movements such as bench press, deadlifts, squats, rows, presses, pullups etc and let your arms come along for the ride. They will increase in size as you body builds mass and strength.
goku_kakarot77
New member
use text book form when doing bicep workouts, squueze and onctract all the way thorough , if u feeling ur shoulder and pec doing work the wight too heavy for u, apart from that deadds and Barbell rows and chins
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Big_BK
Guest
squat for big arms???
B
Big_BK
Guest
Doing heavy compound movements will promote growth much faster then just doing isolation bicep exercises every week.
Yes.
To add 1 inch to your arms you need to add 10-15 pounds of overall body mass. The easiest way to do this is by performing the exercises that give you the most bang for your buck. Heavy compound free weight exercises. Direct bi work is not gonna do it for you. Heavy squats, deads, bench, rows, chins, military press, etc will add size to your whole body. If your diet is in order.
You should be eating like it is your job. Every meal should be a chore to finish and leave you stuffed. It takes a lot of food to grow and it is not easy to do. Those 20 pounds you gained are common when you first start training. the next 20 won't be as easy. You will have to work for it.
It was probably a joke. I've seen squat specialists with pretty average arms.
No, it wasn't a joke.
Squatting and doing deadlift makes your body secrete high amounts of test and GH. That means growth and muscle EVERYWHERE. Not just your legs.
You see guys that do 100 sets of bicep curls but they are still skronny?
You see a guy being serious in the squat rack and I betcha he's one of the bigger guys in the gym if not the biggest.
Chrisco915
Banned
How come no one has mentioned Synthol yet? It worked for Valentino........LOL.
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Big_BK
Guest
As have i but 2 things, why would you want to look unbalanced and like crap. I get more compliments from women on my ass and legs then i do anything else. and second, why do things the hard way? Sure you can train only upper body but it will takes years to achieve what you could do i probably half that time training properly by exercising your whole body. Your body is meant to be in proportion, do you really see THAT many people with chicken legs or huge legs and no upper body???
desmond
New member
I agree BK - it's unattractive to be unbalanced and I wasn't advocating the appraoch and I DL and squat. It just suprised me when I was working in Melb this year the amount of people who had achieved good upper bodies and yet had chicken legs. I thought many of them looked ridiculous - and yes, noticed how silly pancake arse looked on well developed upper bodies
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Big_BK
Guest
But in the grand scheme of things did they really have THAT over developed bodies or just enough to look bigger then most people and the lack of leg mass made it look even more impressive?
I've only seen a guy matching this description and yeah he lifted heavy! But he was also a guy over 40 years old which obviously explains the tremendous difference between his upper body and legs, I could swear that his calves were about the same size of his forearms.
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Big_BK
Guest
That proves my point. Who wants to look like that when there 40?
desmond
New member
But BK, ur forgetting "curls gets the girls" lol
Just being facetious; I agree.
But:
- some of us lift mainly because we enjoy lifting;
- some merely to pick up girls or impress other guys, and the latter crowd often adopt strange routines (i.e., chest/arm dominant).
BBR100
New member
Not sure what you mean. What's the relationship between over 40 and tremendous diff between upper body and legs?
It means that probably he was neglecting is lower body training for more than a decade at least, because the difference was huge, cartoon like, sick huge difference. It's not like your gonna get a HUGE upper body in relation to your legs in a couple of years.
I'm not talking about calf muscles, because it's possible to have huge quads and not so great calves...
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Big_BK
Guest
lol i hear ya. People are so stubborn in their ways. I think i am lucky in regards that i refused advice online and got nowhere then realized maybe what everyone was saying was right and then i started to blow up. I have done legs from day one because it was drilled into my head. Even the guys that i train with that are bodybuilders are surprised at how serious i take legs. If people had a balanced routine and tried ever so slightly on diet they would make much better gains with less effort.
LucSulla
New member
Don't take this the wrong way... I SQUAT TOO!
...but I cannot see how squats will improve a bench press. Back strength will go up for sure, but it won't be in the arms, only the supporting muscles.
In fairness, your original comment was to squat for bigger arms. Now you've gone and added deadlifts which works the arms more directly.
If a person just squatted and did nothing else I doubt very much he would develop big arms. Of couse this is hypothetical because serious squatters are usually serious about other lifts too.
I took it as a joke.
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Big_BK
Guest
you answered your own question. you're only as strong as your weakest link. Try doing a heavy Bicep workout then try and do squats and see how much harder they are when your supporting muscles are weakened.
In fairness, go read my original comment. I said to squat and deadlift right from the beginning.
dabuffguy said:
But, even then....
If a guy did just bicep curls, and another guy did just bicep curls along with squats, the guy that did squats will have much more size gained on his arms than the other guy. Yes, it's true. It doesn't make sense but it is true.
When you squat, it stimulates the production of testosterone and growth hormone. It doesn't go just to your legs, but to your whole body. Growth hormone makes everything grow, not just a certain muscle worked for the day. Testosterone makes everything grow, not just the muscle worked that day.
If you do bicep curls, and then do squats, your bicep are going to recieve a much higher amoun of growth hormone and testosterone than it would have otherwise. Therefore, it will grow bigger and stronger than it otherwise would have done.
To build muscle mass, you must increase strength. It’s that simple. You will never get huge arms, a monstrous back, a thick chest, or massive legs without lifting heavy weights. I know that probably doesn’t come as a revelation to anyone. But despite how obvious it seems, far too many people (and not just beginners) neglect power training and rarely make increasing the weights lifted in each successive workout a priority. You must get strong in the basic mass building exercises to bring about a significant increase in muscle size. One of the biggest mistakes typical bodybuilders make is when they implement specialization routines before they have the right to use them.
It constantly amazes me just how many neophytes (beginners), near neophytes, and other insufficiently developed bodybuilders plunge into single-body part specialization programs in the desperate attempt to build big arms. I don’t fault them for wanting big arms, but their approach to getting them is flawed. For the typical bodybuilder who is miles away from squatting 1 ½ times their bodyweight for 20 reps (if you weigh 180 lbs., that means 20 reps with 270 lbs.), an arm specialization program is utterly inappropriate and useless.
The strength and development needed to squat well over 1 ½ times bodyweight for 20 reps will build bigger arms faster then focusing on biceps and triceps training with isolation exercises. Even though squats are primarily a leg exercise, they stress and stimulate the entire body. But more importantly, if you are able to handle heavy weights in the squat, it logically follows that the rest of your body will undoubtedly be proportionally developed. It’s a rare case that you would be able to squat 1 ½ times your bodyweight and not have a substantial amount of upper body muscle mass.
This is not to say that you don’t need to train arms, and squats alone will cause massive upper body growth. You will still work every body part, but you must focus on squats, deadlifts, and rows—the exercises that develop the legs, hips, and back. Once you master the power movements and are able to handle impressive poundages on those lifts, the strength and muscle you gain will translate into greater weights used in arm, shoulder and chest exercises.
In every gym I’ve ever visited or trained in, there were countless teenage boys blasting away on routines, dominated by arm exercises, in the attempt to build arms like their idols. In the ‘70s, they wanted arms like Arnold Schwarzenegger, in the ‘80s Robby Robinson was a favorite and currently Mr. Olympia, Ronnie Coleman, has set the standard everyone wants to achieve. Unfortunately the 3 aforementioned men as well as most other top bodybuilders have arm development far beyond the reach of the average (or even above average) weight trainer. But arm size can be increased. However, not in the way young trainers, with physiques that don’t even have the faintest resemblance to those of bodybuilders are attempting to make progress. Thin arms, connected to narrow shoulders, fixed to shallow chest, joined to frail backs and skinny legs, don’t need body part specialization programs. Let’s not have skewed priorities. Let’s not try to put icing on the cake before the cake has been baked.
Priorities
Trying to stimulate a substantial increase in size in a single body part, without first having the main structures of the body in pretty impressive condition, is to have turned bodybuilding upside-down, inside-out and back to front.
The typical bodybuilder simply isn’t going to get much meat on his arms, calves, shoulders, pectorals and neck unless he first builds a considerable amount of muscle around the thighs, hips and back. It simply isn’t possible—for the typical drug-free bodybuilder, that is—to add much if any size to the small areas unless the big areas are already becoming substantial.
There’s a knock-on (additive) effect from the efforts to add substantial size to the thigh, hip and back structure (closely followed by upper body pushing structure-pecs and delts). The smaller muscle groups, like the biceps, and triceps will progress in size (so long as you don’t totally neglect them) pretty much in proportion to the increase in size of the big areas. It’s not a case of getting big and strong thighs, hips, back and upper-body pushing structure with everything else staying put. Far from it. As the thigh, hip, back and upper-body pushing structure grows, so does everything else. Work hard on squats and deadlifts, in addition to bench presses, overhead presses and some type of row or pulldown. Then you can add a little isolation work—curls, calf raises and neck work (but not all of this at every workout).
The “Driver”
The key point is that the “engine” that drives the gains in the small areas is the progress being made in the big areas. If you take it easy on the thigh and back you will, generally speaking, have trouble making gains in the other exercises, no matter how hard you work the latter.
All this isn’t to say just do squats, deadlifts and upper back work, quite closely followed by some upper-body pressing work. While such a limited program will deliver good gains on these few exercises, with some knock-on effect throughout the body, it’s not a year after year program. Very abbreviated routines are great for getting gains moving, and for building a foundation for moderately expanded routines. They are fine to keep returning to on a regular basis. The other training isn’t necessary all in the same workout but spread over the week. This will maintain balance throughout the body and capitalize upon the progress made in the thigh, hip and back structure.
Just remember that the thigh, hip and back structure comes first and is the “driver” (closely followed by the upper-body pushing structure) for the other exercises. These other exercises, though important in their own right, are passengers relative to the driving team.
Big Arms
To get big arms, get yourself on a basic program that focuses on the leg, hip and back structure without neglecting the arms themselves. As you improve your squatting ability, for reps and by say 100 pounds, your curling poundage should readily come up by 30 pounds or so if you work hard enough on your curls. This will add size to your biceps. While adding 100 pounds to your squat, you should be able to add 50-70 pounds to your bench press, for reps. This assumes you’ve put together a sound program and have worked hard on the bench. That will add size to your triceps.
If you’re desperate to add a couple of inches to your upper arms you’ll need to add 30 pounds or more over your body, unless your arms are way behind the rest of you. Don’t start thinking about 17” arms, or even 16” arms so long as your bodyweight is 130, 140, 150, 160, or even 170 pounds. Few people can get big arms without having a big body. You’re unlikely to be one of the exceptions.
15 sets of arm flexor exercises, and 15 sets of isolation tricep exercises—with a few squats, deadlifts and bench presses thrown in as an afterthought—will give you a great pump and attack the arms from “all angles”. However, it won’t make your arms grow much, if at all, unless you’re already squatting and benching big poundages, or are drug-assisted or genetically gifted.
As your main structures come along in size and strength (thigh, hip and back structure, and the pressing structure), the directly involved smaller body parts are brought along in size too. How can you bench press or dip impressive poundages without adding a lot of size to your triceps? How can you deadlift the house and row big weights without having the arm flexors—not to mention the shoulders and upper back—to go with those lifts? How can you squat close to 2 times bodyweight, for plenty of reps, without having a lot of muscle all over your body?
The greater the development and strength of the main muscular structures of the body, the greater the size and strength potential of the small areas of the body. Think it through. Suppose you can only squat and deadlift with 200 pounds, and your arms measure about 13”. You’re unlikely to add any more than half an inch or so on them, no matter how much arm specialization you put in.
However, put some real effort into the squat and deadlift, together with the bench press and a few other major basic movements. Build up the poundages by 50% or more, to the point where you can squat 300 pounds for over 10 reps, and pack on 30 pounds of muscle. Then, unless you have an unusual arm structure, you should be able to get your arms to around 16”. If you want 17” arms, plan on having to squat more than a few reps with around 2 times bodyweight, and on adding many more pounds of muscle throughout your body (unless you have a better-than-average growth potential in your upper arms).
All of this arm development would have been achieved without a single concentration curl, without a single pushdown and without a single preacher curl. This lesson in priorities proves that the shortest distance between you and big arms is not a straight line to a curl bar.
It constantly amazes me just how many neophytes (beginners), near neophytes, and other insufficiently developed bodybuilders plunge into single-body part specialization programs in the desperate attempt to build big arms. I don’t fault them for wanting big arms, but their approach to getting them is flawed. For the typical bodybuilder who is miles away from squatting 1 ½ times their bodyweight for 20 reps (if you weigh 180 lbs., that means 20 reps with 270 lbs.), an arm specialization program is utterly inappropriate and useless.
The strength and development needed to squat well over 1 ½ times bodyweight for 20 reps will build bigger arms faster then focusing on biceps and triceps training with isolation exercises. Even though squats are primarily a leg exercise, they stress and stimulate the entire body. But more importantly, if you are able to handle heavy weights in the squat, it logically follows that the rest of your body will undoubtedly be proportionally developed. It’s a rare case that you would be able to squat 1 ½ times your bodyweight and not have a substantial amount of upper body muscle mass.
This is not to say that you don’t need to train arms, and squats alone will cause massive upper body growth. You will still work every body part, but you must focus on squats, deadlifts, and rows—the exercises that develop the legs, hips, and back. Once you master the power movements and are able to handle impressive poundages on those lifts, the strength and muscle you gain will translate into greater weights used in arm, shoulder and chest exercises.
In every gym I’ve ever visited or trained in, there were countless teenage boys blasting away on routines, dominated by arm exercises, in the attempt to build arms like their idols. In the ‘70s, they wanted arms like Arnold Schwarzenegger, in the ‘80s Robby Robinson was a favorite and currently Mr. Olympia, Ronnie Coleman, has set the standard everyone wants to achieve. Unfortunately the 3 aforementioned men as well as most other top bodybuilders have arm development far beyond the reach of the average (or even above average) weight trainer. But arm size can be increased. However, not in the way young trainers, with physiques that don’t even have the faintest resemblance to those of bodybuilders are attempting to make progress. Thin arms, connected to narrow shoulders, fixed to shallow chest, joined to frail backs and skinny legs, don’t need body part specialization programs. Let’s not have skewed priorities. Let’s not try to put icing on the cake before the cake has been baked.
Priorities
Trying to stimulate a substantial increase in size in a single body part, without first having the main structures of the body in pretty impressive condition, is to have turned bodybuilding upside-down, inside-out and back to front.
The typical bodybuilder simply isn’t going to get much meat on his arms, calves, shoulders, pectorals and neck unless he first builds a considerable amount of muscle around the thighs, hips and back. It simply isn’t possible—for the typical drug-free bodybuilder, that is—to add much if any size to the small areas unless the big areas are already becoming substantial.
There’s a knock-on (additive) effect from the efforts to add substantial size to the thigh, hip and back structure (closely followed by upper body pushing structure-pecs and delts). The smaller muscle groups, like the biceps, and triceps will progress in size (so long as you don’t totally neglect them) pretty much in proportion to the increase in size of the big areas. It’s not a case of getting big and strong thighs, hips, back and upper-body pushing structure with everything else staying put. Far from it. As the thigh, hip, back and upper-body pushing structure grows, so does everything else. Work hard on squats and deadlifts, in addition to bench presses, overhead presses and some type of row or pulldown. Then you can add a little isolation work—curls, calf raises and neck work (but not all of this at every workout).
The “Driver”
The key point is that the “engine” that drives the gains in the small areas is the progress being made in the big areas. If you take it easy on the thigh and back you will, generally speaking, have trouble making gains in the other exercises, no matter how hard you work the latter.
All this isn’t to say just do squats, deadlifts and upper back work, quite closely followed by some upper-body pressing work. While such a limited program will deliver good gains on these few exercises, with some knock-on effect throughout the body, it’s not a year after year program. Very abbreviated routines are great for getting gains moving, and for building a foundation for moderately expanded routines. They are fine to keep returning to on a regular basis. The other training isn’t necessary all in the same workout but spread over the week. This will maintain balance throughout the body and capitalize upon the progress made in the thigh, hip and back structure.
Just remember that the thigh, hip and back structure comes first and is the “driver” (closely followed by the upper-body pushing structure) for the other exercises. These other exercises, though important in their own right, are passengers relative to the driving team.
Big Arms
To get big arms, get yourself on a basic program that focuses on the leg, hip and back structure without neglecting the arms themselves. As you improve your squatting ability, for reps and by say 100 pounds, your curling poundage should readily come up by 30 pounds or so if you work hard enough on your curls. This will add size to your biceps. While adding 100 pounds to your squat, you should be able to add 50-70 pounds to your bench press, for reps. This assumes you’ve put together a sound program and have worked hard on the bench. That will add size to your triceps.
If you’re desperate to add a couple of inches to your upper arms you’ll need to add 30 pounds or more over your body, unless your arms are way behind the rest of you. Don’t start thinking about 17” arms, or even 16” arms so long as your bodyweight is 130, 140, 150, 160, or even 170 pounds. Few people can get big arms without having a big body. You’re unlikely to be one of the exceptions.
15 sets of arm flexor exercises, and 15 sets of isolation tricep exercises—with a few squats, deadlifts and bench presses thrown in as an afterthought—will give you a great pump and attack the arms from “all angles”. However, it won’t make your arms grow much, if at all, unless you’re already squatting and benching big poundages, or are drug-assisted or genetically gifted.
As your main structures come along in size and strength (thigh, hip and back structure, and the pressing structure), the directly involved smaller body parts are brought along in size too. How can you bench press or dip impressive poundages without adding a lot of size to your triceps? How can you deadlift the house and row big weights without having the arm flexors—not to mention the shoulders and upper back—to go with those lifts? How can you squat close to 2 times bodyweight, for plenty of reps, without having a lot of muscle all over your body?
The greater the development and strength of the main muscular structures of the body, the greater the size and strength potential of the small areas of the body. Think it through. Suppose you can only squat and deadlift with 200 pounds, and your arms measure about 13”. You’re unlikely to add any more than half an inch or so on them, no matter how much arm specialization you put in.
However, put some real effort into the squat and deadlift, together with the bench press and a few other major basic movements. Build up the poundages by 50% or more, to the point where you can squat 300 pounds for over 10 reps, and pack on 30 pounds of muscle. Then, unless you have an unusual arm structure, you should be able to get your arms to around 16”. If you want 17” arms, plan on having to squat more than a few reps with around 2 times bodyweight, and on adding many more pounds of muscle throughout your body (unless you have a better-than-average growth potential in your upper arms).
All of this arm development would have been achieved without a single concentration curl, without a single pushdown and without a single preacher curl. This lesson in priorities proves that the shortest distance between you and big arms is not a straight line to a curl bar.
I think that an important aspect of squatting and deadlifting for bigger arms is the rep-range! If you are squatting for maximal strength or relative strength for your size aka not with the intention of gaining weight or dramatic changes on hypertrophy obviously there will be little or none influence from this type of squatting as you are not stimulating hormonal response but rather neural adaptation. But on the other hand if you squat and deadlift for size usually over 6 reps and up to 20reps aforementioned by Dabuff all your body will grow because this rep range stimulates max hormonal output, functional hypertrophy and sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. Did you know that in order to adapt to the demands of squatting your heart's left ventricule also grows thus improving stamina, endurance etc?
What happens when you do a deadlift or squat widowmaker? It hurts and BURNS like hell, sounds a good excuse to stick with arm specialization routines instead right
What happens when you do a deadlift or squat widowmaker? It hurts and BURNS like hell, sounds a good excuse to stick with arm specialization routines instead right
That is definetly true. One day we did all upper body but bench press. I usually bench around 200-220 normally. I got under the 135 and that felt tough. My arms were shakin. I could tell my pecs werent tired but my arms could no longer support the weight. And wow thanks for all the information. Its helping me a lot. I'll focus more on squats and deadlifts now. Also does using the rack squat matter that big? I am not good at balancing it on my back that well. Its easier when it has the rack. I just usually add more weight to compensate. Like this sorta. Where the bar is attached. And you gotta turn it to get it to get off the prongs. Sorry hard to explain. It isnt just a bar that is in an area. Its actually attached.
http://www.localcatering.com/caterer/fitnessunlimited/pictures/Hammer Half Rack.jpg
heavy deadlifts, cheat curls, heavy skull crushers, heavy narrow grip bench press...
Dude just work on everything, Squats, deads, bench, shoulders, curls. There is no magic formula. Do everything in moderation DON"T overtrain, eat, sleep and you will grow. It is not hard to get to 16 inch arms. YOur focuse is to gain overall body weight, you will not only avoid injuries that way but you will look proportionate too.
desmond
New member
The conventional advice of doing compounds doesn't work for everyone though IMO for their arms.
My father was in his prime 75kg, <10% bf, only 5'6, and a top judo player.
Could bench more than double his bodyweight; do chins and dips with his entire weight attached; dead lift over 200kg, and yet (I'm basing this on photos of him at that time and what he's told me) never had large arms, training them maybe one exercise after his compounds
Had massive shoulders, chest, back, and decent legs (for a 5'6 natty 75kg person) but quite small arms.
Unfortunately this compound failing to stimulate arms problem appears heridatory lol - although I'd need to gain 5kg of LBM to get to his former size
BBR100
New member
No question genetics play a huge role.
The guy in my gym with best arms is in mid 20's. He does lots of chins/pullups/dips + curls and tri extension but never squats or deadlifts. This just would never work for me.
Curls have got to be my least favourite exercise.
Genetics are huge.
there is a guy in my gym, I think he's 23. He's 5'10 and 170 pounds. Not that big at all. But the dude can bench 355 lbs 5 times. He's a strong bastard.
He asked me for a spot, and I said sure. He put on 3 plates a side, and then another 2 10lbers a side. I said "Umm, dude do you know how much that is? That's 355 lbs." He said "Oh, I know."
I helped him unrack it, and without aid he did 5 reps and racked the bar. I was like "Holy crap dude, how in the hell are you lifting that?" He just laughed.
I don't think his arm are even 16" but he's strong as crap.
there is a guy in my gym, I think he's 23. He's 5'10 and 170 pounds. Not that big at all. But the dude can bench 355 lbs 5 times. He's a strong bastard.
He asked me for a spot, and I said sure. He put on 3 plates a side, and then another 2 10lbers a side. I said "Umm, dude do you know how much that is? That's 355 lbs." He said "Oh, I know."
I helped him unrack it, and without aid he did 5 reps and racked the bar. I was like "Holy crap dude, how in the hell are you lifting that?" He just laughed.
I don't think his arm are even 16" but he's strong as crap.
I think it might be the rep-range! Doing sets of less than 6 reps hardly stimulates hypertrophy, it might do it in long terms, but usually max effort low reps will make you stronger through neural adaptation. Desmond if you need some routines for stimulate those guns let me know.
The fastest way to start repping with heavier weights is to push up your limit with lower reps first. It's not difficult to incorporate some 5 rep (strength) sets into a higher rep workout on the key exercises to build your strength more quickly.
Yes I agree, only if you add it to a higher rep range workout. That's why the 5x5 as a couple of exercises for arms on the 8 rep-range.
Well I went to the gym with a friend the other day. We did 30 pull ups 30 dips and 30 curls. Not sure the weight on the curls. Then we did some bench ( was too tired to do much weight at all) and then some sit ups. I am sore as fuck. My pecs are sore which I cannot explain...And my abs. I've never had that feeling in the abs before.
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Let me dismiss this once it for all that Squats and deads will not do much for arm size period! The reason I did them was to achieve overall symetry and not look like a dork. Arms however will grow as a secondary effect of doing back/chest/shoulders and with the help of legs/squats in terms of increased hormons. BUT if you keep over doing the legs/squats/deads shit... it will kill all the momentum you might have, especially if you go heavy! Basically run into over training.
If you want to have bigger arms do legs in moderation and go heavy on shoulders presses, back and chest. When I say heavy dont do 3-5 reps your second set IT WILL NOT GROW JACK SHIT in 99% of ppl!! LOL Devote an workout for arms only shoulders/tris/bis and work out within reason. A 5x5 routine is a sure way to overtraing if you dont know what you doing. Stick with 10-12 rep range.
There is dude at the gym who is into power lifting and shit and he squats, benches and deadlifts most time I've seen him. His arms SUCK ASS. As a matter of fact when I was doing heavy Squats and deads I was so freak in tired that I couldn't even work my upper body properly and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone saying this. I didn't start to have success untill I started doing heavy curls/back and chest/Tris and medium legs all 10-12 rep range.For example, heavy curls should start with BB curl at 50% of body weight and look to hit 75% or higher for 10 reps. I once thought that 75% of body weight would be imposible but it is not .
I mean most here are saying the right thing to work this and that...compound movements etc..and I agree, but is the direct arm workouts that will yield the most size for your arms if this is what you are looking for. Compound movements will have a secondary effect on arms but will put on mainly body weight.
If you want to have bigger arms do legs in moderation and go heavy on shoulders presses, back and chest. When I say heavy dont do 3-5 reps your second set IT WILL NOT GROW JACK SHIT in 99% of ppl!! LOL Devote an workout for arms only shoulders/tris/bis and work out within reason. A 5x5 routine is a sure way to overtraing if you dont know what you doing. Stick with 10-12 rep range.
There is dude at the gym who is into power lifting and shit and he squats, benches and deadlifts most time I've seen him. His arms SUCK ASS. As a matter of fact when I was doing heavy Squats and deads I was so freak in tired that I couldn't even work my upper body properly and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone saying this. I didn't start to have success untill I started doing heavy curls/back and chest/Tris and medium legs all 10-12 rep range.For example, heavy curls should start with BB curl at 50% of body weight and look to hit 75% or higher for 10 reps. I once thought that 75% of body weight would be imposible but it is not .
I mean most here are saying the right thing to work this and that...compound movements etc..and I agree, but is the direct arm workouts that will yield the most size for your arms if this is what you are looking for. Compound movements will have a secondary effect on arms but will put on mainly body weight.
Gawd
Moderator
I'm on my 3rd week of doing a 5x5 routine and I can already see my bi's and tri's getting considerably bigger and harder. Compared to when I was doing higher reps with compound & isolation exercises. 5x5 Seems to be working well for me.
Yeah that's what is being said for some long, pump on bis and forearms while doing deadlifts for reps is awesome and sure everybody here is saying that some direct work on arms is a valuable addiction to a nice program coumpound program.
Deciding the correct weight to use on curls as a percentage of bodyweight makes no sense at all. It's totally irrelevant.
Using your criteria I'd have to start at 125lbs and work up to 190 lb (or higher) for 10 reps.
Use what you can in good form and don't worry about the bodyweight percentage. Pushing curl weight up to high will probably result in some kind of reverse powercleans for many.
It works with more than 90% of bodybuilders....that number may be a little inflated, but compound major movements build up everything...they are the basics
Genetics also plays a major role...
Sometimes you need to hit some super-strict bi/tri exercises that why i recommend the ones that you can lift heavy with, like narrow grip bench, french press, skull crushers, cheat curls and heavy dumbell curls
I didnt say it doesnt work but from experience is easy to over train on it. You only on 3rd week, you got more to go but change is good sometimes.
Good luck
Gawd
Moderator
The percentage is a goal to challange yourself to attain. Doing what you can in good form is all good but at some point you need to increase the weight to produce more growth. If you just allow your body to do what is comfortable with is not going to produce much growth
And BTW, I never had much success with doing what I could in good form. I always pushed for the weights I couldnt do untill I could...
Hey, Yea I know. Was just sharing my experience with it so far.
I hear you, its all good. Like I said change is good and shocking your body once in a while is not all that bad with a diferent routine. I can def tell you that I personally dont like 5x5 as a long term routine...brutal on the joints but short term is good
The percentage is a goal to challange yourself to attain. Doing what you can in good form is all good but at some point you need to increase the weight to produce more growth. If you just allow your body to do what is comfortable with is not going to produce much growth
And BTW, I never had much success with doing what I could in good form. I always pushed for the weights I couldnt do untill I could...
I always try to use good form, even when I'm cheating.
My point was that measuring progress against bodyweight is meaningles and the numbers will always look a lot better for light guys.
Pushing curl weight up too fast normally has people doing movements that hardly stimulate the biceps at all. Sure, you'll start "curling" bigger weights, but how much of the added strength is from bicep growth?
Not sure I understand your question but if you don't have the growth and strength you wont be able to lift much at all good form or not. For example if I put 225lbs in your hand, can you curl it? I dont care how you bounce it....you still have to start it from a dead spot and it would be hard! I have never seen a person with 12 inch arms curls 185lbs....never! So as you increase the weight you most likely grow your bicep over time!!
My point is that bicep will grow as you put more stress/ and increased weights over time...that's the only way you will be able to handle more weight by having more growth-simple
.Im not talking power lifting here of low reps, jerking weights around. Im talking of 3 sets of 8-12 reps routine then move to another bicep exercise.
The only other way to grow muscle by not doing much weight is to use HGH and /or IGF. At this point you would experience hyperplasia(s/p?) in which it really doesnt matter how heavy you lift...you can get away with doing less weight but just stressing the muscle with more exercises and less rest in between sets becasue you have more muscle fiber to grow...But that's a different story. Steriods will allow you to grow too with less weight but to a certain degree but not as much as heavy curls.
As for measuring progress against body weight, it's not all that far off...yes there will be exceptions but in the long run if you weight 200lbs and can curl 150lbs or 135lbs for 3 sets at 10 reps, your arms shoult be 17-18inches and it's very impressive in my book.
I have seen only a few ppl in my gym who can curl 135lbs for sets and high reps of 10 and those ppl have bigger arms than the average Joe..lol
Not sure I understand your question but if you don't have the growth and strength you wont be able to lift much at all good form or not. For example if I put 225lbs in your hand, can you curl it? I dont care how you bounce it....you still have to start it from a dead spot and it would be hard! I have never seen a person with 12 inch arms curls 185lbs....never! So as you increase the weight you most likely grow your bicep over time!!
My point is that bicep will grow as you put more stress/ and increased weights over time...that's the only way you will be able to handle more weight by having more growth-simple
Im not talking power lifting here of low reps, jerking weights around. Im talking of 3 sets of 8-12 reps routine then move to another bicep exercise.
The only other way to grow muscle by not doing much weight is to use HGH and /or IGF. At this point you would experience hyperplasia(s/p?) in which it really doesnt matter how heavy you lift...you can get away with doing less weight but just stressing the muscle with more exercises and less rest in between sets becasue you have more muscle fiber to grow...But that's a different story. Steriods will allow you to grow too with less weight but to a certain degree but not as much as heavy curls.
As for measuring progress against body weight, it's not all that far off...yes there will be exceptions but in the long run if you weight 200lbs and can curl 150lbs or 135lbs for 3 sets at 10 reps, your arms shoult be 17-18inches and it's very impressive in my book.
I have seen only a few ppl in my gym who can curl 135lbs for sets and high reps of 10 and those ppl have bigger arms than the average Joe..lol
You've covered a lot of ground in this post. I'm not a fan of bouncing or rocking heavy weights in the barbell curl. I prefer stricter form on isolation exercises to target the biceps directly....however, whenever I do barbell curls I push the weight up as far as I can and loosen my form on the last set...but nothing drastic... for a set of 5 reps. I get enough heavy weight stimulus for biceps from doing heavy barbell, T-bar, DB and cable rows and pulldowns, pullups etc.
I have 18 inch (18.5 pumped) biceps and I cannot curl 135 lbs (straight bar) for sets of 10 reps unless I seriously rock the bar up. It's a little easier on ez curl bars. That must tell you something then... you can attain reasonable size arms without your superheavy barbell curl routine. If I tried your system I'd probably end up injured and going backwards.
BTW, I don't consider 18 inch arms anything to write home about. 20 and over is where it's at IMO.
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Listen, I hear you and you could get by with lighter weights if maybe you predisposed genetically to grow somewhat. I really never grew by doing light weights on biceps. I tried and it worked a little got to 17inches or so but that was it.
My working sets now to get any kind a bang for my buck on bis is BB curl 3 sets 10 reps of 155lbs to as much as 185, then I do 21s(which is strict as hell) with 90-100lbs EZ bar and then do preacher curls or hammer curls with what I have left, weight not too important on this one. This scheme allowed me to fill in my bis really nice and closing on 20s on my arms.
Shit if you have an easier way to do it I'm all ears for sure
My working sets now to get any kind a bang for my buck on bis is BB curl 3 sets 10 reps of 155lbs to as much as 185, then I do 21s(which is strict as hell) with 90-100lbs EZ bar and then do preacher curls or hammer curls with what I have left, weight not too important on this one. This scheme allowed me to fill in my bis really nice and closing on 20s on my arms.
Shit if you have an easier way to do it I'm all ears for sure
I agree with your message but not in the numbers 1.5 x bw for 20 reps... somehow i feel thats overkill. Thats comfortably 400+ at a skinny size (for most) before we can consider arm specialization?
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