Bi's and tri"s, let me know what you think..

[jc1908]

OK, usual chest and tri day then back and bi day..I understand that working the bigger groups also work the smaller mucsles,ie bi's and tri's..and that overtraining is a prob.
well, i may have been overtraining the arms, so..for tri's I am going to do 5 sets of close grip presses and 5 sets of brainbusters
for bi's..5 sets of bb curls and 5 sets of db curls, this after my respective chest and back workouts...hoping for some arm gains
tell me what you bro's think about this...especially the bro's with HUGE arms..ha ha
thanks for input
jc

 

[cwc73]

Well, I don't have huge arms; I'm a little guy, but I don't particularly care for it too much. I don't mind 5 sets of direct work as much although 10 sets just seems too high. I just think you should use those 5-6 sets with maybe 2-3 different exercised to get a good variation, but I do like the choice of exercises that you are using. Thats my opinion though, and you can take it for what it is worth.

 

[TheOak84]

jsut eat more, and use less volume for your arms, as time goes by, youll be able to judge how much volume your arms can handle after ehavt benching/rowing...

and continue to eat

 

[blut wump]

Often less is more with arms. Certainly don't get into a mindset where you feel that you hold a little back from your chest workout due to thinking that you still have triceps to work. That would be bad. Similarly for back and biceps.

Think of arm work as ancillary to your main compound exercises.

 

[King Cobra]

If you start doing diamond handshaped pushups on a regular basis you will gain alot of tricep definition, making it easier to make larger gains later. Dips and incline bench are the only other things I do for triceps. As for biceps, you will get major results as long as you alternate grip closeness, do lots of extremely high rep sets (5 lbs at like 200 reps each arm), and refrain from going past the 90 degree pivot point, because you will hurt your tendon like that. If you are going to do forearms, train them seperately.

 

[Guinness5.0]

If you start doing diamond handshaped pushups on a regular basis you will gain alot of tricep definition, making it easier to make larger gains later.

Uhh... were you high when you wrote that?

 

[King Cobra]

Hey, worked for me. Personally I think it's silly to try stimulating growth in your arms when the fibers aren't yet tight and defined.

 

[Guinness5.0]

Are you saying that you can lose BF in your arms by doing pushups? If so you've got some homework to do bud.

 

[Micker]

You are planning on doing too much for your arms. I wouldn't do 5 sets, cut them down to 3. I used to do a whole day for just arms. Like 12 sets for bis and 12 or so for tri's. I gained at first, but kinda stalled out and it was such a pain in the ass workout. I started to get tendonitis in my left arm and was always sore. Well, now doing 5x5, I only do 2 sets of BB curls on fri workouts for reps of 5 or less and 2 sets of close grip bench like 8 reps. My arms are now 18" pumped and at 5'7", they look pretty big. My arms actually grew a bit on the 5x5 and my strength went WAY up for curls and close grip, go figure.

Don't put too much stress on direct work for bi's and tri's, I believe that most people way overtrain arms. With heavy deadlifts, rows, bench and pullups in your workout, you should see size gain with less work.

 

[King Cobra]

Are you saying that you can lose BF in your arms by doing pushups? If so you've got some homework to do bud.

Bodyfat? This guy want's to gain muscle and make his arms larger. And I'm saying it's more easily accomplished if you take your hands, form a diamond by connecting your thumb and forefinger, and do pushups from the center of your chest, many many times a day. I myself am 5'8 148 lbs., and can do 30 reps straight after having done them constantly for at least 9 months. If you stick with them, 10 sets a day or so to failure, you will have nice, tight triceps and pec striations, and effectively, a stronger base. But if all you do is 2 or 3 sets for arms and become lazy the rest of the day, or don't routinely work them out, you are certainly going to have to wait much longer to gain that horseshoe shaped definition on your tri's, and it will be more difficult to gain more muscle mass, because the muscle you already posess in your arms is jelly-esque and untoned.

 

[TheOak84]

^ this dude is bogus.. obviously a fake account, ban him...

 

[jc1908]

thanks bros, i'm working with some of this..today was back and bi's. did 2 sets of bb curls-heavy, 2 sets of db curls-heavy( both to failure) and 1 set of light close grip curl bar...i think i have been seriously overtraining the arms,just trying to find max growth..
thanks for the good info, jc

 

[King Cobra]

^ this dude is bogus.. obviously a fake account, ban him...

If you want to argue that there are simply no benefits to doing high rep exercise alongside a high intensity weight training routine, and that there is a better way to forming fast twitch muscle fibers and increasing overall strength, that's what this forum is for. By the way, I almost take offense to the fact that you would use feminine rumours of my having a "fake account", to advocate my banning and to silence my opinion. If you think it's bullshit and you are too lazy to find out whether or not there is any benefit to what I said, fine, I was just trying to give some advice based on my personal experience, since he wanted some ideas.

 

[Guinness5.0]

King Cobra my problem with what you wrote could be semantic.

You recommended an exercise to "define" his arms. Definition is a function of bodyfat, not exercise selection or rep range. It's like telling someone with a gut to do situps when their ass needs to eat less and exercise in general, not buy an ab lounge .

 

[Micker]

It's like telling someone with a gut to do situps when their ass needs to eat less and exercise in general, not buy an ab lounge

I just got into an argument with my friend about abs. I told him that you could do situps till next year and not have your abs show if you have too much fat. Seeing abs is all about bodyfat %, having well trained abs will help raise the % a bit, but basically you need to have very low bodyfat period.

Guinness is right though. There is this myth that doing high reps of exercises will give you definition. Definition comes from low bodyfat. The bigger the muscle, the more fat you can have(a bit more) while still seeing the muscle shape.

 

[Madcow2]

Bodyfat? This guy want's to gain muscle and make his arms larger. And I'm saying it's more easily accomplished if you take your hands, form a diamond by connecting your thumb and forefinger, and do pushups from the center of your chest, many many times a day. I myself am 5'8 148 lbs., and can do 30 reps straight after having done them constantly for at least 9 months. If you stick with them, 10 sets a day or so to failure, you will have nice, tight triceps and pec striations, and effectively, a stronger base. But if all you do is 2 or 3 sets for arms and become lazy the rest of the day, or don't routinely work them out, you are certainly going to have to wait much longer to gain that horseshoe shaped definition on your tri's, and it will be more difficult to gain more muscle mass, because the muscle you already posess in your arms is jelly-esque and untoned.

Cobra, the issue people are getting at is that hypertrophy (promoted by training) is separate and distrinct from fat loss (diet). A "toned" or "tight" body for most people is simply a body with a nice amount of muscle and lower levels of bodyfat. In addition, spot reduction of fat is not going to happen. From a training perspective muscle is stimulated to be built or not (obviously there are degrees) there is no effect on fat stores in the surrounding area nor any type of "toning training". Not sure what "tightness" is but obviously a muscle with a lot of blood in it or after having done a lot of work will feel firmer - doesn't necessarily have anything to do with longer term progression even though the temporary pump might give it a more pleasing look.

Some of us take it for granted that this is well known and only someone trolling around trying to screw with people would confuse this. That said, it's a common misconception among the public as evidenced by people saying they don't want to build muscles "just tone them".

 

[King Cobra]

Cobra, the issue people are getting at is that hypertrophy (promoted by training) is separate and distrinct from fat loss (diet). A "toned" or "tight" body for most people is simply a body with a nice amount of muscle and lower levels of bodyfat. In addition, spot reduction of fat is not going to happen. From a training perspective muscle is stimulated to be built or not (obviously there are degrees) there is no effect on fat stores in the surrounding area nor any type of "toning training". Not sure what "tightness" is but obviously a muscle with a lot of blood in it or after having done a lot of work will feel firmer - doesn't necessarily have anything to do with longer term progression even though the temporary pump might give it a more pleasing look.

Some of us take it for granted that this is well known and only someone trolling around trying to screw with people would confuse this. That said, it's a common misconception among the public as evidenced by people saying they don't want to build muscles "just tone them".

I agree with what you are saying, I just think if you are only doing weighted exercises for your arms on a sporadic basis to make them bigger, you would benefit more from keeping them under constant stress, rather than giving them a full chance to recover. Arms and calves are meant to do work, so keep doing stuff with them.

 

[TheOak84]

If you want to argue that there are simply no benefits to doing high rep exercise alongside a high intensity weight training routine, and that there is a better way to forming fast twitch muscle fibers and increasing overall strength, that's what this forum is for. By the way, I almost take offense to the fact that you would use feminine rumours of my having a "fake account", to advocate my banning and to silence my opinion. If you think it's bullshit and you are too lazy to find out whether or not there is any benefit to what I said, fine, I was just trying to give some advice based on my personal experience, since he wanted some ideas.

it just sounded bogus because of your small amount of posts. ive seen douchebags make fake accounts and ruin threads by posting nonsense.

and im sorry, doin high reps is not the best way to work out fast twitch muscle fibers....

seeing they are used for explosive techniques.. doin speed work, and lifting heavy is the key to making them stronger.

and ooo, 30 reps on pushups after 9 months of doin them.. what an achievment.. maybe i should throw them into my routine...

 

[King Cobra]

it just sounded bogus because of your small amount of posts. ive seen douchebags make fake accounts and ruin threads by posting nonsense.

and im sorry, doin high reps is not the best way to work out fast twitch muscle fibers....

seeing they are used for explosive techniques.. doin speed work, and lifting heavy is the key to making them stronger.

and ooo, 30 reps on pushups after 9 months of doin them.. what an achievment.. maybe i should throw them into my routine...

Yes, you are correct. As for the 30 reps, I wouldn't scoff at that, that's not easy with your hands pressing directly in the center of your chest as opposed to shoulder width.