Help! My arms aren't growing

[BigBossMan]

First off let me say I'm not one of those guys who only works on their biceps and chest. I'm 6', 192lbs, almost 19 years old. Been lifting for almost a year and a half.

My routine is like this:

Monday-Back/Biceps
Wednesdasy-Legs/Shoulders
Friday-Chest/Triceps

My arms don't seem to be growing or getting stronger. I think it might be because I train arms after back or chest, so they are already too fatigued to work hard.

My other lifts are making great gains. I can deadlift 315x7, squat 265x8, and today in bench I hit 245x7. After I do back, I'll do some sets of bicep curls with a barbell, and rep 80x8 or so. After that, I'll do sets with dumbbells and I can only use 30s. After chest when I do triceps, I'll do dips with a 45 plate tied to me, then close grip bench press, and I can only rep 145x8. The thing is, my arms havn't gotten much stronger at all over the last 6 months, but every other lift has.

About a year ago I would have an arm day so they were getting stronger, but then everything else sucked.


Here's some pics of me, tell me what If I'm crazy.

http://members.tccoa.com/mjsbossman/102-0294_IMG.jpg
http://members.tccoa.com/mjsbossman/103-0328_IMG.jpg

 

[louden_swain]

Post your current routine and list your exercises so we can help.

 

[BigBossMan]

Here's my routine: (current weight after parenthesis)

Monday: Back/Biceps
3 sets of deadlifts (5-8 reps) 315lbs
3 sets of pulldowns (6-8 reps)
3 sets of DB rows (6-8 reps) 90lbs
3 sets of BB curls (4-8 reps) 80lbs
3 sets of DB curls (4-8 reps) 30lbs

Wednesday: Legs/Shoulders
3 sets of squats (4-8 reps) 255
3 sets of seated calf raises (6-12 reps) 135
2 sets of DB press (5-7 reps) 80
2 sets of BB press (5-7 reps) 155

Friday: Chest/Triceps

3 sets of flat BB bench (4-8 reps) 255
3 sets of incline BB bench (4-8 reps) 195
3 sets of weighted dips (6-8 reps) w/ 45 plate
3 sets of close grip bench (6-8 reps) 145
*every other week I alternate using barbell for chest with dumbbells. On the week I use dumbbells, I start with incline DB and do flat DB press second. That has helped my chest tremendously. Use 100s for both.

Hopefully that is enough info. 6 months ago when I did arms on their own day, I was able to curl 100x9, compared to 80x8 when I do biceps after back.

My arms are only 15"...is that bad for being 192lbs at 6' tall?

 

[Lee]

15" isnt bad, bigger than average. height has nothing to do with it though.

yer workout looks solid, only thing i could suggest is eat more and make sure yer gettin enough protein, it could be yer diet holding you back. if that doesnt help then try different excersizes for the muscles, like instead of db curls and bb curls for bicep, try preacher curl with an ez curl bar and some incline seated curls. (the position for incline bench but u curl dbs).

btw, yer built pretty good from what i can tell from yer pics, keep up the good work

 

[BigBossMan]

Thanks Lee. I'm pretty sure I get enough protein. I drink a gallon of milk day (150g protein), drink at least 2 N-Large 2 shakes per day (100g protein), plus all the other food I eat, such as chicken breasts or steaks. I think I get enough calories, because I'm gaining some decent mass. But, I do eat quite a bit of junk food, like fast food. I don't think it matters if you eat junk food, as long as you eat enough calories and protein, I think...A year and a half ago I weighed 155.

I'll probably try some new exercises for arms, but it's my triceps that I want to focus on, my biceps are decent enough.

 

[Lee]

i was just using biceps as an example, you can swtich up for basically any muscle

 

[BlkWS6]

Have you considered getting off of the push/pull routine? I understand the logic behind them, but personally I have not gotten great results off of that type of a routine. Just as you stated above, if I train back hard, my biceps suffer big time and vice versa. This applies to chest day as well. I know you say you are making progress, but I just figured I would throw this in for you. Im following a split similiar to what Needsize has laid out in his 5x5 sticky and it is great. Just something to think about.

 

[Lord_Suston]

no offense man but you need to be squatting and deadlifting more. Your flat bench is very high in comparison to your other core lifts. My arms grow the most when my core lift are way up, shit doing reps with 405 on deads will make your arms grow like nothing else.

try
Back/traps
Chest/bis
rest
Delts/tris
Legs/calves
rest
rest

 

[Citruscide]

Your arms are symmetrical with the rest of your body, IMO.

Lord Sust hit the nail on the head. I have noticed alot of my body growing just from doing those bigger exercises. Traps especially. Not to mention I am starting to notice my hammies sticking out the back side of my legs .... I like that... BUt i digress... deads, squats... etc.. .are all great exercises to make your WHOLE body to grow!

C-ditty

 

[BigBossMan]

Thanks guys.

I definately work hard on squats and deadlifts though!!! I'm telling you, I do those until I can't stand up. I didn't start squating/deadlifting until about 7 months ago, but I've benched on and off for the last few years and when I started lifting weights 18 months ago, that gave me a headstart with bench. That's why my squats/deadlifts are somewhat low.

And I have made great gains, and am still gaining FAST on squats and deadlifts. I usually add 1 rep per week in each of those exercises, or add 5lbs.

So should I do more sets for squats/deads? I'm trying to gain, repping 255 for squats is weak for my bench strength.

Lord Suston, that routine looks good, I'm READY for a new routine, I've been doing thise one for the last 6 months or so. My chest/back have gained a lot but my bis/tris have fallen back a little. I'll try your routine or something similar to it.

 

[Lord_Suston]

glad to hear you are squatting and deadlifting now.
I usually only do about 2-3 work sets per excercise and I don't train to failure, (IMO it is unneccessary). But I do emphasize good warm=up sets and CNs training. the routine I suggested is the one I am using right now. I'll give you a breakdown of what I do:

Back/traps: Lat pulldowns/ pull-ups, Bent over rows, Deadlifts, Shrugs

Chest/bis: Incline bench, Flat Bench, Dips, Db curls (seated simultaneous arm movement) Standing barbell or ez curl


Delts/tris: Military press, lateral raises, reverse flyes, close-grip bench, skullcrusher or pushdowns

Legs/calves: Squats past parallel, SLDL, Leg ext, Leg curls, Claf raises

I basically warmup so I can do max load for 8 reps and do two sets for eight, If I can get 8 reps on each set the next week I go up in weight. I don't hit failure because I want strength first, size comes by movinf heavy pounbds IMO. This way I don't hit all the platuea people do by training to faILURE.

 

[BigBossMan]

Thanks for the info. But I don't understand how it's possible to not train to failure but still gain strength and/or size. By not training to failure, does that mean maybe doing 1 less rep than possibe if you went to failure? How do you determine how many reps to do when NOT training to failure?

Also, I am considering doing my current routine, but switching the days that I do biceps and triceps on. I still have until Monday to make a new routine.

 

[Lord_Suston]

I go just shy of failue or I just get 8 reps. so if I squat and I get to 7 and feel real fatigue and can't get anothe one with good form i rack the weight. the next time I will do i get all 8. You grow because almost each week you add more weight on to each lift. You will grow because your body will need to keep adding muscle because you are lifting a progressively heavier load

 

[Deepsquat]

You definately need to work your legs harder 3 sets for legs but 9 for back ...lets get some balance in your routine .

 

[PolishHammer1977]

Your #'s are even IMO. Hit your legs and back as hard as possible.

 

[Citruscide]

Deepsquat love the avatar. PH... yeah, I thought his body was fairly symmetrical... and agree... legs need more than 3 sets...

C-ditty

 

[Lee]

on leg day for me i do 4 sets hack squat, 3 set leg press, then 6 sets calf raies (3 stading 3 seated) i just need to get to the point where my knees can handle free weight squats, ive always had minor knees problems and i dont wanna mess em up

 

[Deepsquat]

Deepsquat love the avatar. PH... yeah, I thought his body was fairly symmetrical... and agree... legs need more than 3 sets...

C-ditty

Thanks...I got the idea for the avatar from the last one you had...I thought "hey I know how to make a GIF file"
So you were my insperation..you check is in the mail

 

[BigBossMan]

Exellent info everyone. 6 months from now I'm sure my squat and deadlift will be much stronger, but for some reason my bench is gaining just as quick!

I would do hack squats and/or leg press after squats, my but gym doesn't have any of those machines. I lift at the gym at my college.

BTW, no one else does deadlifts at my gym, and very few people do squats, and when they do, they don't go parallel.

I just started taking creatine again, looking forward to some huge gains. I also might give the 5x5 routine a try for my compound lifts.

 

[Lee]

i would prefer free weight squats over the hack squats i do now, but im scared of my kneees getting messed up

 

[BigBossMan]

Weird, because I have read that hack squats are pretty hard on the knees, and that squats are perfectly fine as long as you have good form. I would love to do hack squats, when I go home this summer and lift at the 24 hour fitness, I'll be doing leg press and hack squats after squats.

 

[Lee]

i was told hack were easier on the knees, and i havent had any problems yet