stubborn arms? 5 quick suggestions on how to improve growth.

[TitanCT]

1. add an arm day to your week. arm day should be only biceps and triceps. stick to 3-4 exercises per part, two or three of which should be heavy, one should be a "burn out" style. stay in the 1-3 set range. occasionally hit a 4th if your body is asking for it.

2. do arms with other parts but do light weight, high rep. say biceps with shoulders or back, and triceps with chest for example. keep these high rep, 15-25+ reps. i try to stick in the 2-3 set area and only 3 exercises.

3. constant tension. typically "proper form" indicates a full movement, which is good when you're first learning, but this is the next step now, you're ready for the real deal. do NOT let your arms lock out on tricep exercises and do NOT let your arms go all the way straight on bicep exercises. say youre doing a standing strauight bar curl. just AFTER the 90 degree break, stop the movement and get that bar moving back up. if your doing overhead tricpe extensins with a barbell, get a full stretch with the bar behind your head (take advantage of the lighter weight!) and then only lift the bar about 75%-80% of the full movement. both will keep tension on your target muscles throughout the movement.

4. fascia stretches. as soon as you finish your arm exercises and now that your muscles are full of blood...fascia stretching time. my favorite for biceps is to sit on an incline bench with 15lb db's and just let my arms hang with hands pointing out. you'll know its right when it burns and hurts slightly. hold this for 1-1.5 minutes. then i immediately go into a hard flex and hold it for 30-45 seconds. my favorite for triceps...lay on your back with 15lb dbs. put your arms stright up and let your elbows bend so your hands drop to either side of your head like a lying tricep ext. hold this for 1-1.5 minutes. then i immediately go into a hard flex and hold it for 30-45 seconds.

5. work on cradling the bar more than using a death grip, especially on biceps. you'd be surprised how much of your forearm is removed from the exercise just by loosening your grip.

[glwanabe]

1. add an arm day to your week. arm day should be only biceps and triceps. stick to 3-4 exercises per part, two or three of which should be heavy, one should be a "burn out" style. stay in the 1-3 set range. occasionally hit a 4th if your body is asking for it.

I pretty much agree with this, but it really depends on your program and how many days a week you work. However, by the time you need to specialize your routine to this level of detail you should be working a more complex split for this purpose.

Making this work within the confines of a fullbody system can be done as well. You simply have a rotation of arm movements through the week.

The main point of this is that, by the time you need to specialize your bodyparts you should be well past the point of even needing this advice.

Far too many people get into specialization long before they need to worry about it. They should focus their energy on the big mass compounds and not worry about the minutia.

2. do arms with other parts but do light weight, high rep. say biceps with shoulders or back, and triceps with chest for example. keep these high rep, 15-25+ reps. i try to stick in the 2-3 set area and only 3 exercises.

Yes, do arms with other body parts. I just don't see the need for most people to do more than 3 sets for arms per session. Especially if they are already warmed up from other work. Arms need short heavy work, IMO.

3. constant tension. typically "proper form" indicates a full movement, which is good when you're first learning, but this is the next step now, you're ready for the real deal. do NOT let your arms lock out on tricep exercises and do NOT let your arms go all the way straight on bicep exercises. say youre doing a standing strauight bar curl. just AFTER the 90 degree break, stop the movement and get that bar moving back up. if your doing overhead tricpe extensins with a barbell, get a full stretch with the bar behind your head (take advantage of the lighter weight!) and then only lift the bar about 75%-80% of the full movement. both will keep tension on your target muscles throughout the movement.

I don't really disagree with this. However, find what works for you, and do that. Don't just do something without understanding why your doing it. Be a student of weightlifting, and learn.

4. fascia stretches. as soon as you finish your arm exercises and now that your muscles are full of blood...fascia stretching time. my favorite for biceps is to sit on an incline bench with 15lb db's and just let my arms hang with hands pointing out. you'll know its right when it burns and hurts slightly. hold this for 1-1.5 minutes. then i immediately go into a hard flex and hold it for 30-45 seconds. my favorite for triceps...lay on your back with 15lb dbs. put your arms stright up and let your elbows bend so your hands drop to either side of your head like a lying tricep ext. hold this for 1-1.5 minutes. then i immediately go into a hard flex and hold it for 30-45 seconds.

See previous answer.

5. work on cradling the bar more than using a death grip, especially on biceps. you'd be surprised how much of your forearm is removed from the exercise just by loosening your grip.

Agreed. However there is something to be said about using grip work as well. Everybody is different, so, as I already said, learn what works for you, and apply your experience to your body. BE A STUDENT, and learn.

[TitanCT]

thanks for jumping in GL. love getting other's views. makes these threads more helpful. all my suggestions are things ive added in lately and ive been seeing results from....so thats the only place i can speak from. thanks again GL!

[butterZ83]

Does weight make for constant tension?

[TitanCT]

Originally Posted by butterZ83

Does weight make for constant tension?

no constant tension is referring to your muscle not getting a break. like say you're doing an overhead press. you go "all the way up" and your elbows lock into place. thats actually giving your triceps a rest and revmoing the tension, or strain of the weight from them. constant tension is a constant resistance on the muscle itself. no locking out, no letting the bar drop and hang. always force your muscle to hold the resistance.

[Zipz]

If you add an arm day what should the split look like so that you don't overtrain chest and back?

[Fcat611]

Originally Posted by Zipz

If you add an arm day what should the split look like so that you don't overtrain chest and back?

i would like to know what you think as well a split with an arm day would be cool to know bor,.

[thumpinos]

Originally Posted by Fcat611

i would like to know what you think as well a split with an arm day would be cool to know bor,.

What's a bor? Is that a brah or bro?

[TitanCT]

ok guys. sorry im late.

my 5 day split is...

chest/tris, shoulders/bis, off day (sometimes this off day moves i listen to my body), legs, back, arms, off day


this is my tricep routine on chest day...

overhead cambered bar tricep press - deep stretch at the bottom of the movement
60x25, 60x20

cambered bar pushdowns
60x40, 70x32, 80x26

single arm underhand grip tricep ext
40x30

finish with about a minute of fascia stretching and about 45 seconds of flex hold, immediately after your last set!

my bicep workout after shoulders

straight bar curls (partial reps. just break 90 and pop back up. keep up a moderate pace)
- 40x25x4

db hammers - 20x15, 25x12, 30x10, 35x8
superset w/ rope hammers (be sure to turn your thumbs out at the top and do these as partials with a moderate pace) - 50x25x4

single arm cable cross body (decent pace, partial reps - break 90 blast back up, rep them out)
- 30x30x3
finish with about a minute of fascia stretching and about 45 seconds of flex hold, immediately after your last set!

and my dedicated arm day

arms

DB curls - 3 second negatives.
- 20x12, 20x12, 30x8 (warm ups)
- 35x15, 45x10, 55x6

CGBP
- 95x15, 135x15, 185x15, 225x15, 245x13, 275x6 (1 assisted)

Hammer Strength Preacher - constant tension, just break hte 90 and pop buck up. slow negatives
- 90x15, 100x12, 100x10, 100x10

cambered bar overhead press
- 125x12, 125x13, 125x12, 125x10

rope hammer curls
- 100x30, 100x28

rope tricep ext
- 80x40, 80x30
finish with about a minute of fascia stretching and about 45 seconds of flex hold, immediately after your last set!

[butterZ83]

Thanks titan.