Bulking up arms
Discussion
What's the trick?
I'm not a massive gym goer but a few times a week I'll do a but if cardio on the rower and some weights.. I injured my back a few years back so tend to avoid free weights and use mainly machines.
My chest and back are coming along, but feel my biceps are not seeing the same % gains..
I'm not a massive gym goer but a few times a week I'll do a but if cardio on the rower and some weights.. I injured my back a few years back so tend to avoid free weights and use mainly machines.
My chest and back are coming along, but feel my biceps are not seeing the same % gains..
As above, no trick.
However some people are genetics that mean their arms grow easier than others. My biceps respond very well to relatively little focused training, my legs however struggle to grow.
I find most back exercises work the biceps well, chin ups, close grip V bar lat pulls etc. of course standard curls too.
However some people are genetics that mean their arms grow easier than others. My biceps respond very well to relatively little focused training, my legs however struggle to grow.
I find most back exercises work the biceps well, chin ups, close grip V bar lat pulls etc. of course standard curls too.
Triceps 70% or so of your arm mass, close grip bench press and dips will bring them up. I prefer straight bar curls to ez bar, but watch your wrists, hammer curls will target the brachialis which again will make your arms appear fuller. Don't forget forearms. I like straight bar seated forearm curls, pains up then palms down.
As others have said, triceps are the majority of your arm mass, some isolation work following your typical pressing movements will overload them very quickly.
People also often overlook dumbbell hammer curls, great for thickening your arm profile from the side and difficult to cheat proper ROM on them. Between this is and typical supinated grip dumbbell and barbell work you’ll not be short changing one bicep head over the other.
Finally I’ve always found that a full size Olympic bar (never in the squat rack though!) is great for overloading biceps, much more effective than an equally weighted EZ bar or preloaded/fixed barbells many gyms have.
People also often overlook dumbbell hammer curls, great for thickening your arm profile from the side and difficult to cheat proper ROM on them. Between this is and typical supinated grip dumbbell and barbell work you’ll not be short changing one bicep head over the other.
Finally I’ve always found that a full size Olympic bar (never in the squat rack though!) is great for overloading biceps, much more effective than an equally weighted EZ bar or preloaded/fixed barbells many gyms have.
Narrow grip pull ups (palms towards you) or the same on a lat pull down and dips (weighted as you get stronger) and I like tricep bar push downs as well. the trick is nice an slow during the phases of the rep (positive/pause/negative) don't just bang them out with momentum control the weight go lighter and do them well and don't do loads of sets just train to failure then stop and go and recover.
Preacher bench is good as well if you do it really slowly and add pause reps at the point of maximum tension, also you're stronger in the negative phase so if you got it up there smoothly under control you can lower it smoothly right to the last rep.
Preacher bench is good as well if you do it really slowly and add pause reps at the point of maximum tension, also you're stronger in the negative phase so if you got it up there smoothly under control you can lower it smoothly right to the last rep.
SW12 said:
As others have said, triceps are the majority of your arm mass, some isolation work following your typical pressing movements will overload them very quickly.
People also often overlook dumbbell hammer curls, great for thickening your arm profile from the side and difficult to cheat proper ROM on them. Between this is and typical supinated grip dumbbell and barbell work you’ll not be short changing one bicep head over the other.
Finally I’ve always found that a full size Olympic bar (never in the squat rack though!) is great for overloading biceps, much more effective than an equally weighted EZ bar or preloaded/fixed barbells many gyms have.
100% on the straight Olympic bar, that's my go to curl barPeople also often overlook dumbbell hammer curls, great for thickening your arm profile from the side and difficult to cheat proper ROM on them. Between this is and typical supinated grip dumbbell and barbell work you’ll not be short changing one bicep head over the other.
Finally I’ve always found that a full size Olympic bar (never in the squat rack though!) is great for overloading biceps, much more effective than an equally weighted EZ bar or preloaded/fixed barbells many gyms have.
Largechris said:
I’ve developed obscene arm size and ripped conditioning with just a few low rep ez bar curls, but I’m genetically gifted.
How big is your kneck?http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Fast and Spurious said:
Largechris said:
I’ve developed obscene arm size and ripped conditioning with just a few low rep ez bar curls, but I’m genetically gifted.
How big is your kneck?http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
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