Building Massive Arms

[JMan06]

My arms have been my weak area for a long time. Theyre strong but they lack in size and especialy thickness when looking at them from the front. Can anyone recommend me to a new arm routine (biceps and triceps trained on same day) to build a lot of mass and thickness. If possible some forearm training tips.

Thanks a lot

[copenhagen]

there is a pretty good arm thread on here. try doing 6-8 total sets biceps and the same for triceps. what does your current workout look like?

[albino-rhino]

I find hammers helped thicken out my arms.

Whats your current arm routine?

[chest6]

I have the same problem. Just try to focus on diet and really be strict and form and make sure you don't overtrain them with countless sets or work them too many days of the week.

[IBdmfkr]

Do more compound movements and less isolated..

Ex: Deadlifts, Bench/dumbbell press, Military press, Heavy dumbbell/barbell rows, Lat pulls, weight pull-ups, closegrip presses etc etc..

I work arms once every 3wks now and actually gained strength and size on them, been doing this for close to 3months now. I will isolate 4wks out from competition.

[powerliftmike]

Yea, ppl make fun of me about my arms. They just dont understand how I have huge delts and pecs but pretty skinny arms. I do have small bones for one thing. But my arms have gotten bigger just doing the powerlifts. I have found that I have to be very careful not to overtrain the tris.

[rake922]

I would reccomend you alternate the grips as much as possible.

Wider grip curls work the shorter head(inside portion) of the bicep. A narrow grip works the longer head(outside portion).

Try narrow grip barbell preacher curls using a straight bar...

[hangtight08]

i like to throw in some alternating curls and some curl bar curls for bi's, then to smash my tris i like the dumbell kickbacks, standing bar pushdown on a pulley, and some behind the neck dumbell press...all those lifts make your arms feelin good the next mornin

As with the rest of my workouts, i like to warm up with about 5-6 sets before i even begin my owrkouts sets which range between 2-3 sets. Keep your reps between 6-8 for these lifts.

[TheBorch]

try doing curls with the bench bar.. i feel that this gives me the best pump outta any other work out. Also throw on a curl bar to a seated row machine and lay on ur back and do curls..this gives a good pump as well!!

[THE_DOME]

hammers will def put some mass, also remember tris are 60% of your arm size

[BigJames]

Here is my arm routine...it helped me build my 19" guns:

Tris:
Pressdowns 3-4 sets 15-8 reps
Overhead Dumbbell Extensions* 3 sets 12-8 reps
Rope Pressdowns** 3 sets 12-8 reps

*These are performed seated with one heavy dumbbell being lifted behind the head with both arms unilaterally

**I alternate these with reverse grip pressdowns every other week

Bis:
Incline Bench Dumbbell Curls* 3-4 sets 15-10 reps
Standing Barbell Curls 3 sets 12-8 reps
Hammer Curls** 3 sets 12-8 reps

*These are performed seated on an incline bench so that you are leaning back slightly. Your arms remain perpendicular to the floor and you get a killer stretch.

**I alternate these with bent over concentration curls: take a dumbbell in one hand, bend over until your arm hang down between your legs. Curl the dumbbell up towards your shoulder while your arm hangs free. Great for peak.

I have had great success with arm building since I started training. They are a strong point for me. I have grown them from the 13" sticks they were when I started training to the 19" (cold) guns they are now. Good luck.

PS - Tris are where is at! There is nothing like a big slab hanging under your arm when you do a front biceps pose...

[TADOLFI]

Here is my arm routine...it helped me build my 19" guns:
...

This looks like a solid base routine that you can expand when a change is needed.

The Hammers (as others mentioned as well) can be key to a fuller Bi...they also help the forearm so that you would not have to try to do a lot, if any, isolation exercises to bring them up.

[JMan06]

HERE IS MY ARM ROUTINE.

I have 2 different routines that i switch back and forth from each week.

A.

BICEPS

EZ Curl Bar Bicep Curls (4sets)
Seated Dumbbell Curls (4sets)
Seated Hammer Curls (4sets)

TRICEPS

Straight Bar Cable Pulldowns (4sets)
Skullcrushers with dumbbell (4sets)
Rope Cable Pulldowns (4sets)
Dips - on 2 benches with weight on legs (3sets)

B.

BICEPS

Barbell Curls (4sets)
Seated Hammer Curls (4sets)
Preacher Curls - Cable machine (4sets)

TRICEPS

Straight Bar Cable Pulldowns (4sets)
Skullcrushers with dumbbell (4sets)
Rope Cable Pulldowns (4sets)
Dips - on 2 benches with weight on legs (3sets)

[PeteyK]

Here is my bi and tri routine.

Bis-
*Straight bar negatives 4s/8-12r(10 sec on way down)
*Preacher curls w/ straight bar 3s/10-12r
*Hammer curls 3s/10-12r
*Reverse grip curls w/ ez bar 4s/10-15r
*Standing concentration curls 4s/12-15r

Tris-
*Close grip bench 4s/10-6r (sometimes I use smith cage to switch it up)
*Skullcrushers 4s/12-8r
*Machine tri dips 4s/12-8r
*+triset V-bar pushdowns(8r)/Rope pushdowns(8r)/Reverse grip pushdowns(to failure) 3s

[JMan06]

Well thats my arm routine. I train arms once a week. My entire routine looks like this.

1 chest
2 arms
3 legs
4 back/shoulders

Should I maybe try super-setting bi's and tri's? How would i do that? Like 1 set of biceps then straight to a set of triceps? Or should I do once full bicep exercise then do a tricep exercise?

I dont know

[Lavinco]

For biceps, I have found that using a straight barbell works the ball part of the bicep very well.

When you use the angled bars for bicep curls, then you are getting away from the bicep a little and more into the upper forearm.

[DutchCowboy]

Wider grip curls work the shorter head(inside portion) of the bicep. A narrow grip works the longer head(outside portion).

I don't necessarily agree with this theory. I would however focus on on BB curls, as they will give the biceps the width that you are wanting. I prefer straight bar opposed to cambered. Hope this helps.

Cheers

[need2bhuge]

Well I do bis and tris the same day but I do one bi exercise and then one tri exercise.

So my routine looks like this:

bi warmup- 1-2 sets of light dumbell curl (15-20 reps)
tri warmup- 1-2 sets of light cable pressdowns (15-20 reps)

Heavy straight bar curls- 3 sets of 6-8reps (good for mass and overall bicep thickness)
Heavy skullcrushers- 3 sets of 6-8 reps (great for mass)

moderately heavy incline dumbell curls- 3 sets of 8-10 reps (stretch and help elongate the bicep)
moderately heavy weighted dips- 3 sets of 8-12 reps (another great one for mass)

moderatley heavy arnold concentration curls- 3 sets of 8-10 reps (develops the peak and overall shape of bicep)
moderately heavy over tricep extensions- 3 sets of 8-10 reps (elongates the long head of the tricep to develop the sweep)

When I say moderately heavy I mean at 10 reps you are really struggling!

Also I pyramid down in weight. So my first set is the heaviest for lower reps and then I strip off weight and try to either maintain or increase in reps. I have found this to work great! If you pick only a few I would definitley use the straight bar curl/incline dumbell and skullcrushers/weighted dips!!!

[Superhuman]

there is a pretty good arm thread on here. try doing 6-8 total sets biceps and the same for triceps. what does your current workout look like?

i do like 30 sets each

[DA-DOG]

Try this....
Week one
-Biceps- 3sets of 10,8,and 6 increasing wieght every set.
1.hammer curls
2.Seated dumbell curls "At the down position try facing your palms toward the back of you and when coming up twist your forearm slowly to where your palm is facing you when you are at the top position." a lot harder than regular curls and twitches more muscles in the arm.
3. barbell curls
Week 2
1. Reverse preacher curls
2. Standing dumbell curls " use the same tecneque as above for seated."
3. Pull ups " use a 5th set and do as many as you can do!" WOW!!!!!
THAT IS MY HELP FOR YOUR BICEPS!

[biglouie250]

Here is my bi and tri routine.

Bis-
*Straight bar negatives 4s/8-12r(10 sec on way down)
*Preacher curls w/ straight bar 3s/10-12r
*Hammer curls 3s/10-12r
*Reverse grip curls w/ ez bar 4s/10-15r
*Standing concentration curls 4s/12-15r

Tris-
*Close grip bench 4s/10-6r (sometimes I use smith cage to switch it up)
*Skullcrushers 4s/12-8r
*Machine tri dips 4s/12-8r
*+triset V-bar pushdowns(8r)/Rope pushdowns(8r)/Reverse grip pushdowns(to failure) 3s

over training.


what i did to facilitate more growth is change from having a bi/tri day to doing back/bi's and chest/tri's. my back routine as follows: pullups, deads, DB rows, seated cable rows. next i do 3-4 sets of DB hammers, very strict movement 12-15 reps. focusing on the pump, squeeze at the top, and do it slowly. then 3-4 sets of barbell curls done the same way. and pay attention to the advice IBdmfkr gave. you want big arms.....SQUAT!!!!

[Superhuman]

over training.

how is that over training??

[biglouie250]

18 sets of bi's is about 10 more then you should do.

[Superhuman]

what are you talking about? who says? different people's bodies react differently, not to mention AAS let allow you to train harder and longer. I easily do 30 sets or more for whatever bodypart I'm doing.

if you are doing only 8 sets of bis, let say you take 1 min between sets and 1 min for each set - that's a 16 minute workout!

so what you do 4 sets of hammer curls, 4 sets of preacher curls and you call it quits?

[biglouie250]

i pre-exhaust my bi's because i do back and bi's on the same day. and yes if you do 4 sets of hammers and 4 sets of standing barbell curl with reps between 12-15 you will get a great pump and it shouldnt take more then 25 minutes. IMO strict, slow movement with the emphasis on squeezing at the top of the bicep contraction is what will get you hella pumped in such a short amount of time. doing this it will take much longer then a minute for each set. the point to working out is to shock your muscles with your movements, creating micro tears so your muscles get stronger and bigger(this im sure you know). just doing more sets does not facilitate growth and often times can stifle growth, ive trained like this for the past 4 months id say and i put a 1/2 inch on my bi's. i used to do a 15 set bi and tri day. i find this method to be much more efficient. you shouldnt really be in the gym for much longer then an hour total assuming your not doing cardio there. i obviously dont know you and please dont take this as a slight against you but id question anyones form and intensity levels that says they do 30 sets for a small muscle group such as biceps.

[DutchCowboy]

what are you talking about? who says? different people's bodies react differently, not to mention AAS let allow you to train harder and longer. I easily do 30 sets or more for whatever bodypart I'm doing.

if you are doing only 8 sets of bis, let say you take 1 min between sets and 1 min for each set - that's a 16 minute workout!

so what you do 4 sets of hammer curls, 4 sets of preacher curls and you call it quits?

-Yep, pretty much my friend. You can do 30 sets with good---perfect form
then you are not lifting with enough intensity.
Aside from the physiological and biochemical effects of doing too many sets will have on your body, physiologic improvement only occurs during the rest period following hard training. If this imbalance between excess training and inadequate rest persists then performance will decline. Overtraining is the point where the muscle has been repeatedly stressed by training to the point where rest is no longer adequate to allow for recovery. The common conception is that it is better to under-train than over-train. High intensity paired with lower volume= best results IMO.


cheers

[Superhuman]

i pre-exhaust my bi's because i do back and bi's on the same day. and yes if you do 4 sets of hammers and 4 sets of standing barbell curl with reps between 12-15 you will get a great pump and it shouldnt take more then 25 minutes. IMO strict, slow movement with the emphasis on squeezing at the top of the bicep contraction is what will get you hella pumped in such a short amount of time. doing this it will take much longer then a minute for each set. the point to working out is to shock your muscles with your movements, creating micro tears so your muscles get stronger and bigger(this im sure you know). just doing more sets does not facilitate growth and often times can stifle growth, ive trained like this for the past 4 months id say and i put a 1/2 inch on my bi's. i used to do a 15 set bi and tri day. i find this method to be much more efficient. you shouldnt really be in the gym for much longer then an hour total assuming your not doing cardio there. i obviously dont know you and please dont take this as a slight against you but id question anyones form and intensity levels that says they do 30 sets for a small muscle group such as biceps.

i see your point, but my main goal when I train bis is not to get them pumped, it is to break them down so that a build back stronger. I was exaggerating a little, I don't do that many sets of bis. Like you, I do Back and Bis in the same day - I'll usually do around 20-25 sets of back and then about 10 sets of bis.

I know you say that I'm not training hard if I do that many sets, but honestly I train very hard. i'll be feeling like i'm gonna die halfway through my workouts. but every day, I'll go to the locker room when I'm tired and wash my face, and then I'm ready to go again. FOR EXAMPLE: i'll do deadlifts towards the beginning of my workout and I'll do sets of 8 @ 405lbs. halfway through my workout I won't be able to do sets of 225 i'll be so tired. I go wash my face, take a dump, whatever - come back and I can do 405lbs again. It's just the way my body works i guess.

[rake922]

Like you, I do Back and Bis in the same day - I'll usually do around 20-25 sets of back and then about 10 sets of bis.

That's cool, however above you indicated that you do like 30 sets for biceps and 30 for triceps. I assumed it was overtaining, but didn't say anything.

... Anyways 30 sets compared to just 10 is quite a bit of difference.

Mind me asking your bicep size?

[DutchCowboy]

FOR EXAMPLE: i'll do deadlifts towards the beginning of my workout and I'll do sets of 8 @ 405lbs. halfway through my workout I won't be able to do sets of 225 i'll be so tired.

And this is your body's way of telling you that it is done. You may have a good build, I don't know, but I bet you haven't made much gains in a while. On top of that I bet your CNS is fried chicken by now as well.
Also, it depends on how much sauce your on.

[Superhuman]

And this is your body's way of telling you that it is done. You may have a good build, I don't know, but I bet you haven't made much gains in a while. On top of that I bet your CNS is fried chicken by now as well.
Also, it depends on how much sauce your on.

what is CNS??

[Superhuman]

That's cool, however above you indicated that you do like 30 sets for biceps and 30 for triceps. I assumed it was overtaining, but didn't say anything.

... Anyways 30 sets compared to just 10 is quite a bit of difference.

Mind me asking your bicep size?

i'm not exactly sure. I know cold flexed they were just over 18", but that was about 6 months ago. I very well could be overtraining, but no matter how hard I work or how long I workout - when I'm on AAS I feel like I could keep lifting for hours.

[IBdmfkr]

CNS = Central Nervous System.. unfortunantly overlooked by most but is a very important part of the bodies ability to recoop and rebuild muscle tissue.
One of the many reasons I train EOD (everyotherday).

[Triple X]

hmmm, seems like a lot but thats just my opinion.

[Superhuman]

CNS = Central Nervous System.. unfortunantly overlooked by most but is a very important part of the bodies ability to recoop and rebuild muscle tissue.
One of the many reasons I train EOD (everyotherday).

that's what I thought you meant but I couldn't see how it applies. that makes sense. what does your training split look like?

[IBdmfkr]

Quick overview.. don't want to hijack thread.

http://forums.steroid.com/showthread.php?t=250744

[IBdmfkr]

Rickjames.. ok this is the 2nd thread I've seen you post your question in and you won't get an answer because THIS thread topic is about Jman's question on "building massive arms"..
Start your own thread and it'll get answered, otherwise add something to this thread that will help towards the original question. It's called thread hi-jacking.

[Triple X]

lol