Arm Workout for a Hard musclegainer

[aet63]

Hello,

First of all sorry for my English.

I'm planning to do steroid cycle (3rd) and i've just finished designing of my cycle plan and workout-nutrition plan.

But i have questions about workout plan for my biceps and triceps muscles. I'm having problems on gaining mass on this muscles. Now, i think it will be good to increase volume for these muscles. I'm doing high-volume for my legs (total 18 sets without Calves workout) and had very good results. That's why, i think to increase volume.

I've planned to do this workout. Is this suitable for me as an hard muscle gainer for these muscle groups ?

Biceps (on Upper Back day)
5 sets of 5 reps (%80 of 1RM) Biceps Curl (Wide Grip)
3 sets of 8 reps Preacher Curl with Z-Bar
3 sets of 8 reps Hammer Curl
3 sets of 10 reps Zottman Curl

Forearm (on Upper Back after Biceps)
3 sets of 10 reps Reverse Curl
3 sets of 10 reps Wrist Curl

Triceps (on Chest day)
5 sets of 5 reps (%80 of 1RM) Close-Grip Bench Press
3 sets of 10 reps Push-down
3 sets of 10 reps Reverse Grip Push-down
3 sets of 12 reps Rope Push-down

Thanks a lot in advance.

[NACH3]

If your a hard gainer - give your arms the respect they need - train them once a wk together heavy not exceeding 12 reps in a working set(which will include either drop sets, RPs, and my favorite forced reps into negatives - 6-12 reps is ideal for a total working set... It's gotten me to grow substantially, on all BPs -

Legs usually respond better to high(er) volume anyway in my experience... But always do a heavy ex as well and rotate them wkly - do you split your quads and low back/glutes/& hammies up?

Check this thread out - it's not for the faint hearted

**Marcus's HIT Dungeon**

This explains what pure HIT(heavy -High Intensity Training) you must reach true positive failure first and foremost then they're beyond failure protocols - read it and ask ?'s -

I'm currently doing volume work due to an injury and a new program - but it's helping my joints and my shoulder - so I'll be returning back to full bore HIT as soon as I can!

[aet63]

NACH3,

Thanks for your reply.

I have 2 days in a week that only for legs. I like to train legs . I can train them everyday . On leg day, i train quads, hammies and calves together. I don't do anything specially for glutes, because my leg workout is only with free weights and heavily based on squat and varies, lunges, stiff legged deadlift.

So my workout plan can be like this

Chest/Back/Shoulders (twice a week)
Legs (twice a week)
Arms (once a week)

[InternalFire]

I will make it simple for you there fellow, go on google or youtube and search for "super 21's" when you start doing these your arms will have no choice but to respond in growth.
Edit update: I realized soon after I posted this, the info I was referring is not easy to find, super 21 im talking about you should do nonstop 7 + 7 + 7 reps controlled with 3sec concentric repositioning your hands every7reps and in as complete range of motion as possible, 3sec hold and 3sec esentric movement, 1st 7 reps wider than shoulder width grip second set shoulder width grip and last set palms on the bar real close together as comfortable as you can get, and all must be done on straight barbell
Also, drop your ego and pickup light weight , for starters could even try empty bar and see how it goes
From personal experience I found if your bicep is higher in peak than in length you must do more pulling exercises and concentrate more on compound movements that will develop bicep lengthwise but he sure always use full range of motion, and when the length of bic development becomes more visible peak will follow alot easier. Just my 2cents

[almostgone]

Check.out the thread Nach posted, but keep in mind some people require a slightly higher volume for some muscle groups. My biceps respond better to ~ 15-18 total rep range for one set if I incorporate drop sets. My back however responds better to grinding out low rep sets.
The 21s mentioned above work well for some people. Another aspect you could tweak instead of throwing so much volume at your muscle groups is increase the time under tension. For example, a 3-5 count positive, a 2 second squeeze at contraction, and a 3-5 count negative. All of that work just equaled 1 rep. Perform some reps using a weight that you can generally get 8-12 reps until you are at complete failure. I mean absolutely can not get another rep. Make a note of that weight. Next time you work arms, using the weight you previously used, try slow 3-5 count positive and negative with the 2 count squeeze at contraction and see how many reps you get.
Seated dumbbell curls or incline dumbbell curls where you have a long range of motion really hits hard as well.
You just have to play around as see what works best for you. If you are going balls to the wall and trying to hit failure, you won't have the energy to do 14 sets for biceps, but you may find the increased intensity works better for you than sheer volume.
Look at it this way, are you trying to work the biceps muscle to failure or are you trying to hit cardiovascular failure (not death, but just so tired you're out of air, but not necessarily out of energy in your biceps)?
IMO, the lower volume, higher intensity style is much more likely to work the biceps to a greater degree.
Either way, best of luck.

[almostgone]

Also, don't neglect cheat reps after you hit failure . If you're dumbbell curling, use your free hand to assist with curling the weight up when you can't do it with the arm you are working and then go with a long slow neg. You'll find that many times your positive strength will be expended, but you still have some strength left in the negative portion of the movement.
Also, I like to finish biceps, with standing cable curls using a wide grip one time and the next time I work arms, I use a close grip. Again go with a slow positive, but on the negative slow the rep down until you can't hold the weight back anymore.
Keep in mind this are very intense approaches and not to be used for more than 4-6 weeks. After that drop them for a couple of weeks and let your body recover because these techniques are a real no shitter.

[Proximal]

Agree with everything said above - finding a perfect fit for yourself takes a lot of trial and error. Hard-gainer myself and regrettably have tried everything with nothing in particular causing more growth/response. Now with the assistance of test, I'm going to run through the gamut of everything again.

[InternalFire]

This is the video I could not find, only trough my email archive from years ago,

have a good watch, and dont underestimate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLkZhbwmbvA

[InternalFire]

with this ^ I have gained great deal in my bic length considering elongating of the longhead and peak from the elbow to shoulder joint - insertion to insertion, before, I could only barely see the short peak when flexed real hard with clasp fist and zero appearance when relaxed or flexed while with extended hand/neutral, so this with lots of back/pulling exercises helped me the most, before that - didnt matter how hard or how frequent I curled it would provide minimal results, so this ^ worked beautifully for me, so thought I will share, maybe it will help somebody who will happen to be similarly genetically structured to those who can benefit from this, never try - never know. Good luck!

PS: dont be pussy and watch the entire clip to the end (for those who think they see first 3 minutes and think they know-it-all)

[aet63]

with this ^ I have gained great deal in my bic length considering elongating of the longhead and peak from the elbow to shoulder joint - insertion to insertion, before, I could only barely see the short peak when flexed real hard with clasp fist and zero appearance when relaxed or flexed while with extended hand/neutral, so this with lots of back/pulling exercises helped me the most, before that - didnt matter how hard or how frequent I curled it would provide minimal results, so this ^ worked beautifully for me, so thought I will share, maybe it will help somebody who will happen to be similarly genetically structured to those who can benefit from this, never try - never know. Good luck!

PS: dont be pussy and watch the entire clip to the end (for those who think they see first 3 minutes and think they know-it-all)

Thanks for your suggestion InsaneMuscle. I will try this workout and wait the results.

[Proximal]

Like the video Insane, going to try these, remember & did the old version of 21's. Couple of things, do you like the speed of the concentric phase on this video, it almost seems too explosive/uncontrolled for me? Secondly, how many other bicep exercises do you personally do along with these, or is that it?

[aet63]

Like the video Insane, going to try these, remember & did the old version of 21's. Couple of things, do you like the speed of the concentric phase on this video, it almost seems too explosive/uncontrolled for me? Secondly, how many other bicep exercises do you personally do along with these, or is that it?

Proximal,

I'm searching on google with same question.

Is "New 21's" is standalone enough or do we need to add exercises like brachialis exercise, isolation exercise ? I've planned to add 3x12 sets of hammer curl and concentration curl with lightweight, but i'm not sure its wise decision. It's very hard to do "New 21's" with proper form and speed. It will take more energy than normal exercises. That's why i'm searching on google.

I'm also curious about hitting biceps once a week with these exercise or exercises.

Thanks a lot in advance.

[InternalFire]

I have all these questions myself a while ago, and beware, what works for one may be completely unsuitable for another, so its more trial and error but at least the blueprint is there.

I used to fail miserably on my workout if I introduced this new super 21s at the beginning of lengthy arms workout or would overwork tendons and muscles so bad I would literally injure my arms I could not lift for whole week or longer. After few months of playing around with this, I found the following works the best (for me), and for the most part - I used these as a finisher workout for arms before I had to lay off for some time from going to the gym due to time constrains.

This dont seem like much, but if you guys never faced HIT training like ones preached by Mike Mentzer, Arthur Jones, Dorian Yates, (also Marcus300 on this forum), it be world of difference and its the reason why it works so wonderfully (I believe as it worked for me and it was my first real steps toward HIT training).

it also depends alot on how many days do you train your arms (mind that if you do back workout/pull workout separately from your bicep day workout, that also taxes your biceps so you have to plan carefully with this).

If you are going to use this exercise rightfully, I would say use it every 3 days and mix your back and biceps on that day so your biceps recover while on other days you work more on other parts.

You really want to warm up your joints and stretch well before this one, you dont want to tear something in there, its not that hard, so dont blindly jump in it as a first exercise.

I havent used it for a while now since I am trying out a different approach for my biceps development which focuses more on a compound pull movements that involves back delts and biceps with good form and HIT technique, and a really good stretch on eccentric movement (full range of motion with 3sec hold at eccentric elongated position for few seconds between reps), but I am also considering swapping my cable bar curls for biceps at the beginning of my workout with this 21's as a finisher for that day workout, so next week I will be hitting these again and if it will overstimulate my biceps which seem to respond to whatever I have been doing for last few months very well, I will swap it back with cable bar curls again.

Proxi-> to your answer, I think he moves too explosively on concentric part, but you should try either. I at first tried identically as he shows in the video and it felt great, then I have tried real steady 3 second raise and 3 second lowering, felt better that way, then later I have tried 3 sec raise / 3sec hold squeeze and 3 second lowering, ant that was a killer pump I could not describe, now if I will be doing this I will be trying to hold 2-3 sec lowered bar for deep stretch before every new rep. I dont know how will I survive but I got to try

TO ADD:

I would avoid any high volume workout if I was to hit this exercise, it will not be necessary to pre-exhaust yourself so much before this. Besides if you read on how biceps work when you work your back, you may rethink how you design your workouts, that is why I almost do nothing for my biceps lately as in isolation but just lots of pulling.

[InternalFire]

I have asked about my workout regimen here before: Please rate/critique/advice on my new training routine ( H.I.T. )

and Its not first time I use something like this and I find it works well for me at the moment, just wasn't 120% certain and wanted some acknowledgement but either way said f*ck it and went with it, gone with the gut feeling, and so far so good.

have my log here, if you want to waste some of your time reading what Im doing InsaneMuscle's log