Can't get arms bigger

StephMalachy1990

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Hi guys

Was doing biceps earlier and so f**king pissed off that I left early, its really bothering me that I cant get my arms to grow compared to all other muscles.
I'm 230 pounds, 6ft2 and my arms are only about 16.5 inch.

Ive long muscle insertions aswell so it takes more muscle to fill out my arm.

I dont know if its how I train my arms, or my training frequency/training split but I cant get them to grow bicep or tricep.

Can anyone help me out with some advice to grow them?

Thanks I really appreciate!
 

CJ

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Hammer/reverse Curls to develop the brachialis, which pushes the biceps out.

Triceps are also much bigger, don't neglect them.

Hit them more frequently and/or up the volume.
 

Trump

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Change it up, do 3 months of no arm day, do few exercises for bis end of back then few for tris end of chest. Then after 3 months throw a full arm day into the mix for 3 months.
 

StephMalachy1990

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Hammer/reverse Curls to develop the brachialis, which pushes the biceps out.

Triceps are also much bigger, don't neglect them.

Hit them more frequently and/or up the volume.

I wasn't sure whether I need more frequency & volume or less?

I thought maybe a smaller muscle group like that should be trained less but when it is trained to annihaliate it and give plenty of rest afterwards for recovery?

Should I continue with my current Back + Bicep, and Chest + Tricep routine or should I do them on individual days
 

hulksmash

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No advice from me...

Just here to say everyone will sort you out, just listen to them.
 

hulksmash

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I wasn't sure whether I need more frequency & volume or less?

I thought maybe a smaller muscle group like that should be trained less but when it is trained to annihaliate it and give plenty of rest afterwards for recovery?

Should I continue with my current Back + Bicep, and Chest + Tricep routine or should I do them on individual days

You make it so hard to stay mute lol

Good luck
 

CJ

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I wasn't sure whether I need more frequency & volume or less?

I thought maybe a smaller muscle group like that should be trained less but when it is trained to annihaliate it and give plenty of rest afterwards for recovery?

Should I continue with my current Back + Bicep, and Chest + Tricep routine or should I do them on individual days

Mine respond best to more frequent training, but less volume per session. Also picking different exercises to hit different parts of the force curve and/or training the muscle in a lengthened/shortened position to target the long/short heads.
 

StephMalachy1990

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Mine respond best to more frequent training, but less volume per session. Also picking different exercises to hit different parts of the force curve and/or training the muscle in a lengthened/shortened position to target the long/short heads.

I havn't tried the high frequency method yet. Perhaps adding 1 exercise for bicep superset with 1 exercise of tricep before every workout? 5 sets of 10/12 rep range im thinking
 

Trump

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If your doing that split now I would throw and arm day in too

I wasn't sure whether I need more frequency & volume or less?

I thought maybe a smaller muscle group like that should be trained less but when it is trained to annihaliate it and give plenty of rest afterwards for recovery?

Should I continue with my current Back + Bicep, and Chest + Tricep routine or should I do them on individual days
 

CJ

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I havn't tried the high frequency method yet. Perhaps adding 1 exercise for bicep superset with 1 exercise of tricep before every workout? 5 sets of 10/12 rep range im thinking

Only if you're willing to let your subsequent pushing and pulling exercises to suffer.

Keep it simple. You said that you currently do back/bis and chest/tris? Maybe try back/tris and chest/bis. Do the same volume, but now your bis and tris get hit an extra day. You should be able to work them a bit harder since the bis aren't tired ftom just doing back, and the tris aren't tired from just doing chest.

Arm day is good too, if it fits into your schedule.
 

StephMalachy1990

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Only if you're willing to let your subsequent pushing and pulling exercises to suffer.

Keep it simple. You said that you currently do back/bis and chest/tris? Maybe try back/tris and chest/bis. Do the same volume, but now your bis and tris get hit an extra day. You should be able to work them a bit harder since the bis aren't tired ftom just doing back, and the tris aren't tired from just doing chest.

Arm day is good too, if it fits into your schedule.

Thanks CJ!, I'll give my bi's and tri's more frequency per week and prioritise them also because my back and chest are decently developed but my arms are just so under developed. When I'm curling I barely even get a pump in them because theres F-all mass to get blood pumped around.

Its really just a result of focusing too much on compounds like bench and rows this last few years and barely doing isolation for my arms. No I have todo catchup
 
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Remember triceps make up 65% to 70% of arms ... be sure the are being worked with priority ... people fen over work biceps ...
Man I’ve been killing tris for years, like 75/25 split tris/bis and my arms are still garbage! I’m convinced big arms are due to genetics.

Last week at breakfast, there was a dude there with pretty big arms. My wife commented on them “look at how big his biceps are”. I immediately replied “look how big his wife’s tits are”. It was a quiet breakfast after that....
 

Beserker

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In my experience, an arm day of supersets is what works best for me. My theory is get the blood flowing and keep it there... force the muscles to expand through that sheer pump.

An example of arm day for me:

heavy preacher curls with cambered bar (or DBs) superset with skull crushers- 3 sets of 6-8 range, 30 seconds between sets

2-3 minute rest, tops

DB curls on the 30degree incline bench with strict form (keep arms back for full stretch) superset with seated single arm overhead tri extenstions- 3 sets of 6-8 range, 30 seconds between sets

2-3 minutes tops between next supersets

low pulley concentration curls superset with seated mid pulley tricep extensions with rope- 3 sets of 10-12 range, 30 seconds between sets.

2-3 minutes tops rest

reverse grip single arm tri presses super set with single arm low pulley curls- 2 drop sets each until complete failure.

Good luck.
 

Hurt

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OP are your arms the only group you can’t get to grow? Often guys will immediately question training when they just aren’t eating and recovering enough to support growth.

Also, are you running gear? Sorry if I missed that somewhere.
 

stonetag

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Remember triceps make up 65% to 70% of arms ... be sure the are being worked with priority ... people fen over work biceps ...
This! Less is best when it come to bi's. Heavy, cheating, standing barbell curls win the day.
 

hulksmash

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Just spit it out hulk will ya, most the time your advice is decent. Just don’t tell him your way is the only way

Okay, okay. Then disclaimer: The following is what I believe:

Forget everything, 99% said online is superfluous bullshit (my belief). Your 10 Commandments:

1. Have a Tricep+Bicep+Forearm day.

2. Dedicate the most time to triceps.

3. Only use 4 tricep exercises, 2 bicep exercises, and 2 forearm exercises.

4. Have 5-6 heavy sets (weight used for 3-5 reps) and 2 light-weight sets (weight used for 12-15 reps) for each muscle. Always make the 2 lighter sets be your last 2 sets.

5. For triceps, have 2 overhead exercises (long head and medial head), 2 pushdown exercises (lateral head).*

I do Standing One-Arm Overhead Cable Extensions, Standing One-Arm Cable Pushdown, and Standing Reverse Grip One-Arm Pushdowns. I removed Standing Two-Arm Overhead Cable Extensions and gave its sets to SOAOCE to gain more tricep strength.

6. For biceps, have 1 curl exercise and 1 brachioradialis exercise (hammer curls).

7. For forearms, have 1 wrist flexor exercise and 1 grip exercise.

I use Standing BB Behind the Back Wrist Curls and Captains of Crush grippers.

8. Only do direct arm work on Arm Day. Do Arm Day 1-2x a week.

9. Eat in a caloric surplus.

10. Always use mind-muscle connection. It's the only way to get an elite body and strength.


*"The long head contributes to elbow extension more at shoulder elevation and the medial head takes over at 90° and above of shoulder elevation."
The different role of each head of the triceps brachii muscle in elbow extension
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1017995X17305898
 

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