My arms ain't growin

[RazorRambo24]

As long as you're consuming enough protein, the issue might just lie in not doing enough isolated bicep workouts or doing too much bicep workouts.

Biceps are a very small muscle group and can easily be overtrained. The key is to stay consistent but not overdo it,.

When you train biceps its also important to start by pumping the muscle with a low weight to get alot of blood flow into that area.. just like you might do with chest flys to warm your chest up before doing heavy chest workouts. This blood being pushed into the muscle fibers with much pressure is what causes something called Hyperplasia which is one half of what causes muscles to grow. The other is hypertrophy.

The rest is genetics. Some people are genetically not as inclined to have great arms.

 

[Pierce Manhammer]

TLDR;

get a preacher bench and a curl bar and do 5x10’s every day. Increase weight to your working weight, as a warm up, add 2lbs a week with fractionals. You will grow. Volume is king.

Physique not power lifting, strength will come along if it’s important to you.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

As long as you're consuming enough protein, the issue might just lie in not doing enough isolated bicep workouts or doing too much bicep workouts.

Biceps are a very small muscle group and can easily be overtrained. The key is to stay consistent but not overdo it,.

When you train biceps its also important to start by pumping the muscle with a low weight to get alot of blood flow into that area.. just like you might do with chest flys to warm your chest up before doing heavy chest workouts. This blood being pushed into the muscle fibers with much pressure is what causes something called Hyperplasia which is one half of what causes muscles to grow. The other is hypertrophy.

The rest is genetics. Some people are genetically not as inclined to have great arms.

This is why BFR training is so helpful with biceps...causes similar metabolic damage with light weights as you normally only get with very heavy weights and tricks the body into thinking you lifted much heavier than you did.

The first time I did it, my biceps were so sore afterwards that it felt like I went out and curled my car. Literally couldn't even bend my elbow without my biceps almost spasming.

 

[Stanley]

This is why BFR training is so helpful with biceps...causes similar metabolic damage with light weights as you normally only get with very heavy weights and tricks the body into thinking you lifted much heavier than you did.

The first time I did it, my biceps were so sore afterwards that it felt like I went out and curled my car. Literally couldn't even bend my elbow without my biceps almost spasming.

I've now done bfr about 4 times. The first two sessions absolutely killed me and I felt a deep ache in my arm almost like in the bone. It reminded me of arm the pain you get from arm wrestling. The past two times i've done it my body responded better to it and the massive pump feels awesome




Taking a lot of the advice in this thread and really assessing my workouts (I keep everything in a spreadsheet) I think hitting my arms directly is perhaps a bit more is necessary. I know soreness is not an indicator of muscular growth necessarily, but rarely would I even have a degree of tenderness in my arms. I think with my routine (full body) the past few months I've not spent enough time focusing on them.

Last two workouts I toned back the super setting I do between my compound lifts to focus on hitting arms/shoulders harder at the end of my workout. I typically do circuit based training but also use weights, this is habitual back from being more of a calisthenics guy and not having much gym equipment. With the super setting I am in or around my peak heartrate for most the workout and by the end I am so spent that I struggle mentally and physically to hit accessories. I think as I've gone up in weight I need to allow my body a bit more rest between compound movement sets.


Here is what I did the past two workouts with no supersetting between compounds

Warm up:
-Jump rope, dynamic stretching, dead hang for 1 minute

Compounds:
Wide grip bench: 5x5
OHP: 3x6
Squat: 5x5
Deadlift: 3x8 (I keep it lighter due to an disk issue)
Bent over row or weighted pull ups: 3x8

Afterwards I go into circuits which I vary depending on how i'm feeling

Circuit 1
Skull crushers/Tri extension or dips 3x10
Preacher curl 3x8
Hanging leg raises 3x to failure

Circuit 2 with Bfr bands and light weights which I drop down as needed
Hammer curls to failure x3
Lateral raises to failure x3
calf raises to failure x3

Then I limp out of my dusty garage and pass out. I typically knock this out in under an hour and a half or so

 

[BackInTheGame78]

I've now done bfr about 4 times. The first two sessions absolutely killed me and I felt a deep ache in my arm almost like in the bone. It reminded me of arm the pain you get from arm wrestling. The past two times i've done it my body responded better to it and the massive pump feels awesome




Taking a lot of the advice in this thread and really assessing my workouts (I keep everything in a spreadsheet) I think hitting my arms directly is perhaps a bit more is necessary. I know soreness is not an indicator of muscular growth necessarily, but rarely would I even have a degree of tenderness in my arms. I think with my routine (full body) the past few months I've not spent enough time focusing on them.

Last two workouts I toned back the super setting I do between my compound lifts to focus on hitting arms/shoulders harder at the end of my workout. I typically do circuit based training but also use weights, this is habitual back from being more of a calisthenics guy and not having much gym equipment. With the super setting I am in or around my peak heartrate for most the workout and by the end I am so spent that I struggle mentally and physically to hit accessories. I think as I've gone up in weight I need to allow my body a bit more rest between compound movement sets.


Here is what I did the past two workouts with no supersetting between compounds

Warm up:
-Jump rope, dynamic stretching, dead hang for 1 minute

Compounds:
Wide grip bench: 5x5
OHP: 3x6
Squat: 5x5
Deadlift: 3x8 (I keep it lighter due to an disk issue)
Bent over row or weighted pull ups: 3x8

Afterwards I go into circuits which I vary depending on how i'm feeling

Circuit 1
Skull crushers/Tri extension or dips 3x10
Preacher curl 3x8
Hanging leg raises 3x to failure

Circuit 2 with Bfr bands and light weights which I drop down as needed
Hammer curls to failure x3
Lateral raises to failure x3
calf raises to failure x3

Then I limp out of my dusty garage and pass out. I typically knock this out in under an hour and a half or so

I'd say your training is too long. You are lowering your T level/GH spikes with anything longer than 45 minutes.

You can either work intensely or long but never both.

 

[RazorRambo24]

To kinda mimic @BackInTheGame78 's sentiment.. Bodybuilding is all about efficiency. If you workout a ton of diff **** everyday, guess what? you better be consuming a ton of protein everyday to make up for that. Or bodies can only do so much at once. Overtraining is such a common word for a reason. Not saying that you're overtraining or anything but I can see if you do a medley of diff sht an do it like daily it can be quite an inefficient way of working out. Quite commonly when we see dudes who say they workout 6-7 days a week but aren't seeing changes after months of work, we can tell that they're not working out efficiently and thus they're jus damaging muscle fibers just to repair them jus to damage them again to repair them but its not giving enough time to the protein synthesis and metabolic processes to really grow the muscles.

Regardless, whenever I ask someone of what their workout routine looks like and they say something similar to yours (which is all over the place and not focused on a particular muscle or muscle group), It makes me think they either just started working out or don't know what the heck they are doing.

 

[EyeBRollin]

Body builders are steroid abusers. Their bro splits don’t work. Stick to the basics. Consistently progressive overload on weighted chins, add some bicep curls, get good sleep and eat a healthy diet. If that formula doesn’t work, just accept the genetic natural limitations of your arms.

If that still isn’t enough, many guys just turn to steroids.

 

[RazorRambo24]

Body builders are steroid abusers. Their bro splits don’t work. Stick to the basics. Consistently progressive overload on weighted chins, add some bicep curls, get good sleep and eat a healthy diet. If that formula doesn’t work, just accept the genetic natural limitations of your arms.

If that still isn’t enough, many guys just turn to steroids.

Mentioning steroids is such a copout. Who cares about dudes who use steroids? Don't let that be an excuse for why people have a better physique than you. I got friends who use/used gear and those who didn't an d the ones who didn't have better physiques than the ones who did. The ones who don't also have a better mindset and discipline while the ones that did would go out and party alot and had terrible eating habits.

 

[Stanley]

Man it really seems like you're working out without a proper plan or regiment and just doing a buncha diff ****...

So you're essentially giving no focus to any real muscle or muscle group and just doing what seems like teenagers who just started working out do..

I wouldn't say its pathetic but it makes me slightly annoyed just reading it.. You need a rhyme or reason to your workouts. If you go in to workout back and biceps, you go into workout back and biceps. You go to workout chest and tris, you focus on chest and tris.

Why do these muscle groups make sense ? In many back workouts you also workout biceps ie: pullups/chinups. In many chest workouts you also workout triceps.

To just go in and do a buncha diff sht. like calfs, back, legs, arms, forearms -- you can def grow muscle but it's hard to track your workouts and see whats working for you and whats not-- and it lacks any real routine to it.. you're just playing around with weights essentially

When you have a split that makes sense or is tried and proven by pro bodybuilders for decades or w.e --you start seeing your body come into shape and you can better track the progress and adjust things.

Noted, but doing a modified 5x5 routine focusing on compounds has helped pack on muscle tremendously for me so far.

I started with calisthenics just for fun after going through physical therapy, pull ups/chins, planche yada yada. Then started doing strong lifts 5x5 to build up a base. I was an endurance athlete for most my life and did not respond well to weights at first and it helped a lot. Sometime last summer I just started focusing on the big three and then finishing up with body weight circuits. Had good results then switched to PPL for a while and did not dig it, then went into a straight up simple upper lower split which was great.

Got too busy with my work schedule and had no choice but to switch to full body 2 to 3x a week for the time being. Put the majority of the focus on compounds and have seen continual gains. I am in my first year of serious training though so that could play a part of it.

Are you opposed to full body routines focusing on the bench, squat and deadlift? I've seen a lot of people are divided on the topic of full body vs PPL or other variations

 

[Stanley]

I'd say your training is too long. You are lowering your T level/GH spikes with anything longer than 45 minutes.

You can either work intensely or long but never both.

Noted, I thought the negative effects that you mention as well as the cortisol spikes occur after 90 minutes or so right?

 

[RazorRambo24]

Noted, but doing a modified 5x5 routine focusing on compounds has helped pack on muscle tremendously for me so far.

I started with calisthenics just for fun after going through physical therapy, pull ups/chins, planche yada yada. Then started doing strong lifts 5x5 to build up a base. I was an endurance athlete for most my life and did not respond well to weights at first and it helped a lot. Sometime last summer I just started focusing on the big three and then finishing up with body weight circuits. Had good results then switched to PPL for a while and did not dig it, then went into a straight up simple upper lower split which was great.

Got too busy with my work schedule and had no choice but to switch to full body 2 to 3x a week for the time being. Put the majority of the focus on compounds and have seen continual gains. I am in my first year of serious training though so that could play a part of it.

Are you opposed to full body routines focusing on the bench, squat and deadlift? I've seen a lot of people are divided on the topic of full body vs PPL or other variations

5 x 5 is great for growth. My 5 x 5 is diff because I do I do 5 sets of 5 excercises. the rep range is 6-12. But thats all that I do. I don't go any further or any less. and my workouts are around 45 mins if im working efficiently. if im lolly gagging around and talking to people and on my phone then it might go longer. when im most efficient, i can knockout a workout in 30 mins.. but ofc lactic acid really builds up if u dont take breaks

I think most people start off doing full body and whatever and then graduate to like tried and trusted splits, **** like Arnold and alot of IFBB pros do -- some people do push days pull days.. Personally man, in the beginning it doesn't matter too much because you'll start gaining muscle regardless ie: what people call "beginner gains" as long as you're eating properly.

But I think if you really care about tracking your progress and really evaluating things and making it easy to adjust and make changes, have a more focused approach to bodybuilding. and plus when you have more focused days, you start to really tune into the muscle more and get more of a mind / muscle connection and begin to really improve on form and strength.

 

[Stanley]

5 x 5 is great for growth. My 5 x 5 is diff because I do I do 5 sets of 5 excercises. the rep range is 6-12. But thats all that I do. I don't go any further or any less. and my workouts are around 45 mins if im working efficiently. if im lolly gagging around and talking to people and on my phone then it might go longer. when im most efficient, i can knockout a workout in 30 mins.. but ofc lactic acid really builds up if u dont take breaks

I think most people start off doing full body and whatever and then graduate to like tried and trusted splits, **** like Arnold and alot of IFBB pros do -- some people do push days pull days.. Personally man, in the beginning it doesn't matter too much because you'll start gaining muscle regardless ie: what people call "beginner gains" as long as you're eating properly. But I think if you really care about tracking your progress and really evaluating things and making it easy to adjust and make changes, have a more focused approach to bodybuilding.

I get where you're coming from. I lift solo with limited equipment and really only came into it to be healthy. My power lifting friends have told me with time that doing full body at some serious weight is just not viable, but with where i'm at it seems to be fine. Noob gains have been good and looking through my lifts everything has been going up consistently. For now I have to stay with full body until at least the summer due to time constraints.

 

[xplt]

Add more weight.

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[BackInTheGame78]

Noted, I thought the negative effects that you mention as well as the cortisol spikes occur after 90 minutes or so right?

"For best results, the overall duration of the workout should be relatively short (45 minutes or less) and the training session should focus purely on strength with no cardio training".

Even more effective is to reduce rest periods in between sets/exercises to 30 seconds or less and get your heart rate up so you get cardio and strength benefits rolled into one.

 

[Stanley]

"For best results, the overall duration of the workout should be relatively short (45 minutes or less) and the training session should focus purely on strength with no cardio training".

Even more effective is to reduce rest periods in between sets/exercises to 30 seconds or less and get your heart rate up so you get cardio and strength benefits rolled into one.

Yeah i have very little rest time between sets, I also wear a heart rate monitor to track myself. I got into Mike Mentzer and his ideology with rest times and intensity. I'll aim to get out even quicker if i'm going over an hour.

The guys that showed me the gym a few years back would spend over 2hours in the gym doing bro splits. Never understood why they did and probably why even though they've been lifting for years they aren't strong. Same guys who claimed deadlifting, squats are overrated

 

[EyeBRollin]

Mentioning steroids is such a copout. Who cares about dudes who use steroids? Don't let that be an excuse for why people have a better physique than you.

The man wanted advice. The reality is, the natural prescription of good diet, sleep, and progressive overload will maximize your genetic potential. The creator pre-determined how you can ultimately look. Men need to hear the truth; some guys just won’t get huge arms. Either accept it, or take steroids.

I got friends who use/used gear and those who didn't an d the ones who didn't have better physiques than the ones who did.

So what? This is a pointless comment. If all things are equal, a natural will never reach the same strength, size, or endurance as someone doing the same + steroids. It is a fact.

 

[EyeBRollin]

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Of all things, we should be getting tips from a 13 year old kid on gear.

 

[RazorRambo24]

The man wanted advice. The reality is, the natural prescription of good diet, sleep, and progressive overload will maximize your genetic potential. The creator pre-determined how you can ultimately look. Men need to hear the truth; some guys just won’t get huge arms. Either accept it, or take steroids.



So what? This is a pointless comment. If all things are equal, a natural will never reach the same strength, size, or endurance as someone doing the same + steroids. It is a fact.

I feel like people who aren't happy with how they look just feel the need to always mention steroids like its an excuse for you being a weak b.itch and why other men are bigger and stronger than you. "wah wah bodybuilders take steroids" "ull never be like them" "BUT DO TAKE STEROIDS"

"take steroids" is not a good advice for any beginner. He hasn't even reached his peak potential as a natural. It's ****ty advice

The truth is alot of what people do wrong comes to simply overtraining/undertraining and not performing excercises right, swinging weights, being speedy in their eccentric movements rather than slowing the eccentric movements, using momentum to power through reps, not using proper weights for the best contraction, etc -- Genetics do play a huge part in how peoples muscles develop but with proper training and nutrition, you can make any muscle grow

When you talk to any expert in bodybuilding about biceps.. they say its more or less better to not overwork the biceps as they are not a large muscle group by any means. muscles need time to grow, overworking them can just cause more strain -then if u hit that same muscle group again and again you're just overworking the muscle

There are some things that are def "bro splits" but other type of splits are scientifically proven to work and thats why pros utilize them

 

[EyeBRollin]

I feel like people who aren't happy with how they look just feel the need to always mention steroids like its an excuse for you being a weak b.itch and why other men are bigger and stronger than you.

Yea, you feel. No one is talking about excuses. The natural advice was given. I also stated the fact that if homie wants 20” arms, it is not happening unless he takes steroids.

"wah wah bodybuilders take steroids" "ull never be like them"

Both true statements.

"BUT DO TAKE STEROIDS"

"take steroids" is not a good advice for any beginner. He hasn't even reached his peak potential as a natural. It's ****ty advice

That is not the advice that was given.

 

[RazorRambo24]

This is contradictory... If steroids = instant success, then your real life example wouldn't exist would it? Fun fact, if you don't know what you're doing the gear is useless. As your real life example shows...

When you can point out where I said steroids=instant success or anything remotely close I'll consider you not an idiot. For now, you're an idiot.

Don't quote me just to stay whatever you're going to say. It has nothing to do with anything I said. My point was about people mentioning steroids in a post where someone asks for help.. and then bashing bodybuilders saying "they all do steroids" as if 100% of the people who workout and bodybuild do steroids. I just get tired of seeing people mention steroids anytime someone talks about working out or bodybuilding.

I have no idea what you're on about or what motivated you to say that but frankly I give 0 ****s since you started off quoting me and claiming I said some sht that I didn't.