Need a SOLID arm workout

[Jaxon]

What's up guys, I'm looking for an A1 arms workout and I'm hoping there's someone experienced enough with lifting on these boards to help me out. A little background first:

I've been an athlete all my life and have been lifting consistently for 11+ years. I'm obviously familiar and comfortable in a weight room and am good at going in and knocking out my routine.
Thing is most of my life my routine has involved bulk strength and speed (for football), so my main lifts have been squats, power cleans, push press and bench press. Pretty much all other lifts have been variations of this or other things to supplement them.

Now that I'm done playing sports I want to get more of a "bathing suit body" ie look good--I don't really care about bulk strength anymore. I have a big chest and some of the nicest shoulders I've ever seen (not trying to sound ****y). However I don't feel like my arms are proportionate to the rest of my body and I would like to increase their size. I figure as the size comes so also will more arm definition.
I realize as I move away from bulk and strength that my chest will gradually go down, but I still want to have big arms. When I'm lifting and they're pumped they look big, but day to day when I'm just hanging out I just feel that they are way smaller than they should be. I want girls to be impressed at my arms when we go out and do regular stuff, as they're obviously not going to be able to see them when they're pumped up at the gym.

Also as a side note I tore my rotator cuff a little over a year ago and opted out of surgery, and my shoulder is still not 100%. Because of this I am limited in what I can do--as of now I'm not able to do any sort of fly exercises (barbell or machine), and I'm not able to work with barbells very much at all.
Also before I tore my shoulder my favorite tricep exercise was on the bench, where you use a close grip and press the bar from the middle of your chest, around the bottom of your ribs. Unfortunately I'm not able to do this either at the moment. Anyway with that in mind here's my current chest/arms workout I've been doing for about the last month and a half, again with the intention of keeping chest tone and increasing arm size, the shoulders take care of themselves:

Flat bench 3 sets x 25-30 reps (I'm not able to break 90 degrees on this fyi and can't lift a lot of weight due to my shoulder, so I opt for lower weight higher reps)

Bicep curls on the cable: 6 sets x 10-12 reps (cable really helps to keep it smooth and feels much better on my shoulder)

Hammer Curls 3 sets x 10-12 reps

Tricep pushdowns on straight bar cable 3 sets x 10-12 reps


As you can see there's definitely more bicep in there than tri--thinking about balancing this out more, but another thing that I'm wondering is is there a good way to pump up your forearms as well? I feel that these also need to be bigger--thinking about maybe rolling my wrists down more at the bottom of my bicep curls to hit that muscle more but I'm not sure if that's enough.

Please only respond if you are very experienced in lifting, specifically for your arms--as I've said I've been lifting for a long time now and am looking for someone who really knows what they're talking about in these areas. Thanks.

 

[Warboss Alex]

Okay, first off. How big are you, and how big are your arms, and how big do you realistically expect them to be at your bodyweight?

(before we talk about the rest)

 

[Jaxon]

Okay, first off. How big are you, and how big are your arms, and how big do you realistically expect them to be at your bodyweight?

(before we talk about the rest)

I'm 6'0", 220 lbs and have a large frame. My arms flexed are currently 16" around. I want them to be significantly larger than they are, to where they size up with my frame better and so when I meet someone my arms are one of the first things they notice. What that works out to in inches around I couldn't say.

I'm also in the process of dropping weight, which I know will help make them look bigger. For some reason it's always been easy for me to bulk up my frame, but my arms have never been as easy. FYI I'm not on any supplements--my goal is to drop body fat, maintain chest and greatly increase arms.

 

[Warboss Alex]

you cannot 'spot build' arms so to speak as increased arm size comes with increased bodyweight, usually 10-20lbs for an inch on your arms depending on your genetics.

simply put, if your current barbell bicep curl is 80lbs for 10 strict reps, and you take that up over a couple of years to 120lbs for 10 strict reps, your biceps will be as big as they'll ever be. if your current close grip press is 120lbs for 10 strict reps, and that becomes 350lbs for 10 strict reps, your triceps will be about as big as they'll ever get (naturally).

I don't care what people say about supersets, pump sets etc - the actual contractile protein of your arms will be at its biggest when your best arm building exercises are at the biggest weight you can handle naturally.

are your numbers in these ranges? if not then what you have to do is concentrate on bringing them up there. simply, pay your dues and eat your food.

(actually, what are your numbers in general? I've never seen a guy deadlift 500 for 10 reps who had small arms.. or small anything for that matter)

some people may advise NOT training arms and instead doing pullups, underhand barbell rows etc, this is all very well but to get your arms up to their biggest potential you must train them directly. you are not a beginner so I don't think the 'don't train arms' thing will work.

just remember that you need to gain muscular weight (through squats, deadlifts, rows, presses etc as well as your arm work) for your arms to grow significantly.

 

[Rash]

keep it simple and easy thats the secret:
-biceps curl with a straight barbell (4 sets)
-incline biceps curl (3 sets)
-hammer curl (3 sets)

 

[Jaxon]

10-20 pounds for an inch on the arm? Damn that's a lot of weight for not a lot of results in the arms imo. Right now I'm comfortably curling 110 lbs 10x.
I would do dips for the triceps but with my shoulder being the way it is dips and pullups are out.
And what do you mean you need to put muscle weight on other areas of your body to gain on your arms as well? Is this because your arms will be working indirectly on these exercises, or does it have more to do with how your body distributes the muscle gain?
I've been lifting for a long time but mainly for performance, not appearance, so some of this is new to me.

 

[Jaxon]

keep it simple and easy thats the secret:
-biceps curl with a straight barbell (4 sets)
-incline biceps curl (3 sets)
-hammer curl (3 sets)

What is an incline bicep curl and is there a machine for it or do you have to do it with free weights? Most anything above my head with free weights is a no go right now.
I'm currently doing hammer curls and they're ok, but honestly I don't feel like I get out of them what I put into 'em--in other words I'm just not sure if they're worth it as they don't seem to have a big effect on my arms. What exactly are hammer curls supposed to hit anyway? As best I know they work a separate part of the bicep and help to make your bicep where it reaches your mid-arm look more defined. Also helps with the forearms a bit?

 

[Quiksilver]

Lowering your bodyfat will give the impression of larger biceps.

 

[Warboss Alex]

If you are strictly curling 110lbs for 10 reps and only have 16" arms then either a) you have terrible arm genetics b) you are not curling as strictly as you can.

If you have a picture of your arms, post it. If you have high tricep insertions or short biceps then you simply are not ever going to have huge arms - it's a structural impossibility. But my guess is that something else is wrong.

Show us your whole workout routine and your numbers too.

 

[Omen]

And what do you mean you need to put muscle weight on other areas of your body to gain on your arms as well? Is this because your arms will be working indirectly on these exercises, or does it have more to do with how your body distributes the muscle gain?

My guess is he was stating to get big all over, and your biceps will come along with that. Maybe that wasn't what he was after.

BUT... Here is the thing. You HAVE to work the arms, there is no if ands or butts about it. This is the one thing that got me in an article once from Ferguia or what ever his name was in Mens Fitness. He writes columns all the time, and one article he said dont even worry about arm exercises, gave many other ones and said your arms would be HUGE.

Not the case, and you can see that with a simple handful of electrodes. (the ones they use in EMG). Obviously you cant do this at home, but place 3 of them in certain spots of the arm, and record electrical activity. One is placed over the motor point. This is where the motor neurons enter the muscle. This electrode will monitor changes in the motor neuron. The second electrode should be placed approximately six centimeters distal to the motor point over the belly of the muscle. This electrode will monitor changes in the muscle fibers. A third electrode serves as a ground (to reduce interference). This electrode should be located where there is little or no muscle between skin and bone. When depolarization occurs the electrical changes will be amplified and sent to a recording device.

Now if you were to do this, and do many exercises NON arm related, you would see minute electrical activity with concentric and eccentric contraction of what ever.

For instance do lateral raises, and there is barely a blip on the screen. Why? Well because your biceps aren't being utilized.

This is kind of a good way to tell what muscles are being used. Now the real test would be to actually do needle electrodes but no one will do that very easily.

The point being is that you cant write an article, tell people to do so many other exercises and that their biceps will grow to their fullest. Wont happen, and should be common sense. That's like saying to do curls to get big quads. When did curling give you a concentric and eccentric contraction in the quads? Never.

The biggest thing some of us harp on, is dont be the guy in the gym who ONLY does arms. That wont get you anywhere, and some do that. Arms and chest and then they leave the gym.

 

[mrRuckus]

If you are strictly curling 110lbs for 10 reps and only have 16" arms then either a) you have terrible arm genetics b) you are not curling as strictly as you can.

It's pretty funny when every person i see doing curls will do nothing but super fast concentrics which are about 75% lifted by their back for a zillion reps while I'm doing 1-2s concentrics and 3-4s eccentrics for 5-8 long agonizing reps.

I get funny looks when i do reverse grip curls too.

I hate working biceps more than anything else.