I bench 315, but my arms are small. I would like to increase my arm mass. I never did any bicep lifts. What is a good workout that i can do to incease the mass of my arms (biceps)
thanks
dan
A 315 bench is good if you weigh 150lbs. At 150lbs, your arms ain’t going to be much more than 14". Get your size up. If you’re more than 150lbs, then a 315lbs bench is weak, and getting it up would add arm size.
Don Alessi had an article in one of the recent issues about adding some arm size. Additionally, Ian King has an article outlining his Great Guns program and Charles Poliquin had a wicked program called the One-Day arm cure. Do a search through the articles to find those.
I’d pick up a copy of Charles Poliquin’s book winning the arms race. It has a detailed program where arms are trained once every 5 days. you won’t be dissapointed
I’m in the same boat bro. Here’s what helped me… Do two upper body workouts a week, and for as long as you feel you need to, focus on the arms! I did a ton of dipping, close grip benching, close grip rowing and chinning, along with working the arms from every possible angle after these major compound exercises were covered.
Try this for 3 weeks... Workout 1: Close Grip Bench, alternate with Supine Grip Row to Mid-Chest (5 sets X 4 reps for each) Then move on to EZ Bar French Press alternate with Slight Incline Dumbell Curls (2 sets X 6-8 reps each) Next go to Elbows Out Lying Tricep Ext alternate with Hammer Curls (2 sets X 6-8 reps each) Finish off with Rope Pressdowns alternate with Concentration Curls (2 sets X 10-12 reps). Workout 2: Dips alt w/ Supine Chins, Slight Incline Lying Triceps Ext alternate w/ EZ Bar Scott Curls, Decline Lying Triceps Ext alternate w/ Steep Incline Dumbell Curls, and finish with Single Arm, Reverse Cable Pushdown alternate with Eccentric Only Single Arm Spider Curls.
Greg how u figure 315 lbs is weak? How old r u dan youngs?maybe for a competetive powerlifter who is in his 20’s but for someone who is average id say that is pretty damn good at 150 lbs?!?! Thats more then twice his bodyweight.
Can you explain how you interpret:
Supine Grip Row to Mid-Chest…I assume this is a barbell row
Spider Curl…I assume you mean off a decline bench with the foot pad removed
Thanks
Supine Grip Row to Mid-Chest: This is a Cable Row using a straight bar, supine grip (palms facing up toward the ceiling). Allow your shoulders to roll forward, but no change in the angle of the spine. Row the bar to halfway between the bottom of your chest and your neck (this will feel pretty high, and you’ll notice almost full contraction of the biceps)
Well, you neglected to mention how much you weigh, but as one of the post above wrote, you can’t have huge arms if you weight 150. And if you did, you’d look silly unless the rest of your body was proportionate. You made mention of a bench press of over 300 lbs., which is repectable at most any weight. How about your squat? Your deadlift? Your bent row, which uses quite a bit of bicep in the movement. Stick to basics, eat massive eating style, and move the damn bar just a bit more than you did last time. Best wishes.
Re-read the msg. I said 315lbs was good if HE WAS 150lbs. If he’s OVER 150lbs, it’s weak. A good bench is 2x bodyweight. And being a powerlifter has nothing to do with it. Weak is weak, strong is strong no matter what you do.
Well shit, Vassily Alexyev weighed around 350lbs and he only benched a bit over 500lbs. And to think that this OL legend is weak because “A good bench is 2x bodyweight” “Weak is weak, strong is strong no matter what you do.”
500lbs bench at 350BW is a weak bench. Alexyev also had a 500lbs overhead press. Now THAT is strong. I’ve seen many guys 220 bench over 500 with no equipment. I’m not saying Alexyev was weak, I’m saying his BENCH was weak, and you can’t not agree.
Greg, those are probably the most inane statements anyone has written on this board in quite some time.
“I’m saying his BENCH was weak, and you can’t not agree.” You “can’t not agree”??? hah, you’ve been watching too many Yogi Berra clips.
and as far as this statement:
“If you’re more than 150lbs, then a 315lbs bench is weak, and getting it up would add arm size.”
well that would garner an I.O.M. vote on m.f.w. 315 is weak for a 160 lb.'er?? you border on comical. And as far as suggesting that arm size is directly correlated with one’s bench…well that lunacy speaks for itself.
Dan Youngs, the other posters have given some decent advice, but ignore this Greg kid if you want to see progress.
315@150 aint good for a powerlifter, to be GOOD they would have to be >400lbs. THe record for the 148lb would be around 500.
But most people cant do this, so 315 is still a good bench, especially if he was 150. But obviously greg is just jealous that this person can bench more than him.
i would say over 500lbs is a very respectalbe bench (not great but repsectable, not weak) when you have never even trained the excercise.
Fine, you want to convince yourselves a 315lbs bench is strong, go ahead. But it’s not. Lets’ just go over the following:
Lifters in the 114lbs class regularly bench over 350. At 148lbs, it’s around 490. These aren’t records, these are what you can expect at most national meets. A 132lbs woman benched 315lbs in novemeber. Now, if you tell me a 160lbs man should only lift as much as a 132lbs woman, go ahead. But show up at any meet weighing over 160 and benching 315, and you won’t place. We have 160lbs 15 yr olds benching 405lbs in competition.
Greg has a point: A 315 lb. bench, for someone weighing more than 160 lbs., would be weak IF he were using the powerlifter arch and a bench shirt so tight it could practically lift the weight by itself and was on a serious roid cycle, as is the case in the national powerlifting meets to which he referred. If, however, one was attempting a flat-backed bench with full range of motion (or slightly less (~ 15 degrees) to reduce shoulder stress as recommended by Paul Chek), then 315 lbs. would be a respectable bench for a bigger guy. I have always heard 1.5 X bodyweight used as a measure for a respectable bench under the non-powerlifting-competition parameters. Hell, I would hazard to guess that if you were to take away just the bench shirt and the roids from the competitions, you would see these average weights to which Greg refers plummet back down to the realm of mere mortals. But that’s just MHO.
what greg doesnt seem to realize here is he is comparing equivalents of Masters of Sport of elite lifters of the sport (of powerlifting) to everyone. When you are a master of sport you are close to a MASTER which means you’re damn good at it… think about it greg you’re making competitive powerlifters the minimum standard for “strong.” I think a 250 powerclean is pretty “strong” but a master of Sport (not even olympic yet) lifter could easily do 300 or maybe more.
If you’re not already, do lots of chin-ups and pull-ups, they have always helped my arm size.
315 pounds at 150 is a very good bench, especially if it’s drug free and done with a flat back (no arch), no bench shirt and good technique. In Super Squats, Randall Strossesn refers to 1.5 times bodyweight as a godd benchmark. Brooks Kubik won the NASA drug free powerlifting championship and set a world record with a 407 pound press at 220 pounds.