Arms Flexed vs. Un-flexed

Something is kinda stumping me. My arms are 14 inches flexed, unpumped (yeah they are small) and 12.5 unflexed. It’s kinda annoying because I put all this work in and only look like I have big arms (for me) when I flex. Any help would be great.

Lift heavier.

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=950992

for this case id suggest smaller shirts

Thanks for the answers

First poster-I powerlift, so I am not sure if that would work. I am already solid at rest, my arms just stay small.

For the second guy- THanks for the sarcastic response. However, a smaller shirt wouldnt work as I have trouble with shirts fitting over my shoulders, back, and chest. So, If I go down a size it would look comical.

I know I should be focusing on just getting bigger, but wont this look even funnier if I do?

[quote]keaster wrote:
I am already solid at rest, my arms just stay small.
[/quote]

Eat more food, life heavier, keep at it.

Eventually they will grow. You should do some reverse-close grip chinups.

[quote]keaster wrote:
Thanks for the answers

First poster-I powerlift, so I am not sure if that would work. I am already solid at rest, my arms just stay small.

For the second guy- THanks for the sarcastic response. However, a smaller shirt wouldnt work as I have trouble with shirts fitting over my shoulders, back, and chest. So, If I go down a size it would look comical.

I know I should be focusing on just getting bigger, but wont this look even funnier if I do?[/quote]

You “powerlift”…with 14" arms? I assume you do so professionally.

How much do you weigh?

[quote]Professor X wrote:
keaster wrote:
Thanks for the answers

First poster-I powerlift, so I am not sure if that would work. I am already solid at rest, my arms just stay small.

For the second guy- THanks for the sarcastic response. However, a smaller shirt wouldnt work as I have trouble with shirts fitting over my shoulders, back, and chest. So, If I go down a size it would look comical.

I know I should be focusing on just getting bigger, but wont this look even funnier if I do?

You “powerlift”…with 14" arms? I assume you do so professionally.

How much do you weigh?[/quote]

No, I dont do it professionaly. I guess you could say I do it to be better at my sport (marital arts). So in essence I dont really powerlift exclusively. I just focus more on the powerlifts. ANd I guess you could say I train to look good too.

I got stuck in the no arm training craze and didnt train arms at all since I started training. So now I am at a loss.

Weight is 165. I recently lost 5(down from 170) pounds of muscle pretty fast due to increaseing martail arts without temporarily decreasing lifting.
Height is 5’7
currently putting away 4100 cals a day to try and get my wieght up.

Lifting 3-4 four times a week upper lower with lots of martial arts training.

I think I may have just answered my own question- more food+ arm work.

[quote]keaster wrote:
Professor X wrote:
keaster wrote:
Thanks for the answers

First poster-I powerlift, so I am not sure if that would work. I am already solid at rest, my arms just stay small.

For the second guy- THanks for the sarcastic response. However, a smaller shirt wouldnt work as I have trouble with shirts fitting over my shoulders, back, and chest. So, If I go down a size it would look comical.

I know I should be focusing on just getting bigger, but wont this look even funnier if I do?

You “powerlift”…with 14" arms? I assume you do so professionally.

How much do you weigh?

No, I dont do it professionaly. I guess you could say I do it to be better at my sport (marital arts). So in essence I dont really powerlift exclusively. I just focus more on the powerlifts. ANd I guess you could say I train to look good too.

I got stuck in the no arm training craze and didnt train arms at all since I started training. So now I am at a loss.

Weight is 165. I recently lost 5(down from 170) pounds of muscle pretty fast due to increaseing martail arts without temporarily decreasing lifting.
Height is 5’7
currently putting away 4100 cals a day to try and get my wieght up.

Lifting 3-4 four times a week upper lower with lots of martial arts training.

I think I may have just answered my own question- more food+ arm work.

[/quote]

Ya think?

“I think I won’t train legs”

2 years later

“I wonder why my legs are so small”

People are a little too gullible when they start following gems of training info like “don’t train arms directly”. It is time to step away from the computer and watch what people with muscular arms are actually doing for them. I am also wondering why it took you so long to figure out that yours weren’t growing.

Maybe you should STOP approaching training like a wannabe powerlifter who really doesn’t powerlift and actually start focusing on visible ways of tracking progress. Unless your strength has simply gone through the roof, there is no one to blame but yourself.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
keaster wrote:
Professor X wrote:
keaster wrote:
Thanks for the answers

First poster-I powerlift, so I am not sure if that would work. I am already solid at rest, my arms just stay small.

For the second guy- THanks for the sarcastic response. However, a smaller shirt wouldnt work as I have trouble with shirts fitting over my shoulders, back, and chest. So, If I go down a size it would look comical.

I know I should be focusing on just getting bigger, but wont this look even funnier if I do?

You “powerlift”…with 14" arms? I assume you do so professionally.

How much do you weigh?

No, I dont do it professionaly. I guess you could say I do it to be better at my sport (marital arts). So in essence I dont really powerlift exclusively. I just focus more on the powerlifts. ANd I guess you could say I train to look good too.

I got stuck in the no arm training craze and didnt train arms at all since I started training. So now I am at a loss.

Weight is 165. I recently lost 5(down from 170) pounds of muscle pretty fast due to increaseing martail arts without temporarily decreasing lifting.
Height is 5’7
currently putting away 4100 cals a day to try and get my wieght up.

Lifting 3-4 four times a week upper lower with lots of martial arts training.

I think I may have just answered my own question- more food+ arm work.

Ya think?

“I think I won’t train legs”

2 years later

“I wonder why my legs are so small”

People are a little too gullible when they start following gems of training info like “don’t train arms directly”. It is time to step away from the computer and watch what people with muscular arms are actually doing for them. I am also wondering why it took you so long to figure out that yours weren’t growing.

Maybe you should STOP approaching training like a wannabe powerlifter who really doesn’t powerlift and actually start focusing on visible ways of tracking progress. Unless your strength has simply gone through the roof, there is no one to blame but yourself.[/quote]

Thanks for the great reply. I really appreciate the advise. My strength has gone up a lot since I started.

I was thinking to change up my program a bit. I posted a little while ago but I am kinda stuck in the training confusion spot.

[quote]keaster wrote:
Something is kinda stumping me. My arms are 14 inches flexed, unpumped (yeah they are small) and 12.5 unflexed. It’s kinda annoying because I put all this work in and only look like I have big arms (for me) when I flex. Any help would be great.[/quote]

I don’t know who else can quote me on this, but ever since I started weighted pullups (palms facing me, shoulder width apart) my arms just started growing rapidly, along with a couple curl exercises thrown in for good measure.

I imagine that even though my back is doing most of the work, my arms are getting overloaded most of the time.

[quote]TKL.ca wrote:
keaster wrote:
Something is kinda stumping me. My arms are 14 inches flexed, unpumped (yeah they are small) and 12.5 unflexed. It’s kinda annoying because I put all this work in and only look like I have big arms (for me) when I flex. Any help would be great.

I don’t know who else can quote me on this, but ever since I started weighted pullups (palms facing me, shoulder width apart) my arms just started growing rapidly, along with a couple curl exercises thrown in for good measure.

I imagine that even though my back is doing most of the work, my arms are getting overloaded most of the time.

[/quote]

Why would someone throw a couple of curls in for good measure? What happened to just training your arms? Do you throw a couple of presses in for your chest…just for good measure? How about a couple of lateral raises for your delts…just for good measure?

Who made it unpopular to train arms and why does it make sense to give half ass attention to an entire muscle group?

[quote]Professor X wrote:
People are a little too gullible when they start following gems of training info like “don’t train arms directly”. It is time to step away from the computer and watch what people with muscular arms are actually doing for them. I am also wondering why it took you so long to figure out that yours weren’t growing.
[/quote]

True damn. I only figured out recently that at least some direct work is necessary.

Your ticket to the gunshow, by CT.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
TKL.ca wrote:
keaster wrote:
Something is kinda stumping me. My arms are 14 inches flexed, unpumped (yeah they are small) and 12.5 unflexed. It’s kinda annoying because I put all this work in and only look like I have big arms (for me) when I flex. Any help would be great.

I don’t know who else can quote me on this, but ever since I started weighted pullups (palms facing me, shoulder width apart) my arms just started growing rapidly, along with a couple curl exercises thrown in for good measure.

I imagine that even though my back is doing most of the work, my arms are getting overloaded most of the time.

Why would someone throw a couple of curls in for good measure? What happened to just training your arms? Do you throw a couple of presses in for your chest…just for good measure? How about a couple of lateral raises for your delts…just for good measure?

Who made it unpopular to train arms and why does it make sense to give half ass attention to an entire muscle group?[/quote]

Because my arms at the moment get enough work from pressing 3x a week and pulling about 3x a week with exercises like bench, rows, military press. I’m not part of the whole “don’t train arms directly crowd”, but at the moment my priority is on compound movements. Lateral raises? Not a good exercise for myself, that time/effort is better spent doing military presses. Nice assumptions about me (all made in one post of mine), but I work hard. I’m always growing, getting bigger and stronger, so think what you want to think.

Anyhow, I’m going to go eat.

[quote]TKL.ca wrote:
Professor X wrote:
TKL.ca wrote:
keaster wrote:
Something is kinda stumping me. My arms are 14 inches flexed, unpumped (yeah they are small) and 12.5 unflexed. It’s kinda annoying because I put all this work in and only look like I have big arms (for me) when I flex. Any help would be great.

I don’t know who else can quote me on this, but ever since I started weighted pullups (palms facing me, shoulder width apart) my arms just started growing rapidly, along with a couple curl exercises thrown in for good measure.

I imagine that even though my back is doing most of the work, my arms are getting overloaded most of the time.

Why would someone throw a couple of curls in for good measure? What happened to just training your arms? Do you throw a couple of presses in for your chest…just for good measure? How about a couple of lateral raises for your delts…just for good measure?

Who made it unpopular to train arms and why does it make sense to give half ass attention to an entire muscle group?

Because my arms at the moment get enough work from pressing 3x a week and pulling about 3x a week with exercises like bench, rows, military press. I’m not part of the whole “don’t train arms directly crowd”, but at the moment my priority is on compound movements. Lateral raises? Not a good exercise for myself, that time/effort is better spent doing military presses. Nice assumptions about me (all made in one post of mine), but I work hard. I’m always growing, getting bigger and stronger, so think what you want to think.

Anyhow, I’m going to go eat.
[/quote]

I will think what I want…and what I think is that any newbie who thinks he can avoid working his ENTIRE SHOULDER COMPLEX as if it isn’t needed is in for some imbalances later.

Apparently some trainer or author made it seem like you should ONLY concentrate on compound movements and avoid isolation exercises. That doesn’t make sense unless you plan to have imbalances that you will have to make up for later on.

There is no way in hell I would ever recommend someone avoid lateral raises. That doesn’t even make sense unless someone is so ridiculously weak that they need to just get their overall strength to “average” before they ever go any further.

Only doing military presses is a great way to get front delts that are out of proportion to everything else. But of course, you know better from all of your experience and amazing progress.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
TKL.ca wrote:
keaster wrote:
Something is kinda stumping me. My arms are 14 inches flexed, unpumped (yeah they are small) and 12.5 unflexed. It’s kinda annoying because I put all this work in and only look like I have big arms (for me) when I flex. Any help would be great.

I don’t know who else can quote me on this, but ever since I started weighted pullups (palms facing me, shoulder width apart) my arms just started growing rapidly, along with a couple curl exercises thrown in for good measure.

I imagine that even though my back is doing most of the work, my arms are getting overloaded most of the time.

Why would someone throw a couple of curls in for good measure? What happened to just training your arms? Do you throw a couple of presses in for your chest…just for good measure? How about a couple of lateral raises for your delts…just for good measure?

Who made it unpopular to train arms and why does it make sense to give half ass attention to an entire muscle group?[/quote]

I throw in a couple curls for good measure and a couple sets of lateral raises for good measure.

I rarely ever do more than 6 sets a week anymore for the middle delts or biceps anymore.

Most powerlifters I know don’t do much bicep or middle delt work either.

This generally maintains their size. If I feel like I want them bigger, I add in more work for them. It’s not that complicated. I don’t think theres something wrong with you that makes your arms that different when flexed vs. not flexed. Mine tend to be have a similar comparisn.

So quite simply, get your arms bigger by doing more arm work.

-MAtt

[quote]Professor X wrote:
TKL.ca wrote:
keaster wrote:

Why would someone throw a couple of curls in for good measure? [/quote]
Maybe if they changed their syntax and focus to read, “…for a better (cicumference) measure”

[quote]Professor X wrote:
TKL.ca wrote:
Professor X wrote:
TKL.ca wrote:
keaster wrote:
Something is kinda stumping me. My arms are 14 inches flexed, unpumped (yeah they are small) and 12.5 unflexed. It’s kinda annoying because I put all this work in and only look like I have big arms (for me) when I flex. Any help would be great.

I don’t know who else can quote me on this, but ever since I started weighted pullups (palms facing me, shoulder width apart) my arms just started growing rapidly, along with a couple curl exercises thrown in for good measure.

I imagine that even though my back is doing most of the work, my arms are getting overloaded most of the time.

Why would someone throw a couple of curls in for good measure? What happened to just training your arms? Do you throw a couple of presses in for your chest…just for good measure? How about a couple of lateral raises for your delts…just for good measure?

Who made it unpopular to train arms and why does it make sense to give half ass attention to an entire muscle group?

Because my arms at the moment get enough work from pressing 3x a week and pulling about 3x a week with exercises like bench, rows, military press. I’m not part of the whole “don’t train arms directly crowd”, but at the moment my priority is on compound movements. Lateral raises? Not a good exercise for myself, that time/effort is better spent doing military presses. Nice assumptions about me (all made in one post of mine), but I work hard. I’m always growing, getting bigger and stronger, so think what you want to think.

Anyhow, I’m going to go eat.

I will think what I want…and what I think is that any newbie who thinks he can avoid working his ENTIRE SHOULDER COMPLEX as if it isn’t needed is in for some imbalances later.

Apparently some trainer or author made it seem like you should ONLY concentrate on compound movements and avoid isolation exercises. That doesn’t make sense unless you plan to have imbalances that you will have to make up for later on.

There is no way in hell I would ever recommend someone avoid lateral raises. That doesn’t even make sense unless someone is so ridiculously weak that they need to just get their overall strength to “average” before they ever go any further.

Only doing military presses is a great way to get front delts that are out of proportion to everything else. But of course, you know better from all of your experience and amazing progress.
[/quote]

Listen to him, thread starter. I used to do only compound movements since a couple of months ago. The strengh gainst were good, but

1)My arms couldn’t support any more the weigh I was able to explosively raise
2)My arms and shoulders were underdevolped in comparison to the glutes, back and legs.

So do something.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Only doing military presses is a great way to get front delts that are out of proportion to everything else. [/quote]

Listen to this statement. Couple it with a lot of heavy benching and you’ll have some huge front delts and nothing else.

For the average trainee, without superior genetics, you need to train biceps directly to get them to grow. The same goes true for triceps, medial delts, forearms, calves, etc. Don’t expect everything to grow magically from compound movements alone.

here we go again curls in the squat rack… that will build big arms.