Arms Giving Out First

Hey guys, i dont know if this have been covered before and i appologise if it has, but whenever im lifting for chest, shoulders, or upper back, my arms crap out before either of the muscle groups im trying to work does, is this normal? could it be because ive got bad form?

This is not uncommon and by arms i am assuming you mean triceps. a lot of people’s chests are stronger in proportion than their triceps meaning that on things such as bench press their triceps prevent them from getting the most out of the movement. a good way to fix this is to focus on exercises that will bring your triceps up to par. use close-grip bench press, skull crushers and close-grip weighted dips.

I think Christian Thibaudeau’s latest article has come just in time for you. follow it with these (and other) triceps stimulating exercises and you should be over that hump in 6-8 weeks.

[quote]trailer36 wrote:
This is not uncommon and by arms i am assuming you mean triceps. a lot of people’s chests are stronger in proportion than their triceps meaning that on things such as bench press their triceps prevent them from getting the most out of the movement. a good way to fix this is to focus on exercises that will bring your triceps up to par. use close-grip bench press, skull crushers and close-grip weighted dips.

I think Christian Thibaudeau’s latest article has come just in time for you. follow it with these (and other) triceps stimulating exercises and you should be over that hump in 6-8 weeks.[/quote]

i definitely agree with this. this is the long term solution. also you may want to incorporate some pre-exhaust methods into your workouts if you do not feel like you are sufficiently working your chest. Such as a set of flat bench dumbell flyes straight into flat bench barbell press (incline as well) or cable crossovers into flat bench db press. i won’t go into the explanation of how pre-exhuast works because you probably already know but it’s a great method short term method to get some extra stimulation for your chest.

I just have to jump on the bandwagon: close grip bench and dips are your friend.

thanks for the advice guys, ill give it a shot!

Increase the GPP of your arms by working them a couple of extra times per week, not to failure and just 2 sets of 20…

not to be totally retarded on my suggestion. But …

I assume you are doing the compound chest and back movements first and not supersetting them with some arm exercises.

I agree with the other folks long term advice, but I would like to offer a piece of short term advice.

First, look at your form. Are you benching with your elbows almost to your sides? You may need to move them out a bit. You may also want to experiment with a wider grip in the short term. Try mixing it up with narrow, normal and wide grips. This may allow you to bring up all the muscles in a reasonable fashion.

Remember there are an incalculable number of variables when it comes to this stuff. Work with them.

Also I am currently workingmy way through “Kelso’s shrug book” you may want to look into this book and the Kelso shrug. I want to tell you I have not yet applied it to my workout so they may suck. But give it a shot.

Good luck and stay after it