[quote]Pinto wrote:
As a powerlifter, you would hammer your triceps with board work, close grips, shirted work, and accessories. I question how much value I get out of extensions and pushdowns- but I still do them. In theory, your biceps and forearms will grow and get stronger from their passive roles in the big 3 lifts as well compund accessories like rows and chins. However, I have come to find that curls help with my recurring biceps tendonitis. I have also added wrist curls to help me hold the bar better when I bench (anything much over 500 bends my wrists way back) [/quote]
Agree completely. I didn’t do any direct bicep work for years and ended up with bicep tendonitis as well. Actually got stronger in the bench after doing bicep work regularily. I was doing heaps of chins @ 230lbs, and DB rows with 120lbs, but adding in DB curls with 25’s was what got me a bigger and suffering less pain.
You don’t need to do a massive amount of volume, but you need to do something direct eventually unless you’re lucky genetically. Why not start now?
[quote]acohn69 wrote:
if you train heavy compound lifts 3 x per week is it still neccesary to train your arms or will they still grow[/quote]
it’s very necessary, but I think you need to organize your training properly to emphasize the big movements first. But you don’t ignore direct arm work. Louie Simmons will tell you to hit the tris and bis hard for bench success.
Aside from what has been said already, the “cost” of adding a few sets of direct arm work at the end of a training session is low. It takes only little time and will hardly hamper your recovery if you don’t go overboard.
I think it’s a good idea to spend a bit of time on your arms if you want them to grow. I’ve stayed away from direct arm work and while I became strong and I grew overall, my arms stayed small. Adding just 3-4 sets/week of curls and 3-4 sets/week of triceps isolation improved my upper arm.
I’d say the same about including a 3-4 sets of lateral raises and 3-4 sets for rear delts to bring up shoulders.
A beginner could probably skip all of the above for 6-12 month and still have great unhindered progress.
[quote]elano wrote:
Dang, I’m definitely going to start training mine again. I went just basics for the past 6 months.
Will weighted dips be enough to make the triceps grow?
Will one 12rep set of curls work for me if im also doing chinups/pullups?
I just don’t want to take up a bunch of extra time.
[/quote]
If you don’t give a shit about looking physically impressive, then don’t bother.
You can have a thick chest, barndoor lats, abs like a Roman centurion, boulder shoulders and legs like tree trunks. But nothing impresses like a big pair of guns.
Nice thing is that since I’ve started training them, they’ve come along pretty quickly. 4-5 sets twice a week with a moderate rep count (6-10) and pushing for more weight seems to be doing the trick okay. Not that they’re anything to crow about now.
If your doing heavy compounds, a couple sets of a curl and extension wont kill you.
Having said that, its amazing how much strength carries over from compound to isolation when you don’t perform them for awhile. Just make sure when you add them in it doesn’t fatigue you from your other lifts the next training day!!!
I would say it depends. I don’t do any direct bicept work and don’t feel that it is necessary for anything but asthetics for me. I have very short upper arms and I would bet that this has something to do with it.
If you are already doing a sufficient amount of pressing and rowing or pulling movements you arms should be fine unless they are abnormally long.
If you are doing the proper compond movements I think you would be better served by doing lower arm movements. Grip work, wrist curls, rev wrist curls, and levering will all keep you elbows out of trouble and will also stimulate bicept growth and strength.
in 1 1/2 years just from bench and bb rows, and i still aint broke 200lbs bench yet 