The title says it all. Back and chest, not an issue, I can build them without a problem, granted it kills my arms (seeing as they are long), but that isn’t what I am talking about. My arms are way long, longer than they should be. My wing span is wider than that of people who are a few inches taller than I am. Hate it, however, it is what it is.
What advice, with regard to exercises or even frequency of training(how often to exercise them), would you give a person with long arms who is finding it hard to put on a little extra mass. I know someone will ask about diet, forget that for now, just give me some guidance on the exercises and techniques to help a long armed person increase his arm size some. Thanks in advance to all who answer.
first of all do not overtrain.Lets start out training arms once per week no more than 9 to 12 sets per muscle.Week one keep reps at 5-8 week two 12-15 week 3 reps at 15-20 than repeat.After a month of that bump your sets up to 12 to 14 note on light day 15-20 keep the sets at 9 no more.NOW THE BIG SECRET you will need to get a thick bar 2in incorporate it only on half your sets.ALSO VERY IMPORTANT when you squeeze the thick bar you must apply alot of force to the bar.This is going to cause extreme irridation thru out the arm and really hit all those muscles you are trying to get big.
Ive been training for 20 years studied every method out there and have seen it all.I know what works and what dosent.Im not trying to be cocky ive just put in my time and have always been serious about training and helping others reach there goals.One more thing i forgot to mention when using the big bar your weights will be alot lighter so dont get discouraged.Train like this for about 6 months then we will change things around again ,this is just the begining there is alot more to discuss but this is a good
start for now.Good luck and GOD BLESS
[quote]pw34 wrote:
first of all do not overtrain.Lets start out training arms once per week no more than 9 to 12 sets per muscle.Week one keep reps at 5-8 week two 12-15 week 3 reps at 15-20 than repeat.After a month of that bump your sets up to 12 to 14[/quote] 12-14 what… Work sets at the same weight, ramped sets including warm-ups, ramped sets without warm-ups, rest-paused sets, cluster sets… [quote] note on light day 15-20 keep the sets at 9 no more.NOW THE BIG SECRET you will need to get a thick bar 2in incorporate it only on half your sets.ALSO VERY IMPORTANT when you squeeze the thick bar you must apply alot of force to the bar.This is going to cause extreme irridation thru out the arm and really hit all those muscles you are trying to get big.
Ive been training for 20 years studied every method out there and have seen it all.I know what works and what dosent.Im not trying to be cocky ive just put in my time and have always been serious about training and helping others reach there goals.One more thing i forgot to mention when using the big bar your weights will be alot lighter so dont get discouraged.Train like this for about 6 months then we will change things around again ,this is just the begining there is alot more to discuss but this is a good
start for now.Good luck and GOD BLESS [/quote]
“Ive been training for 20 years studied every method out there and have seen it all.I know what works and what dosent.”
Weight: 210
Height: 6 '2
Body Fat %: 8.5
…
And that above is your universal arm routine or what? Not a mention of weight progression, exercise selection, etc… I’m glad you threw in the word “overtraining” though… And then went on about doing a ton of sets at low frequency. Very good. That is going to help the OP bring his Pin CGP numbers up to 405+ for reps, right?
[quote]diamonddelts59 wrote:
x2. IMHO lifting heavy on compound movements will help arms grow alone. i have 16 3/4 inch arms without ever directly training arms and im 6’5’'[/quote]
It would be easier to help you if you post your current split and talk a bit about the progress you’ve been making. I’m in pretty much the same boat as you, 5’10 with a 78" wingspan (average wingspan of a 6’6" individual). With my current “routine” my arms have been exploding and have stretch marks all over them up to 17.7" cold (18.5" pumped) from 16" at the beginning of the year. If you want big arms then you should do direct arm work.
I like to hit them 2x a week. For biceps/brachiallis, my staples are straight bar curls, hammer curls, 45 degree incline curls and reverse preacher curls. Triceps staples are Flat/Decline CGBP, french press, decline dead stop extensions (LOVE these), and decline dumbell extensions. 2 exercises for 3 sets for tri’s on chest/delts/tris day on mon/thurs, and 2 exercises for 3 sets for bi’s on wed/sat on back/bi’s day (legs tuesday and friday). Never really obsessed about always hitting certain rep ranges though looking at my log book I see a trend of sometimes 15-10-8, sometimes 12-8-5 when I decide to really bump up the weight on the last set and work my way back up to the higher rep range with it.
It’s not rocket science, the keys are hitting them with the highest frequency/volume that you can recover and keep getting stronger from, choosing the right exercises, executing them with proper form and getting as strong as you can on them in a moderate rep range (I like to stay between 5 and 15 most of the time). Always try to do more reps/weight each session and make sure you’re doing everything you can to optimize your recovery. Check out CT’s peri-workout nutrition thread if you haven’t already.
[quote]diamonddelts59 wrote:
Rocky101 wrote:
The length of your arms doesn’t matter as much as the length of the muscle bellies.
x2. IMHO lifting heavy on compound movements will help arms grow alone. i have 16 3/4 inch arms without ever directly training arms and im 6’5’'[/quote]
Probably shouldn’t giving out too much advice in the BB forum then… just saying
OP Long arms grow the same way short ones do. They just don’t look at good until theyre very large. I’m 5’7 with a 5’10 wingspan. My arms are about 17" at whatever bodyfat I’m at in the avatar and they don’t look big compared to the rest of me.
I’m 181cm with a 194cm wingspan and currently have a mid-arm relaxed measurement of 43-44cm (mid-point from acromion to elbow joint, so not even the peak
I believe in training each body part twice per week (see T-cell Modok’s thread for bodypart per week discussion).
Currently, I alternate between DB preacher curls and standing curls as my primary bicep exercises each workout (with hammer curls and pinwheels as my supplementals each session).
IMO for guys with longer arms, don’t lock out in the preacher curl, go pretty much all the way, but beyond a certain point in the ROM I always felt the tension slack off in biceps, so I just stopped doing that.
Similar for standing curl variants (although the preacher is my fav).
My fav rep range for biceps - all hard out sets - light warm-up, then 10RM, 2 or 3 x 4RM, then something like a 15RM to finish off before moving onto supplemental bicep exercise (others on this site, such as Modok if I remember right, prefer I higher rep range for bicep work, I respond to this).
Triceps: currently I’m using CGBP off pins (thought I’d listen to the cheeky German on this one for a while :-), and DB deadstops as my primary tricep exericises. Generally I prefer slightly higher reps than for biceps, but I’m still getting used to CGBP off pins so I don’t think I’m getting the most out of the exercise yet (only had it in my new program for 2 sessions at the mo).
[quote]kingbeef323 wrote:
It would be easier to help you if you post your current split and talk a bit about the progress you’ve been making. I’m in pretty much the same boat as you, 5’10 with a 78" wingspan (average wingspan of a 6’6" individual). With my current “routine” my arms have been exploding and have stretch marks all over them up to 17.7" cold (18.5" pumped) from 16" at the beginning of the year. If you want big arms then you should do direct arm work.
I like to hit them 2x a week. For biceps/brachiallis, my staples are straight bar curls, hammer curls, 45 degree incline curls and reverse preacher curls. Triceps staples are Flat/Decline CGBP, french press, decline dead stop extensions (LOVE these), and decline dumbell extensions. 2 exercises for 3 sets for tri’s on chest/delts/tris day on mon/thurs, and 2 exercises for 3 sets for bi’s on wed/sat on back/bi’s day (legs tuesday and friday). Never really obsessed about always hitting certain rep ranges though looking at my log book I see a trend of sometimes 15-10-8, sometimes 12-8-5 when I decide to really bump up the weight on the last set and work my way back up to the higher rep range with it.
It’s not rocket science, the keys are hitting them with the highest frequency/volume that you can recover and keep getting stronger from, choosing the right exercises, executing them with proper form and getting as strong as you can on them in a moderate rep range (I like to stay between 5 and 15 most of the time). Always try to do more reps/weight each session and make sure you’re doing everything you can to optimize your recovery. Check out CT’s peri-workout nutrition thread if you haven’t already.[/quote]
Good post…because I’m not sure anyone else here has arms as long as you.
You could wave at somebody and slap a plane out the sky.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
kingbeef323 wrote:
It would be easier to help you if you post your current split and talk a bit about the progress you’ve been making. I’m in pretty much the same boat as you, 5’10 with a 78" wingspan (average wingspan of a 6’6" individual). With my current “routine” my arms have been exploding and have stretch marks all over them up to 17.7" cold (18.5" pumped) from 16" at the beginning of the year. If you want big arms then you should do direct arm work.
I like to hit them 2x a week. For biceps/brachiallis, my staples are straight bar curls, hammer curls, 45 degree incline curls and reverse preacher curls. Triceps staples are Flat/Decline CGBP, french press, decline dead stop extensions (LOVE these), and decline dumbell extensions. 2 exercises for 3 sets for tri’s on chest/delts/tris day on mon/thurs, and 2 exercises for 3 sets for bi’s on wed/sat on back/bi’s day (legs tuesday and friday). Never really obsessed about always hitting certain rep ranges though looking at my log book I see a trend of sometimes 15-10-8, sometimes 12-8-5 when I decide to really bump up the weight on the last set and work my way back up to the higher rep range with it.
It’s not rocket science, the keys are hitting them with the highest frequency/volume that you can recover and keep getting stronger from, choosing the right exercises, executing them with proper form and getting as strong as you can on them in a moderate rep range (I like to stay between 5 and 15 most of the time). Always try to do more reps/weight each session and make sure you’re doing everything you can to optimize your recovery. Check out CT’s peri-workout nutrition thread if you haven’t already.
Good post…because I’m not sure anyone else here has arms as long as you.
You could wave at somebody and slap a plane out the sky.[/quote]
hahahahaha!
Yah…kingbeef, every time I see your avatar I can’t help but notice how long your arm is.
[quote]waylanderxx wrote:
Professor X wrote:
kingbeef323 wrote:
It would be easier to help you if you post your current split and talk a bit about the progress you’ve been making. I’m in pretty much the same boat as you, 5’10 with a 78" wingspan (average wingspan of a 6’6" individual). With my current “routine” my arms have been exploding and have stretch marks all over them up to 17.7" cold (18.5" pumped) from 16" at the beginning of the year. If you want big arms then you should do direct arm work.
I like to hit them 2x a week. For biceps/brachiallis, my staples are straight bar curls, hammer curls, 45 degree incline curls and reverse preacher curls. Triceps staples are Flat/Decline CGBP, french press, decline dead stop extensions (LOVE these), and decline dumbell extensions. 2 exercises for 3 sets for tri’s on chest/delts/tris day on mon/thurs, and 2 exercises for 3 sets for bi’s on wed/sat on back/bi’s day (legs tuesday and friday). Never really obsessed about always hitting certain rep ranges though looking at my log book I see a trend of sometimes 15-10-8, sometimes 12-8-5 when I decide to really bump up the weight on the last set and work my way back up to the higher rep range with it.
It’s not rocket science, the keys are hitting them with the highest frequency/volume that you can recover and keep getting stronger from, choosing the right exercises, executing them with proper form and getting as strong as you can on them in a moderate rep range (I like to stay between 5 and 15 most of the time). Always try to do more reps/weight each session and make sure you’re doing everything you can to optimize your recovery. Check out CT’s peri-workout nutrition thread if you haven’t already.
Good post…because I’m not sure anyone else here has arms as long as you.
You could wave at somebody and slap a plane out the sky.
hahahahaha!
Yah…kingbeef, every time I see your avatar I can’t help but notice how long your arm is. :)[/quote]
dude I feel your pain I am 6’5" with 6.5 inch wrists.
what works for my triceps is flat bench dumbell presses with neutral grip, with elbows tucked
and overhead pin presses (look it up in the best of triceps thread) cable pushdowns did not give me any tricep mass and skull crushers hurt my elbows so I dont do them
for biceps straight bar curls, dumbell preacher curls and stand dumbell curl (alternate with standing hammer curls)
I have put some significant mass on my arms by doing these exercises. the most improtant thing is the keep going heavier over time.
[quote]montez wrote:
dude I feel your pain I am 6’5" with 6.5 inch wrists.
what works for my triceps is flat bench dumbell presses with neutral grip, with elbows tucked
and overhead pin presses (look it up in the best of triceps thread) cable pushdowns did not give me any tricep mass and skull crushers hurt my elbows so I dont do them [/quote] The traditional skullcrusher is terrible on the elbows, but there are various extension/pullover hybrids that work very well and are fairly elbow friendly.
DSE’s, PJR’s, Larry Scott Extensions…
I’d get some elbow sleeves though (EFS, Tommy Konos, APT’s… Not the convict sleeves, though.), no need to wait for an injury/tendonitis to happen before you start wearing them. They can make all the difference in the world. [quote]
for biceps straight bar curls, dumbell preacher curls and stand dumbell curl (alternate with standing hammer curls)
I have put some significant mass on my arms by doing these exercises. the most improtant thing is the keep going heavier over time.[/quote]
[quote]GluteusGigantis wrote:
Train hard and be patient.
I’m 181cm with a 194cm wingspan and currently have a mid-arm relaxed measurement of 43-44cm (mid-point from acromion to elbow joint, so not even the peak [/quote] We usually measure arms flexed in bodybuilding [quote]
I believe in training each body part twice per week (see T-cell Modok’s thread for bodypart per week discussion).
Currently, I alternate between DB preacher curls and standing curls as my primary bicep exercises each workout (with hammer curls and pinwheels as my supplementals each session).
IMO for guys with longer arms, don’t lock out in the preacher curl, go pretty much all the way, but beyond a certain point in the ROM I always felt the tension slack off in biceps, so I just stopped doing that.
Similar for standing curl variants (although the preacher is my fav).
My fav rep range for biceps - all hard out sets - light warm-up, then 10RM, 2 or 3 x 4RM, then something like a 15RM to finish off before moving onto supplemental bicep exercise (others on this site, such as Modok if I remember right, prefer I higher rep range for bicep work, I respond to this).
Triceps: currently I’m using CGBP off pins (thought I’d listen to the cheeky German on this one for a while , and DB deadstops as my primary tricep exericises. Generally I prefer slightly higher reps than for biceps, but I’m still getting used to CGBP off pins so I don’t think I’m getting the most out of the exercise yet (only had it in my new program for 2 sessions at the mo). [/quote] Technique and setup is everything in those tricep pressing exercises imo… Guess you’ll need to set the pins higher than I do as well if you have longer arms (never measured my wing-span, but I’m guessing that I’m in the short to mid range there)[quote]
Drag curls and a hammer curl variation I recently came up with that I am calling axe curls.Take a typical curl bar or 4 foot Oly bar and only put weight on one side, then stand it up and grab under the collar on the other end of the weight and curl it like a hammer curl.I go straight up or in towards chest.Also try grabbing on the collar and doing like a 1/2 or 3/4 curl.
Anyone use Zottman curls in their arm-routine? I recently added them and they’re giving me a nasty arm pump but it’s only been two weeks so I can’t report on any true arm development from them, yet.
I sense a new hostility in your posts CC. Are the recent abundance of ridiculous posts finally getting to you? It’s like X has calmed down and you took over his residual aggression. Weird shit.
