Should i Work My Arms Directly?

Recently I have read about how much compound lifts are the best for building muscles, so I exclusively did compound lifts only, to tell you the truth, I am getting strong, really stronger and that’s a good thing. however I am worried about my biceps and triceps since I stopped working them directly. I don’t see my arms getting smaller or anything but I don’t feel any soreness at all in them the next day. which led me to think that I probably should work them directly instead of relying on the indirect work of compound lifts. am I doing the right thing by going back to isolating them? or should i just keep doing compounds and they will grow?

I will be honest here, my goal is to look ripped, I just want to look good walking on the beach. so what should I do? what routine should I follow?

Yes. As simple as I can put it.
It depends what your split is like. I don’t necessarily think you need an “arm” day, again, depending on your goals. But some direct work for arms should be in your program.

Yes you need to train arms.

I went almost 2 years with no direct arm work. Only chins/dips ect. I has taken me almost 3 years of catch up to finally get my arms in balance with the rest of my physique.

I would strongly suggest an arm only day. And depended how bad they are train them 2x a week.

My arms always shrunk when I quit training them in favor of doing just compound lifts. I also don’t believe your arms will grow (more or as much) from doing just basic lifts.

If you want a muscle to grow to its full potential at least some isolation helps for certain muscle groups (posterior delts and arms for example)

I personally do a shit ton of lockout work for my bench, (close grip work, jm presses, floor presses, all of my benching is somewhat narrow or even very close grip with a large arch, elbows tucked, pull the bar apart, lowering to stomach, ect) and can get away without doing some extensions/curls at the end, but my triceps need to be as big and strong as possible. Along with my elbows getting destroyed incredibly if I don’t do curls so I always do direct work at the end if I have any energy left.

Yes

Yes

[quote]Jscoope wrote:
Yes. As simple as I can put it.
It depends what your split is like. I don’t necessarily think you need an “arm” day, again, depending on your goals. But some direct work for arms should be in your program. [/quote]

Agreed!

As has been said a bajillion times so far, if you’re training for size or appearance, you should train them directly.

However…

[quote]funckygarcon wrote:
however I am worried about my biceps and triceps since I stopped working them directly. I don’t see my arms getting smaller or anything but I don’t feel any soreness at all in them the next day. which led me to think that I probably should work them directly …[/quote]
That’s not why you should train them. Soreness is not an indicator of progress.

What does your current training week look like - days, exercises, sets, and reps?

[quote]Jscoope wrote:
Yes. As simple as I can put it.
It depends what your split is like. I don’t necessarily think you need an “arm” day, again, depending on your goals. But some direct work for arms should be in your program. [/quote]

i thought so too. however everywhere i go people have been telling me that i don’t need it. i’m just confused

[quote]Waittz wrote:
I went almost 2 years with no direct arm work. Only chins/dips ect. I has taken me almost 3 years of catch up to finally get my arms in balance with the rest of my physique.

I would strongly suggest an arm only day. And depended how bad they are train them 2x a week.

[/quote]

wow, sounds like a bad experience. and i needed to hear it from someone who skipped isolation to be sure.

[quote]funckygarcon wrote:

[quote]Waittz wrote:
I went almost 2 years with no direct arm work. Only chins/dips ect. I has taken me almost 3 years of catch up to finally get my arms in balance with the rest of my physique.

I would strongly suggest an arm only day. And depended how bad they are train them 2x a week.

[/quote]

wow, sounds like a bad experience. and i needed to hear it from someone who skipped isolation to be sure.
[/quote]

I stopped training arms directly for about 6 months, the first 2-3 months was because of triceps tendinitis but I just got in the habit of not training them. They atrophied a bit in spite of the rest of the upper body training I was doing. If you want bigger arms then yes you should train them directly.

[quote]MytchBucanan wrote:
My arms always shrunk when I quit training them in favor of doing just compound lifts. I also don’t believe your arms will grow (more or as much) from doing just basic lifts.[/quote]

but professional body builders like Arnold Shwarzenneger said that the base of their impressive bodies is compound lifts, some of them like Greg Park went even further to say that isolation is a waste of time. now i’m just confused

[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
As has been said a bajillion times so far, if you’re training for size or appearance, you should train them directly.

However…

[quote]funckygarcon wrote:
however I am worried about my biceps and triceps since I stopped working them directly. I don’t see my arms getting smaller or anything but I don’t feel any soreness at all in them the next day. which led me to think that I probably should work them directly …[/quote]
That’s not why you should train them. Soreness is not an indicator of progress.

What does your current training week look like - days, exercises, sets, and reps?[/quote]

my current routine is all compound: the major 6:- squat, bench, rows, military press, deadlift and pull ups (chin ups too) + minor compound lifts. my sets are 3x8 reps

[quote]funckygarcon wrote:

[quote]MytchBucanan wrote:
My arms always shrunk when I quit training them in favor of doing just compound lifts. I also don’t believe your arms will grow (more or as much) from doing just basic lifts.[/quote]

but professional body builders like Arnold Shwarzenneger said that the base of their impressive bodies is compound lifts, some of them like Greg Park went even further to say that isolation is a waste of time. now i’m just confused
[/quote]

Well guys bigger than them do isolation and I actually think it would be hard to prove they didn’t do it either. When recommending to beginners you emphasize the compound lifts otherwise they will be lazy and just do isolation. If you got the compound movements down then add isolation.

[quote]funckygarcon wrote:

[quote]MytchBucanan wrote:
My arms always shrunk when I quit training them in favor of doing just compound lifts. I also don’t believe your arms will grow (more or as much) from doing just basic lifts.[/quote]

but professional body builders like Arnold Shwarzenneger said that the base of their impressive bodies is compound lifts, some of them like Greg Park went even further to say that isolation is a waste of time. now i’m just confused
[/quote]

Compound lifts ARE the base. Show me where Arnold said don’t use isolation lifts IN ADDITION TO compound lifts? Hell, they show him doing bicep curls in Pumping Iron, if it wasn’t already obvious enough that he worked out his arms. I think you’re not understanding what the word ‘base’ means.

Use both. This thread should have been over half a dozen posts ago, you got a very clear, unanimous answer. Go lift weights.

[quote]funckygarcon wrote:
but professional body builders like Arnold Shwarzenneger said that the base of their impressive bodies is compound lifts[/quote]
The base. As in, the majority of a foundation. Like the base of a good omelet is eggs, but you’re going obviously to include cheese, peppers, onions, and some bacon or sausage.

It’s not an either/or situation when we’re talking about exercises for building muscle. A bunch of compound exercises plus some isolation exercises equals a strong, muscular body.

It’s Reg Park. And I don’t recall him ever saying/writing that they were “a waste of time.” In his book, “Strength & Bulk Training for Weight Lifters and Body Builders”, he specifically includes direct biceps and triceps work (after six months of building a foundation of mostly compound exercises).

Again, it’s about putting most of your energies towards compound lifts while including some isolation work, not overemphasizing the little stuff while neglecting the bigger, harder, more challenging work.

This tells me nothing. You do all these exercises every day you go to the gym or what? Also, what the hell are “minor compound lifts”?

Yes.

The number of bodybuilders who have built truly impressive arms without the use of direct arm exercises is exceedingly small (so few that I honestly can’t think of a single example) and those individuals are going to be the absolute top .000001% of the population (in other words incredibly genetically gifted in the arms department).

You are clearly not this person (or else you wouldn’t be asking this question), so stop trying to follow their example. Stick with what has worked successfully for thousands of amateur and professional BB’ers and do direct arm work.

And if you are going places that are telling you to avoid isolation work and only do compounds to get big arms, you are going to the wrong places for bodybuilding advice.

[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:

[quote]funckygarcon wrote:
but professional body builders like Arnold Shwarzenneger said that the base of their impressive bodies is compound lifts[/quote]
The base. As in, the majority of a foundation. Like the base of a good omelet is eggs, but you’re going obviously to include cheese, peppers, onions, and some bacon or sausage.

It’s not an either/or situation when we’re talking about exercises for building muscle. A bunch of compound exercises plus some isolation exercises equals a strong, muscular body.

It’s Reg Park. And I don’t recall him ever saying/writing that they were “a waste of time.” In his book, “Strength & Bulk Training for Weight Lifters and Body Builders”, he specifically includes direct biceps and triceps work (after six months of building a foundation of mostly compound exercises).

Again, it’s about putting most of your energies towards compound lifts while including some isolation work, not overemphasizing the little stuff while neglecting the bigger, harder, more challenging work.

This tells me nothing. You do ll these exercises every day you go to the gym or what? Also, what the hell are “minor compound lifts”?[/quote]

this is my current routine:-

-abs:- (included in each day)
Toe Touches 20x3
Elbow to Knee 50x3
Plate Twist 30x3

Day one
-Chest:-
Decline Dumbbell Press 8x3
Barbell Bench Press - Medium Grip 8x3
Lying Front Raise And Pullover 8x3
Straight-Arm Dumbbell Pullover 8x3
-Back:-
Barbell Deadlift 8x3
Hyperextensions 20x3
One-Arm Dumbbell Row 8x3
Seated Cable Rows 8x3

Day Two
-Shoulders:-
Arnold Dumbbell Press 8x3
Barbell Shoulder Press 8x3
Dumbbell One-Arm Upright Row 8x3
Standing Palm-In One-Arm Dumbbell Press 8x3
-lats:-
Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown (or Pull Ups to failure) 8x3
Chin-Ups(failure) x3
Kneeling High Pulley Row 8x3

Day Three
-Hams:-
Power Clean 8x3
Romanian Deadlift 8x3
-Quads:-
Barbell Full Squat 8x3
Dumbbell Lunges 8x3
Dumbbell Step Ups 8x3