Why Do We Work Arms Separately?

Also I would argue alot of this has to due with how big you are and what your levers look like.

If you are of smaller stature with shorter arms, it will be much easier to get them yoked up than someone with monkey arms.

If I were 6’5 and could scratch my knee without bending over, you better believe I’d have an arm day, maybe 2.

[quote]c.m.l. wrote:
I have some on my profile
[/quote]

Very solid physique.

S

Do you need an “arm day”? No.

If you want big arms should you train them directly? Yes.

Do arms get stimulation from heavy pulling and pressing? Yes.

Has this thread and discussion happened a million times already on F Nation? Yes.

Can you get built and jacked from full body routine? Yes.

Are people who say that you can’t just big dummy birds? Yes :wink:

[quote]c.m.l. wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]c.m.l. wrote:
I haven’t had a dedicated arm day in years. I do isolation work for tri’s on push day and bi’s on pull day and my arms aren’t lagging at all. Granted I’m arm dominant and they get blasted during the workout itself, either way I don’t think a whole workout is necessary but some isolation is.[/quote]

That all depends on how big your arms are.

Please show pictures.[/quote]

I have some on my profile
[/quote]

What do you do for hammys?

[quote]I began training arms on their own day and they responded very well and outgrew all of my other body parts. Then I stopped training them directly altogether due to a bout of tendinitis, when I could train them again I added them in to other days ie. back/bi’s, chest/delts/tri’s, and they didn’t budge. I added an arm day back in again about a year ago and they are just now up to speed and on par with the rest of my development.

I need a specific arm day for sustained progress, I sure this isn’t the case for everyone. For example I NEVER isolate. Glutes or pay them any special attention and they are by far my most developed/genetically most responsive body part (could have been quads but noooo).[/quote]

Perhaps what we are seeing here is a case of sudden variation producing sudden gains? You don’t usually have a dedicated arm day, and they’re loving the attention?

[quote]Der_Steppenwolfe wrote:

[quote]I began training arms on their own day and they responded very well and outgrew all of my other body parts. Then I stopped training them directly altogether due to a bout of tendinitis, when I could train them again I added them in to other days ie. back/bi’s, chest/delts/tri’s, and they didn’t budge. I added an arm day back in again about a year ago and they are just now up to speed and on par with the rest of my development.

I need a specific arm day for sustained progress, I sure this isn’t the case for everyone. For example I NEVER isolate. Glutes or pay them any special attention and they are by far my most developed/genetically most responsive body part (could have been quads but noooo).[/quote]

Perhaps what we are seeing here is a case of sudden variation producing sudden gains? You don’t usually have a dedicated arm day, and they’re loving the attention?[/quote]

The gains have been consistent and have, if anything, gotten more pronounced since I reverted back to it over a year ago. What you’re saying may have some merit but it is what works for me.

I’m sure I could answer 99% of threads around here with ‘Everyone’s different, you have to find what works for you.’

Anyone tried out “feeder” workouts? I just did this on arms today. Seemed to work out some of the soreness.

[quote]Ripsaw3689 wrote:

Anyone tried out “feeder” workouts? I just did this on arms today. Seemed to work out some of the soreness.[/quote]

One of the authors here (I think Waterbury) suggested this several years ago, though he didn’t call them feeder workouts. I tried them for a while back then but haven’t done them in a long time. I agree that they felt good and did seem to help the soreness dissipate more quickly.

[quote]c.m.l. wrote:
Also I would argue alot of this has to due with how big you are and what your levers look like.

If you are of smaller stature with shorter arms, it will be much easier to get them yoked up than someone with monkey arms.

If I were 6’5 and could scratch my knee without bending over, you better believe I’d have an arm day, maybe 2.[/quote]
somebody gets it!
im 6’5" and I HAVE to train arms directly with tons of volume or they never grew. and im a guys who does very heavy back workouts

[quote]lemony2j wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]c.m.l. wrote:
I haven’t had a dedicated arm day in years. I do isolation work for tri’s on push day and bi’s on pull day and my arms aren’t lagging at all. Granted I’m arm dominant and they get blasted during the workout itself, either way I don’t think a whole workout is necessary but some isolation is.[/quote]

That all depends on how big your arms are.

Please show pictures.[/quote]

That’s rich, all this talk about your hyooge back and I’m struggling to remember seeing anything other than the usual most-muscular-selfie.[/quote]

He has posted a pic of his back. Pretty hyooge.

[quote]Ripsaw3689 wrote:

Anyone tried out “feeder” workouts? I just did this on arms today. Seemed to work out some of the soreness.[/quote]

Lol, i’m literally just about to start trying them after watching that vid last week!

Going to do L Raises & Rear Delt Swings, 3 sets x 100 reps before back today.

[quote]RATTLEHEAD wrote:

[quote]Ripsaw3689 wrote:

Anyone tried out “feeder” workouts? I just did this on arms today. Seemed to work out some of the soreness.[/quote]

Lol, i’m literally just about to start trying them after watching that vid last week!

Going to do L Raises & Rear Delt Swings, 3 sets x 100 reps before back today.[/quote]
Dude looks like some feeder workouts for his legs wouldnt go astray…

[quote]The gains have been consistent and have, if anything, gotten more pronounced since I reverted back to it over a year ago. What you’re saying may have some merit but it is what works for me.

I’m sure I could answer 99% of threads around here with ‘Everyone’s different, you have to find what works for you.’[/quote]
I wouldn’t dream of contradicting you- I’m just wondering about doing it myself at some point.
My arms are obstinately lagging behind as I progress beyond the 360 pound deadlift mark into uncharted territory, and I’d quite like bigger ones.

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:

[quote]c.m.l. wrote:
I have some on my profile
[/quote]

Very solid physique.

S[/quote]

Thanks, those were from an RMP back around april, I’ve since put on several lean lbs that I’ve kept, at my heaviest I was about 15 lbs over on that pic, which is no small difference when you are 5’8

[quote]Ripsaw3689 wrote:

[quote]c.m.l. wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]c.m.l. wrote:
I haven’t had a dedicated arm day in years. I do isolation work for tri’s on push day and bi’s on pull day and my arms aren’t lagging at all. Granted I’m arm dominant and they get blasted during the workout itself, either way I don’t think a whole workout is necessary but some isolation is.[/quote]

That all depends on how big your arms are.

Please show pictures.[/quote]

I have some on my profile
[/quote]

What do you do for hammys?
[/quote]

Lots, they are one of my favorite. As for isolation lots of knee flexion: single leg TRX leg curls, leg curls with slider pads (awesome), glute hams wherever I can rig them up, DB leg curls lying on a bench and holding it with my feet, and the occasional drop set on the leg curl machine.

Also lots of hip extension, not so much in the way of heavy stiff legged deadlifts as I have short levers and a long spine but real heavy glute bridges, hip thrusts, KB swings, and pull thru’s

Gotta ask how you do pull throughs and hit your hamstrings because, for me, and as I understand the movement, it is designed to be glute-specific. I feel nothing but glute on pull throughs.

Hammies do two main things: lower part flexes the knee while upper hams are a hip extensor; when you extend your hips they help.

Bend over as far as you can and get a good stretch while keeping your back right and let your hands go far between your legs, you may not feel it in an incredible fashion but they are there.

[quote]c.m.l. wrote:
Hammies do two main things: lower part flexes the knee while upper hams are a hip extensor; when you extend your hips they help.

Bend over as far as you can and get a good stretch while keeping your back right and let your hands go far between your legs, you may not feel it in an incredible fashion but they are there.[/quote]

You look in proportion…but I am not sure why you think arms don’t need direct training.

Your own don’t have that level of size they would have if you didn’t think this way. I could see your point of view if arms were simply some freaky body part for you that grew from nothing…

Either way, good work overall no doubt.

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]c.m.l. wrote:
Hammies do two main things: lower part flexes the knee while upper hams are a hip extensor; when you extend your hips they help.

Bend over as far as you can and get a good stretch while keeping your back right and let your hands go far between your legs, you may not feel it in an incredible fashion but they are there.[/quote]

You look in proportion…but I am not sure why you think arms don’t need direct training.

Your own don’t have that level of size they would have if you didn’t think this way. I could see your point of view if arms were simply some freaky body part for you that grew from nothing…

Either way, good work overall no doubt.[/quote]

Thanks, but I didn’t say that they didn’t need any direct training; I’m certainly not in the camp that compound movements are the be-all and end-all for bodybuilding.

I’m a big fan of single joint isolation stuff, I just don’t dedicate an entire session to arms, I merely add bi’s to the end of back day and tri’s to the end of chest day, each of which occurs 2x per week. But then again I’m not sportin’ bazooka’s either.

For better or worse I don’t really do ‘deload’ days and a dedicated arm session would be hard to get CNS stimulation IMO.

Again I’m sure others would definitely benefit from a dedicated arm day but for me personally, I have to focus on not letting bi’s or tri’s dominate my pulls and pushes respectively. Not everyone falls into the same category, I’m just sharing what I do. I surmise alot of it has to do with ones dimensions, particularly lever length.

Edit: just to share, for the last few weeks I’ve been finishing off with some of that occlusion training I read about recently for bi’s and tri’s (and quads); it gives about the meanest pump. The idea seemed kinda gimicky at first, but I’m beginning to think there is something to it. I feel it in parts of my arm or leg I usually just wouldn’t.

Work dem boys separately to show dem off in mirrorz.