Best arm routine you've used?

[TheOak84]

I cant completely discredit cock diesel. When my arms were 17 3/4 I was doing cheat barbell curls with 185x9 and 205x3. Of course that was "cheat", using body momentum. Theyre nearly 19" now, but I havent done barbell curls in a while do to my back issues. Ive done strict preachers with 160x10, and that was a while ago also. Biceps have always been a strong point for me. Im nowhere near 240 though. Im maybe around 200 now and was lighter when I hit those lifts. Depending on how strictly the lift is done, that makes a huge difference. One thing I like about preachers is that they are more accurate for determining bicep strength IMO. I can hit hammer curls with the 120's, but that uses body momentum as well.

this could be true, my short ass did 185x2 once, kinda sloppy yes, but i also did it just to see if i can get it up w/o cracking my ass in half

 

[Lee]

5x5 was awesome for my shoudlers and arms. sucked for chest and back though, but thats just me.

 

[DanielMacKeigan0101]

Thanks man, I too belive it's only a matter of time before I can hit some serious lifts. I have the determination and the mindset to do it, it's just a matter of how much force my muscles can put out. I don't know if you've tried this before, but psyching yourself up before a lift can really boost your potential power. Myself, I get the linkin park figure 09 pumping and get really angry and just let it all out on the weights. You should try it, it's helped me tremendously. Prior to adapting this mindset I could only bench about 160 with good form, and I was stuck at that weight for a while, mostly because other people told me that I could not go past that, and I believed them. As we all know, it's people like this that keep us from reaching our potential. I read an article recently on a website called www.abcbodybuilding.com on this topic of unleashing your potential, it is called "shock yourself out of the comfort zone". It is a very good read if you are interested in becoming far more powerful than ever before. There are three parts to this article all go very in depth, and analyze such issues as genetic limitations and hyperplasia. The link is http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/shockedoutofthecomfortzone3.php . This site also offers a great deal of nutrition, anatomy and fitness information, as well as tonnes of training programs and fully animated exercises. I hope this helps you in your conquest to break through the 400 lb barrier. Sincerely, Daniel.

 

[Madcow2]

I don't know if you've tried this before, but psyching yourself up before a lift can really boost your potential power.

One thing to keep in mind is that psyching and emotional arrousal play a big role in overtraining by wearing down the CNS. I'm not saying don't do it, but you have to use this sparingly in the context of an overall program. Every lifter is different in this and it can be hard to manage. I train with 100% focus but only as much arrousal as I need to execute my given plan for the day. As one of my programs progresses and the load increases along with the intensity (% of 1RM) I will call upon the extra reserves as required. Towards the final stages, I might need everything I have. Obviously, testing and competition days require everything for a max lift but even then this needs to be timed as you don't want to waste too much on a routine opener.

Plenty of advanced programs in use have these specific words written right in them: "Work up to an unpsyched max." It's not so much the max that drains a lifter but calling upon the extra reserves and consistently overstimulating the CNS through psyching and emotional arrousal. Of course other big ones for not making progress are training to failure, training a bodypart infrequently, and doing boatloads of useless assitance work but these are other topics.

 

[DanielMacKeigan0101]

One thing to keep in mind is that psyching and emotional arrousal play a big role in overtraining by wearing down the CNS."

I did not even think about this, thanks for filling me in. Do you think it would be too much for the CNS to handle calling upon this once an exercise session. I usually only do this at the end of my chest workout to see how many times I can bench 250 (aside from my usual 10). I work my chest once or twice a week, it all depends. My workout schedule is somewhat planned but, in a lot of regards it's totally random. Do you think that this would decrease recovery?

 

[WalkingBeast]

Summon the powers!! Its the nature of the fuckin beast!! KILL THOSE SHITS!!

 

[DanielMacKeigan0101]

Good call on that one beast. It's such a rush after you do obscene ammounts of reps with high weights(for your size) it keeps me coming back for more. I really love the high intensity, high volume training method it really keeps me pumped all day long. I keep getting urges to workout in the middle of school, and cannot wait until I do workout when I get home. I cannot wait until next months powerlifting competition at the YMCA, so I can unleash the furry in every competition. It will be my first competition and I am highly excited to see what they're all about. As far as I'm concerned it's max effort or no effort every time I exercise. I will take that attitude in there, and see what happens. I'll try to cut down a little bit to get in a lower weight class and see what I'm really capable of. I'll fill you in on the results after the competition, I need an opinion on how I can improve further. There's always that next level of fitness, and as long as I can push out one more rep, I will continue to raise the bar and push myself to DESTROY my goals. After talking about this, I need to workout soon, I'm psyched up too much to sit around.

 

[Madcow2]

I did not even think about this, thanks for filling me in. Do you think it would be too much for the CNS to handle calling upon this once an exercise session. I usually only do this at the end of my chest workout to see how many times I can bench 250 (aside from my usual 10). I work my chest once or twice a week, it all depends. My workout schedule is somewhat planned but, in a lot of regards it's totally random. Do you think that this would decrease recovery?

Not to throw a big dampener on your fun but high reps, training to failure (this one specifically is one of the few things with almost universal acceptence), and burnout sets are pretty much counter productive to increased strength and muscle growth. You mention the pump they provide, and they are good for this, but the pump is right there with soreness as totally uncorrelated to progress in either strength or increased size. Yeah, more blood is there in the short term but that means nothing to growth. On top of that a muscle is far more likely to tear when infused with a threshhold amount of blood.

A lot of people like to train in this fashion but it doesn't lend it self to making optimal progress. These people work hard but more important is to first work smart and then work hard (fast speed in the wrong direction doesn't win a race).

This is the Johnsmith182 Tribute Sticky - it is excellent reading for those looking to get some insight into how some of the best strength and conditioning coaches in the world work:
http://forum.mesomorphosis.com/showthread.php?t=12

This recent post of mine here provides some good sources on training info toward the bottom:
http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showpost.php?p=4323293&postcount=3

This is the Meso Training board. I would read over the stickies here to get some condenced, solid info on training.
http://forum.mesomorphosis.com/forumdisplay.php?f=3

 

[DanielMacKeigan0101]

Thanks for the advice, since strength is my main goal, I should take heed to this advice.
I'll definitely check the links out, because I want to get as strong as possible, I really do not care much for size, I just want to be strong. I'm currently doing the 5X5 program to try and get some more strength, it seems pretty decent so far, but I prefer higher volume training. Basically I just love to kill the weights. So, hopefully, there will be a better program more suited to my need for high volume training on your link. Thanks for your advice, I'm fairly new to this game so I'll takle all the advice I can get.

 

[Madcow2]

If pure strength is your interest, I can't think of anyone in the world that would recommend that high rep/high volume/train to failure type of training. Get very used to low reps with almost nothing ever getting to 8 and more frequently reps in the 3-5 range. Also get used to more sets and training that is just hugely different than what you are doing now.

I took a brief look at the 5x5 program that was in the sticky post on this site and it doesn't match what is more traditionally used and looked like someone just took some basics and threw it together. If you read the Johnsmith182 thread, the first 2 topics setup a 5x5 fairly well. I wrote something along those lines for someone a while ago (it's in the link below). This program is excellent for strength and is much more typical of the type of training you should be doing. You should also get familiar with the links in my post that I linked above. Louie Simmons and Dave Tate's works (West Side Barbell/ www.elitefts.com / www.deepsquatter.com have a bunch of stuff) are also good reading. A lot of their stuff is based on the russion works also referenced in my other post.

Here is the 5x5 program I posted a while back. I think I originally wrote it to a bodybuilder so it might have a bit of that bent to it but it is a sound illustration and goes into some depth.
http://www.fortifiediron.net/invision/index.php?showtopic=3989&view=findpost&p=69541