Intro and Arm Hypertrophy Question

[schiznitz]

Ok, first post everyone and howdy to all. You've probably seen this type of post a zillion times but please bear with me. A little background first. After quite a few years of ups and downs I got sick of the downs and started weight training again about six months ago. I'm making decent progress on the Starting Strength program and am planning the next phase after I begin to plateau. BW is about 195 and BF about 17% as of today. GPP is fair, strength is increasing weekly with weight holding constant to slightly increasing for now. Diet is clean with some cheating, supps are ZMA, glutamine, fish oil, whey shakes pre WO, and a multi.

Now my question. Of course it has to do with arm growth. Even in days past when my workouts were regular and I was very fit my bis were not proportional to my physique. I would like to correct this problem. Now they are a paltry 14.5"! I would like to bump them up over time to 17-18". For those of you who have been able to do the same, how/what worked for you and could post the scheme you used?

Thanks much and I'm glad to be on the board!

 

[silver_shadow]

howdy! nice to have you here. the thing that works best is to just simply get big. the compound lifts viz presses, rows and even deads to an extent should provide a base for your arm size. it may make a slight difference if you do a few sets of curls a week at the end of workouts but don't go ballistic with it - just 3x8 of standing BB curls, maybe 2x per week. also - pullups (narrow underhand grip).

 

[The Shadow]

Some cold hard facts:

To bump your cold arm measurement from 14.5 to 17 will take an extra 20ish pounds of lean body mass....meaning you cant preferentially pack on JUST arm mass.

 

[Protobuilder]

Well there are some "rough" numbers floating around that you need 20 pounds of bodyweight to put an inch on your arms, give or take, so keep in mind that you won't have humongous guns w/out building humongous thighs, back, etc.

Arm size is probably 2/3 triceps, 1/3 biceps, so keep that in mind. Curls alone won't get you there. Focus on things like SS mentioned above: compound movements with some arm work thrown in. Get strong at dips, overhead press, chinups, rows, and you'll have some solid arms. Shoulder-width chins really hammer the biceps as do heavy BB rows (for me anyways).

 

[enigma4dub]

I agree with everything shadow and proto stated above. But would like to add that genetics play a rather signifigant role in determing the size and shape of your arms... Dont get too caught up worrying about your arms.

 

[Cynical Simian]

I agree with everything shadow and proto stated above. But would like to add that genetics play a rather signifigant role in determing the size and shape of your arms... Dont get too caught up worrying about your arms.

Easy to say when you're the guy with those kick-ass arm genetics.

Agreed with all of the previous posts. Worry about gaining bodyweight and driving up the big lifts, which will drive growth in your entire body. You're not going to have 18-inch arms while walking around on 20-inch thighs.

 

[schiznitz]

Thanks everyone for the input. So 20 lbs to gain 2.5" on the arms? That sounds doable given time. I also see that one response says 20 lbs to put on 1"? Please tell me that the number is the later, putting on 40 lbs of lbm would indeed be a chore!

I don't really think I suffer from bad arm genetics but more from ignorance in the past of how to properly train overall to get the proper result.

cynical, since you mention the thighs, what is a rough ratio that would be acceptable to shoot for. At this time mine are 26.5 so with 14.5 arms one could say my ratio would be 2:1

One more thing, given good genetics, sleeping well, eating well, training well, etc, what might be good rule of thumb to use as a guide for putting on 20 lbs of LBM timewise?

 

[Cynical Simian]

Like PB said, these are just rough estimates, and you'll hear different things from various people and almost certainly deviate from the "rule" in some way depending on your genes. The same goes for appropriate ratios between legs and arms.

The only thing you can do is improve your lifts and eat enough. Chances are you'll like what you see in the mirror. As for rate of putting on bodyweight, a surplus of ~500 calories/day should have you gaining a pound per week, and you probably don't want to go too much higher than that if you're natural and wanting to keep the proportion of that weight that's fat acceptably low.

 

[s8nlilhlpr]

Hate to burst your bubble, but 20lbs an inch could be bullshit. I've put on 40lbs and not gained much in the arm department, even though all compound lifts have gone up. Some people are blessed some aren't, keep working at it.

 

[Tweakle]

yeah, adding 30lbs to my frame added about an inch to my arms. Back, chest, traps and legs all get bigger but those lil sticks of mine stay small.

10lbs per inch is the 'arhnold rule', and as you may find out what worked for the Guvernator may not work quite as well for you.

Imo the best thing to do in this situation is to spend the next decade inventing a time machine, then go back to before you were concieved and try to hook your mom up with Gregg Valentino.