GhettoStudMuffin said:
I agree. As my bodyweight, overall muscle mass and strength have grown, so have my arms. I'm sure they will be 18" when I weigh 250lbs. And I'm even more sure that they will mature and grow bigger than that the longer I stay at that weight.
Actually, at the rate you're going, I imagine they'll be a bit over 18" at 250, GSM.
A couple days ago while doing my warmup sets on JS rows I decided to curl the weight once or twice. It was my first warmup set of 110lbs. I repped it twice in strict form without even trying. My next warmup set of 130 I tried to curl it strictly and got it completely halfway and could feel the strain in the biceps trying to get past the hardest point. Within a 2 months I will strict curl 135lbs without even training for it. My arms are 16 7/8" and all usable muscle. I know guys with 17.5" arms that can't curl 135lbs because their arms are all pumped up off moderate weights and high reps, but the true strength isn't there.
Right. I see that often.
I have to parrot you and Madcow the 2nd
I think if you're rowing, benching, military pressing and chinning mega-weight, your arms are going to be about as big as your genetics will permit.
Obviously, then, I agree that direct upper arm work is more of a "filler" than anything. I might go so far as to say it'd make a
slightly bigger difference than
that--perhaps up to a quarter-inch of extra growth over time, if all goes well and genetics allow--but that's nitpicking. As you said, most people would screw things up and probably
cost themselves that extra quarter or half-inch.
I can say one thing for sure. If I worried about my body fat, weight and what I ate all the time and bombarded my arms constantly, there's no way I would be able to curl 135lbs even after a couple years of training. Next time you're in the gym check out the guy's doing lots of arm work. Notice the general lack of size and weight. The lack of powerful hips, glutes and leg muscles. They probably don't squat...and don't eat enough for real gains.
98 times out of 100, that's true, yeah--preach on, brother!
I tend to not be quite as hard on machines as some here, but I really think the proliferation of cozy little exercises where you can put your chest against a pad and curl or karate-chop away are 50% to blame for all of the lagging arms I see. The other 50% of the blame goes to the guys who use the damn things at the expense of the fundamentals.
I bet if more gyms were only equipped with power racks, BBs and DBs, we would have far fewer bodybuilders but those that stayed the course would have bigger arms. Minimal equipment all but forces someone to bust ass where it matters most.