Arms impossible to build size

[JumpBallWinner]

I curled and curled with an EZ bar for years to start my arms workout. Then did tricep pushdowns on the cable machines. Got really strong at both.... but my arms never grew. Triceps responded alright, and got really really hard, but biceps never grew much.... arms were smaller than alot of people who couldn't do within 20lbs of what I was curling. Funny thing though, my forearms were always big.... actually bigger in diameter at the top than my biceps. Looked like a mini Popeye. Few months ago I was reading Arnolds book in the biceps section and noticed something he said about not letting your wrist bend inward when doing curls, or else you'll put all of the stress on you forearms and they'll grow while biceps never do. Light went off in my head. Then I talked to a guy in my gym, who probably has the best body in my gym, about arms.... because his are huge. I asked him when he trained biceps and triceps, because I never see him doing it. He said hardly ever. Told me that if he does train either, it's triceps after chest for not many sets, and biceps after back for not many sets, but to make sure I did chins. He also told me to dump the cable pressdowns and do lying skullcrushers and dips, and to dump the ez bar and use the regular BB bar for curls. So another light went off in my head. I split my tue bi/tri day up, added tri's to my monday chest day with a couple sets of cable pressdowns to get them tight, then three to four sets of skull crushers.... added back to tue bi workout, with back first and then just a few sets of straight bar curls (no more ez bar) making sure to keep my wrist from coming in and then some preacher curls to bring out my bottom bi's. Since doing this, my arms have finally caught up to the rest of my body. Last I measured, I've added about 1 inch to them in the couple months I've been doing this. One thing to note though. Your triceps will not be nearly as strong after you do heavy benching. It was discouring at first, but after seeing how much swollen and sore they were the next day, I knew it was alright. Your biceps will also be very weak after doing back. Don't worry about it. Do what you can and focus more on not letting your wrist bend inward at all. Bend it outward if you have to in order to make sure the biceps are doing all the work, and really focus hard on getting the majority of your reps with your elbows almost pinned to your sides. Like the other guy mentioned, cheat reps will help add mass also, but try to get a good amount of work with perfect form before resorting to the cheating method. Do a few sets of curls with the straight bar after your back workout and your biceps will be looking very upset. Then throw in some preacher curl, again focusing on perfect form. Give this a try, hope it helps.

 

[GrandMaster]

yea good shit jumpballwinner

when u bend your wrists your extremely limit the growth and targeting of the bi's/tri's
its all about proper form and technique
everyone wants to lift big to impress girls...etc
but u look stupid when your not doing it right, and look like your going to strain your back or other region.
if you have to life small weights for your bi's...like 25lb bumbell curls... then fuckin DO IT! dont pick up a 40 pounder and force yourself and bend your back and dip under the weight like you see ppl do, keep your form right, and dont worry about if u cant life alot, its better to do it right and get results, then do it wrong, show off, and be out for a few weeks

 

[musketeer]

Curl grip chins are probably the best bicep builders.

Triceps get blasted by doing push presses.

The best isolation exercises for these two bodyparts are incline dumbel curls and one arm overhead dumbel extensions.

 

[rbtrout]

Compound movements like already said. Any direct work should be more tri's than bi's.

 

[muscelove]

Dips
Pullups
Chinups
BB Rows
Bench
Shoulder press

My arm growth is a direct result of compound exercises. Ive seen guys who have never done a curl in their lives and they have massive arms purely from compound exercises

 

[suckamc44]

Get good at BB rows. Grow your back and your arms will follow.

I always had a hard time making gains in my biceps until I started doing a lot of heavy rowing then my biceps blew up. So yeah I agree with JL hit those rows.

 

[Q54321]

great posts and advice above. I've always had good arms, so I'm the last person you should listen too, but here is my 2 cents.

I train shoulders, tricpes and arms on the same day.

For triceps I like the close grip bench press (either flat or decline), and overhead cable extensions done with a rope. I'll also change up with curl bar extensions done in a seated postion. Either way I'll superset the OCE or curl bar seated overhead ext with bench dips.

I've always had a tough time feeling the biceps work. I finally figured out what works for me, and how I can feel them. I do reverse grip pulldowns focusing on tension and form, no body sway, just biceps as much as possible. Then I superset incline hammer curls (with a high incline focusing on keeping the elbows under or behind the shoulders) and barbell curls with teh straigh bar. I'll do a drop set of the barbell curls if my reps go too short.

I work on time under tension.

My arms get a great workout for me, and most importantly, my biceps feel it.

Like I said though, I've always had good arms, and for a while, they were great! So, i'd find someone with horrible genetics taht build great arms and follow their routine.

 

[c3bodybuilding]

For me nothing works better than some of Mike Mentzer's Heavy Duty principles. When I train arms I do static holds, rest pause, forced reps, slow negatives and then if I still feel I need a little more, I pick something like preachers and do one set of half reps with lot's of weight.

 

[kansasfarmman]

What do you guys think I should do to build some size?

Use basic compound movements and eat. It doesn't need to be more complicated than this!

 

[Singleton]

Compound work is great for overall size but did not help me much with biceps.

You can see in my avatar that the compounds worked well on my back but my biceps are not that big. My triceps did well with heavy benching, push presses, pullovers, though.

When I put more focus on direct bicep work and focused on supinating, creating peak tension by using drag curls and rope curls, I got good pumps in my biceps and they actually grew. My biceps are bigger now.

If you really hate doing direct bicep work and love compounds, cleans might work for you.

Compound work is great for overall size but if you have trouble with biceps, I would recommend doing something specific for them.