question about reps and sets

[BIGDOG91]

I usally do about 21 sets for my body,except for arms I do 12 sets.

to get some more size,should I do 6-8 reps,8-10 or pyrimid 12,10,8.

and I want my arms to get bigger,they just will not grow.

my stats are I am 160lbs pretty ripped and my arms are 15 inches,so how can they grow.

 

[Cackerot69]

Cut your sets down to 4-8 for large bodyparts, and 2-4 for small (Arms).

Perform primarily 3-5 rep sets, but include 8-20 rep sets, preferably in the same session, after your heavy sets.

 

[GenetiKing]

If you are talking about bis and tris together, 12 sets is fine but I wouldn't go over that, especially if you are going to failure with each set.

I agree with Cackerot on the pump sets (8-20 reps) after the meat sets, but I disagree on the meat set rep ranges. You should stay heavy weight/low rep when looking for mass but 3 reps is too low unless you are a powerlifter. Hit failure between 6-8 reps.

IMO, this sounds more like a diet issue rather than a training one. Make sure you are getting down more than calories than you are burning and keep protein intake high. You must gain bodyweight if you want your arms to grow; the body likes to do things somewhat proportionately. You can train your arms to death but if your body isn't getting the right amount and type of nutrition, you are just flogging a muscle to death.

Good luck.

 

[tommyNZ]

If your not making progress every workout your not in the optimum training zone! You are either doing too much or too little. If your drug free you are definitely doing too much.

I've built my arms up to a solid 18 inches without drugs, by training smart and doing what works for my physiology.

Building big muscles is all about endurance and maximum volumization (blood flow/pump). Your not looking for maximum strength so avoid low rep stuff, thats for the powerlifter boys. For arms keep above 20 reps for curls and dips.

Start off training every day (mon-fri) and have weekend off. One set of curls and one set of dips, 20+ reps, brisk pace. You should manage a 2-3 rep increase each workout for the first week. You will the start to go into overtraining, great your on the brink. Hard to pump out extra reps, switch to mon, wed, fri training only. You have now come back into the right training zone. You should now be able to continue to make progress for the next 3 weeks of your growth cycle.

The moral of the story. Listen to your body, and make changes immediately to your schedule. You'll keep making progress then.

Tommynz

 

[tommyNZ]

Before you try this, take two weeks off all arm work!

TommyNZ

 

[35andfeel19]

If you are giving each body part a full seven days between direct workouts why limit the number of sets per body part? Isn't the goal to completely destroy the muscle group you are working?

I currently do about 8-9 sets per muscle group with exception of legs which I do

Leg Extentions 3 working sets
Leg Curls - 3 working sets
Squats - 6 working sets
Lunges - 4 working stes
Calf Raises - 5 working sets

I usually do 12 sets on chest (various presses and flys)
9 on bis
9 on tris
9 on shoulders
12 or more on abs (one day a week)
12 on back (includes dead lifts)
8 on traps

I'm making good gains but my friggen workouts take forever.

Thing is, if I don't hit these number of sets I don't usually have the soreness the following two days that I do if I go with less volume. Every Set is done to Positive failure and consist of 4 to 6 reps. I rest two minutes between each set. Thinking about dropping that to 60-90 seconds.

I'm not to convinced of the high rep routines but I'm thinking of taking the reps to 8 per set.

I don't do cardio. I effing hate cardio. Unless,of course, sex qualifies as cardio.

Now all I need to do is get my diet set. That is the hardest friggen part. Figures it is about 70% of the equation.

 

[Tuna Guy]

Listen to cackerot, but remember as long as your doing more in the gym each week, whether it be heavier weights, more reps, less rest time there is only really one direction that you can go in and that is forward.

 

[wynnyelle]

if you know you are eating enough and still nothing is happening, you may be overtraining your arms. i would cut down the number of sets for a while and see what happens. Your body might respond to the change. I never do more than three sets of anything (often i do only one set) and it's served me as well or better than when i was doing more sets.

 

[HeavyDutyGuy]

Ask yourself this-am I really training HARD??