How to get bigger arms

[Symzie]

Build Bigger Arms
Erasmo Cuellar

A mistake I commonly see in the gym is people trying to build bigger and stronger arms, shoulders and calves with isolation exercises. Most think that the biceps will grow by doing barbell curls until your arms feel like popping.

Well the biceps, triceps, shoulders, and calves are all small muscles that need to be stimulated forcefully in order to grow. The way to stimulate these muscles is though power movements such as the deadlift, squat and bench press.

You may be thinking, “how will my arms grow by doing those exercises?” The deadlift works the back, squats work the legs and the bench press works the chest. Well, these exercises stress and stimulate the entire body. More importantly, if you are able to handle heavy weights in these power movements, the rest of your body will be proportionally developed.

This is not to say that you don’t need to train arms, and that squats alone will cause all of your upper body growth. You will still work every body part, but you must focus on the deadlifts, squats and bench press, the exercises that develop the back, legs and chest. Once you master the power movements, the strength and muscle you gain will translate into greater weights used in arm, shoulder and calf exercises.

Let’s look at how this works. You never see someone curling 200 pounds; the bicep alone is not very strong. What you do see are guys benching 200 – 400 pounds all the time. Although, the chest is being worked, the arms are lifting the weight. These heavy pounds tax the neurological system is such a way that it forces the entire body to get strong and, therefore, grow. That goes for the squats and deadlifts as well. So while you are pumping out multiple sets and reps of arm exercises, you are really only filling the muscle with blood. No matter how heavy a weight you try to lift with your arms, it in no way compares to the real heavy weight you can push with your larger muscles.

For those of you ready to grow, strap yourself in for some heavy duty training. Work a big body part with a small body part. Chest and arms first split, legs second split and back and shoulders third split. Train the big muscle group first followed by the small group. Make sure you push yourself for growth with the power movements.

Example:

For your first training split, start off with 3 sets of bench press. Do 12 reps for your first set, then increase weight on the second set and do 10 reps. On the last set, increase weight again and do 8 reps. You should only be able to do 8 reps; if you can do more, you are not pushing yourself enough. For your second chest exercise, do incline dumbbell presses with the same rep scheme. These two exercises will do most of the growth stimulation for the day. Next, do a fly exercise for your last chest movement. Now, you can train your arms. For your arm exercises, do 3 sets of 10 reps for your barbell curls, incline curls or preacher curls. Do the same for the tricep pushdowns, french curls or extensions.

[Jaster]

Originally Posted by Symzie

Build Bigger Arms
by Erasmo Cuellar


These heavy pounds tax the neurological system is such a way that it forces the entire body to get strong and, therefore, grow. That goes for the squats and deadlifts as well.

Yes, Look at old time photos of Blacksmiths in the old west. Did those guys do curls? Hell no! The just lifted heavy iron day after day. Man those guys got huge!
Even look at old school farmers the same thing they got huge from lifting all the grain and seed. I can tell you this they didn't stand there in a mirror and do curls with that stuff! :

[Jackal]

Good post. :

[Hamz]

Good information, now i know what i'm doing wrong!

[B.A.]

Excellent article Symzie - I fully agree! "Green" for the thread my man

- B.A.

[Jaster]

Originally Posted by B.A.

Excellent article Symzie - I fully agree! "Green" for the thread my man

- B.A.

Yup I gave him one too! :
Credit where it's due! :

[Symzie]

Cheers, it's by Erasmo Cuellar

[Jaster]

Originally Posted by Symzie

Cheers, it's by Erasmo Cuellar

Originally Posted by Symzie

Build Bigger Arms
by Erasmo Cuellar

Yes I read that in the by line. Us meat head firefighters can read! LOL :

[Symzie]

I didn't doubt it for one second mate

[derek145]

Originally Posted by Jaster

Yes, Look at old time photos of Blacksmiths in the old west. Did those guys do curls? Hell no! The just lifted heavy iron day after day. Man those guys got huge!
Even look at old school farmers the same thing they got huge from lifting all the grain and seed. I can tell you this they didn't stand there in a mirror and do curls with that stuff! :

I'm not disagreeing with anything in this post, I just wanted to point out that blacksmiths also did A LOT of HAMMER curls.......

[Jaster]

Originally Posted by derek145

I'm not disagreeing with anything in this post, I just wanted to point out that blacksmiths also did A LOT of HAMMER curls.......

LOL Good pun!!!!!! :

[Streax]

Originally Posted by Jaster

Even look at old school farmers the same thing they got huge from lifting all the grain and seed. I can tell you this they didn't stand there in a mirror and do curls with that stuff! :

My grandfather was an oldschool farmer till he retired in his late 60's, and he had huge muscles for a bodybuilder, let alone a 60+ year old man. He was a solid 6'1 210 pounds at about 12-14 percent bodyfat. He was a very built and very strong man. My uncle (his son) is a farmer as well and I have personally seen him pick up an engine block in an autoparts store when a kid asked him how much he thought it weighed. I think part of it may be the scandanavian genes though. There is something about that norse blood!

Point is, develop your "body strength" and everything else will respond. I don't know many friends that train their neck, but it seems to grow with their bodies.

[Jaster]

Originally Posted by Streax

My grandfather was an oldschool farmer till he retired in his late 60's, and he had huge muscles for a bodybuilder, let alone a 60+ year old man. He was a solid 6'1 210 pounds at about 12-14 percent bodyfat. He was a very built and very strong man. My uncle (his son) is a farmer as well and I have personally seen him pick up an engine block in an autoparts store when a kid asked him how much he thought it weighed. I think part of it may be the scandanavian genes though. There is something about that norse blood!

Point is, develop your "body strength" and everything else will respond. I don't know many friends that train their neck, but it seems to grow with their bodies.

Yup right on and a Green box for you my friend! :

[Sull]

Can someone just help me clarify this, I loved this post but I got a little confused. They say do "chest and arms first split, legs second split, and back and shoulders third split."

Does that mean do chest+arms on one day, legs on another day, and back+shoulders a different day? And if so, what smaller muscle would you split with the legs?

I'm just getting a little confused because I'm trying to incorporate this with what I'm doing with MAX-OT, and I currently do Back and Shoulders on separate days.

[Symzie]

It's only an example to make a point, I would train your biceps after back, triceps after chest but some people like to swap them round

You could add shoulders to leg day or do them after chest and before triceps

EG

Back / biceps
deadlifts
Bent rows
bicep curls

Chest / triceps
Bench press
Incline Bench
Skull crushers

Legs / shoulders
Squats
SLDL
Military press