Bicep workout...

[doug1]

longlac, take measurements with your arms cold and maybe some pics of your entire body in order to asses body fat levels. measure your waist also to help gauge any bodyfat addition. now do the training these guys are telling you to do and see what happens, give it a couple solid months to see what happens and remember, "less is better" as they say.
i have to say i am a bit shocked that biguns was the only one to post any pics at this point, there are some extremely built guys on this board that i thought subscribed to this low volume training.
i started training at about 14 years old and i'm turning 38 in july this year and all i can say for me is that i wasted a lot of time with all the intensification techniques and the "don't train them directly" and the "don't overtrain" stuff that all i do is shake my head, "cause it didn't do jack for me."
give me enough weight that i will fail anywhere between 6 and 12 reps and let me work through anywhere between 16-30+ sets for any given muscle and lets leave it at that.
wanna know when i got my weakest body part(calves) to grow? when i did 30 sets with a weight that i failed at about 4-6 reps and i did this 3 times a week, instead of shrinking to nothing from overtraining, they finally put on some meat to where i wasn't embarassed any more.

 

[joe4fsu]

Cannonballs are king for me

3 sets of cannonballs once a week is all you need

 

[jdchaffin]

Cannonballs are king for me

3 sets of cannonballs once a week is all you need

can you explain cannonballs please?

 

[wwesr68]

I like doing a warmup set with a curl machine, then three rest pause sets per arm on the same machine. After that my bicep pump is good. I finish off with three sets of STRICT barbell curls to failure with medium weight.Ill do this once per week following a back workout. It takes less that 20 minutes.

 

[longlac]

longlac, take measurements with your arms cold and maybe some pics of your entire body in order to asses body fat levels. measure your waist also to help gauge any bodyfat addition. now do the training these guys are telling you to do and see what happens, give it a couple solid months to see what happens and remember, "less is better" as they say.
i have to say i am a bit shocked that biguns was the only one to post any pics at this point, there are some extremely built guys on this board that i thought subscribed to this low volume training.
i started training at about 14 years old and i'm turning 38 in july this year and all i can say for me is that i wasted a lot of time with all the intensification techniques and the "don't train them directly" and the "don't overtrain" stuff that all i do is shake my head, "cause it didn't do jack for me."
give me enough weight that i will fail anywhere between 6 and 12 reps and let me work through anywhere between 16-30+ sets for any given muscle and lets leave it at that.
wanna know when i got my weakest body part(calves) to grow? when i did 30 sets with a weight that i failed at about 4-6 reps and i did this 3 times a week, instead of shrinking to nothing from overtraining, they finally put on some meat to where i wasn't embarassed any more.

hey doug1 I trained like that for years doing sets after sets until my arms finally gave out and couldn't do anymore. My arms grew for a while then I just got stuck so i just wanted to try something different that might work, that's why i'm here asking you guys for advice. I'm not saying that i don't agree with you that doing a bunch of sets don't work but it haven't been working for me lately.

 

[longlac]

can you explain cannonballs please?

joe4fsu yea can you please explain really intrested...

 

[doug1]

hey doug1 I trained like that for years doing sets after sets until my arms finally gave out and couldn't do anymore. My arms grew for a while then I just got stuck so i just wanted to try something different that might work, that's why i'm here asking you guys for advice. I'm not saying that i don't agree with you that doing a bunch of sets don't work but it haven't been working for me lately.

you have to keep in mind that growth will come in spurts, the body does not operate on a linear plane, maybe take a week or two off for the body to recharge, just because a training plan does not bring huge noticable gains immediately does not make it faulty. for me "that stuff" after months and months of nothing i was able to come to a reasonable conclusion as to the futility of it. I figured hey "what do i have to lose" spend 20% as much time training, great! frees me up to do all sorts of other stuff." for me the high intensity stuff just made me tired and did nothing in the way of noticable muscle gains or quality. sure strength got better but bodybuilders are much larger than powerlifters so i didn't give a shit about strength.

 

[doug1]

one of the most densly muscled bodybuilders and for his frame one could argue the most heavily muscled built his body on no less than 20 sets a week for each muscle, this person being lee priest.
these days we throw in these huge doses of gear and insulin, gh, and igf, the training does not have to be optimal for growth to occur, lets be honest, the guys from the 70 and early 80's didn't do all that stuff and they built their physiques on volume training.

 

[longlac]

went to the gym today and took some of you guys advice. I did 3 sets of heavy bb curls strict and focused on the negative for rep of 4-7 (I really like these) then i went over to peracher curls 3/4 of the way and did 2 sets of 6 reps.

 

[jamez]

i made the best gains in arm mass when i stopped working them directly. you want big biceps then increase your intensity on basic back work like bent over rows, pullups, seated rows etc. for tricep mass it's pressing movements both bench and overhead. put the effort you would have expended on your curls into your basic heavy exercises and you will grow.

When I started training (very, very skinny ecto) I read so many times that you didn't need an arm day.. that they would get growing from your back/chest workouts...

for my entire first year of training I did 4 day splits (chest/back/shoulders/legs) with 1 day off. After a year my arms had not kept up at all and were noticably smaller and out of proportion with my shoulders and other body parts....

for me adding an arm day in and doing heavy supersets has made a huge difference..

 

[doug1]

When I started training (very, very skinny ecto) I read so many times that you didn't need an arm day.. that they would get growing from your back/chest workouts...

for my entire first year of training I did 4 day splits (chest/back/shoulders/legs) with 1 day off. After a year my arms had not kept up at all and were noticably smaller and out of proportion with my shoulders and other body parts....

for me adding an arm day in and doing heavy supersets has made a huge difference..

thank you james, i"m sorry you "waisted" that year, glad you took your own road instinctively and made progress

 

[doug1]

maybe its just me but it seems like guys on this board are scared shitless to admit they do more sets than what a few recommend. not to take away from the success of DC training or the mentzer/heavy duty stuff, but high volume training is not a sin and for many it is what actually started to actually put some noticable muscle on their frames.

 

[jamez]

thank you james, i"m sorry you "waisted" that year, glad you took your own road instinctively and made progress

ah the first year is never wasted. i built some of the best shoulders in my gym

I made alot of mistakes and learned from them all.. most importantly...

1. what works for somebody else doesn't nec. work for you.
2. somebody else's idea of "good form" for "building muscle" isn't good form for you.

remember.. we all have different body types, strengths, etc... some of us need alot of work for arms and some don't... u gotta figure out what works for you.

I've never had a better arm pump than doing supersets but i still change up my routine every couple months to keep my body guessing and improving.

 

[abolish the weak]

maybe its just me but it seems like guys on this board are scared shitless to admit they do more sets than what a few recommend. not to take away from the success of DC training or the mentzer/heavy duty stuff, but high volume training is not a sin and for many it is what actually started to actually put some noticable muscle on their frames.

I agree with this to a point. I think if your using appropriate poundages for a high volume workout it can be very beneficial, but if you were to try and go heavy for high volume you'd tax your nervous system too much to recover before the next days lift.

 

[jamez]

but if you were to try and go heavy for high volume you'd tax your nervous system too much to recover before the next days lift.

I think Arnold himself (some of the best bi's ever) is a contradiction to this isn't he?

 

[doug1]

I agree with this to a point. I think if your using appropriate poundages for a high volume workout it can be very beneficial, but if you were to try and go heavy for high volume you'd tax your nervous system too much to recover before the next days lift.

its been my experience that the intensification techniques wear me out much faster than 20-30 heavy sets taken short of "failure"(meaning i could squeeze out a couple more if i had to, not always, but most of the time)

 

[Tough Old Man]

longlac, take measurements with your arms cold and maybe some pics of your entire body in order to asses body fat levels. measure your waist also to help gauge any bodyfat addition. now do the training these guys are telling you to do and see what happens, give it a couple solid months to see what happens and remember, "less is better" as they say.
i have to say i am a bit shocked that biguns was the only one to post any pics at this point, there are some extremely built guys on this board that i thought subscribed to this low volume training.
i started training at about 14 years old and i'm turning 38 in july this year and all i can say for me is that i wasted a lot of time with all the intensification techniques and the "don't train them directly" and the "don't overtrain" stuff that all i do is shake my head, "cause it didn't do jack for me."
give me enough weight that i will fail anywhere between 6 and 12 reps and let me work through anywhere between 16-30+ sets for any given muscle and lets leave it at that.
wanna know when i got my weakest body part(calves) to grow? when i did 30 sets with a weight that i failed at about 4-6 reps and i did this 3 times a week, instead of shrinking to nothing from overtraining, they finally put on some meat to where i wasn't embarassed any more.

Damn 16-30 sets..What's a typical back workout look like?

 

[joe4fsu]

Sorry I logged off right after....

Cannonballs are extreme hammer type curls.... I will explain:

3 sets of increasing dumbells... thus get on the dunmbell rack and line up, for example, 1 of each dumbell 35, 45, 55 (or whatever weight you think you get can 15-20 reps with. You start the set by taking the sides of each dumbell in your hands cupped like a standing barbell curl. Have your arms and elbows in front of your waist. Do the hammer curl motion with the dumbell for the 15 -20 reps range, rack, then grab the next dumbell and do the same, and the last dumbell... that is one set...

I was shown this from a guy in our gym who has giagantic arms.... I have been doing this for 6 months now and my outer bis and peaks have really came in...

hope this made sence.... I recommend you all try it at least once and see how you all like it

 

[claymore]

i made the best gains in arm mass when i stopped working them directly. you want big biceps then increase your intensity on basic back work like bent over rows, pullups, seated rows etc. for tricep mass it's pressing movements both bench and overhead. put the effort you would have expended on your curls into your basic heavy exercises and you will grow.

Bump

 

[doug1]

Damn 16-30 sets..What's a typical back workout look like?

back is usually done by itself on saturday mornings but since i didn't get my chest in on friday evening this last saturday i did both together here's what i did:
flat barbell bench press 5 sets (chest)
dumbell rows 5 sets (back)
incline barbell bench press 5 sets(chest)
wide grip pulldowns/rows(alternate between sitting and standing) 6 sets
flat flys 5 sets (chest)
medium grip pulldowns/rows(alternate sit/stand) 6 sets (back)
incline flys 5 sets (chest)
"v" bar pulldowns/rows(alternate sit/stand) 6 sets (back)
cable crossovers 6 sets (chest)
stiff arm pulldowns 6 sets (back)
chest got 26 sets, back got 29 sets
had stiffness in both muscles by saturday night and soreness in both muscles on sunday