Cant’ get your arms to grow to the level you want? No worries, Anabolic Sensei has your back in more ways than one so no worries. I am going to share with you a routine that I use with some of my athletes.
Now one of the biggest mistakes I see with guys that can’t get their arms to grow is that they train them too heavy. The biceps and triceps are small muscles and training them too heavy often just gives you elbow pain either on the outer or inner part or both.
Now if you are a strength athlete like a powerlifter or strongman then training arms heavier has merit. But if you are a bodybuilder there really is no reason to try and curl the 100 pound dumbbells. Yea it looks cool but the chances of tearing something is very high and the last thing bodybuilders want are torn muscles. Not only does surgery make you take time off from your training, but also the muscle will look deformed as well. Strength athletes tear their biceps all the time but many of them don’t train their biceps enough in my opinion so this can be a factor as well.
So Your Arms aren’t Growing Eh?
Now when designing any programs, you want to look into why you are doing certain things. Many people do the same program and same exercises over and over and then complain that things aren’t working. Most guys just go into the gym slang around some weight on curls and machine work then figure they did a good job. But the reality is not so true. You may think you did a great workout but how much fibre stimulation did you really do? How much work did your front delts and lower back get compared to your biceps?
I am a big fan of methodically designing programs to get maximum results in less time by altering intensity, volume load, tempo, and rest periods. These are things that most people that go to the gym don’t even know what they are let alone how to apply them to their workout. This is why they are getting subpar or no results at all. So let’s see what I have in store for your workout.
Superset # 1
- Dumbbell Preacher Curl (with Fat Grips)
- 4 sets of 10 reps… 3/2/5 Tempo
- Negative Weighted Dips
- 4 sets of 5 reps…0/1/5 Tempo
Superset #2
- Decline Dumbbell Extensions (with Bands)
- 4sets of 15 reps…1/1/3 Tempo
- Hammer Curls (with Fat Grips)
- 4 sets of 15 reps… 1/1/3 Tempo
Superset #3
- EZ Bar Reverse Curl (with Fat Grips)
- 4 sets of 8 reps…2/2/3 Tempo
- Overhead French Press with Rope
- 4 sets of 10 reps…2/2/3 Tempo
Now this workout routine will fill out your sleeves faster than you can imagine. It is composed of three different supersets consisting of about 12 sets for both biceps and triceps. You can do a couple of warm-up sets at the start but the ideas are that after 12 work sets for each muscle group your arms should be toast. Now on a side note, we have a layout on tempo. This is very important and yet it is something very few people actually incorporate into their training program.
When you see a tempo of 3/2/5 this means that the concentric motion or the raising of the weight should take you 3 seconds to complete. The second number in this sequence refers to the peak hold contraction time at the top of the movement. So if you are doing a curl it will be squeezing the muscle hard at the top of the exercise for the 2 seconds outlined. The last part is referring to the eccentric or lowering phase, so in this sequence, it should take you 5 seconds to lower the weight.
Now the reason for this is the fact that the eccentric or lowering phase is the one that causes the most muscle damage hence leading to more growth. Yes, it will make you sorer, but then leading to more muscle gains. This is why many powerlifters will try to avoid the eccentric motion on things like deadlifts to help them recover faster and since they are not looking to pack on more muscle it is not something they need to focus on. This negative aspect of your arm training is one that is very overlooked by 99% of those in the gym.
That is why only 1% of those who do have amazing arms most of the time pay attention to the eccentric portion of each arm exercise and understand how important it is for big guns. This is why for every exercise in this program there is a major focus on the negative aspect. For the dips, we are not even concerned about the concentric portion at all and suggest you use your legs to get you to the starting position after each rep
Fat Gripz are Great for Isolating Your Biceps!
Notes on Routine
Superset #1
Now for the first exercise for the dumbbell preacher curl, it is advised to use fat grips. This will cause you to use a thick grip thereby recruiting the bicep muscle fibres differently than a regular thin grip. For the negative weighted dips, you should be using a dip belt to help add additional weight. The purpose of this is to help overload the eccentric contraction as much as possible and adding the slow tempo across this exercise will really trash your triceps into oblivion.
Superset #2
For the next superset, you will be doing decline dumbbell extensions with dumbbells. This will allow a greater stretch on the triceps helping to fill them out. The bands should be attached to the dumbbell to provide a mixed resistance that can’t be beaten. Once again the fat grips will be used on the hammer curls to help recruit the brachialis to a greater degree.
Superset #3
With the last superset we wanted to hit the brachialis again from another angle and using the fat grips once again it will not only beef up the side of your arms but will also thicken those forearms as well. For your last tricep exercise, I wanted to start the muscle in a stretched position and over your head. The combination of both of these attributes is amazing especially during your final arm exercise to gorge the area with nutrient and steroid filled blood right into the area.
Variables for Growth
Now this routine takes into consideration many different variables to help pack on some arm thickness. By altering the tempo it will shock your muscle, especially when before this all you used to do is a regular up and down motion which is not ideal. By altering your grips from three different angles we are hitting the arms from different postilions to help recruit the long and shorter heads with equal force. By adding in bands can really create a different tension that solid weight can’t duplicate so combining the best of both worlds it will trash your muscle fibres like never before. We also wanted to put both the biceps and triceps into a stretched position on a couple of exercises since many routines do not emphasize this enough.
Lastly, using Fat Grips on some dumbbell exercises will alter your hand position in a manner you are not used to helping to isolate the biceps in a much more efficient fashion. When it comes to rest periods they should take about 60 seconds between supersets. You need to keep the blood gorged in the arms till the point they are going to feel like they are going explode. You want to be just about recovered and then it’s time to smash them again. Give this program a try for 4 weeks and I am sure you will see some major gains in your arm development especially if you have been having problems bringing up your Guns!
