Growing everywhere but arms?
My arms are lagging. I ran a test e cycle over a year ago, and everything grew a lot - except my arms. I put on and retained 13lbs of muscle post PCT. My squat went up 80 lbs. My calves grew 1.3 inches. My arms? Almost nothing. They were small when I started at 180lbs and 10% bf they were only 14.3" flexed(no pump). I'm 6' tall. After the cycle my arms were 14.8". At the end, I was squatting over 400lbs and couldn't even bench my body weight(193). My chest and shoulders blew up. They would barely even be working while my forearms and triceps struggled to wobble up a bar with one plate and some change.
It's been about 18 months since I cycled off. My natty squat has continued to increase. I can now squat 440 off of gear(beating my old gear record). 4 years into training, I still can't bench my body weight, and my arms are still below 15". My calves have grown 3.4" from my start. My arms have only grown 2.7".
I've tried everything. Low rep ranges 2-3. High sets. Pyramiding. Reverse pyramids. Drops sets. Concentric and decentric focuses. So many variations of cables, bars, dumbbells, body weight stuff. I even tried stupid Crossfit stuff just hoping something might work
When I was on cycle I was training legs every 4-5 days and arms 3x a week. My LBM is hovering around 175 lbs at 6'0. I don't know how much more naturally maintainable size I can gain... but I think one more cycle will easily max them out - except for my arms.
What I'm wondering is... should I just skip everything else and just work arms on my next cycle? Maybe do back and legs once a week, and do arms every other day? Would strongly prioritizing arms while on cycle actually make them grow more? I tried "work everything out equally" last time and it went great - except for my arms.
I'm really only asking about that. Would focusing heavily on arms cause it to be more effective for my arms. I don't need input on my routine. Maybe they were all somehow shit. If so, I'm unlikely to fix that in the future based on how many times I've tried. I'm really just interested in whether or not working one muscle group far more than the others could make it grow more than if everything was worked frequently. I've tried to find this out by searching for a while and I've come up empty handed.
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No such thing as a weak body part. Just means you arent truly engaging the bodypart.
Never focus on moving weight from a to b... focus on the contraction and stretch. Some tips for engaging biceps as an example....
Starting from bottom, use supination and lift by squeezing pinkie finger only into the supinated twist
Starting from top use a loaded iso hold to fully contract and when going through movement make sure to keep the contraction fighting against the load
Training across full ROM but alternating angle to get load heaviest at extremities and center
Train fibre types accordingly
BFR to build Cell swelling and also use intermittent stretching on the BFR SEssion
60%heavy/40% cell swelling
You need to know when you're ending a set too early. Remember your set is only beginning when you feel the burn/pain/lactic/pump. Go beyond that on cell swelling sets
Research fibres for triceps and practice engagements every rep of every set
That's a very useful breakdown! I have trouble with my left bicep I have to concentrate on the contraction and stretch a lot harder than I do my right. But my left has slightly a better peak than the right. Seems I have to bring it almost all the way where pinky touches the delt to feel that good burn. Right I don't have to focus as much I can feel it at the top with out the aggressive squeeze. It's strange
Yeah I would be similar to that now. Sometimes just approaching things differently will build that connection. Doing the lift in reverse having started from a maximally contracted position should help you really feel it throughout the move
Did Boyer Coe not have a deep six pack because he wasn't engaging the rectus abdominus enough? Of course not. His genetics prevented it, just like some guys' genetics prevent them from getting peaked biceps or capped delts. Genetic limitations do exist, unfortunately.
Don't see how that applies here. Your talking about the shape of something as defined by genetics and not it's actual size as depicted by stimulating growth. Genetics will determine muscle belly size etc. Genetics will also determine a certain limit sure but those limits are broken with training. Every one of us breaks that barrier in the gym every day. Coe is interesting but when you see him actually flex his abs they are as good as anyone of that era particularly give the vacuum focus etc.
I'd wager if OP posted a video of an arms workout he probably wouldn't be overloading the arm at the different points through the curve and most likely had lesser ability to engage arms prior to or during a lift
To suggest he has an off switch to hyperytophy for his arms doesn't make any sense at all
Perhaps. Good reply. But even so, I think OP should get stronger on compounds before even worrying about isolating the biceps with such techniques. If he is unable to bench his BW as he claims, the base just cannot be there.
Agreed, compounds are extremely important
In terms of isolating a muscle group to generate tension. It's different to the idea of performing isolated exercises for sets as a workout
Purposefully and intentionally contracting the target muscle against load is something some people do really well naturally whereas many others will struggle. I can contract my triceps even when working biceps but then used struggle in initiating biceps alone from their fully stretched position. The result (for me) was very strong curling ability, big triceps and tiny little biceps lol
DEADLIFTS/CALORIES
I can't relate cause my arms grew very easily sitting around 24 cold no pump.. but my best advice would be eat .. eat .. eat and I know this sounds counter productive but your biceps get worked out when doing other body parts.. back days etc .. at least for me when I'm trying to grow a area of my body I find less is more for me .. remember you grow outside the gym , rest and food are the keys . And remember Rome wasn't built over night it takes years and years
Dude, 24" cold.... holy shit !!!
Arthur Jones proved years ago that the longer the muscle and shorter the tendon the bigger the muscle will grow. When you flex your muscle if you can get two fingers or more in the gap between your muscle and forearm your genetics aren't good. Still most guys can get atleast 17 in usually. I would concentrate on a lot of heavy compound movements. Bent over rows , close grip bench etc. Rustys 100 percent right on the diet.
I havee long lanky arms so they are one of the hardest body parts for me to do anything with. I have seen some results with cable work at higher rep ranges. When I.train arms before I do my normal sets I will flush bis and tris with blood by 3 sets of 30 pushdowns with just enough weight to provide a bit of resistance. Maybe 30lbs. Same with bi standing cable curls with light weight. Then go off and do my regular. Regarding bench, I recently changed my grip to a more narrow and instead of wrapping my thumb around the bar I keep it on the side with fingers or along the length of bar. Not sure which helped more but my bench feels more comfortable thus can push more weight. One more thing. Have you tried flossing your arms? That helps me tremendously with my legs, stretching between sets helps me also
Sounds like genetics my dude. My chest used to be my weakest point and after about ten years of prioritizing chest over everything else it's finally catching up. You can do it, just be patient and make sure you're putting your weak points first.
Rustyhookerhttps://www.eroids.com/forum/steroids-qa/steroid-cycles/first-cycle-of-l...
Two years ago you were given advice. I said you're ectomorph and need much bigger calories. Your reply is youre not ecto and wrote a very high bf% which isnt your posted stats at top of the forum.
You can choose to do it your way and keep tossing drugs into your reasons or you can get your diet on track to meet your needs. Its your health. You got warned. You choose....
What is your diet Iike first of all? I like to start with the basics before getting more detailed.
As far as arms go, consider altering your lifts to target arms for more volume, many ways to add volume but I did t see this mentioned yet.
Simply bring all grips in. Main bench would be CGBP.
Rows/pull-ups should be under or nuetral close gripped.
Of course daily direct volume, new angles, shock methods/drop sets etc, experiment.
I think the biggest thing is you can't bench bw after four years and a steroid cycle.
Imo you need to hire a trainer, in person not online, preferably a lifting gym too.
There has to be something wrong with you physically or you're just not realizing something that's incredibly wrong, no offense, we all need help somewhere.
I have had a PT. He's the one who got me my test a couple of years ago. Specifically for that very reason. He was mystified why I was making almost no progress on bench. He said his bench jumped by well over 50 lbs on his first DMZ run(pro hormone not test, I know).
My total lack of arm progress is why I stopped working with him. He didn't get me past anything. Even my gym's owner(former competitor) has worked out with me, and he has told me he has no idea why my arms don't grow. My form is good, I'm lifting heavy enough and often enough. I'm actually quite well known at my gym for being noodle armed despite my best efforts.
Trust me, I've had everyone under the sun suggest I try every routine that's been done. And I tried them all. And it hasn't helped.
That's why I'm asking if my next cycle just ignores everything else, will my arms grow more than if I worked other body parts. I feel like it might. It's really the only thing I have left at this point.
My chest is my weak spot. My max was shit. And doing rep sets wasn't helping. So I just kept my max on the bench . Every day i did one rep every time I went by it. Up to 5 or 6 times a day. Two weeks I could do do two reps . Started doing that every time I passed . For 5 to 6 times a day. Same deal every day each week was able to get one more rep per set. Got to were the max I started at was now a 10 rep set for three sets and my max went up 65 lbs in 5 or 6 months. Point being is I had to struggle and it didn't happen over night. Keep working hard and give it some time you'll get there
Jamesli is probably correct. What would happen if you got that bench up to 1.5x BW and your row up to 1.25x BW? Maybe it's time to stop listening to bodybuilders and start seeking a real strength or powerlifting coach. I just really don't think curls every day is the answer. If anything, like li, I'm much more concerned that you can't bench your BW.
Agreed. The bench is the biggest red flag and that's why I suggested 5-3-1. Is it perfect? No. But it works. Everything else I suggested is just icing. (Aside from farmers walks, if he's not doing them already he needs to and if he is he needs to go heavier and/or longer/more often)
What about actual bench technique though?
If your first trainer just put you on DMZ or test etc, and you saw no gains beyond that, he was a bad trainer.
Imo the bigger picture is you can't bench 175lbs yet. You need to solve that first.
I mean even just close gripping(arm strength mostly) you should be able to do that easily by now.
Good luck regardless though, I just think the problem isn't arm training.
It'd be like doing leg extensions trying to grow bigger legs when you can't squat 2 plates even. everyone would be saying thats the problem.
Yes yes yes. I've had a couple glasses of wine (anniversary party) so I'm tapping out now but that is the fuckin issue. 5-3-1 will improve that. There are better ways but that's the easiest to follow for a beginner (and sorry but if you're not benching your body weight you're still a beginner in that arena). Hell, I even know advanced guys it's worked for...
Honestly just do any strength based program for bench and rowing and throw in arm isolation on top at the end. So long as you're not working bi's the day or 2 before rowing and tris the day or 2 before benching.
Read this, I bet it will help you out
https://www.eroids.com/forum/training-nutrition-diet/workout-exercise/mu...
Before I trained I had 14 inch arms, I have 17.5 now.
I'll try the test my next arm day. Thank you.
I don't think you're doing anything wrong, unless you're just not eating right. If your genetic shortcomings are arms, then it is what it is. You can try higher frequency but that may or may not work. Definitely worth a try, but it just might take patience. I know, it sucks.
I'm really asking the opposite. Will not working anything but arms, actually help the arms to grow more than if I was working the arms the same amount, and working the rest of my body more.
I don't think it works that way, no.
Dont focus it all on " cycle " .
You cycled prematurely, all body part should have been peaked naturally before starting.
Get cycle and steroids out of your mind.
Concentrate on training and eating.
If your biceps are lagging behind after you tried all you stated i would do them everyday.
3 x a week go heavy with standing barbell curls straight bar and curved.
Aim for 3 sets of ten for each with a minute 45 rest inbetween sets.
Then go grab some heavy dumbells and hit 3 sets of ten the same way with curls then hammers.
All this as heavy as possible so your struggling but keeping your form.
Every other workout day after you finish all your workouts add biceps in at the end.
Concentration on machine or cables, lighter weight but massive reps, as many as possible without stopping untill the pump is unbearable and your veins are popping, could be over 100 reps, try it for a few months and see how you go.
Remember your diet must be in check and bcaas.
Good luck.
Ya welcome to my world, i been training quite a while now and still haven't figured out what works best for my arms. One thing that did help a while ago was just destroying them, huge volume, 20 sets or so for each. It just shocked the shit out of them after sticking to the 9-12 routine for so long. But they can't sustain this kind of volume for long, month at most. That's the only thing I've found that helps is every month or so completely changing it up going from higher reps to heavy weight low reps, changing exercises, hitting them twice a week for a while then back to higher volume once a week etc. goes for all body parts but I haven't been able to find the perfect rep range for my arms and I don't believe there is one I've spent time in each and the results are basically the same whereas I know what my back, legs chest etc like,it's genetics bro, if your adding size everywhere else then your doing it right. We all have a body part that lags, it sucks that ours is our arms. Mind grew like 1.5 inches on my first cycle and that was years ago and since then I've added like another inch or so. For my family and genetics they're huge though I stared at 130lbs with probably 11inch arms and they're around 17 now. Most of it came from before I started using gear. It's frustrating as hell I know.
Assuming you're moderately lean(< 15% body fat), I'd be more than happy with 17" arms. I'm really just looking to be as big as I can be without continuously using AAS. I just used gear to hit my natural genetic ceiling faster. I'm planning to have kids within the next 2-3 years and I won't be able to build anything new. At that point I'll just aim to maintain. Which if I'm 10 lbs under my natural limit, shouldn't be too demanding.
I've tried sets as high as 15 when off gear. While I was on test, I actually lifted for fewer heavier sets(mostly). I may have learned a few ways to bump that number up a bit.
Arms get a pump from most everything we do in the gym. I got my arms to grow by doing arms every time I worked out at the very start of my workout. I did 21's , look it up if not familiar, for 5-7 sets. For me this worked. Every workout you are putting your weakness first. The first week is tough because your arms will fill like jello and it will affect your ability to move weight in other workouts, hence we use arms for a lot of movement as secondary muscles. After that first week your arms will start growing. At make sure your slamming a protein shake or meal before and after your workout. You can do curls all day but if your not supplying your guns your doomed.
21s were one of the first things I tried. They make my arms burn like hell. I don't seem to grow any better with it than anything else.
I've always drank whey protein about an hour before a workout unless I just had lean meat in the last 2-3 hours. And that probably helped me to gain muscle in general. Just not in my arms. My LBM is about 50 lbs over from where I started(I was skinny fat as hell). My arms though... not so much. 2.7" from my start. Most people say 10lbs to an inch... I'm only at half of that.
This is one thing I haven't tried. To get my Calves growing I had to start hitting them eod. Maybe this will work.
Man, my caves are my new biceps, except my biceps responded fast, and my triceps were always pretty solid. But hellllll, my caves get a good pump and I can be on cloud 9, until my alarm clock goes off the next day, I look down at my caves and want to report a theft. It sucks.. Still working on this.
The best thing I found for my Calves was to put on a weight you can get for roughly 20-30 reps on the Seated machine and do 10 sets to failure with about 45-1mjn rest between twice a week. The first time you do it you probably will only be able to do it once. I wasn't able to walk for like 5 days after but it works great. I got like an inch my first month doing this. Better then when I would do like Monday seated high reps 5 sets or so, then Wednesday standing higher reps then back to seated Friday. I saw results but not like the 10 sets to failure.
My rear delts were lagging, so I started hitting them hard at the end of every other workout like 4-5 months ago. I'm pretty close to balanced now.
Maybe do something similar and end with biceps every other workout and triceps every workout your not finishing with bi's. (Make sure you're ending with bi's and not tri's the workout before bench day, and a rest day before bench day)
Don't go nuts with your bi or tri finishers. You'll be hitting them often so you don't need 10-15 sets. Just 4-6 HARD sets and end with a drop sets, or rest pause, or running the rack. Mix it up on your last set. Just make sure it's toast at the end of it.
Farmers walks 2-3 times a week
check out Wendler 5-3-1 for your bench. (You don't have to follow the whole program, just follow it for bench)
Eat big.
Gear is not the answer here.
EDIT: Seriously. Try this for 3-4 months and if you don't see progress I'll buy you an imaginary milkshake
You've only done 1 cycle? Over a year ago? Is your diet in good check? Have you ever been in a caloric surplus since your last cycle? It's all down to genetics and those other factors, keep experimenting with different training routines and techniques but do it long enough for hypertrophy to occur your natty af so patience is key.. it's not a fault with the gear atall it's all down to training and genetics. Going into a caloric surplus might help. That should be your main focus as of now. then you can start looking in to using gh or peptides etc. that will create hyperplasia if after a good few years of trying you find your biceps still lagging badly. As of now stick to trial and error, training methods and diet
Not sure how a bad diet would allow me to put on a ton of leg strength, back strength, size, etc and limit my arms. If there's an "arm gainz" diet, I'd love to know. That's literally the one thing I haven't tried.