Biceps and triceps + thoughts on belts.

[Whey Man]

For the past months (starting in the summer) I've transitioned from split training to more of a full body workout approach, utilizing compound lifts for the majority of my workouts. I've also learned to lift with more explosiveness and rigor.

Unless I'm just simply shocking them into more growth from all the years of excessive isolation work...explosive, compound lifts have done wonders for my arms, even while I've been in a calorie restricted state. I've always been an advocate of needing to do direct arm work in order to maximize growth, but not so much anymore. Don't get me wrong, direct arm work did wonders for me growing up and are still very beneficial, but these heavy, intense compound movements just can't be beat IMO. So if anyone's plateauing in their arm growth like I was, ask yourself if you're doing enough compound work. Be sure to get in some of these great "bang for your buck" compound lifts. Here's a few examples:

Chin Ups
Dips
Underhand grip barbell Rows
Wide Grip Lat Pulldowns/Pullups

Another technique I like using once in while is while after the last rep a pull/chin-up, just hold your body at the peak position for as long as you can, and than start SLOWLY descending back into the starting position. It gives a great pump. Just a few thoughts for you all. I'm sure most of you already have figured this kind of stuff out.

As far as belts, I had been struggling with pullups and dips being too easy, but I didn't want to spend the money on a belt to help add weight for the lifts. So recently I just took a normal belt of mine, put it around my waist, put it through the plate, and secured it into place. Worked great. So if you have already have a sturdy belt that's not too small, you're good to go.

[joneser3eb]

That a great idea man. I have been trying to figure out a way to not spend money on a belt and that will do the trick. I have just got to the point where need a tad more than my body weight on pullups so this is perfect timing.

[Gibbster]

You forgot close grip bench as a fantastic compound movement to add size to the Tri's. One of the best!

[Whey Man]

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You forgot close grip bench as a fantastic compound movement to add size to the Tri's. One of the best!

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Yeah, that's one I don't usually do. It has hurt my wrists in the past, but last time I did it using heavy poundages on the smith machine it seemed to go great, so I'm going to try implemeting it more in the future when I have access to a smith machine (I still don't like doing it on a regular bench).

The exercises I listed were merely an example of a few good compound lifts for biceps while at the same time jacking up the back, as everyone knows (all of them except for dips, that is). There's obviously more excellent compound lifts.

[Charles Izzo]

I think you are right. I personally never bothered with much direct arm work simply because I've almost always dome 3-4 workouts per week filled with compound movements. My typical excuses would be that I don't have room to fit the extra work in there or I'm just plain old lazy. The results over the years were that my arms got big anyways. I'm not strong at curls though. But at my current size that I'm quite happy with it's as though I'm iffy about doing about doing that extra isolation work because I don't want to get freaky. Yeah, sounds funny as I know a lot of you folks actually would love to get freaky!
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[Dzoni]

I remember the days I was told by a lot of members that you must do isolation exercises for bicep + tricep growth (when I was refering to compound exercises being the way). I believe you were one of them Whey Man [img]/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img].

Heres some more bicep and tricep growth exercises.

T bar rows
BB Rows
DB Rows
Any pull up or pull down

Direct bicep and tricep work
bb curls
db curls
preecher curls
drag curls

close grip bench
reverse grip bench
dips (all sorts)

personally i don't believe in the tricep kick backs, push downs, pull downs all that. if one does then that's all good but typically something compound whcih makes it easy to progress on will probably provide better results, anyways.

P.S. WheyMan. Try a slow negative on your exercises, very controlled negative. So controlled that if I were to stop you in the middle of the rep, and tell you to go back up, you would be able to do so (so no tossing up and down, control the negative). Few weeks down the line come back and tell me you haven't seen a change. Negatives work wonders, your positives should be explosive and negatives very controlled.

I am not saying a 15 minute set. But something like a 2-3 second negative (and don't take out your stop watch either).

[Bigpete]

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You forgot close grip bench as a fantastic compound movement to add size to the Tri's. One of the best!

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Yeah, that's one I don't usually do. It has hurt my wrists in the past, but last time I did it using heavy poundages on the smith machine it seemed to go great, so I'm going to try implemeting it more in the future when I have access to a smith machine (I still don't like doing it on a regular bench).

The exercises I listed were merely an example of a few good compound lifts for biceps while at the same time jacking up the back, as everyone knows (all of them except for dips, that is). There's obviously more excellent compound lifts.

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Try using an EZ curl bar for CGBP. At the gym I go to, I can put the EZ curl bar on a regular bench press setup and use it like a normal barbell. The only bad thing is you probably wont have a lot of extra room on the ends to rack, so you absolutely need a spot. I am up to 275 lbs without any wrist pain.

While on the subject, anyone have any other great compound tricep exercises? I have inflammation in the cartilege between my clavicals, so I can't do dips. Also, I can't do any overhead extensions because I think I developed tendonitis in my elbows. I have plateaued with CGBP, and need something to replace it with. Otherwise I'm limited to cable exercise and dumbell kickbacks...any suggestions?

[Whey Man]

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P.S. WheyMan. Try a slow negative on your exercises, very controlled negative. So controlled that if I were to stop you in the middle of the rep, and tell you to go back up, you would be able to do so (so no tossing up and down, control the negative). Few weeks down the line come back and tell me you haven't seen a change. Negatives work wonders, your positives should be explosive and negatives very controlled.


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Thanks for the advice, but I already suggested that in my first post. ;Op


Another one I'd like to mention is explosive power curls, where the dumbbell starts on the floor and you only do work on one arm at a time. Simply explosively curl it up. I need to start using that one more too.

[over eater]

Wheyman, I don't know why anyone would take your advice, your biceps look like crap!

Lol totally kidding. I actually can't stop staring at them.

[maverickBU]

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Wheyman, I don't know why anyone would take your advice, your biceps look like crap!

Lol totally kidding. I actually can't stop staring at them.

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creepy...