Am I over-working my arms?

G

GarbageGuy

0
Hey all,

This is my first post here and to start off, I got to ask about the thing I am most concerned with.

I am a hard gainer and have been lifting for eight months now. I have seen some improvements in my body but kind of feel like I am falling short, especially in the arms department.

I am worried that I may be over working my arms. Someone recomended that for a hard gainer, it is good to work three days on and one day off. I work all body parts in those three days.

Here is my routine:
Day 1: Triceps + One of (Chest, back, or shoulders)
Day 2: Abs and legs
Day 3: Biceps + One of (Chest, back, or shoulders)
Day off
Day 1: Triceps + One of (Chest, back, or shoulders)
Day 2: Abs and legs
Day 3: Biceps + One of (Chest, back, or shoulders)
Day off

I rotate the chest, back and shoulders.

I do three sets of reps. The first set I do 8-10 reps. The second set I add weight and do 6-10 reps. The third set, I add more weight and do 4-6 reps. I heard this is good for hard-gainers like me but am not sure if it is actually all that well.

I vary my excesizes in order to get a variety and so that my muscles don't get bored. Is this okay or is it better to stick to a few good ones?

I already learned a lot about diet and I am on a high calorie/high protein/high carb diet that is low on bad fats.

I have seen some improvements but not nearly what I thought in eight months. My arms currently measure (midway between elbow and armpit) 12" around when not-flexed. My goal is to add atleast six more inches.

Any advice is welcome.

Thanks,
GarbageGuy
 
Post what your current routine is, including exercises, sets, reps, etc? And don't forget to mention your goals.
 
I'll just make this brief for you. When you are doing chest, you are doing "pushing" exercises n general. When you are working back, you are doing "pulling" exercises in general. "pushing" exercises stimulate the triceps, whereas as "pulling" exercises do the same for biceps. Some folks like to have a pull workout day, a push workout day, and a leg day. Some peeps like to do full body workouts. Some folks do one bodypart a day, there a lot of ways to do your workout. It depends on you. Going by your current workout, day 1 you mentioned you do tri's, then do your chest and delts also. Train your chest first. JMO. Day 2 is lower body. Day 3 you mentioned bi's, then do your back that day. Train your back first, again JMO. I don't know how many days a week you lift or your set/rep amounts. If you can post these, then, we can give you feedback if you are overtraining your arms. I guess that wasn't too brief !! :rolleyes:
 
Develop a more focused routine rather than just alternating between body parts, by this I mean to know what you will be doing.

I understand that you want some size on your arms, but isolation exercises should come after compound exercises, for example, you should do tricep exercises after your chest routine, if you do indeed do tricep isolation exercises (you don't necessarily have to go chest and triceps, this is just an example).

You will gain muscle on your arms with compounds and focus on your large muscle groups more than the smaller groups (biceps and triceps)

Always do the compounds (the largest most challenging, usually) first. For example don't do leg curls and extensions forever before doing squats.

Speaking of, what exercises are you doing? That would be helpful as well. You list body parts, but give us more.

With your reps and sets, I would do one more set (possibly two, depending on the exercise), if you're trying to gain as in bulk I would do one more between 8 and 10 reps.
 
What are isolation excersizes and compound excersizes? What is the difference between them?

I do not know the technical names for the excersizes I do, yet. But here is my best shot at describing them.

Biceps: Basic curl, hammer curl, barbell curl, reverse barbell curl, cable curl together, cable curl individual.

Triceps: Dumb Bell extension, Tricep kick back, bar bell extension, cable extensions (sometimes together and sometimes seperate).

Are there excersizes that are more geared towards mass?
 
Ok man... what he means is this. This is just an example

hammer curl : 40lbs 8reps and 3 sets

bench press: 150lbs 10 reps 3 sets....

get the point?? be more specifix man. Like how many of them do you do and whatnot. Also include your over all workout you do daily. Isolation work out means... your only doing curls to focus on your bicepts. Compound means your doing exercise that covers alot of muscles of your body for example bench press.... which covers chest, sholders, bicepts, etc... get the point.

just be more specific. Also include your diet.
 
GarbageGuy. A combination exercise involves working more than one muscle group. For example, a bench press, as stated in the previous post, affects the Pectorals (chest), Deltoids(shoulders) and the triceps, not the biceps. An isolation focuses on one muscle. An example would be curls, they focus on the biceps, if done with proper form. Doing combination exercises is the better choice overall as it stimulates the whole body more. If you focus your workouts on squats, deadlifts, presses, rows, chins, and lunges, you can make vey good gains. Notice there is no Direct arm exercises there, but your arms will grow with combination movements. Yes there are other combinations, and I'm sure they will be stated. I just mentioned the above to give you a starting point. Also your diet is key and drink lots of water.
 
Okay, so here is the most specific I can be about my work out. Any further info for improvements on this would be great. Like I said, I have been working out eight months and seen only minimal results (granted I am a hardgainer).

Day 1: Triceps + Chest
Day 2: Abs + Legs
Day 3: Biceps + Back
Day 4: off

Day 1: Triceps + Shoulders
Day 2: Abs + Legs
Day 3: Biceps + Chest
Day 4: Off

Day 1: Triceps + Back
Day 2: Abs + Legs
Day 3: Biceps + Shoulders
Day 4: off

Etc.

Here is an example of how I do my sets:

Bicep Curl:
1st Set: 20 lbs @ 10 reps
2nd Set: 25 lbs @ 8 reps
3rd Set: 30 lbs @ 6 reps

or

Bench Press:
1st Set: 75lbs @ 10 reps
2nd Set: 85 lbs @ 8 reps
3rd Set: 95 lbs @ 6 reps

I have been doing my sets like that for the last eight months and made minimal improvements. I made some improvement on the amount I can lift but is that amount normal after eight months? (granted I never worked out a day in my life before).

I have been doing my three day on/three day off combo for about two months now and saw a bit more improvement with that. But I am concerned if I match up chest/back and triceps/biceps on the wrong days, I may be over working my arms.

I understand now about the compound vs isolation and can't wait to try it out. But what else can I do to get more out of my work out and get to improving these scrawny arms?

What are some specific excersizes I should being doing?

As for diet, I got that down solid.

Thanks again for anyone's help!
 
GarbageGuy said:
Okay, so here is the most specific I can be about my work out. Any further info for improvements on this would be great. Like I said, I have been working out eight months and seen only minimal results (granted I am a hardgainer).

Day 1: Triceps + Chest
Day 2: Abs + Legs
Day 3: Biceps + Back
Day 4: off

Day 1: Triceps + Shoulders
Day 2: Abs + Legs
Day 3: Biceps + Chest
Day 4: Off

Day 1: Triceps + Back
Day 2: Abs + Legs
Day 3: Biceps + Shoulders
Day 4: off

Etc.

Here is an example of how I do my sets:

Bicep Curl:
1st Set: 20 lbs @ 10 reps
2nd Set: 25 lbs @ 8 reps
3rd Set: 30 lbs @ 6 reps

or

Bench Press:
1st Set: 75lbs @ 10 reps
2nd Set: 85 lbs @ 8 reps
3rd Set: 95 lbs @ 6 reps

I have been doing my sets like that for the last eight months and made minimal improvements. I made some improvement on the amount I can lift but is that amount normal after eight months? (granted I never worked out a day in my life before).

I have been doing my three day on/three day off combo for about two months now and saw a bit more improvement with that. But I am concerned if I match up chest/back and triceps/biceps on the wrong days, I may be over working my arms.

I understand now about the compound vs isolation and can't wait to try it out. But what else can I do to get more out of my work out and get to improving these scrawny arms?

What are some specific excersizes I should being doing?

As for diet, I got that down solid.

Thanks again for anyone's help!
Click to expand...

Specific exercises you should be doing in my opinion, Squats, deadlifts, lunges, Chins, rows, bench presses, overhead presses, dips. These are all combination movements. There are several other good ones also. Maybe you do some or all of these now. But I feef if you make these exercises the foundation of your workout, you can make good improvements. JMO. I'm sure others will offer their insight as well
 
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