I read on some weight training website, i forgot which one it was, that if your arms ar smaller than 15" you should avoid training them directly. Is this true? Because when i do compound lifts that involve my biceps and triceps, i don't really feel the burn in them as much as i do when i do like bicep curls and tricep pulldowns. What do you guys think?
No biceps or triceps?
- Thread starter Biggie
- Start date
you might have read that on my site. the point is you dont need to do direct work for them to get them bigger. you dont want guys with 12" arms having "arm day" or doing curl after curl.
like forearms. you'll be better results with farmers walks, shrugs, deadlifts than direct work.
more emphasis should be placed on the big basic movements. some direct work is fine but not needed.
like forearms. you'll be better results with farmers walks, shrugs, deadlifts than direct work.
more emphasis should be placed on the big basic movements. some direct work is fine but not needed.
and what abear says makes a lot of sense, especially for newcomers. if you haven't been lifting, then every single free-weight move is going to work the forearms because of your grip strength. Down the road you can add direct forearm exercises to continue growth/strength when they no longer reach hypertrophy from compound moves.
I agree too. It just sounded different in the initial post. My upper arms are 12 inches. I am also an ecto morph and small boned. But, I feel that my arm isolation stuff helps with the larger muscle group exercises. I can tell you for sure that my pull-ups made some enormous gains when I did curls in addition to upper back work.
I believe in doing 3 different exercises for large muscle groups and only 1 exercise for the smaller "helper" muscles.
Setting a size (like 15 inch arms) was the problem I had. I have a freind who has 16+ inch arms who can't do as much weight as me on curls or pull-ups. But, he is a mesomorph and very big boned. So, I thought the 15" measurement to be a bit general. Also, I find that tricep work can improve your bench and military numbers.
But, I strongly agree with the fact that compound exercises will work smaller groups.
BTW - you can check your bone size by bending your arm to 45 degrees and then using a caliper, measure the protruding bones on each side of your elbow.
-Rip
I believe in doing 3 different exercises for large muscle groups and only 1 exercise for the smaller "helper" muscles.
Setting a size (like 15 inch arms) was the problem I had. I have a freind who has 16+ inch arms who can't do as much weight as me on curls or pull-ups. But, he is a mesomorph and very big boned. So, I thought the 15" measurement to be a bit general. Also, I find that tricep work can improve your bench and military numbers.
But, I strongly agree with the fact that compound exercises will work smaller groups.
BTW - you can check your bone size by bending your arm to 45 degrees and then using a caliper, measure the protruding bones on each side of your elbow.
-Rip