Breaking growth plateaus...

RaveHead

New Member
New and need advice." That's the name of this thread. How appropos. Now about plateaus. I have been training/eating consistently for some time. I've also been on gear a few months now. All the rest of me is growing as expected. My arms however have been stuck at 17.5. I am using progressive overload, using drop sets, different rep ranges and tempos. Sometimes increasing frequency and sometime taking time off to deload (7-10 days). Of course I have not reached my genetic limit or ceiling yet. How long can the arms stall before deciding to grow some more again? My strength is increasing in my biceps/tricepsexercises but not getting size gains lately. Any insights?
 
What's your diet looking like?

Are you doing hammer curls and reverse curls? these two lifts
will add another 1" to your arms quick if you haven't.

Lots of triceps work also. Heavy triceps extensions and heavy cable press downs.

I stalled at about the same point, but by going heavy and working the entire upper arm, I got up to 20.5".

There is a lot to be said for mixing up your routine as long as you continue to lift heavier. If your barbell curls are 30 lbs heavier than it was 6 months ago, I guarantee your biceps will grow. Same with triceps. You have to lift heavy to get a big arm. No other way.
 
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My arm routine looks like this.

1. Barbell curl...80 lbs, 6x10
2. Preacher curl or incline curl or hammer curl...30 lb dumbbells, 6x10
3. Reverse curls barbell... 40 lbs, 4x12-15
** triple drop sets on last set of each exercise
** tempo 2-1-2-1
 
Had the same problem and I got some IGF-1 and started pinning it on arm day in to the biceps and put On a 1/4 " in two months. Had crazy pumps that lasted a few hours after lifting. Only down fall is when I stopped using it the pumps seems to dwindle and can't get it back now without it.
 
Sometimes you just need a change. I've been into strength training/powerlifting but that only took my size so far.

I just switched to bodybuilding based workouts (fst7) and I fully expect to break plateaus .
 
Sometimes you just need a change. I've been into strength training/powerlifting but that only took my size so far.

I just switched to bodybuilding based workouts (fst7) and I fully expect to break plateaus .
I started out powerlifting and would do high reps on and off switching in between heavy days with rubber bands and chains and it helped a lot on heavy days also with strength in turn being able to lift more the body will increase in muscle mass to counter the heavy weight.
 
Triceps
1. Pressdowns...120lbs, 6x10
2. Overhead dumbbell extension...80lbs, 6x10
3. Cable extensions...40lbs, 3x10
4. Reverse grip pressdowns (medial head)...40lbs, 3x12-15

** triple drop sets on last set each exercise
** tempo 2-1-2-1
 
My arm routine looks like this.

1. Barbell curl...80 lbs, 6x10
2. Preacher curl or incline curl or hammer curl...30 lb dumbbells, 6x10
3. Reverse curls barbell... 40 lbs, 4x12-15
** triple drop sets on last set of each exercise
** tempo 2-1-2-1

If I wanted my arms to grow that's not enough weight, for my arms to grow I lift heavy. I also do reverse grip bench for triceps, it blows them up for me. Everyone is different genetics play a big part in it as well. make sure you train hard everyday and train even harder on the body parts that your not happy with.
 
Diet is...

Protein 350g
Carbs 400g
Fat. 150 g

I am endomorph...currently bulking

I train each body part every 5 days...twice every 10 days

Anyone use things like 100's training, sets of 100 where you fail at 70 and rest pause up to 100?

I am also on 1000mg/wk test enth
 
If I wanted my arms to grow that's not enough weight, for my arms to grow I lift heavy. I also do reverse grip bench for triceps, it blows them up for me. Everyone is different genetics play a big part in it as well. make sure you train hard everyday and train even harder on the body parts that your not happy with.

Focus on more weight and less but heavier sets.80lbs barbell curls isn't going to get you a big arm bro.

Get your weight up to 135 and you will see a change.
 
Just like big Paul said, more weight less reps. I'm not saying go over what you can do but I know you can do more than 80 pounds on a barbell and 30 pounds on incline curls. Just pick it up to what you can do clean and go from there.
 
Diet is...

Protein 350g
Carbs 400g
Fat. 150 g

I am endomorph...currently bulking

I train each body part every 5 days...twice every 10 days

Anyone use things like 100's training, sets of 100 where you fail at 70 and rest pause up to 100?
I am also on 1000mg/wk test enth

That will work for cutting up
 
That's almost 4500 cals. Not enough to grow?
I take in over 5,500 easy a day, but depending on your size and what you do during the day will factor in. If you have an active job your burning calories then you go lift burning even more calories. I would at least take in 5,000 a day and see if you have a change, again genetics play a big part in muscles. If your genetics ain't there no matter what you do really it ain't going to make a big difference. Take my calf muscle it's not small but the muscle it's self is short so the bottom part of my leg has no muscle in it so there's not a lot I can do about that, it's like your wrist you got small wrist you probably will always have small wrist.
 
OP. Do an arm only workout once a week and blast the shit out of them. This will cause micro tears in your bi's and tri's, which will result in growth. If you want to do arms twice a week, make your second arm workout a light weight high rep scheme to flush your arms with blood.
 
If you have been eating 4,500 cals for a bit and gains have come to a stall then yes it's not enough to grow simple Logic. Look I'm not trying to be an ass but this is very common. Most either do not train hard enough or they do not eat enough or both. This is a big part of why we see so much post on the boards of people claiming there gear is bunk. The majority of the time it's what I mentioned above not the gear. Ok rant over :)
 
If you have been eating 4,500 cals for a bit and gains have come to a stall then yes it's not enough to grow simple Logic. Look I'm not trying to be an ass but this is very common. Most either do not train hard enough or they do not eat enough or both. This is a big part of why we see so much post on the boards of people claiming there gear is bunk. The majority of the time it's what I mentioned above not the gear. Ok rant over :)

I completely agree with this, I also hate hearing I can't grow... I'm a slow gainer. I was skinny as fuck when I started out, my forearms are bigger than my biceps were hahahaha. The only way to grow is to eat, I get up every night at 2am to eat then at 530 so I can eat before I get ready for work. If you want it bad enough you will get there, all the gear in the world will do nothing for the guy that don't want to push himself.
 
Ok yea. I will throw in another 1000 cals per day. I will also go heavier on my sets. I was doing the 4-rep scheme (4x4 + 4x8-12 + 4x15). That was pretty intense with all those sets taken to failure. Or should i go harder than that?
 
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