How do you guys get huge arms?

[Jacob4570]

I’ve been training for the past 5 years and I’ve been using AAS for the past 8 months but I’m asking the veterans of this forum for advice on how to get huge badass arms.

I’m currently 5ft 8” at 85kg and around 20% bf, my FFMi is hovering around 23. So I’ve another 2 points to gain until I reach my theoretical natural limit. Although FFMi could be just nonsense in general I try not to use it as a rule of thumb.

My arms are currently 15” but I want to get them to at least 17” and it’s my life goal to have huge badass arms.

I’ve become obsessed with them and train them EOD. I train biceps and triceps equally and alternate between which goes first on every workout.

My exercises of choice are DB bicep curls, EZ bar curls, Hammer curls (both with DBs and the Tri-bar) underhand grip pull ups and parallel grip pull-ups. For triceps I usually do Tri-bar overhead extensions, tricep cable pulldowns and weighted dips.

Even though I completely obliterate my arms during the workout I don’t really get DOMs, I occasionally get them in my triceps but never in my biceps except for the tendinitis in my elbow.

I’m in a bit of a pickle. I’m trying so hard to gain size in my arms but it just isn’t happening! Even in a surplus I struggle to gain size in my arms.

When I first started training I would guess my arms were 12” so I’ve gained 3” in 5 years but I’ve stagnated for a long time.

Another theory I have is that I don’t allow enough rest for the arms to recover since arms are involved in every single movement apart from training legs! It could be factor and I’m trying to find the cause.

So have you guys any tips on how to get swole ass arms?

 

[mr.redpill]

I'm sure you'll hear many different suggestions in response to your question.

The only advice that I have to give is based on my own personal experience, I was stuck at a similar plateau about 18 months ago. My arms were maybe 16.5?- and I was training them like an olympian so I couldn't figure out why they weren't growing. Diet was good, eating in a surplus, recovery was a priority- I had all my boxes checked.

Wasn't until I slashed my arm training volume by 50-75% that they started growing again...believe it or not. Figured out that my arms were receiving too much work on my back/chest days- and the 30 set arm-days were not only pointless, but counterproductive.

Arms are 18.5" now and I only train them 1x/week...
•3x10 Close grip bench
•3x12 Overhead french press
•2x15 Rope pushdowns
•3x10 Barbell curls
•3x12 Single arm hammer-preacher curls
•2x15 Seated incline curls


May not be relevant to you, just food for thought.

 

[Tlfitness]

I'm sure you'll hear many different suggestions in response to your question.

The only advice that I have to give is based on my own personal experience, I was stuck at a similar plateau about 18 months ago. My arms were maybe 16.5?- and I was training them like an olympian so I couldn't figure out why they weren't growing. Diet was good, eating in a surplus, recovery was a priority- I had all my boxes checked.

Wasn't until I slashed my arm training volume by 50-75% that they started growing again...believe it or not. Figured out that my arms were receiving too much work on my back/chest days- and the 30 set arm-days were not only pointless, but counterproductive.

Arms are 18.5" now and I only train them 1x/week...
•3x10 Close grip bench
•3x12 Overhead french press
•2x15 Rope pushdowns
•3x10 Barbell curls
•3x12 Single arm hammer-preacher curls
•2x15 Seated incline curls
View attachment 177026

May not be relevant to you, just food for thought.

Killer fucking tris dude damn. Grainy too

 

[Jacob4570]

I'm sure you'll hear many different suggestions in response to your question.

The only advice that I have to give is based on my own personal experience, I was stuck at a similar plateau about 18 months ago. My arms were maybe 16.5?- and I was training them like an olympian so I couldn't figure out why they weren't growing. Diet was good, eating in a surplus, recovery was a priority- I had all my boxes checked.

Wasn't until I slashed my arm training volume by 50-75% that they started growing again...believe it or not. Figured out that my arms were receiving too much work on my back/chest days- and the 30 set arm-days were not only pointless, but counterproductive.

Arms are 18.5" now and I only train them 1x/week...
•3x10 Close grip bench
•3x12 Overhead french press
•2x15 Rope pushdowns
•3x10 Barbell curls
•3x12 Single arm hammer-preacher curls
•2x15 Seated incline curls
View attachment 177026

May not be relevant to you, just food for thought.

Damn bro so you would recommend significantly lowering my arm volume?

I train them hard eod and I’m so pissed off they ain’t growing.

I don’t take much rest days either unless im literally crippled with doms.

Thanks for the advice, btw your arms are fucking dope as hell.

 

[mr.redpill]

I train them hard eod

Fuck. This is your problem...in all likelihood.

 

[finroid]

Managed to get big enough arms to avoid getting blood pressure checked at the doctors since their equipment didn't fit around. Probably not the smartest move since always had high BP. At least girls often get my attention by just feeling em out while I'm not looking.

2/3 of my training is arms alone with one day for biceps and other for triceps. Two different training regimen for both muscles (2 different days for triceps, 2 different for biceps), and at least half of the sets towards end of the training are very specific for only those muscles. Not even that heavy weights or long sets, just many different sets and total of 8-10 different, specific movements per muscle with each at bit different angle and grip width. Every month or two introducing something new and swapping the one set which feels like least working.

Also better not forget tanking up on some Deca, Tren, Anadrol and Dianabol

 

[Jacob4570]

Fuck. This is your problem...in all likelihood.

Yeah cheers man I’ll cut this out of my routine right now.

What’s your opinion on rest days because since I started gear like 8 months I recover crazy fast and I’m in the gym almost everyday.

 

[mr.redpill]

Yeah cheers man I’ll cut this out of my routine right now.

What’s your opinion on rest days because since I started gear like 8 months I recover crazy fast and I’m in the gym almost everyday.

Experiment, ya know.

It's your body.

I would cut the vol significantly- but increase load. Track growth for 8 weeks, re assess. Eat until you're sick of eating...

Gear or not your CNS needs a break.

I follow 3 days on 1 day off. Figure out what works for you bro.

 

[Jacob4570]

Experiment, ya know.

It's your body.

I would cut the vol significantly- but increase load. Track growth for 8 weeks, re assess. Eat until you're sick of eating...

Gear or not your CNS needs a break.

I follow 3 days on 1 day off. Figure out what works for you bro.

Yeah I’m glad you mentioned the CNS fatigue because it’s a real thing.

I love the gym and would be in there everyday if I could but I get fucked up sometimes and have to take a few days off.

If I really overdo it then I can take up to a week off although very rarely.

 

[Clyde]

I'm sure you'll hear many different suggestions in response to your question.

The only advice that I have to give is based on my own personal experience, I was stuck at a similar plateau about 18 months ago. My arms were maybe 16.5?- and I was training them like an olympian so I couldn't figure out why they weren't growing. Diet was good, eating in a surplus, recovery was a priority- I had all my boxes checked.

Wasn't until I slashed my arm training volume by 50-75% that they started growing again...believe it or not. Figured out that my arms were receiving too much work on my back/chest days- and the 30 set arm-days were not only pointless, but counterproductive.

Arms are 18.5" now and I only train them 1x/week...
•3x10 Close grip bench
•3x12 Overhead french press
•2x15 Rope pushdowns
•3x10 Barbell curls
•3x12 Single arm hammer-preacher curls
•2x15 Seated incline curls
View attachment 177026

May not be relevant to you, just food for thought.

Back when I was training hard, due to distal tendon injuries in both biceps, I quit training biceps all together. To my surprise, my arms never got smaller as a result.

I think they got plenty of indirect work from all the other training.

 

[Jin23]

I’ve been training for the past 5 years and I’ve been using AAS for the past 8 months but I’m asking the veterans of this forum for advice on how to get huge badass arms.

I’m currently 5ft 8” at 85kg and around 20% bf, my FFMi is hovering around 23. So I’ve another 2 points to gain until I reach my theoretical natural limit. Although FFMi could be just nonsense in general I try not to use it as a rule of thumb.

My arms are currently 15” but I want to get them to at least 17” and it’s my life goal to have huge badass arms.

I’ve become obsessed with them and train them EOD. I train biceps and triceps equally and alternate between which goes first on every workout.

My exercises of choice are DB bicep curls, EZ bar curls, Hammer curls (both with DBs and the Tri-bar) underhand grip pull ups and parallel grip pull-ups. For triceps I usually do Tri-bar overhead extensions, tricep cable pulldowns and weighted dips.

Even though I completely obliterate my arms during the workout I don’t really get DOMs, I occasionally get them in my triceps but never in my biceps except for the tendinitis in my elbow.

I’m in a bit of a pickle. I’m trying so hard to gain size in my arms but it just isn’t happening! Even in a surplus I struggle to gain size in my arms.

When I first started training I would guess my arms were 12” so I’ve gained 3” in 5 years but I’ve stagnated for a long time.

Another theory I have is that I don’t allow enough rest for the arms to recover since arms are involved in every single movement apart from training legs! It could be factor and I’m trying to find the cause.

So have you guys any tips on how to get swole ass arms?

I'll echo what @mr.redpill wrote. Too much volume is contraproductive. There is such a thing as junk volume. Look it up. It's a bit of an inverted U shaped curve with volume and hypertrophy.


View: https://youtu.be/uUYspQd126c



View: https://youtu.be/Nh4qa-Y1CIo

 

[may2021]

I'm sure you'll hear many different suggestions in response to your question.

The only advice that I have to give is based on my own personal experience, I was stuck at a similar plateau about 18 months ago. My arms were maybe 16.5?- and I was training them like an olympian so I couldn't figure out why they weren't growing. Diet was good, eating in a surplus, recovery was a priority- I had all my boxes checked.

Wasn't until I slashed my arm training volume by 50-75% that they started growing again...believe it or not. Figured out that my arms were receiving too much work on my back/chest days- and the 30 set arm-days were not only pointless, but counterproductive.

Arms are 18.5" now and I only train them 1x/week...
•3x10 Close grip bench
•3x12 Overhead french press
•2x15 Rope pushdowns
•3x10 Barbell curls
•3x12 Single arm hammer-preacher curls
•2x15 Seated incline curls
View attachment 177026

May not be relevant to you, just food for thought.

Same situation.
I think I'm going to have to reduce my arm training as well.

 

[TRENdy07]

What’s crazy is I never grew my arms until I started training them more. WAY more. Like almost every day more. Each person is different you will have to find what works for you. Also, I’m starting to believe arms are generic to some extent. My arms have been 17.5 for most my life. Not big.. not small. Never had the cool peak in my bicep though. This past year I’ve done some kind of delt and arm training every gym day except my leg days and I’ve finally started getting comments about my arms getting bigger.

 

[GuerillaPete]

I would suggest using a log book and training them twice (biceps/triceps)
One session low reps 6-9 with log book concentrating on upping the weight .
Barbel curls and dips(weighted)
And another session hitting the muscle with multiple exercises higher reps but also using the log book .
Log book is key for me just started using it again training is more intense and progress is great

 

[Jacob4570]

I would suggest using a log book and training them twice (biceps/triceps)
One session low reps 6-9 with log book concentrating on upping the weight .
Barbel curls and dips(weighted)
And another session hitting the muscle with multiple exercises higher reps but also using the log book .
Log book is key for me just started using it again training is more intense and progress is great

Only log book I have mate is the one in glove box from when I bought my Nissan Micra. Nah I’m just kidding, it’s good to keep track of your lifts. I used to do it before but it took the fun out of the gym.

 

[Big_paul]

exercises of choice are DB bicep curls, EZ bar curls, Hammer curls (both with DBs and the Tri-bar) underhand grip pull ups and parallel grip pull-ups. For triceps I usually do Tri-bar overhead extensions, tricep cable pulldowns and weighted dips.

Great arms are born. Try heavy barbell curls, heavy preacher curls and heavy french press. Heavy is key here.

 

[HopHop79]

1. genetics - this is the number one thing for big arms, or any gifted muscle group someone has.

2. Maybe add an arm day in once a week with 3 working sets for bis and 3 working sets for tris. Zero other work on this day. Make sure your arms are so pumped they feel like they will pop.

3. Focus on a hard contraction of the muscle on every rep. This is true for every movement you do.

There’s no secret. Just don’t overtrain.

 

[Demondosage]

Light to moderate weights, high reps, lots of squeeze. If you look at most guys curling dumbbells, there isn’t a big difference in work weights between a guy with 18” arms and a guy with 14” arms, the growth factor is in how the reps are performed

 

[rufflesbaby]

I'd love to see the arm workout where you're overtraining your arms somehow lol. I think maybe If you're sitting there curling 10's for an hour It might be counterproductive sure.. But the hardest aspect of arm training Is actually going heavy and pushing yourself, Most people don't use heavier weights when training arms but will ego lift doing bench press, deadlifts etc..

People tend to just treat arm training so much differently than everything else.. I've had personal trainers at my gym when I was 15-16 Y.O that I was overtraining and blah blah blah.. I had 17" arms coming from being a literal stick figure with tiny bones at 16Y.O, I attribute that 1000% to MORE volume and using heavier loads while training arms.. As well as PYRAMID SETS - working up 10-20lb increments and then dropping the weight 10-20lbs until I can't move even 5lbs..

But you have to realize If you're training every exercise to failure in this manor then exercise selection becomes CRUCIAL.. Otherwise there is a chance you can "over train" It's as simple as going from barbell biceps curls to dumbbell bicep curls.. THEY'RE THE SAME SHIT BASICALLY.. You need to train way fucking harder and focus on exercise selection to AVOID overtraining a specific head or area of the muscle.

 

[rufflesbaby]

Light to moderate weights, high reps, lots of squeeze. If you look at most guys curling dumbbells, there isn’t a big difference in work weights between a guy with 18” arms and a guy with 14” arms, the growth factor is in how the reps are performed

This is perfect advice, even between sets you should squeeze the muscle and keep It filled with blood.. your mind muscle connection can never be too good and actually squeezing every rep makes the exercise WAY harder and more painful.