How much do you train your arms?

[The Big O.Z]

OK, so this may sound crazy to some - others not so much - but I basically don't do any isolation exercises on my bi's or tri's.

I have naturally large tri's and forearms. My arms blow up enough from other exercises (Deads etc) for me to be content.

So I'm curious, how much do you train your arms? Do you dedicate large amounts of time to them?

What exercises do you do?


This is just coming about because I see people dedicating entire days to their arms. I don't know if it's just poor routines or if they struggle to put on size in their arms, so they dedicate more time to it.

 

[The Big O.Z]

FYI - My forearms are 14" cold. Bi's are 18". I guess if I did train my bi's I could pack on some good size and push towards 20".

 

[SBT]

There are some weeks where I don't train arms either, just because they get hit so much throughout my other workouts. Actually two off seasons ago, I did NO direct arm work at all, and it actually wound up being one of my better improvements. Funny how that works?!?!

 

[The Big O.Z]

I swear all I need for my forearms are deads. They have had such a huge impact in that area.

 

[imported_zedhed]

For the last couple of years I have not done any direct arm training. But I have recently switched up my training. So now I do close grip chins, bent over bbl rows, SLDL, close grip bench and pullovers, wait for it ...wait for it.....AND 2 SETS OF 10-12 CURLS switch off with HAMMER CURLS!!!!!!!So now as you can plainly see I do direct arm work, 3x/week. Yes I actually do see a difference.

 

[Squataholic]

bis once a week, tris twice because they are lagging

 

[obsessedwliftin]

I train bis and tris once a week. 4 excersises that vary for each 4sets each

 

[SpyWizard]

For the last couple of years I have not done any direct arm training. But I have recently switched up my training. So now I do close grip chins, bent over bbl rows, SLDL, close grip bench and pullovers, wait for it ...wait for it.....AND 2 SETS OF 10-12 CURLS switch off with HAMMER CURLS!!!!!!!So now as you can plainly see I do direct arm work, 3x/week. Yes I actually do see a difference.

i'm with ya.. I spent 1 year concentrating on my back, just doing now the arms are the primary and back 2nd.. igflr3 and creatine make a big difference too..

 

[The Big O.Z]

Maybe I should start working in some curls. The other week I did some only because I was killing time waiting for someone to finish their workout so we could leave. That's about all I have done in recent months, haha. I could still curl 110 easily, so other exercises are definitely helping me maintain the strength.

Might work in some bar curls and preachers, or incline dumbbell curls.

 

[dr.stack]

i train all arms bi's, tri's, forarms etc.. all in the same day atleast once a week sometimes twice.

 

[sweed]

when i hit chest, I do tri's- only 3 sets.
when I train back, i hit bi's- 3 sets.

that's it, the rest of those exercises hit the muscle, so little direct exercise is needed.
Still lagging at 18" tho! lol I would love to get them to 20"+ also!

dave palumbo loves cable isolation curls because they give tension the whole way through, I do somewhat the same as I keep tension on them the whole time. But i don't use cables right now

 

[kdc1023]

I use to hit forearms pretty hard with biceps but I started realizing that I work my forearms with all the big lifts so its best just to give them as much rest as possible so they can grow. Now with Bi's and Tri's I use to do a whole day dedicated to arms but I started a better routine for myself which incorporates chest/tri's , Back/Bi's. Triceps get worked with chest so its perfect to just throw it in that day. And the same with biceps.

 

[Future]

I do direct arm work in biceps and thats about it. The rest is mostly compound exercising due to injury. The frequency is dependent on my recovery.

 

[The Big O.Z]

I think I might start pushing my bi's a bit more then!

 

[walli]

1 time a week...

 

[Walking Beast]

In the early years I was obsessed with arms training. Mainly biceps. Used to tear the living fuck out of them. Negatives, dropsets, extremely heavy weight to failure and extremely high volume. I still KILL THAT SHIT of course, but I learned a few things along the way.

My arms didnt really grow the most until my heavy compound lifts, like heavy pressing and rowing got very heavy. I believe the overall body mass from these heavy lifts forced the arms to grow to keep up, but even more importantly, the strain on the biceps from rowing so much, and triceps from pressing so much, forced a certain amount of growth as well.

How frequently you train arms is gonna be based on your recovery and how they grow for YOU. So no one can tell you what to do. You have to find whats working for you specifically.

For me, I put so much strain on my biceps from rowing, that there are weeks I dont even train biceps at all. Ill base it on how strained my tendons are. I never lost size in the arms for excluding biceps, they may have even grown at points. As my overall body size was increasing.

This is because of my current level though. Before my biceps never got sore from heavy back work or heavy biceps training. They were fuckin stubborn. I think now that I move a much more massive load in my back training, on each exercise, and also the strains from all the training over time, they need alot more recovery. So I decide when to train biceps depending on my tendon and muscle soreness.

Triceps I always train. I use wide grip on all my pressing and mostly 3/4 reps, so they dont get hit as much with my pressing.

I only train arms once a week now though. For me frequent arm training isnt neccesary. They get hit enough with the other shit. Im getting to the point where im training everything once a week now and just KILLIN THE FUCK out of my target for the day. Rest,recover and grow. Its getting to the point where more frequency might cause me to tear off a limb or some shit. Takes time to regrow those

KILL THAT SHIT!!

 

[RickO'Shea]

Twice A week, they're stubborn things that aren't growning.
Especially the damn tri's I can't put mass on this things to save my life!

 

[GeekPoop]

Once a week for bi/tris/delts.

If you do proper form of compound exercises, they'll grow just fine. When I do train them, I do heavy movements ex drag curls CG BP no sissy kick backs or stuff like that

 

[kdc1023]

I just always try to make sure that I'm doing some new variation of excercises different ways so I can constantly be tricking my muscles. My arms seem to grow pretty well.

 

[russianstar]

They are my weekest part i think, so not enough.

 

[rahl]

I base mine on recovery from the compounds but I do it like this...Leg Days/Tris Back Day/Bi's Chest.

Sometimes I don't do the tri work at all if they're still pounded from my chest workout. It really comes down to tendon stress for me. If they are o.k. I'll do some skull crushers. If not I don't. I do 4-6 sets of heavy curls though including hammer curls which I feel have really helped my bi's in the last year. Arms are probably one of my better body parts so it's working I'll keep doing it that way.