I've been doing light bodybuilding since September 2005 but pretty regular and intensive stuff since January 2006. Now, my pectorals, shoulders and generally my front have developed pretty well but my arms for some reason just aren't growing at all. I've tried really intense weeks but nothing's changed so I've tried really light weeks to to see if it was due to overtraining , but no results either..

I'm 154 pounds, 19 years old, would say I have a moderate/fast metabolism, take a protein shake after each workout and train 3/4 times a week at home (I have a bench with a leg training thing at the end, barbells, dumbells).

Can someone please advise me on how to get these arms to grow?

Hi there William,

Your Diet is a large aspect to consider. Your muscles require adequate "fuel" to be used, but to store as well. While the protien shake will assist; this will enable additional energy for your body to use up, before leaching into the muscle stores.

Looking at your diet, you should utilise a good amount of carbohydrates in your diet (pasta, bread, rice, etc...) as these are very beneficial to muscle development, as well as good for your standard dietary health. The myth that carbohydrates are fattening is quite baseless (you'd need to eat _alot_).

Protien shakes to assist with encouraging storage in the muscle can be useful, however again, without a proper diet to complement this, all of your muscles may struggle to develop with it. I'm actually (personally) not a huge fan of the protein powders.

Arms are usually the quicker area's to 'show up' and build up... so it is feasible to taper your arm exercises through-out the week. Remember, though, that resting your muscles is neccessary.

What exercises are you trying with your arms?.

Regards,
Nicolas.

Well for biceps  I usually start off with some barbell curls, then switch to concentration curls and then some one arm dumbell preacher curls (i do three exercises, the last two varying to change a bit but always the barbell curls at the beginning). I finish off after the biceps with some seated dumbbell palms-up wrist curls (for the forearms). Now for triceps I have recently started some lying tricep presses first, then some one arm dumbell extensions and to finish, some seated tricep presses.
The biceps and forearms i do together but the triceps on a different day and preferably not to close to the pectoral training.

ORIGINAL: William

I've been doing light bodybuilding since September 2005 but pretty regular and intensive stuff since January 2006. Now, my pectorals, shoulders and generally my front have developed pretty well but my arms for some reason just aren't growing at all. I've tried really intense weeks but nothing's changed so I've tried really light weeks to to see if it was due to overtraining , but no results either..

I'm 154 pounds, 19 years old, would say I have a moderate/fast metabolism, take a protein shake after each workout and train 3/4 times a week at home (I have a bench with a leg training thing at the end, barbells, dumbells).

Can someone please advise me on how to get these arms to grow?

William:

Towards making your arms grow, are you resting enough during the week, as well when bulking your arms, sometimes it's not neccessary to do direct arm work therefore simply because your going to do compound lifts. But at the most one direct arm work or else will lead to overtraining.

When bulking naturally you should rely on compound exercises, they are the best towards making muscles grow quicker and bigger then any isolation exercises.Compound exercises such as the big three(squat,deadlift,bench). As well as other compound movements following the same movement legs,pull,push. Simply because, your tri's get hit when doing heavy bench and shoulder press, and bi's get hit from rows,deads,and chins. Believe me, i've never done any curls or direct tricep work to get my bi's and tri's develop, they grew from just doing compound lifts. But good direct compound arm work are exercises such as dips,standing barbell curls,hammer curls,and close grip bench press

Also, your splits, you should rely on 2-3 day split, because you want your muscles to grow and recover within the week. As for sets your sets should be about 3-5 and reps 5-6. 8 is to high when considering to bulk.And do 2 exercises per muscle group at the most. and no mre then total of 15 sets per workout.

Hope this help bud.

Goodluck with training!

Thanks for the info guys, much appreciated!
So PureNatural, you reckon I should not do anymore curls etc.? What kind of exercises will hit the biceps and triceps indirectly ? (I'm assuming Bench Presses for the tris yeah?).
And for the proteins, I use whey at the moment but when buying a new tub today, the guy at the shop told me to get weight gainer if I wanted to bulk and that whey was for cutting down...Is this true or...? (he didn't seem to know much and I don't think the bodybuilding section wasn't his usual one..lol).
 

ORIGINAL: William

Thanks for the info guys, much appreciated!
So PureNatural, you reckon I should not do anymore curls etc.? What kind of exercises will hit the biceps and triceps indirectly ? (I'm assuming Bench Presses for the tris yeah?).
And for the proteins, I use whey at the moment but when buying a new tub today, the guy at the shop told me to get weight gainer if I wanted to bulk and that whey was for cutting down...Is this true or...? (he didn't seem to know much and I don't think the bodybuilding section wasn't his usual one..lol).

 
William:
 
Close grip chin ups are great exercise for bi's as well they get hit with deadlift, and bent over row.
 
Personally, I don't take supplements, I have my own doubts about them.But if your considering to bulk I'd suggest whey should be good. it's only cutting if your start changing your diet or exercises or routine ect. 
 
Hope this help
 
Goodluck with training!

PureNatural, would you recommend the following workout you've been promoting : http://www.discussbodybuilding.com/m_120872/mpage_1/tm.htm ?
Do you reckon it would get my arms growing?
Thanks for the advice!
William

ORIGINAL: William
PureNatural, would you recommend the following workout you've been promoting : http://www.discussbodybuilding.com/m_120872/mpage_1/tm.htm ?
Do you reckon it would get my arms growing?
Thanks for the advice!
William

William:

First of all my friend, I'm not promoting anything. I'm not looking forward towards gaining popularity or getting paid.

Secondly,and most importantly I'm just here to help those naturally and drug free  begginers and those who trained for number of months or years as well who experience similar or likely towards what I have done my first 8-9 months of overtraining who are going the wrong direction when trying to bulk and also helping others getting to experience a new routine looking forward to add mass. 

I know theres alot here just likemyself when I started getting into the bodybuilding falling for muscle mags, isolation exercises,high reps, arnold's encylopedia, doing to many exercises, to many sets and reps, working almost everyday just because I love bodybuilding , watching movies by the "stars", copying their routines and their style of training, buying bodybuilding books and doing all that when trying to get big naturally which leads to overtraining.

Believe me, when I was bodybuilding before, I wasted so much money on magazines(those montly issue) I wasted money on ordering the so call "secret routines" and "secret success", I wasted money buying encylopedia and other books, Wasted so much energy and time and all sudden I was advised to do a simply routine which I thought was going to lead me nowhere just like the rest. I simply almost gave up bodybuilding, but I gave it a try and never have I been amazed by the results. My gains not only my strength but my physique never was like this 14 weeks ago. And I'm not even taking any supps and just working out twice a week.

And to think I did this type of training less then a year and already gave me unexpected results compare to what I have tried doing my first 8-9 months training which got me no where.
I feel that others as well that are really dedicated to getting bigger by putting time and energry deserves to know and get the help that I have recieved.

As well you should see where this routine originally came from and how many people are thanking the guy who started it, as well alot of people I know gave this routine a go and making awsome gains.

Lastly, your arms will get big believe me, during this cycle of this routine, i didn't do any curls or dips or close grip benches and my biceps and triceps develop by working hard enough on the compound lifts which shows as well it's not neccessary to do direct arm movement.

Hope this help

Goodluck with your training

Ok heres what i think you should do ::

Work biceps every3-4 days
Do Preacher curls
I think around 10 reps
Eat plenty of red meat and drink a lot of water.