Arms
May 2nd 2007 13:30
The symbol of maleness has always been the muscular arm. For women the tight arm without the buildup of fat is the ideal. Thus the arm is a indicator of fitness for both sexes.Today a few comments on building arms.
It is ironic that much of the training that goes on in the weight room centers around the arms. Ironic, because the arms are involved in training any part of the upper body. Back work especially impacts the biceps and chest work cannot be done without major impact on the triceps. If you want big arms it is reasonable that you would want to train them, but this heavy involvement in the training of other body parts means that it is very easy to over train the arms. If your desire for better arms leads you to pile on a bunch of extra sets for them at the end of a larger body workout, you will be retarding their development. An overworked muscle shrinks.
If you train arms at the wrong time you will also be limiting yourself. You cannot,for instance, train chest with fervor one day and triceps the next. The triceps will get heavy work on chest day and again the next day. The same is true for biceps and back. You must train with recovery in mind and that means arms get no more work than any other body part. The split routine with back and biceps paired and chest and triceps paired is ideal. You get plenty of work and rest that way. Unless Ronnie Colemant is worried about your presence at the Olympia training arms more than twice a week is too much.
What is an ideal number of sets for the arms? I say that,if you are training the larger body parts, the ideal number may be no more than 4-8 with 8 being an extreme. These sets,of course, are to be all out and adding sets because you didn't go all is not acceptable. There will be a point when you can add sets, but that has to be done with care and after a considerable amount of consistent training.
Training causes the arms to grow larger and more dense. None of this will show very well unless the fat that the ill-fed body coats that muscles is controlled. That is a function of diet. Please listen to this, ladies. The fat that collects on the back of your arm-it cannot be trained off. But with diet and training you can control it and create attractive arms. Your servant, as always.
Big Arms=Big Guns?
If you train arms at the wrong time you will also be limiting yourself. You cannot,for instance, train chest with fervor one day and triceps the next. The triceps will get heavy work on chest day and again the next day. The same is true for biceps and back. You must train with recovery in mind and that means arms get no more work than any other body part. The split routine with back and biceps paired and chest and triceps paired is ideal. You get plenty of work and rest that way. Unless Ronnie Colemant is worried about your presence at the Olympia training arms more than twice a week is too much.
What is an ideal number of sets for the arms? I say that,if you are training the larger body parts, the ideal number may be no more than 4-8 with 8 being an extreme. These sets,of course, are to be all out and adding sets because you didn't go all is not acceptable. There will be a point when you can add sets, but that has to be done with care and after a considerable amount of consistent training.
Training causes the arms to grow larger and more dense. None of this will show very well unless the fat that the ill-fed body coats that muscles is controlled. That is a function of diet. Please listen to this, ladies. The fat that collects on the back of your arm-it cannot be trained off. But with diet and training you can control it and create attractive arms. Your servant, as always.
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