# Arms out of proportion



## pez1206 (Feb 20, 2009)

Hey guys. Need some advice,

My arms are really out of proportion with the rest of me, my back, legs and chest are all a size I am happy (ish) with however my arms including shoulders are well out compared to the rest of me.

I am tal (6'2)l and have long thin arms.

Any advice, I really try not to over train them. What would you guys recommend.

PEZ


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## vandangos (Feb 25, 2009)

im 6"2 as well abit crap aint it lol long gangly things, what size are your arms at the moment?


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## godsgifttoearth (Jul 28, 2009)

stop doing direct work.

focus on big compound pulling moves, with at least 1 underhand grip, the rest with neutral grip. this will force ur arms to develop as theyre the weak link in the chain. if you must do curls, try a week on. week off approach with really low volume, high intensity.

remember to deadlift.


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## vandangos (Feb 25, 2009)

i would say underhand close grip pulldowns have helped my biceps alot and heavy pushdowns for tri's.


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## Will101 (Apr 14, 2009)

I have the same problem! 6ft 2, 16 stone but only 17" arms! They are strong when compared to others in the gym but just dont look that big! :cursing:

I do big compund stuff mainly but have gone back to doing arms in isolation at well.

On the shoulders front, I found military presses work wonders...


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## dudz (Oct 27, 2008)

vandangos said:


> im 6"2 as well abit crap aint it lol long gangly things, what size are your arms at the moment?


Try being 5ft 10" and having lanky as fook arms! I swear one of these days my knuckles are gonna drag on the floor LOL


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## SALKev (Feb 28, 2009)

pez1206 said:


> Hey guys. Need some advice,
> 
> My arms are really out of proportion with the rest of me, my back, legs and chest are all a size I am happy (ish) with however my arms including shoulders are well out compared to the rest of me.
> 
> ...


same here mate, it sucks :sad:



godsgifttoearth said:


> stop doing direct work.
> 
> focus on big compound pulling moves, with at least 1 underhand grip, the rest with neutral grip. this will force ur arms to develop as theyre the weak link in the chain. if you must do curls, try a week on. week off approach with really low volume, high intensity.
> 
> remember to deadlift.


i'm going to try this, what if deadlifts arn't an option?


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## godsgifttoearth (Jul 28, 2009)

S-A-L said:


> what if deadlifts arn't an option?


squat?

why cant you deadlift?

for ur tricep work, which i forgot about. cos usually guys complain about small biceps. and dont really care about tris. i find these 3 exercises are king.

bench

OHP

parallel bar dips.

you really dont need to do direct tricep work at all unless ur absolutely huge. little guys (like us?) should only be doing compound moves to add mass. isolation is for the big guys and people trying to cut for a comp.


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## godsgifttoearth (Jul 28, 2009)

oh yeah, if your going to try zero/little direct work.

YOU MUST GIVE IT SOME TIME.

bodybuilding is a slow hobby. nothing happens quick. ur sets of 21's might give you an instant few mm's of satisfaction. but its all lies. its just blood. it'll deflate after a few hours.

give zero direct work a go for a good 6-8weeks. take a week of the gym. then go back to direct work. or if you like the results keep going with the big compounds.

if you do this for a few weeks and stop. you stop just as ur arms are about to grow. you have to get stronger before you get bigger.

be patient. arms are a small group of muscles, so take time to develop.


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## Themanabolic (Jun 25, 2009)

Welcome to my world haha 6'6'' arms are strong, just don't look big in proportion to my body


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## pez1206 (Feb 20, 2009)

cheers for all the advice guys, gunna stick with compounds and see how I get on over the next few weeks, no concentrated arm work out for me.

Being tall has its up sides as well as down sides.

PEZ


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## Ken Hutchinson (May 29, 2009)

As mentioned your tris are made up of 3 heads and your bis 2, so to get your arms bigger do lots of tricep work, CGP, DIPS, SKULLS,also for bis do hammer curls as well.


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## Dizzee (Mar 30, 2009)

If anyone says to you that you dont need to do direct arm work to get them to grow then they do not understand the human body. What works for one person may not and more than likely will not work for you.

The thing is you need to shock your arms into growing, I would prescribe you with 2 arm workouts a week for 4-5 weeks to shock them into growing - but instead of doing useless standing dumbell curls with poor form and then some single arm tricep pushdowns try something a little more challenging:

(Only do this is you can perform 10 underhand grip chins and 20 dips in succession, if you cant then work at getting those numbers up first)

Biceps:

45 degree incline dumbell curls. 3 sets of 14,12,10 going up in weight each time.

Seated close grip EZ preacher curls. 4 sets of 6 heavy reps with a 2 second negative and a 1 second pause at full contraction

Standing overhand barbell curls. 4 sets of 6 heavy reps with a 2 second negative and a 1 second pause at full contraction

Triceps:

Single arm underhand grip cable extension. 3 sets of 14,12,10 going up in weight each time.

Close grip bench press on smith machine. 4 sets of 6 heavy reps with a 2 second negative and a 1 second pause at full contraction

Standing cable pushdowns. 4 sets of 6 heavy reps with a 2 second negative and a 1 second pause at full contraction

After doing that twice a week for 4 weeks, stop training your arms and go back to a normal routine with NO direct arm training for 4 weeks and watch the growth happen. The only 3 compound exercises i do are squats, bench press and military press, and in the 2 years ive been training it hasnt halted my progress yet. All you can do is try things to make your body respond to the increased workload.


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## SALKev (Feb 28, 2009)

well that confused me a little, I've only just changed my workout to see if it makes any difference to my arms/shoulders...so I'll go with that until I need another change - then I will consider all this.

as for why can't do deadlifts - my "gym" is full of resistance machines - so squats are out of the question too...I know its hindering my gains but its all I've got at the moment


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## godsgifttoearth (Jul 28, 2009)

Dizzee said:


> If anyone says to you that you dont need to do direct arm work to get them to grow then they do not understand the human body. What works for one person may not and more than likely will not work for you.
> 
> The thing is you need to shock your arms into growing, I would prescribe you with 2 arm workouts a week for 4-5 weeks to shock them into growing - but instead of doing useless standing dumbell curls with poor form and then some single arm tricep pushdowns try something a little more challenging:
> 
> ...


if someone was to employ this kind of shock and rest routine, i think they should defo take a alteast 4 weeks off direct arm work before they started it. more than likely the small muscle groups of the arms will already be close to being overtrained.

i agree with the principle that you outlined, but i think the volumes are still perhaps too high for my liking.

for biceps and triceps, close grip bench and curls would be all thats needed. no need to do multiple exercises. if the person can progress on those 2 exercises by 1kg/week for a year, imagine how much bigger they will be.

why doesnt the person in question just base an entire routine around the big compound moves available to most.

bench, shoulder press, closegrip bench/dip, squat/leg press

pulldown, row, deadlift, curl.

if someone can constantly progress on those, they're gonna be massive. why bother adding in all the other lifts if your trying to get bigger? the more efficient you can make a workout, teh more time you have outside of the gym, so the more time you have to grow.


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## waspscentre12 (Sep 26, 2008)

A good measure to see if your in proportion is to measure neck, arms and calves, they should all be the same size!


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## hoggatt (May 20, 2009)

Sorry if someone has put this but try doing super sets on arms i believe that is what arnold did for his triceps.


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