# Why do arms grow so slow, how do you hit 18-19"



## biglee32 (Jun 14, 2009)

Hi, was just thinkin today about my weak points for next may's show, i cant work out why my arms grow so slow yet my back legs and shoulders grow well, is it going to failure too much or something. Its driving me mad, at 17stone they are 17" cold, i need more for the show surely, its only first timers but its important. thanks


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## Testoholic (Jun 13, 2009)

yeah arms are a b*tch to grow, ive managed to add an inch to my arms in last 8 weeks, bringing them up to 17.5inches cold. unsatisfactory at 19st.

but least im improving. biceps were my weak point so i dedicated a day solely to them. i found that switching to excercise that i could 'feel' working well was better than excercises i thought worked well.

whats your current routine mate?


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## godsgifttoearth (Jul 28, 2009)

biglee32 said:


> Hi, was just thinkin today about my weak points for next may's show, i cant work out why my arms grow so slow yet my back legs and shoulders grow well, is it going to failure too much or something. Its driving me mad, at 17stone they are 17" cold, i need more for the show surely, its only first timers but its important. thanks


reasons why arms grow slow.

1) they're a small muscle group.

2) arms are frequently overtrained. biceps and triceps are recruited during pulling and pushing movements. do a lot of shoulder and chest pressing, lots of back work etc, followed by a load of curls and skull crushers etc. and you could have just done close to or over 50sets on your arms in 1 week.


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## big silver back (Jan 17, 2009)

17in are pretty big guns mate! I dont train arms myself because i think they are so easy to overtrain, if your really slammin every other bodypart they get worked in directly. Mine around the 22in mark but if i train them they seem to shrink!!!! :confused1:


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## WRT (May 21, 2009)

Testaholic said:


> yeah arms are a b*tch to grow, ive managed to add an inch to my arms in last 8 weeks, bringing them up to 17.5inches cold. unsatisfactory at 19st.
> 
> but least im improving. biceps were my weak point so i dedicated a day solely to them. i found that switching to excercise that i could 'feel' working well was better than excercises i thought worked well.
> 
> whats your current routine mate?


How did you manage that mate?


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## Rossco700 (Oct 10, 2009)

See I've always had pretty tidy biceps... could it be genetic? Even when I had a year off training they were never less than 15" cold and at around 16-17% bodyfat. Maybe I'm blessed, although chest is a major stubborn tw4t for me.

Everyone has there good and bad points I suppose.

My routine used to consist of preacher curls, hammer curls, concentration curls, but since I've been training seriously I've totally changed my routine, my arms could never hack that routine anymore.


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## Testoholic (Jun 13, 2009)

WRT said:


> How did you manage that mate?


lots of food, a few supplements :whistling: , and hard and strict training.

but as far as my routine went, i used to do lots of barbell curls, i was obssessed with maximum weight, i used to curl 80kg but id get it up anyway i could, my biceps just wasnt getting worked. i found that cable curls using a bar from a low pulley was excellent, continous tension on the bicep thru out the movement. also concentration curls have become a staple and i really have found my peak of the bicep has come up. my current routine is:

bar cable curls

concentration curls

preacher curls

hammer curl


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## hamsternuts (Feb 8, 2009)

i think it is genetic

and it's true, they do alot of work, after a good chest session, you should only need to do 2 good tri exercises to finish them off

same with back/biceps


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## biglee32 (Jun 14, 2009)

Testaholic said:


> yeah arms are a b*tch to grow, ive managed to add an inch to my arms in last 8 weeks, bringing them up to 17.5inches cold. unsatisfactory at 19st.
> 
> but least im improving. biceps were my weak point so i dedicated a day solely to them. i found that switching to excercise that i could 'feel' working well was better than excercises i thought worked well.
> 
> whats your current routine mate?


Ive always thought the overtraining principle was correct so i never did mega loads of sets, but had slow results, tried mega volume etc and shrunk, so now i have tried doing back/bis and chest/tris which isnt what ive ever seen as ideal but i have had incredible soreness where it counts, plus they wont get hit mich else for the rest of the week.

Will have to see what happens, diet cant be too bad as ive gained well over last 6 months. I do need a little more protein id say.


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## biglee32 (Jun 14, 2009)

big silver back said:


> 17in are pretty big guns mate! I dont train arms myself because i think they are so easy to overtrain, if your really slammin every other bodypart they get worked in directly. Mine around the 22in mark but if i train them they seem to shrink!!!! :confused1:


I notice shrinkage when training them like some top pros like dorian, i know some that train them once per 2 or 3 weeks. 22" is a great size so be proud, Lucky sod lol


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## d4ead (Nov 3, 2008)

ive never trained arms, on occasion ill do a set of barbell curls after chest and maybe some tricep push downs after back.


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## biglee32 (Jun 14, 2009)

d4ead said:


> ive never trained arms, on occasion ill do a set of barbell curls after chest and maybe some tricep push downs after back.


Fair enough but do you compete and are your arms a good size, most people on the scene seem to grow good arms first, whereas i got back etc first.


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## Munch (Dec 22, 2009)

big silver back said:


> Mine around the 22in mark but if i train them they seem to shrink!!!! :confused1:


People like you... make people like me sick!!


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## Smitch (Dec 29, 2008)

d4ead said:


> ive never trained arms, on occasion ill do a set of barbell curls after chest and maybe some tricep push downs after back.


What do you do to mantain/build size on them then?


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## walks (Apr 13, 2007)

I think its because most concentrate on biceps more than triceps.

You always see guys doing countless sets for bis and only a couple for tris, yet the tricep is the bigger muscle


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## Outtapped (Dec 10, 2012)

im sitting just under 14 stone and my arms are 16.5 inches and ditto the above. Overtraining and little focus on tri's were my faults in the past. now when i train biceps i just do EZ curls and dumbell hammer curls and thats it. Tri's i do seated pullovers, kick backs and weighted dips thats it


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## Dsahna (May 25, 2009)

My biceps have suffered since i stopped training them directly,afew sets of barbell curls after hitting chins and rows should be enough to stimulate growth again!


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## d4ead (Nov 3, 2008)

biglee32 said:


> Fair enough but do you compete and are your arms a good size, most people on the scene seem to grow good arms first, whereas i got back etc first.





Smitch said:


> What do you do to mantain/build size on them then?


my views were that they got worked quite well while doing chest / back /shoulders anyway.

im not in anyway saying im right to leave um, just that i do.

they are small compared to the rest of me, about 17 and a bit cold.


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## d4ead (Nov 3, 2008)

Dsahna said:


> My biceps have suffered since i stopped training them directly,afew sets of barbell curls after hitting chins and rows should be enough to stimulate growth again!


you arms were huge dan ffs cvnt


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## Smitch (Dec 29, 2008)

walks said:


> I think its because most concentrate on biceps more than triceps.
> 
> You always see guys doing countless sets for bis and only a couple for tris, yet the tricep is the bigger muscle


Definitely. I train biceps and triceps equally. Triceps i make more progress with too, which is annoying but they do make up a large portion of my arm so it all adds to the gunnage! :thumb:


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## biglee32 (Jun 14, 2009)

d4ead said:


> my views were that they got worked quite well while doing chest / back /shoulders anyway.
> 
> im not in anyway saying im right to leave um, just that i do.
> 
> they are small compared to the rest of me, about 17 and a bit cold.


I agree they do, just wonderd how you got on with it, cheers


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## Smitch (Dec 29, 2008)

Never actually measured my arms, i'm scared to now!!!

What is considered to be decent gunnage?


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## Dsahna (May 25, 2009)

d4ead said:


> you arms
> 
> *were*
> 
> ...


*See:crying:*

*
* :lol:


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## essexboy (Sep 7, 2008)

d4ead said:


> ive never trained arms, on occasion ill do a set of barbell curls after chest and maybe some tricep push downs after back.


Me neither.Concentrating on larger muscles, will indirectly affect EVERY other muscle group.I use dips and chins which as compounds work the arms.


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## T_Woody (Jul 16, 2008)

We all want BIG guns! I do plenty of isolation exercises on arms, that helps mine to grow. Mine are only 14 inchs cold, but im 12st.. standing barbell curls followed immediatly by some chin ups is a personal favourite.. mix it up a bit


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## pea head (May 28, 2008)

WTF does it matter how big the arms are if you want to compete?

Its how you make them look,some folk have a 20 arm that looks sh1te,and i have seen guys with 16" arms that look awesome.

Some guys have a natural nice genetic shape,if you havent got that and you put 2" on them they will still look poorer than somebody with a fuller looking arm.

Dont be obsessed with tape measures if going to compete,it wont mean jack.

You can only pee with the c0ck you got,just keep plugging away and dont use a tape measure.

Also 2" extra is a LOT of muscle on an arm.


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## d4ead (Nov 3, 2008)

biglee32 said:


> I agree they do, just wonderd how you got on with it, cheers


yeh up till now ive always been quite happy with my gunnage but i must confess that id like a bit more now. So as i said im sticking in a few barbell curls after chest and a little tricep work after back.

but not much at all. I always considered myself pretty in proportion letting my arms take care of themselves.


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## Ak_88 (Nov 9, 2008)

From memory i remember hearing a rule of thumb along the lines of 1" on the arms equates to roughly 14lbs (so 1 stone) of bodyweight. So 1 lean inch on your arms = 14lbs of muscle gain.

Obviously that differs depending on height, limb length and other genetic stuff, and in fact it might all be bollocks, but it does demonstrate how patient you need to be with arm growth.


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## biglee32 (Jun 14, 2009)

pea head said:


> WTF does it matter how big the arms are if you want to compete?
> 
> Its how you make them look,some folk have a 20 arm that looks sh1te,and i have seen guys with 16" arms that look awesome.
> 
> ...


Slightly excited new addition to the chat, but i agree with what your saying, but if there not in proportion to the rest of my body il be marked down, i think they will look good once down to contest weight, but i wanted balance, the 18-19" was a ball park figure mfor the sake of the question.

I measured them last week for the first time in a year, mainly because people tell me to impreove them a bit. Cheers bud


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## biglee32 (Jun 14, 2009)

Ak_88 said:


> From memory i remember hearing a rule of thumb along the lines of 1" on the arms equates to roughly 14lbs (so 1 stone) of bodyweight. So 1 lean inch on your arms = 14lbs of muscle gain.
> 
> Obviously that differs depending on height, limb length and other genetic stuff, and in fact it might all be bollocks, but it does demonstrate how patient you need to be with arm growth.


I did read that once by some guru, i think people who gain more inches with less weight are the guys who dont do legs etc, just an opinion tho before any over excited people jump in lol


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## biglee32 (Jun 14, 2009)

pea head said:


> WTF does it matter how big the arms are if you want to compete?
> 
> Its how you make them look,some folk have a 20 arm that looks sh1te,and i have seen guys with 16" arms that look awesome.
> 
> ...


Oh and havin looked at your pics, nice striated tris mate


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## colt24 (Aug 24, 2007)

take roids..


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## griffo13 (Dec 7, 2009)

my arms been stuck around the 18-18.5 inch mark for years. my tris seem to look alot better but no real change in size shape or peak in the bis. i used to always do a single day for training bis but lately i have been hitting them when im doin back to see if they get more rest will they get a bit of progress. short intesne session for the arms for me at the moment. wil give it a go for a few months see if i get anywhere


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## pea head (May 28, 2008)

biglee32 said:


> Oh and havin looked at your pics, nice striated tris mate


Cheers mate,but thats just what im trying to explain,i hate my arms,i think they lack big time(seriously).

So even if they put 2 inch on...you will still be unhappy.lol


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## skellan (Nov 15, 2009)

I cant comment from experience about competing but what peahead has said sound like sense to me.

As for training your bi`s in particular I guess I`m the opposite of a lot of the comments in this thread. I neglected my bi`s directly for years and they were always at best "reasonable". About a year ago I started really targetting them and made a point of training them twice a week with real exhaustive sessions including loads of newly researched exercises and negatives etc.

Bottom line is that they have grown considerably in the last year and now sit at about 16.5" cold


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## wastedtime (Nov 18, 2009)

I've always considered my arms a weakpoint; not sure if its a complex or if they actually are proportionally smaller than other bodyparts. I really agree with what everyone has said about overtraining; i always used to hammer them and never really saw any improvements.

I think ive put an inch on my arms in the last year, and i put that down to trying to arrange my training split to get the most from my arms - so making sure i get a good three days rest between training arms and say back and the same with chest and tri's. i also put bi's and tri's first, with watever else i train.

One thing i've done recently that i think may be related to the overtraining thing, is spread my workouts over a longer time period, so split over 8 days, not 7. When i did this, i started getting much more DOMS in my bi's and tri's when i trained them. I know DOMS isn't directly related to muscle growth, but i think it shows that my arms were fully rested when i train them, as they were are so sore the next day. Just my take..


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## ryoken (Jan 8, 2009)

pea head said:


> WTF does it matter how big the arms are if you want to compete?
> 
> Its how you make them look,some folk have a 20 arm that looks sh1te,and i have seen guys with 16" arms that look awesome.
> 
> ...


nice post mate, as always straight to the point and simple facts:thumbup1:


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## nearlynatural (Aug 24, 2009)

biglee32 said:


> Hi, was just thinkin today about my weak points for next may's show, i cant work out why my arms grow so slow yet my back legs and shoulders grow well, is it going to failure too much or something. Its driving me mad, at 17stone they are 17" cold, i need more for the show surely, its only first timers but its important. thanks


Hi I am just over 14 stone and have 17 and half inch arms pumped, around 17 cold. Not sure if this is genetics but I will say I have always trained my triceps and worked hard on them. I do not have a peak on my biceps, as I neglected biceps as hated training them.

The other thing to note is that I do not use extremely heavy weights relative to me, i use weights that allow to hit aleast 8. I also like movements where you can feel the bicep working. I also mix up my rep range and always do a final set of low weight high reps until my will power run out.

Also try and get a connection between your mind and the area you are training.

I am just a novice so these are just a few thoughs and ideas. Good luck with the arm training.

NN


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## TH0R (Aug 15, 2007)

So many big arms, so few pics:whistling:


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## pea head (May 28, 2008)

tel3563 said:


> So many big arms, so few pics:whistling:


Mine are 13" but i had the balls post mine. :lol:


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## bizzlewood (Dec 16, 2007)

pea head said:


> WTF does it matter how big the arms are if you want to compete?
> 
> Its how you make them look,some folk have a 20 arm that looks sh1te,and i have seen guys with 16" arms that look awesome.
> 
> ...


good point that's why i never measure them and just go by what they look like

its easy to obsess over it


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## WRT (May 21, 2009)

pea head said:


> Mine are 13" but i had the balls post mine. :lol:


Didn't you say yours were around 18" pea head? Look bigger than that


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## biglee32 (Jun 14, 2009)

Some great answers and experience, its how a forum should be. It will be good to follow the progress and see how we go and what we learn, thanks to the experienced and the novice.

Lee


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## biglee32 (Jun 14, 2009)

And how do i get a pic on the profile thing here, i have some in an album.


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## ElfinTan (May 23, 2008)

I'll be happy at 16"......only another inch to go


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## Tempa (Dec 31, 2009)

godsgifttoearth said:


> reasons why arms grow slow.
> 
> 1) they're a small muscle group.
> 
> 2) arms are frequently overtrained. biceps and triceps are recruited during pulling and pushing movements. do a lot of shoulder and chest pressing, lots of back work etc, followed by a load of curls and skull crushers etc. and you could have just done close to or over 50sets on your arms in 1 week.


This.

Drop isolation and watch the stretch marks come in at one a day.


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## BigStew (May 6, 2008)

It's not what they measure, it's how they look! 19" arms on someone of say 6ft can appear smaller than 17" arms on a 5'4" person.

With regards to biceps....the negative on ALL curls SHOULD be slow & under control & with any dumbell exercise, the wrist should be turned outwards at the top of the movement, i.e. thumb turned away. (You'll feel the bicep peak 'jump'). Also as always, never lock out & squeeze the muscle at contraction.

With regards to triceps....same with negatives & squeezed at extension.

As has been said, the arms are a small group & involved in all upper body work so only a few all-out sets are directly needed (6-9ish).


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## biglee32 (Jun 14, 2009)

Tempa said:


> This.
> 
> Drop isolation and watch the stretch marks come in at one a day.


Explain m8, sorry lol


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## tomass1342 (Nov 12, 2009)

my arms have always grown more than everything else, not sure why but heres my arm workout

Close crip press 3x12

ez bar curl 3 x 8

over head tricep extention 3 x 12

db curls 3 x10

press downs 3 x 12

preacher machine curls 3 x 10 (reallllll slow ouch)

super set

bench dips x 20

concentration curls x 15

bench dips x 20

concentration curls x 20

The whole workout flex between sets, i find that helps with the pump.

Short rest between sets, good form! :beer:

Also done on a friday before 2 rest days, maybe that makes a difference?


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## biglee32 (Jun 14, 2009)

tomass1342 said:


> my arms have always grown more than everything else, not sure why but heres my arm workout
> 
> Close crip press 3x12
> 
> ...


The rest after may play a big role, thanks for sharing. I think half that would be enough for me though. lol


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## frowningbudda (Dec 16, 2008)

Bicep

Heavy -Weighted chins - low reps

Medium/Light -BB/Cable Curl - high reps

Tricep

Heavy - Weighted Dips

Medium/Light -BB Extention - Cable Pulldowns

Add a few dropsets, badda bing, works for me anyway

Never measured my arms but I know their no-where near 18"

Just trail and error mate


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## mal (Dec 31, 2009)

hi im new here,love reading these things.i beat a guy in 2000 welsh champs barry.he was

huge compared to me,but i blew him away with symetry and quality.size is nothing.my arms have grown 3 inches this year,ye im doing a bit of a comeback,muscle memory is

king.trick is to find what works for you and dont over train.at mo il do dumbel hammer x 3

concentration c x2 reverse curl x2 and thats it,strict and hard.tricep push downs x3 warm up then 4x lying tri ext all out,il finish of with some cable ext or seat dum ex for a nice pump.reps between 8 & 10 on all exersises.mine are only 16 and half now they will be 18 next year that is my goal.


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