Post: #1

Hi all,

Been working out consistantly for over two years now.

Pretty much happy with all of my progress... apart from my arms. They just won't grow and it's actually now becoming a bit discouraging. I spend so much time in the gym and as soon as I put on a t shirt you can hardly tell I lift because of my noodle arms.

I hit them twice a week and do all of the main exercice people suggest.

Can anyone assist me ? Ideally people with long arms who can offer more targeted advice ?

Post: #2

I was in the same boat, arms lagging pretty hard. The two things that I changed were: 1. Feeling the weight, not swinging, making sure that I am contracting the muscle and not lifting for the sake of lifting. That means lighten the weight up most likely. and 2. Internal rotation of the arm, this comes with bad posture and specifically if you sit at a desk all day. Concentrate on externally rotating the arm (think about keeping your elbows as close to your body as possible when lifting).

I've seen pretty decent gains since I've fixed these two issues.

Post: #3

Do high reps with low weight.

Reps of 20 or 25 and 100 reps total. So 4 sets.

Do pull-ups, that hits biceps hard.

Do push-ups, that works triceps.

Change your routine, don't just grab a bar and do curls.

Sit on a incline bench, grab a dumbbell (25llb) and curl the weight to your chest.

Post: #4

Quote:I hit them twice a week and do all of the main exercice people suggest.

More information please.

How do you hit them? What exercises, rep ranges, weight, and how's your form?

My general advice at this point would be:

1. Use differing rep ranges - a pyramid would work well here, maybe something like 1 set of 10, 2x8, 3x5, 2x8, 1x max, increasing the weight as the required reps decrease and vice versa.

2. Pay close attention to form, and don't be afraid to go down in weight if you cant maintain it. Heaps of people try to go too heavy, use shitty form and end up using everything but the muscle they're trying to target.

3. Drop the frequency for an "arm workout" to 1x per week. They'll do plenty of work when you're training other body parts. Personally, I do fuck all isolation exercises - when I pull, my biceps get a pump. When I press, my triceps get a pump. I might only do isolation exercises once a month. I could probably grow a little bit more if I worked on them more, but with the law of diminishing returns, I don't think it's really worth it.

4. Get a smaller size T-shirt.

Post: #5

What's your height and weight?

Post: #6

What's your arm size and approx body-fat percentage now? Lots of people have unrealistic expectations.

Also, what's your strength like for reps on some big upper body lifts, let's say bench and weighted chins?

Post: #7

Thanks for all responses thus far, uploaded picture below. As you can see, if i throw on a t-shirt, i'm basically the same skinny guy who started 2 years ago.

Currently sitting at 79kg and I want to bulk all the way up to 85.

Rudeboy will sets of 25 give me mass ?

King: I do Tricep dips, close grip bench press, skull crushers, overhead dumbell extension and tricep pushdowns followed by EZ bar curls, reverse EZ bar curls, Curls on the machine preacher bar ( 1 arm at a time), hammer curls, cable isolation curls and then a set of sweet sixteens. Typcally all for 8Reps 4 sets. Throw in some drop sets whenever I feel like it really, mostly 2 out of the 4 sets are drop sets.

I think i'm pretty strong when it comes to overall upper body strengh. I don't do straight bench anymore but on incline my pr is 75Kg for 8Reps which isn't too bad.

Post: #8

Add in some shoulder-width pullups (nice and controlled, full range) and some one-handed chin ups like this:


And eat an extra hardboiled egg a day.

Post: #9

(02-17-2017 06:16 PM)Sensei Creation Wrote:  Thanks for all responses thus far, uploaded picture below. As you can see, if i throw on a t-shirt, i'm basically the same skinny guy who started 2 years ago.

Currently sitting at 79kg and I want to bulk all the way up to 85.

Rudeboy will sets of 25 give me mass ?

King: I do Tricep dips, close grip bench press, skull crushers, overhead dumbell extension and tricep pushdowns followed by EZ bar curls, reverse EZ bar curls, Curls on the machine preacher bar ( 1 arm at a time), hammer curls, cable isolation curls and then a set of sweet sixteens. Typcally all for 8Reps 4 sets. Throw in some drop sets whenever I feel like it really, mostly 2 out of the 4 sets are drop sets.

I think i'm pretty strong when it comes to overall upper body strengh. I don't do straight bench anymore but on incline my pr is 75Kg for 8Reps which isn't too bad.

It will give you more size and rip the muscle, which will make it grow.

You can also do the 21 rep exercise, which is grab a small bar.
7 reps from your thigh to halfway - then do 7 reps from halfway to your chest and the final 7 is full reps. Do these non stop and don't let the bar touch your body. This is a great finisher exercise.

Do hammer curls with dumbbells.

Do reverse curls with the small bar.

Your body looks good, you have good definition.

Everything looks in proportion from what I can see.

Post: #10

Negatives will help you tremendously.

For example, if you are doing curls, 1 second to curl, hold for 3 seconds, then three seconds down. This will give you those micro tears you want during your workout which will help you build size over time, much quicker.

You don't need to do ridiculous weight, just make sure you lift correctly and focus on technique.

Post: #11

Don't forget your forearms. Every single workout I finish with some sort of forearm drill. Either hanging on the straight bar and doing as many L sits or leg raises as I can before grip fails, wrist roll ups with the stick rope and weight, or farmer walks. But whatever works best for you. I just do them to ensure proportionality with my upper arm.

Post: #12

I had this problem for a very long time having very long arms. My PRs kept growing and I was getting a crossfit barrel body and not a nice V one.

The biggest change I made after 12 years of lifting gym and PR focus style was really really amping up the volume on close, wide, incline, military perfect form push ups, dips, half dips, quarter dips, and pull ups, hangs. None weighted, all body weight, I used to do heavy weighted dips, pull ups, push ups with a weighed backpack... dropped all that. The last thing that was extremely important were high reps of wide reverse grip 2 handed cable curls. Can switch up with slightly bent rows ones and half, quarter ones to isolate. These really build up your forearms and lower bicep which are often big culprits in the noodle arm look.

I listen to my body. I used to be strict about lifting schedules, now I lift when my body tells me it has the excess energy, sometimes light days, sometimes if I had mad energy extreme days. This consistent volume probably 2 heavier days and 3-4 lighter days a week really broke my spell. My legs and back have always been good just from birth and genetics. I gave up heavy weights completely and saved all my energy for my arms. Huge turn around.

My results in the last 12-18 months are more than the 5 years before it. I also do more isolation very low weight high rep work on my shoulders and forearms.

Definition of insanity is doing same thing over and over expecting different results my case here during a long plateau I needed an entirely new direction.

I get called boss and people call me big guy way way more now then when my powerlifting PRs were at their highest.

Post: #13

(02-17-2017 07:43 PM)komatiite Wrote:  Don't forget your forearms. Every single workout I finish with some sort of forearm drill. Either hanging on the straight bar and doing as many L sits or leg raises as I can before grip fails, wrist roll ups with the stick rope and weight, or farmer walks. But whatever works best for you. I just do them to ensure proportionality with my upper arm.

To piggy back off this, you could buy fat grip handles to put on dumbbells and barbells to help you gain that forearm strength and size you want.

You can buy them for less than $20 on amazon.

Post: #14

OK I think everyone has given tips, some of which are valid, rather than an root cause analysis.

The truth is that you have a proportional body. It looks like your chest and shoulders are gifted for easy growth. Maybe your arms are not going to be your stand out body part, but they can definitely still grow, A LOT.

You need to just grow overall, and get your lifts up. Look at the big picture here, if you gain another 30kg of muscle over the next 5 years, and DRAMATICALLY increase your strength, you're going to have bigger arms. Bigger everything. You're going to be busting the seams on a 2xl shirt.

Some people have big arms for their body weight, you don't. I only have 18" pipes at 250, but ive never had quads under 25". That's just genetics. You're just going to have to get bigger overall.

Post: #15

For what it's worth though, I think some bicep and tricep work is useful. I like to keep it simple with dumbell curls and preacher curls with the EZ curl bar, and then db skull crusher's and lying tricep extensions with the EZ curl bar. Just focus on controlling the movement, especially on the negative part. Do 2-3 sets , and slowly progress on weight and reps, till you're bloody strong in 3-4 years. The biceps and triceps are small muscles and are going to get bigger and stronger at a much slower rate than say, your back. Slow and consistent progress is the way to go.

Post: #16

I agree with Steelex. I don't see your arms as being particularly disproportionate, and your strength needs to increase (with a few exceptions, muscle size is largely down to strength). You really can't expect to be particular muscular only repping 75 kg on the incline. You should be looking at repping more like 90 - 100kg. Make strength gains in a couple of key upper body lifts your focus, increase calories when necessary to keep strength gains coming, and include some assistance for the smaller muscle groups and you will grow.

Post: #17

Make that 200kg on incline.

For the most of us, you have to get crazy strong to look crazy strong.

Post: #18

For those who do BW, also simply do more series with more reps for exercises that work out arms?

Post: #19

Eat spinach

Post: #20

Steelex do you know any naturals that are repping 200 kg on the incline bench?

In the normal world that I live in, when I look around the gym, most people that look like they train are at least repping 100 kg on the incline, or 40 kg dumbbells on the incline dumbbell press (about equivalent to 100 kg barbell in my experience). I'd say this, together with let's say half bodyweight additional weight for reps, with strict form, on weighted chins would be a good goal for the original poster (of course they should still include work for other areas and direct arm work). If arms are still lacking then, then maybe some arm specialisation cycles.

Post: #21

Not naturals, but on the way to a 200kg incline press you're going to get bigger, natural or not.

Truthfully, it all depends just how big the OP wants to look. A lot of guys say they want to look like Tyler durden in fight club, but then once they do, it's not enough. And once they decide that looking somewhat strong isn't enough , that's when further steps are taken. It's all up to the individual.

Post: #22

Honestly you seem very fit and a well fitting shirt would go a long way.

Like others have said, just keep increasing weight and the results will follow

Post: #23

Agree with above - your genetics will control natural strengths and weaknesses. Best bet for arm size is increasing your overall strength and size. If you can bench 315 you are going to have solid arms (unless you weigh 250+ as well).

Post: #24

Thanks for all the replies.

Yeah I know my arms are proportionate with my body per say but still it's quite discouraging having been training two years now and not having the arm size I thought I would have by now.

I think you guys are right in the sense that I am probably going to have to get bigger overall in order for my arms to grow. I'm currently sitting at 78kg if I can bulk to 83Kg i think it may make a world of difference.

I tried out Rudeboys suggestion of doing reps of 20 last week for my biceps and man I really felt a difference. I think they must have been used to my training schedule of 8reps because they were sore for at least 2 days, it felt like I really shocked them.

I was curious so I extended that high rep range of 20 reps to my chest workout also and I also felt a big difference. I'm switching to high rep exercises for the entirety my upper body for a month or so just to shock my muscles into growing a bit as it really did seem like they were used to my training pattern and I has stagnated and just wasn't growing.

One thing I did notice though, I find it hard to really feel my triceps being engaged when I'm working them.

With the exception of tricep dips and tricep pushdowns , every don't really feel my triceps being engaged in the other tricep exercises that I do.

On the close grip press I feel my triceps a little bit but I also feel chest activation. ( I focus on keeping my elbows in and the bar is located just below my chest).

With skull crushers I feel a lot of pressure in my delts.

I think I my also need to revise my form on all things triceps.


But yeah I think the main thing is I just need to bulk up really.

Post: #25

Don't take those muscle mags for reference. All the dudes on the cover are on the juice. I said ALL. for a natural, unless you have good genetics, it'll take time. It's a question of proportion. Skinny dudes with ridiculously developed arms look like crap IMO.