Break All The Plateaus!
Big arms have been the symbol of machoism for a long time. They are also the reason many guys get a gym membership. You might see many people skip leg days, but you’ll hardly find a guy missing training his arms.
Evey though arms are one of the most trained muscle groups, you rarely see a guy with ripped arms. Keeping genetics aside, you can improve your arms by adjusting your training techniques. If you have toothpicks arms and want a cure, you have come to the right place.
Have a Mix of Compound and Isolation Exercises
Most people make the mistake of sticking to the same exercises for all their arm workouts. Performing the same exercises over and over again can lead you to a plateau. Don’t get comfortable with your workouts.
You should have a combination of compound (multi-joint) and isolation (single-joint) exercises in your arm workouts. Follow the compound exercises with an isolation movement to annihilate your arms.
Use Advanced Training Techniques
Advanced training techniques can help you break all the plateaus and can take your workouts to the next level. Techniques like drop sets, supersets, intraset stretching pump blood into the target muscle. The blood carries the nutrients to your muscles which helps them grow.
You should be performing at least one advanced training technique while training your biceps and triceps. Blood Flow Restriction Training (BFR) is another training technique you need to try if you haven’t already.
Start with The Weaker Muscle Group
Most people make the mistake of training their stronger muscle group ahead of the weaker muscle. You should ideally train the weaker muscle while you’re at your strongest. You will already be fatigued if you train it later in the workout.
Target your bis and tris from every angle imaginable. While training your tris, make sure you perform exercises which target your long, short and medial heads. Similarly, train the inner and outer heads of your biceps.
Take Your Sets to Failure
Assuming your diet and nutrition are on point, you might not be seeing results because you’re not pushing yourself hard enough in the gym. Don’t tie yourself down to sets of 12-15 repetitions.
Feel your body and do what you feel might work for you. Sometimes it might mean doing every set and workout to failure. Make sure you don’t push things too far or otherwise you run the risk of overtraining.
Rest and Recover
Rest plays a vital role in developing your muscles. No matter how hard you workout, you won’t see the results until your body is properly rested. You need anywhere between 6-8 hours of sleep to recover and recuperate after a workout.
Apart from the rest, your diet makes up a big part of recovery. If your goal is to build muscle mass, you should have an adequate daily macro and micronutrient goal. Remember, you break your muscles inside the gym and build them while you’re out of the gym.
What is the size of your arms? Let us know in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook and Twitter.