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Add 1 Inch to Your Arms
Did you know that in an independent study published by the well-known author Pete Sisco in 2013 demonstrated conclusively that over 90% of regular gym goers are overtraining? This is vitally important information that we all need to get into our heads as we try to understand our bodies a little better each time we train.
Although the study was conducted over a few years the results were only recently published and showed that the main criteria in the study was to measure all the various relative intensity levels commonly used by most gym rats to perform most, in some cases all of the common arm movements.
Muscle growth takes time along with good nutrition and sensible adjustments to intensity so that the body can adapt to these changes accordingly. If you loved getting your hair cut at the barber, cutting your hair three times a week would not speed up your hair growth. The point is muscle growth, just like hair growth takes time.
It is therefore strongly suggested that if you have been training with weights on a regular basis for more than a year, you stop training completely for two weeks before getting back to your regular training and adding the required intensity listed in the arm program below to add 1 inch to your arms.
Whether you normally train on a split routine or you train your whole body three times a week will make no difference as this program can easily be adapted to suit any training schedule. It simply means you should continue your normal training but when it comes to biceps, triceps and forearm training stop everything you normally do and replace it with the simple movements listed below.
Biceps: Seated Barbell curls
When this movement is done with a barbell it limits the range of motion so you can use up to 150% of the weight than you would normally use. Start by putting the loaded barbell onto your lap while sitting on a bench. Using a shoulder width, underhand grip, curl the barbell to your chin using a weight that you can only do for eight reps. Rest 30 seconds while you increase the weight by 10% and then squeeze out as many reps as you can until failure for the last set. You ONLY do two sets and then you are finished with biceps, that’s it.
Triceps: Close-grip bench-press on a Smith Machine
Just like the above biceps movement you are limiting the range of motion working in a power rack or a Smith machine training your triceps which are 80% of the size in your arms. This limited range of motion allows you to lift a much heavier weight than you could normally which calls on more muscle fibers triggering new muscle growth.
Your hands on the bar should not be more than 6 inches apart as you lift the bar off the rack and push to full extension before bringing it down to your chest. Select a weight that you can squeeze out no more than 8 reps, so because of the limited range of motion you could push as much as 50% more than you would normally push. After 8 reps rest for 30 seconds, add 10% more weight and then squeeze out as many reps as you can until you fail completely.
Forearms: Seated Barbell wrist curls
Using an underhand grip like the biceps movement above you are resting your wrists on your knees you allow the weight to pull your wrists down. You then curl the weight back up only using your fingers and your forearms to do any work. Complete 8 reps, rest 30 seconds then add another 10% more weight and squeeze out as many reps as you can until you fail. Do two sets of this and you are done.
The last point that needs to be highlighted here when the objective is to add another inch of muscle to your arms is to ALWAYS make sure that you increase the weight every time you train. You should aim to increase the weight by 15% to 25% but even 2% is an increase. Without getting stronger your muscles will stay the same size and using these limited range of motion movements listed above will ensure that you get that extra inch on your arms fast.
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