Building arm mass

[Garcon1986]

I made it through my first triathlon today! Never thought I would be capable of doing such a thing. It was in the name of one of our patients who died, and the proceeds go to purchasing AEDs for rural locales that don't have them.

 

My question is - how do you build arm mass? I have been fairly religiously doing 40 reps of curls + tricep exercises 4 days a week and have been steadily working up the amount of mass I can move. I appear to be adapting to the mass rather than building arm muscle - my arms look exactly the same.

 

What am I doing wrong?

[lana-banana]

If you want to build mass you should be doing fewer reps and focusing on lifting to near-failure, so up your weights.

 

I bulk arms by doing a full round (6 exercises broken into 3 supersets; each superset is 3 rounds of 10-15) of push exercises on one day, then two days later doing a pull day. So on push days I'll do bench presses, push-ups, one-arm overhead presses, etc and on pull days I'll do pull-ups, rows, and so on. A push and a pull day per week should be enough.

 

I've found that curls make little to no difference in terms of mass, and the biggest, beefiest guys I know at the gym seem to agree.

[thefooloftheyear]

Its not necessarily about building arm mass...Unless you have some type of genetic predisposition to big arms, then it needs to be approached as building overall body mass..

 

Point is just like losing fat, you cant necessarily target muscle growth to one particular area...It comes as a part of building overall mass..That happens by the usual "eat a ton of clean food, train like a beast, get a lot of sleep, etc'..I am oversimplifying but you get the point...

 

One criteria though that rings true almost 100% of the time is that people with narrow wrists have a lot more trouble putting on arm size than those that are more thick in these areas...Sure, there are exceptions, and improvements can be made by anyone, but if you are the type with small hands and narrow wrists arm gains will be a struggle...

 

As for particular movements, focus on stuff like standing bar curls. spider curls, preacher curls, dumbells, etc...cables are OK, but save those for a final pump...rather than a foundation exercise,,..And remember....A full arm is more than just a bicep...Having developed triceps make the arms look fuller and give a better appearance in a relaxed state...For triceps close grip bench, pullovers, skull crushers..etc.. 15-20 sets per bodypart..

 

Oh...and congrats on the triathlon....Great job!

 

TFY

Edited June 23, 2019 by thefooloftheyear

[Eugeleh]

I made it through my first triathlon today! Never thought I would be capable of doing such a thing. It was in the name of one of our patients who died, and the proceeds go to purchasing AEDs for rural locales that don't have them.

 

My question is - how do you build arm mass? I have been fairly religiously doing 40 reps of curls + tricep exercises 4 days a week and have been steadily working up the amount of mass I can move. I appear to be adapting to the mass rather than building arm muscle - my arms look exactly the same.

 

What am I doing wrong?

 

I wouldn't worry about arm mass specifically.

 

IIRC, you're relatively new to weight training. Building a base should be your priority

 

I would strongly recommend "New Rules of Lifting" as your starter kit:

 

NROL ? The New Rules of Lifting > New Rules of Lifting > Get Lean, Get Strong, Build Muscle.

 

Full disclosure---Lou Schuler is a casual acquaintance of mine. Still, the recommendation is because of the quality of the product, not because he'll earn a few bucks if you buy it.

[Cersei]

No advice on arm mass from me but I did want to congratulate you on the triathlon Garcon. Way to go!

[Mrin]

Know your body type. You sound like you are an ectomorph so building mass might be a challenge. I'm a quick gainer meso-endo so I can build mass with a hearty sneeze.

 

If you're serious about it you'll need to broaden your workouts. I do curls but mainly just to get my biceps pumped. Consider starting with 5x5 (I know it's mainly strength but at least you'll learn some good form) or PHUL.

 

Also be sure to check your macronutrients and work with a calorie surplus. If you are doing a ton of cardio and not operating from a surplus you're not going to do much good.

[Foxhall]

Well done, nothing wrong with your fitness anyway when you are doing triathlons,

 

having muscles toned and being in good shape would strike me as more important than specific muscle mass,

 

in a game of squash for instance, a lot of the guys will be bigger than me, but I will still hit the ball harder than them

 

these creatine powders/supplements seem to work for a lot of gym guys,

 

not sure have always been wary of their possible side effects personally,

 

what would be your take on the health risks of taking these,

[Andy_K]

What TFY said, plus your muscle insertions will play a large factor. Google long vs short bicep insertions and see where yours fall. If they're on the short side, you'll have a *lot* more trouble building arm mass that 'looks big'.

[alphamale]

when dealing with chicks (or anyone else) brain mass is much more important than arm mass

[Veronica73]

You’re probably going to need to eat more (and train for it). Plus you might put on a little fat too.

[OatsAndHall]

Your training time is limited given that you're also training for triathlons. But, here's my two cents:

 

 

1. Lift a couple of days per week and focus on compound lifts such as bench, incline bench, overhead presses, pull ups/pull downs, bent-over rows, one-arm rows etc..etc.. You'll get more bang for your buck out of these lifts and they will also help prevent soft tissue and overuse injuries. And, they will also aid in your swimming stroke; your freestyle stroke will improve dramatically if you build some strength through compound movements

 

 

 

2. There are two types of hypertrophy; sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar. High rep ranges emphasize sarcoplasmic hypertrophy; the building of the tissues SURROUNDING the actual muscle fibers. But, the muscle fibers themselves aren't being developed. The high rep ranges have their place in a training program as sarcoplasmic hypertrophy will help aid recovery in the long run. Myofibrillar hypertrophy is the actually growth of muscle fibers themselves which is builds muscle mass and strength. It takes training in lower rep ranges (probably 5-6 reps in your case) to maximize this type of hypertrophy.

 

 

 

3. Ultimately, you're not going to build muscle at all if you're not in a caloric surplus. Being an endurance athlete means that you're going to have to up the calories significantly to gain muscle. Especially because your triathlon training puts you in a catabolic state (i.e. chew up muscle..) the majority of the time. So, track what you're eating and the calories that you're burning to make sure you're always in a caloric surplus. You'll be pushing water uphill in all aspects of your training if you're not eating enough.