Guidance needed

The Truth

The Truth

Midfield
No matter what my daily exercise/diet has been, my upper arms have always been as skinny as two chicken wings (and I include in that a period in my late teens/early 20s where I was lifting slabs/timber/boxes day in and day out). I don't think it's a question of bulking up a bit as any extra weight I gain goes directly to my kite and nowhere else. Help!
 


Be interesting to see the responses. I’m the same, though maybe not skinny arms just should be bigger than what they are for the sets/reps I do on them.
I take it you got it the gym?

Ive been advised to include, hammer curls, ez bar curls (probated grip), 21s, concentration curls. Obviously whatever you do with your back your working your biceps too I suppose?
 
I have no idea what kind of training you do, but to make your arms grow, I’d suggest giving a bit more focus to the triceps than the biceps because it’s a bigger muscle group.

When doing any movement, always focus on going through a full range of motion and being able to feel the muscle contracting rather than how much you can actually lift, look for 8 to 12 quality reps.

And most importantly, you have to eat right. You typically gain an inch on your arms with every 14 lbs of bodyweight gained.
Charmless Man said:
Without knowing what you do in the gym its difficult to say.

As a general rule of thumb, the work required to increase your bench press is going to result in making your arms bigger. So maybe focus on that?
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Yep, working on building a big bench press, doing heavy overhead presses, bent over rows, pull ups etc will all go some way towards increasing the size of the arms.
 
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Thurston said:
I have no idea what kind of training you do, but to make your arms grow, I’d suggest giving a bit more focus to the triceps than the biceps because it’s a bigger muscle group.

When doing any movement, always focus on going through a full range of motion and being able to feel the muscle contracting rather than how much you can actually lift, look for 8 to 12 quality reps.

And most importantly, you have to eat right. You typically gain an inch on your arms with every 14 lbs of bodyweight gained.

Yep, working on building a big bench press, doing heavy overhead presses, bent over rows, pull ups etc will all go some way towards increasing the size of the arms.
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I always had skinny arms. When I could bench 3 plates was the first time I thought they were actually canny big.

Maybe it was all psychological mind :lol:
 
I would focus on compound movements including bench press, overhead press, pull up & barbell row as they'll increase strength in the arms as well as other areas - use these as your primary exercises in a workout and then add some accessory sets afterwards...things like curls, tricep extension etc. Can be in and out in 45 mins no problem, 4 times a week and you'll see big progress.

Don't forget your legs though :cool:
 
The Truth said:
No matter what my daily exercise/diet has been, my upper arms have always been as skinny as two chicken wings (and I include in that a period in my late teens/early 20s where I was lifting slabs/timber/boxes day in and day out). I don't think it's a question of bulking up a bit as any extra weight I gain goes directly to my kite and nowhere else. Help!
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When you're lifting in the gym do you go to failure?
 
Compound pressing movements. Overhead elbow extension movements.

I like close grip incline bench for tricep mass.

Dips if you can get away with not hurting your shoulders.

Dumbbell skull crushers (with skullcrushers you need to lower to behind your head, not literally your face. This will better hit the long head of the tricep.
 
Dips, dips and more dips.
Bodyweight all the way, until you can hit 5 sets of 20, then add weight with a dipping belt
 
Titus said:
Compound pressing movements. Overhead elbow extension movements.

I like close grip incline bench for tricep mass.

Dips if you can get away with not hurting your shoulders.

Dumbbell skull crushers (with skullcrushers you need to lower to behind your head, not literally your face. This will better hit the long head of the tricep.
Click to expand...
Spot on.

My personal favourite compound movement which hits the biceps (along with developing huge lats in the process)

 
For bicep isolation, try dumbbell curls whilst lying back on an incline bench. This reduces anterior delt involvement and you get a nice range of motion.
 

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