Tips on how to increase arm size

This post will give you some ideas on how to increase arm size. If you want big arms, but it is still your dirty little secret and your scared people are going to disapprove of you, check this article out. It will give you some arguments that you can use to understanding your noble quest 

Arms under 15 inches?
This depends on height and over all skeletal size, but the general rule is, if your arms are under 15 inches, you will not benefit as much from isolation exercises as you will from the heavy compound lifts. I built 15 inch arms a couple of years a go using heavy chins and dips, I never did curls. So if your arms are under 15 inches, spend most of your time doing heavy rows, chins, dips, bench press and all those compound movements that you can put a lot of weight on. Just get crazy strong, and your arms will grow

Jed Johnson's August of arms
Click here to see Jed's video on his 'august of arms' experiment. Basically the idea is, you train arms specifically every day, for one month, towards the end you will feel terrible and tired, but if you push through it. After the month, Jed went from 18s to 19s, which is incredible! It doesn't have to be august, if you have the heart, and train hard, you will be rewarded for this crazy program.

Low intensity, high frequency
This is what I am currently doing to train arms. On top of my regular training, I am doing one set of biceps and one set of triceps when I wake up and before I go to bed. That equates to 14 sets a week, and it has no effect on my regular work outs. Remember to pick a weight that will still give you some stress on the muscle, but will allow you to recover easily from it.

8 hour arm workout
It works! Before I gave this a go I did a looked at reviews and everyone said it doesn't work. But after I realized that these where just keyboard bodybuilders that are afraid of trying something difficult. I tried it and added half an inch on my arm in a day!! Which is a lot when you have been training for a while. My opinion is that it will work best if you train heavy, the change in stimulus will help build hypertrophy and the fact that you are stronger means that you will be able to curl and french press more. Click here to see the work out I used. It may look like a supplement ad, but I didn't use them, just make sure your eating and drinking enough calories, have plenty of milk and lucozade. 

Adjusting your compound lifts
Another idea is to simply adjust your compound lifts, to add more stress on the arms, your lifts may go down a little, but if you work on it, you will soon be back to your normal weights. For example, change your bench press and military press to close grip, switch to underhand pull ups and pull downs. You will still be working your back and chest, I get annoyed by twerps on the internet that tell you under hand chin ups do not work your back, EXTENSION OF THE SHOULDER WORKS YOUR BACK no matter what your hand position is.

Thanks, hope this helps.
Enjoy the gains,
Alex

One arm lock offs for big dudes

Why the one arm lock off? It puts a tremendous amount of tension on the biceps, it will help improve endurance and work capacity, and it also looks cool as hell to see a big guy pull one of these off. I spent the majority of my first year in college training these. Hopped on to the preacher curl bench and got a 66lb preacher curl with one arm for 30 reps within the next few weeks.

What is a one arm lock off? It is when you hold the top of a one arm chin for time. I know its sounds easy, but just give it a go.you'll find that you get up with 2 arms, let go of one of them and you will drop like a 200 lb man trying to do a one arm lock off. Think about how strong your back and arms are now, now think about how much stronger they will be if you could do a one arm lock off for 10 seconds.

It is also a stepping stone to the one arm chin, which is also an awesome exercise. One of my goals as a personal trainer is to get as many people over 190lb doing one arm chins for reps.

The progression level:

1. Hold each lock off for 5 seconds, at the top (chin over the bar), middle and 3/4 of the chin, this is one rep.
2. To set up, do an archer pull up, with the main arm under hand, and with the other hand is going to hold onto the bar with just the 4 fingers, work your way down to a single finger, then down to just your pinky finger.
3. When you can do each progression level until you can get 5-10 sets of 2 reps, then progress onto the next level.

Once you get down to the pinky it may not be so easy to progress onto the one arm lock off: here are a few ideas to make the final step.

1. Add weight to the lock offs
2. Hang a loop off the bar at shoulder height and use your pinky on the loop to assist the one arm lock off
3. Increase number of reps and sets
4. Only assist yourself on the top of the one arm lock off, only use one arm on the middle and/or bottom holds.

Before you start one arm lock offs, become a monster at 2 arms. see if you can get 100 in 10 mins, at least 12 chins with your chin clearing the bar and 5 sets of 3 frenchies.

Don't forget to train both arms.

Enjoy the gains
Alex