How to Get Bigger Arms..

How to Get Bigger Arms..

I still get questions about building arms. It gets a little frustrating. I explain the process and a week later I see the same people who asked the question spending 70% of their workout doing barbell curls with poor form. Why? Because doing it right is "too hard" for the little snowflakes.

So I'll try another approach. I'll give you the high points from an article by Chris Colucci from T-nation quoting advice from some of the best coaches in the business-past and present.

Bob Hoffman in 1939 (Coach of the American Olympic Weightlifting Team from 1936 to 1968)

"Big arms are generally the result of all around training. You couldn't expect to use a Mack truck tire on a Ford. Neither could you expect to build a 17 inch arm on a 120 pound body. 

Charles Poliquin in 2000 (Poliquin has a master's degree in exercise physiology and has trained Olympic lifters, Olympic speed skaters, Olympic shot put champions, hurdlers and top players from the NFL and NHL) 

"A good rule of thumb is that for every inch you want to gain on your arms, you need to gain roughly 15 pounds of equally distributed muscle mass.

The human body will only allow for a certain amount of asymmetry. Therefore, if you devote your training energies solely to building big arms, you'd eventually reach a point of total stagnation because you weren't training your legs."

In other words, train for overall body strength and muscle mass and your arms will get bigger. Train arms moderately and spend the majority or your gym time getting stronger and bigger overall.

Or stay scrawny and weak. Your choice.