My arms wont get bigger :o why?

[Ceerex]

Hey guys , found these forums a while ago while looking to gain weight as Im not happy with my appearance. I am following a program thanks to you guys and have seen weight gains , but not in the right places and wanted some advice. First, a little about myself:

im 24, 6"1" , and when I started weight training a month ago I was 159.8 lbs with 16.1 % body fat. 13" pipe cleaner biceps

Now, a month later, im 170.4 pounds, with 20.1% body fat. still 13" pipe cleaner biceps lol.

Basically I am doing a 5x5 Program ( http://stronglifts.com/blog/ ) 3x a week, and eating 6 meals a day, although there is no real structure to the meals I make sure I get a lot of protein in each one ( at least 20-30g) and I drink a protein shake right before bed and a MRP right after my workouts and sometime during the day on non workout days.

From the looks of things though, all I seem to be gaining is body fat , and my arms arent getting any bigger at all, which is the main thing I want to get bigger.

So a few questions :

1) Should I stick with the program for a longer period of time and see if my body properly proportions itself , as right now I look way out of proportion. If so, how long?

2) Should I go for more of a bulking weight program to help my arms get bigger? If so, can someone recommend a good one?

3) Should I be doing any cardio to help with my body fat being so high?

4) What should I do about my diet? I eat as much as possible at least every 3 hours, but I work from 4-11 pm every day and cant do much in between there besides maybe buy a footlong sub at subway as I cant bring food with me to work heh.


Any help would be greatly appreciated, and if you need any more information out of me please let me know . I really want to see some changes in my arm size before summer and am counting on you guys thanks!

[juve07]

Hey guys , found these forums a while ago while looking to gain weight as Im not happy with my appearance. I am following a program thanks to you guys and have seen weight gains , but not in the right places and wanted some advice. First, a little about myself:

im 24, 6"1" , and when I started weight training a month ago I was 159.8 lbs with 16.1 % body fat. 13" pipe cleaner biceps

Now, a month later, im 170.4 pounds, with 20.1% body fat. still 13" pipe cleaner biceps lol.

Basically I am doing a 5x5 Program ( http://stronglifts.com/blog/ ) 3x a week, and eating 6 meals a day, although there is no real structure to the meals I make sure I get a lot of protein in each one ( at least 20-30g) and I drink a protein shake right before bed and a MRP right after my workouts and sometime during the day on non workout days.

From the looks of things though, all I seem to be gaining is body fat , and my arms arent getting any bigger at all, which is the main thing I want to get bigger.

So a few questions :

1) Should I stick with the program for a longer period of time and see if my body properly proportions itself , as right now I look way out of proportion. If so, how long?

2) Should I go for more of a bulking weight program to help my arms get bigger? If so, can someone recommend a good one?

3) Should I be doing any cardio to help with my body fat being so high?

4) What should I do about my diet? I eat as much as possible at least every 3 hours, but I work from 4-11 pm every day and cant do much in between there besides maybe buy a footlong sub at subway as I cant bring food with me to work heh.


Any help would be greatly appreciated, and if you need any more information out of me please let me know . I really want to see some changes in my arm size before summer and am counting on you guys thanks!

I would do low impact cardio 6 days a week for 30-40 minutes. This will help with getting rid of fat. By low impact I mean walking at an incline. Even during a bulk it is beneficial to do cardio. Throw in some direct arm work for 3 or 4 sets at the end of your weight training, its not going to hurt you.

[SledgeHammer01]

You should not be bulking @ 20% BF. You need to do a cut down to around 15% BF or less.

If you bulked correctly and you cut correctly, you probably don't have too much fat on your arms... its probably more along the gut / love handles / lower back. IF thats the case, you'll keep most of your arm size (again, assuming you bulked and cut properly).

Why would a program that doesn't have any direct arm work give you "teh gunz"? It won't. You should stick with that program, but add 1 or 2 direct arm iso exercises.

Yes, you need to get your BF% down, 20% is too high to bulk.

You won't get "teh gunz" by summer.

Bad news for you tall people... you may be tall, but you take a lot longer to fill out .

How many calories do you eat per day? How much protein?

[SledgeHammer01]

I would do low impact cardio 6 days a week for 30-40 minutes. This will help with getting rid of fat. By low impact I mean walking at an incline. Even during a bulk it is beneficial to do cardio. Throw in some direct arm work for 3 or 4 sets at the end of your weight training, its not going to hurt you.

HIIT and a clean diet is (2nd) best for BF% reduction. Low impact cardio isn't too helpful for people wanting large BF% drops.

[Slie]

What exercises are you doing targeting your biceps and triceps?
5 reps is more for strength, 6-10 reps is for size (I'd do 8).

[juve07]

HIIT and a clean diet is (2nd) best for BF% reduction. Low impact cardio isn't too helpful for people wanting large BF% drops.

I will agree you can drop some weight quickly with HIIT but I think it will hurt your strength gains. Thats why I would walk on an incline, but I guess it depends whats more important to the poster. I 2nd you on the clean diet.