Hey I'm a guy who's been weight training and researching and doing pretty serious dieting for about 2 years now, I just turned 18.
I know for anyone to help me they need to know everything I'm doing, so I apologize if this is long.
I'm 6' 1", 180 pounds, with frustrating 13" arms. For my lifts, My all out, balls to the wall 1rm Bench is 250, deadlift is 445, squat is 315. I don't consider my self weak, but i don't look good because my arms are so small. My body is sorta like a block with somehow strong noodles attached. Also literally any fat I get goes to my "love handles," I've read this may be due to insulin resistance as opposed to cortisol stores fat in the stomach and estrogen in the thighs, hips, and chest.
(Is this important?) For nutrition, when I first started I bulked from a really scrawny 150 to 175, then cut to 165. Then I bulked to 185, then cut to 178. Then I bulked to 190 with creatine (so not much more weight than the 185 I was before, just leaner with some water weight.) Now I've been eating clean and losing some fat, trying to keep fairly lean, so as not to go over 13% bodyfat, and I won't be doing major bulking/cutting cycles anymore. I'm a pretty lean 180ish, with bf realistically around 11% or less since I have abs but some love handles.
My chest builds muscle easily, as does my back, and especially my traps and legs. My calves and arms lack though. Could this be due to hormones or the lack of? Not enough growth hormone stimulated by training maybe? Would insulin resistance mean a lack of IGF-1, and would this put my arms at a disadvantage over my other body parts?
I've heard taking really low carbs will reset insulin sensitivity, but I don't overeat carbs anymore, usually 40/30/30 carbs/protein/fat or less carbs, more protein when I'm on a fat loss diet. Lower carbs than 25-30% and my arms diminish even more.
My split routine I developed at the moment involves:
Monday: Chest&Triceps
Tuesday: Upper Back&Shoulders&Biceps
Wednesday: Legs
Thursday: Chest&Shoulders
Friday: Back(Includes Deadlifts)&Biceps
Saturday: Light Running (My rest day)
Sunday: HIIT, recreational Sports, Abs (Varies)
Am I training arms too much? I figure my triceps are worked 3 times a week (Monday, Tuesday [Very little, they're worked with shoulder presses and hang clean and presses], Thursday) but they should have time to recover after. My biceps are worked 2 times a week, so this shouldn't be too much I hope.. This routing hits every other muscle well and I've seen improvement.
Please anyone help! Is it nutrition, training, genetics? How can I overcome any of these?
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