How soon can I have 16-inch arms?

[Ex-Terminator]

I'm 43 years old, 5', 10" and I just started lifting again this week. I laid off for almost a year (yes, I had a valid reason).

Right now, my arms measure right at 15 inches, or 15 on the right and slightly less on the left. Generally speaking, how long should I expect it to take before I can have a pair of 16's? Also, what would you recommend for getting there as quickly as possible?

I'm primarily concentrating on compounds with little if any isolation exercises.

Thanks!

[ad$]

dont concentrate just on arms. if you concentrate on the big compounds, (squat, dead, row, bench, mil presses, chins, dip etc) take in plenty of calories, enough protien, and constantly strive to add weight onto the bar (using good form of course) then within a year you should expect to be bigger then youve ever been.
obviously age isnt on your side (not being rude) so maybe you could try some supps like ZMA that naturally raise test levels. There may be some other good natural supplements out there that you could try, you will just have to do the research.
good luck anyway and just keep at it

[Ex-Terminator]

dont concentrate just on arms. if you concentrate on the big compounds, (squat, dead, row, bench, mil presses, chins, dip etc) take in plenty of calories, enough protien, and constantly strive to add weight onto the bar (using good form of course) then within a year you should expect to be bigger then youve ever been.
obviously age isnt on your side (not being rude) so maybe you could try some supps like ZMA that naturally raise test levels. There may be some other good natural supplements out there that you could try, you will just have to do the research.
good luck anyway and just keep at it

No offense taken. I know I won't get the kind of gains a 20-year old would. By the way, I'm about 210 pounds right now. Late last summer, I had gotten down to about 190 and that's where I want to be again. It only took me about three months to get from 220 to 190 last year. I lost the gut and got some visible chest and shoulders. I'm looking forward to (hopefully) making similar progress again. I want to lift all winter and be ready when the short-sleeve shirts come back out next spring.

I've also decided to stay with a compound-heavy workout this time. That's where I always made my best gains. Some may laugh, but regardless of what set I'm doing, I start and end every workout with the clean and press. That does more for my shoulders than anything else and it does okay for the traps, too.

[2 Shades Darker]

whats the bodyfat percentage? if youre 210 @ 10%, then u gotta eat more and build lean mass, expect an inch every 10-15lbs of lbm added (this is just a rough estimate)

[RIPcookiethief]

Remember, triceps are about 2/3 of your overall arm size. so get crackin on those.

[Chiefy]

Compounds aren't the only way to build huge arms. With a split system routine, (and a lot of supplements of course), it actually won't take any longer than around 3 months.

But if you're not at that level yet it might take a while to bulk 'em up.

So it just depends on how hard you want to work. Work your hardest and you'll get there faster.

Some of the other posts make good points. Eat right. Don't forget about the rest of the body. Train the WHOLE arm, not just a part of it. Concentrating on just 1 section of the arm is going make the process of getting big arms take a lot longer than it should.

[AnaerobicAndrew]

whats the bodyfat percentage? if youre 210 @ 10%, then u gotta eat more and build lean mass, expect an inch every 10-15lbs of lbm added (this is just a rough estimate)

If he were 210 @ %10, there is no way his arms would be <16 unless he was 8 feet tall.

[little_big_man]

Hola Bola is 210 pounds @ 5'7 with low bodyfat and his arms are like 20 inches.


YO HOLA BOLA if your out there post your stats your probably the biggest guy on the site.

[duong]

I'm 43 years old, 5', 10" and I just started lifting again this week. I laid off for almost a year (yes, I had a valid reason).

Right now, my arms measure right at 15 inches, or 15 on the right and slightly less on the left. Generally speaking, how long should I expect it to take before I can have a pair of 16's? Also, what would you recommend for getting there as quickly as possible?

I'm primarily concentrating on compounds with little if any isolation exercises.

Thanks!

Although heavy compounds will target both the major and minor muscles (including the biceps and triceps).. it may depend on some people.. however, I recommend putting in some direct arm work here and there to supplement your progress.

standing bb (ez bar/straight bar whatever) curls are pretty effective in hitting both heads of the bicep.

best of luck.

[spirit3530]

I think if you train your whole body effectively you can get to 16 in about 4-5 months.
Lots of dips, chins, deadlifts. squats, hammer curls, wide grip camber bar curls (if you have always done neutral grip) etc. I think a sound program including the above lifts and ofcourse a eating more than maintenace calories will get you there.


It really does depend on how much experience you have as well.

[Ex-Terminator]

Thanks for the input, folks. This will sound weird, but anyway..... about three months ago, I did something to my right leg and I limped for a few weeks, I have NO idea what I did. It was stiff, sore, painful, etc.... It felt like a stressed tendon in the inner thigh.

Enough about that, but it's part of the reason I'm just now starting back.

Wednesdays will be Leg Night. I was doing squats last Fall, but because of the mystery injury, I decided not to push it on the first week back so I did just deadlifts instead. Next week, however, will be Squat City.

My plan is to work out four days a week, Monday through Thursday, as follows...

First Week
Monday - Workout One
Arms and Chest - Bench Press (wide and close grip), EZ-Bar Curls, Dumbell Finger Curls for the forearms, Chest Pulldowns on the Lat Tower.

Tuesday - Workout Two
Back - Barbell Rows, Dumbell Rows, and Lat Pulldowns.

Wednesday - Workout Three
Quads - Squats 'til I can't stand them anymore.

Thursday - Repeat Workout One
Repeat of Monday.

Second Week
Workout Two, Workout Three, Workout One, repeat Workout Two

Third Week
Workout Three, Workout One, Workout Two, repeat Workout Three.

etc....

In other words, I want to keep my body from getting accustomed to a certain workout on a certain day. I have several more exercises, but the above are just the basics.

All workouts begin and end with Clean and Press.

What do you think?

[de_barathrum]

doing biceps before back day is going to have negative consequences. you will probably need more rest days. if you want bigger arms give them their own day. throw in some more posterior chain work. get rid of the lat pulldowns and do pullups. instead of doing wide grip and close grip bench press on the same day do normal grip and incline, then maybe on your arm day do close grip. make sure you give yourself plenty of days rest between arm days and chest/back days. instead of starting all workouts out with clean and press just throw in some overhead pressing either on their own day or on arms or chest or back or maybe two... make sure you do some lateral flyes too.

[Ex-Terminator]

doing biceps before back day is going to have negative consequences. you will probably need more rest days. if you want bigger arms give them their own day. throw in some more posterior chain work. get rid of the lat pulldowns and do pullups. instead of doing wide grip and close grip bench press on the same day do normal grip and incline, then maybe on your arm day do close grip. make sure you give yourself plenty of days rest between arm days and chest/back days. instead of starting all workouts out with clean and press just throw in some overhead pressing either on their own day or on arms or chest or back or maybe two... make sure you do some lateral flyes too.

Thanks. I haven't settled on a routine yet, so this will help.

[de_barathrum]

if you have some experience under your belt then dont be afraid to do some isos.

[Ex-Terminator]

if you have some experience under your belt then dont be afraid to do some isos.

Oh, I'll definitely be doing some isos, but I mainly want to concentrate on compounds for overall mass. That's why I'm doing the clean-n-press every workout. Maybe my body is just weird, but those have always been an essential part of making progress for me.

[John Prophet]

you said they are 15" and you took a layoff....what were they before? at their biggest?

a couple (or 3) years ago I decided to start lifting again regularly....I think my arms were 16"ish......I cant remember exactly what I weighed....probably 215-220 with high bf%.....I joked with my buddy that I wanted 17.5" arms.....I think it was only a few months and I had them, lol.....I think most of it was muscle memory...seems I had em to 17.5" at some point years ago

of course I also joked that I wanted 17" calves to match....but they are still 15.5-16"....like they have always been, lol

[Ex-Terminator]

you said they are 15" and you took a layoff....what were they before? at their biggest?

a couple (or 3) years ago I decided to start lifting again regularly....I think my arms were 16"ish......I cant remember exactly what I weighed....probably 215-220 with high bf%.....I joked with my buddy that I wanted 17.5" arms.....I think it was only a few months and I had them, lol.....I think most of it was muscle memory...seems I had em to 17.5" at some point years ago

of course I also joked that I wanted 17" calves to match....but they are still 15.5-16"....like they have always been, lol

Interestingly enough, they were 15 inches a year ago also, BUT....a year ago, I weighed around 190. Now I weigh around 210, so it's with a higher body fat percentage now. If I were to strictly cut down to 190 with no bulking, I'm sure they would be less.

But yeah, I'm pretty sure 15 is about the biggest they've ever been. I would love to have them at least 16.5 by next spring, if not a bit more.

[John Prophet]

yeah...my bf% is up there but I am losing weight right now due to tightening up the diet some

I have NO clue how big my arms would be if Iwere like 15% bf, lol....nevermind that I have been fat for so long I have no clue what my muscles look like period...I MIGHT have a decent outer tricep...but Im not sure....and even as fat as I am I have a decent crease up the middle of my thigh....it would be interesting to see what that would look like at around 10%

---

as you know..triceps are really what stretches the tape the most

if I were you I think id combine some heavy and/or explosive compound stuff for myofibrillar (actual fiber) growth...and then some slower continous tension stuff for sarcoplasmic growth (growth in intracelllular fluids etc)

[Big_G1986]

patience.