Bodyparts twice a week?

[ItalGym]

I am struggling with a decision of working my arms twice a week for size. If I worked them twice a week this is what the program would look like....

Monday - Chest, Bi's (3 exercises, 3 sets, Heavy)
Tuesday - Quads and Hams
Wednesday - Back, Tri's (3 exercises, 3 sets, Heavy)
Thrusday - Shoulders, Calves
Friday - Bi's (3 exercises, 3 sets, Heavy), Tri's (3 exercises, 3 sets, Heavy)

If I stuck to arms being once a week, it would be 16 sets for bi's and 16 sets of Tri's in one day, instead of 18 spread in 2 different days. What do you guys think?

[ja2001x]

Why do you need 16-18 sets? Why not 2-6 sets? Less is more, unless its works for you.

Id say try it for a few weeks but im *pretty sure* youll overtrain. You only need 2 sets, 6 at most for your bis and the same with your tris. You dont train back/Chest/quads twice a week and biceps/triceps are much smaller and need less.

I think the best thing you need to think about when concerning bicep/tricep growth is patience.

[ItalGym]

WOW. 2-6 sets, seems really low. Does it matter that I am an ectomorph? I am 6'1 and weigh 205. Been lifting for 3 years now. My arms are 16.75". I feel I have gotten to a sticking point and trying to break through. Anyone else do 2-6 sets for bi's and tri's?

[Machine]

Originally posted by ItalGym
WOW. 2-6 sets, seems really low. Does it matter that I am an ectomorph? I am 6'1 and weigh 205. Been lifting for 3 years now. My arms are 16.75". I feel I have gotten to a sticking point and trying to break through. Anyone else do 2-6 sets for bi's and tri's?

Most people should be doing 2-6 for small body parts such as the arm muscles.. I *might* go as high as 12 sets for chest, but usually keep it around 9.. Like he said, less is more.

[ja2001x]

Some people follow this technique for bi's, 6 sets:

Excersize 1: 2 sets
Excersize 2: 2 sets
Excersize 3: 2 sets

I personally use only 2 sets and my bi's have grown 1/4" in 3 weeks, it wont continue like that but its a good gain to start with.

I use:

Barbell Curls: 1 set 6-8 reps
Incline Dumbells curls or Hammers: 1 set 6-8 reps

[ItalGym]

Thanks for the information.

[MrB]

You "could" do lots of things. Just because you can doesn't necessarily mean that you "should".

The arms are a relatively small muscle group that get worked whenever you do chest, back, and shoulders. Working them too little is rarely a problem.

Try working them less, give them more rest. You can't build a castle, if you're constantly knocking all of the bricks down.

Ask yourself "Is what I'm doing the optimal way for me to go" and try to comprehend the reasons why you're doing what you do.

Off-Topic: Just once I'd like to hear someone say "Man, I need to do some more hard sets of squats ... followed by leg press ... then SLDL ... and then maybe some hard sets of high rep squats."

Why is it no one wwants to "work legs more" but they're alway wanting to add another day of arms, chest, and shoulders?

Safe to say, no one will ever undertrain those three parts.

Your arms will grow as your bodyweight increases. That ,means, along with minimal arm work (optional), you should spend most of your time on the compound exercises that work the most muscle groups in the least amount of time with the highest amount of poundage. Eat to gain. Bodyweight goes up, and a greater % goes onto your arms.

... or ...

You could just work them more often if that makes sense to you (that was sarcasm, BTW)

Note -- depending on your genes, between 10-20 pound bodyweight gain figures to be about an inch on your arm. so if you've got 15 inch arms and want 18, you better figure on adding 30 pounds of muscle (not muscle and fat) to your fram. That's a 2-4 year project.

Get started.

[DRock]

Originally posted by MrB

Off-Topic: Just once I'd like to hear someone say "Man, I need to do some more hard sets of squats ... followed by leg press ... then SLDL ... and then maybe some hard sets of high rep squats."

Why is it no one wwants to "work legs more" but they're alway wanting to add another day of arms, chest, and shoulders?

I actually do something similar to that:

squats (2 sets, HIT style: 4 down,2 up)
leg extension (1 drop set)
sldl (2 sets, HIT style: 4 down,2 up)
leg curl (1 drop set)

I've always enjoyed doing legs, the only thing I never enjoyed was the disproportion I used to have between legs (large) and upper body (not large).

As for body parts twice a week, sure, it's fine, so long as its fullbody work outs twice (or even three) times per week.

Peace

BTW, MrB, you (and other FB advocates) have convinced me to go FB. I'm gonna finish out my current schedule (about 3 weeks left) and switch over.

[bigDAWGinDhouse]

6 sets? hells no...i dont see anyone doing 6 sets...that is a god dam low number...i do three exercises for my bis and tris..3 sets each...i dont think 6 sets a week is enough.....trust me...

[ja2001x]

Have you ever done it? Have you ever done 6 sets with High Intensity?

I do 2 sets for Bi's with all out intensity and I cant do anymore afterwards. Maybe it wont work for you but youd never know until you tried.

Everyone follows the '3 excersizes/3 sets' rule but I honestly think if you are utilizing your intensity you dont need near that much and will make better gains.

[DRock]

Originally posted by ja2001x
Have you ever done it? Have you ever done 6 sets with High Intensity?

I do 2 sets for Bi's with all out intensity and I cant do anymore afterwards. Maybe it wont work for you but youd never know until you tried.

Everyone follows the '3 excersizes/3 sets' rule but I honestly think if you are utilizing your intensity you dont need near that much and will make better gains.

Big Bump!

[MrB]

When you count "arm sets" you have to count all pushes and pulls to.

Not unless you've figured out a way to do bench press, overhead presses, etc without using your triceps, and do chins, rows, etc without using your biceps.

I have never seen anyone that could barbell row 315x8, or bench press 300x8 that had small arms. Have you?

something tells me this "heavy lifting" stuff is more important than the number of "arm exercises" or "number of arm days" that you have in your routine.