Growing concern with arms.

[Ragetiger]

I still tend to be a little startled when I see my reflection, but this time I took the time to take in what I've been seeing. It's my arms that are starting to show an odd sight, in my opinion. I held out my arms palm up and simply did a light flex. When flexed the bulk of my arms' bulge looks like it's leaning towards the chest.

I'm wondering if this is natural when growing or am I missing an arm exercise that will give the bicep a more "balanced" appearance when flexed.

[inflated]

If you want to make sure that your overall developement is balanced and have growth in your arms you need to do squats. Squats--not leg presses or machine squats --regular squats are the best thing for overall balanced developement.

[Mdlftr]

While I totally agree with Inflated that squats help everything on your body -- the systemic workout they provide helps all your bodyparts grow,
I have to ask what you are doing for triceps.

The mass of your triceps makes up the majority of size on your arm, even though it the cool bulge of a flexed bicep that gets everyone going.


Focus on building your triceps: close grip bench presses, rope pressdowns, dumbbell kickbacks, behind the neck dumbbell extensions, bodyweight bench dips -- these are just a few of the exercises that will help you pack size onto your tris!

The cool thing is, once you've put size onto your triceps, your biceps seem to stand out more and look bigger! Give it a try and see for yourself!

Historical views: Mike Mentzer had some of the best and biggest tris in the business. His arms were some of the most impressive ever in bodybuilding competition. Check it out and you'll see what I mean.

Mdlftr

[growingbigger]

Ragetiger, can you post a picture so we can see what you mean?

I completely agree with Mdlftr.

[Ragetiger]

Did a little bit of research since i posted this concern. I was missing a good exercise to give that outer head a workout. My main exercises were simple barbell curls. seems that i should do more than just a shoulder-width grip. Gotta add a narrow and wider grip for variations. Gonna try incline curls (either cable or dumbbell, depending on what's open).

Dmlftr, for triceps I do tricep press, pulldowns and overhead cable extentions. the extentions are interesting cause i just starting doing them and I have been sneeking in a quick forearm wrist curl at the peak of each rep.

Still not sure how squats work the arms, I do know that I use more of my core to maintain posture. Maybe controling the weight across the shoulder, but still not sure about how this particular leg exercise works the arms, in general.

[BIGJOEY]

squats are considered a overall mass builder. Since the whole body is involved in the exercise. for your triceps i would suggest skull crushers
or bench dips to build tricep mass. lots of guys do what is known in the sport as show muscles( biceps, shoulders and chest) and forget the major muscle groups ( legs and back ) if you need any other info let me know

[Ragetiger]

Okay this is about the BICEP not the TRICEP, I need to find some exercises that put more impact on the long head (outer). Most of my current exercises put on the short head (inner). Shoulder-width curls, hammer curls. and the use of the pully arm curl.

Not doubting the power of lower leg exercises, but most of my strength is already in the lower body.

[Mdlftr]

RT,

Just to reiterate what BigJoey and others are saying:

Point 1: Specialized exercises for a particular muscle group, such as biceps, do target that muscle group and help it to grow.

[For more biceps exercises, try sets of "21s" --- take a short bar (I prefer an EZ curl bar, since it's easier on your wrists with the pronation) and do 3 sets of 7 reps of each of the following to get your "21 rep" superset:

Set 1: Grasping the bar with hands shoulder width apart, lower the bar until it is horizontal at your waist. Pause, then immediately curl the bar to your shoulders 7 times, lowering it only to the level of your waist.
Set 2: starting with the bar held horizontally at your waist, lower the bar to your thighs and back up to your waist, 7 times.
Set 3: starting with the bar on your thighs, raise the bar smoothly all the way up to your shoulders and back down to your thighs again, 7 times.

this give a GREAT pump to the biceps. Believe me, you'll be sore the next day!]

Point 2: BigJoey is ABSOLUTELY correct when he talks about the overall impact on your body of intense exercises like squats. The gluteus maximus muscles are among the largest in the body. When you work them thoroughly with an exercise such as squats, the effects go out to your whole body - testosterone levels go up, your breathing gets heavier and deeper, helping to expand the rib cage, and your entire body gets a boost -- sort of like Jump starting a car with jumper cables.

The point is, BOTH techniques will ultimately help you build size on your bis.

Your bis are not in isolation- they grow along with everything else.

Mdlftr

[BIGJOEY]

1. i was suggesting triceps since they are 2/3 of your total arm
measurement.

2 . biceps length is determined by genetics and structure that cannot
change.
3. 98% of most guys train biceps and for that matter most body parts
incorrectly. Since the body works on angles and degrees of range of
motiton most guys lift wrong.

4. biceps only have 2 muscle heads and since your arms are involved in
all exercises most guys overtrain them or train them with the wrong
body part.

5 do hammer curls on a incline bench, incline curls, reverse preacher
curls, barbell curls that should build the mass you need.

[Ragetiger]

Okay how about instead doing squats how you feel about deadlifts. I prefer doing hacked squats to elliminate using the glutes. Don't need a bigger butt than I already have LOL. I still do a standard squat but go much lighter (so I'm not killing my knees) and slow down the reps so I can focus on form and control.

It was tricky but I did that 21 superset as a narrow grip. Then about an hour or so later did some overhead cable curls. It hard to imagine but the person that was on it before me was doing it with such crapy form I was surprised he didn't hurt himself (elbows dropping to the ground and at peak of rep resembled a flye)

[inflated]

Originally Posted by Ragetiger

Okay how about instead doing squats how you feel about deadlifts. I prefer doing hacked squats to elliminate using the glutes. Don't need a bigger butt than I already have LOL. I still do a standard squat but go much lighter (so I'm not killing my knees) and slow down the reps so I can focus on form and control.

Deep squats with perfect form --some people call them breathing squats because they should be an exhausting set--otherwise you are wasting your time. Take the advice given--or do what you want but it seems that you have a lot of "reasons" or excuses why you do not want to work hard in the gym. If you are killing your knees its because you are not going deep enough and all of the stress from the beginning of the movement is placed on your knees. Deadlifts are great and should be part of your program, however they do not give the same overall body developement and symmetry that deep heavy squats with impeccable form will give you. If its too hard oh well then I guess you can do whatever is fun and easy.