overtraining arms?

[Ghost26]

i got this routine off of the life as a freakshow article, because i really want to bring up my arms and legs, it seems like it would be overtraining,only doing 12 sets for arms on the arm days how long should i do it for im thinking a month and then switch to a low volume routine, it goes

legs
chest/arms
back
shoulders/arms
legs
off
off

then ill go to a low volume like

chest/shoulders/tris
off
back/bis
off
legs
off
off

[mritter3]

if your looking to bring up your arms focus on heavy compound lifts, deads, bench, squat, chins, and throw in some bb curls, eat a ton of food and give your body ample rest, but i would have to say that routine is def. overtraining the arms.

[braves561]

if your looking to bring up your arms focus on heavy compound lifts, deads, bench, squat, chins, and throw in some bb curls, eat a ton of food and give your body ample rest, but i would have to say that routine is def. overtraining the arms.

I'm gonna agree with this. I've seen the most growth in my arms from compound lifts. Throw in 3-4 sets of BB curls during your leg day. Chins completely destroy my bi's. Also dips will help your tri's a lot. Try overhead DB tricep extensions as well but only 3-4 sets. I've done splits with arm day being its own seperate day and I think that did more harm than good.

[MrMonday]

If you aren't already in the 3/4/5 club, and you can't barbell curl 135lbs for reps, and close-grip bench 245lbs, then you don't need to be doing any "arm specialization" in my opinion.

I definitely disagree with the people who say all you need to do is "throw in 3-4 sets of curls at the end of everything", that is just lousy training. And if you get wicked bicep growth and pumps from chinups, I highly recommend you get some help or videotape yourself, because your form is way off on those.

Biceps and triceps (as well as calves, and lateral delts) need hard and heavy training just like everything else. They aren't "magic easy wonderland" muscles that you can ignore and neglect.

They don't need a million sets, however, dedicating an entire day to arms is not a "bad" thing, and I can't imagine how it would "harm" your progress.

[Ir0nClad]

If you aren't already in the 3/4/5 club, and you can't barbell curl 135lbs for reps, and close-grip bench 245lbs, then you don't need to be doing any "arm specialization" in my opinion.

I definitely disagree with the people who say all you need to do is "throw in 3-4 sets of curls at the end of everything", that is just lousy training. And if you get wicked bicep growth and pumps from chinups, I highly recommend you get some help or videotape yourself, because your form is way off on those.

Biceps and triceps (as well as calves, and lateral delts) need hard and heavy training just like everything else. They aren't "magic easy wonderland" muscles that you can ignore and neglect.

They don't need a million sets, however, dedicating an entire day to arms is not a "bad" thing, and I can't imagine how it would "harm" your progress.

It could harm your progress, because if you fatigue the crap outta your arms, then when you go to do your compound lifts they are going to suffer. Honostly who cares about focusing on just doing barbell curls or silly tricep exercises, get you squat and deadlift up 100lbs, eat like a monster, and maybe throw the occasional arm exercise in and then your arms will get bigger. Solely focusing on arms is a waste of time, as your body is not going to make them bigger and out of proportion with the rest of your body, you need to focus on heavy compound lifts that make the rest of your body bigger.

Stop wasting time.

[strivin for more]

im gonna get flamed out of my mind for saying this, but do what youd like to see improvement on. thats the great thing about lifting. its all you. theyll grow with compound exercises as well, but id think theyd get bigger if you trained them soley on a day even more. its really just all about your goals. just my two cents.

[TigerAce01]

im gonna get flamed out of my mind for saying this, but do what youd like to see improvement on. thats the great thing about lifting. its all you. theyll grow with compound exercises as well, but id think theyd get bigger if you trained them soley on a day even more. its really just all about your goals. just my two cents.

Agreed. I hate guys saying "just do some compound exercises". Not everyone wants to be a competitive bodybuilder or powerlifter. Sorry to say it, but there are plenty of people on this forum who just want to get in shape and look good.

Depending on your age and recovery ability (which usually go hand in hand), you could do arms twice a week and be just fine.

-Ace

[MrMonday]

It could harm your progress, because if you fatigue the crap outta your arms, then when you go to do your compound lifts they are going to suffer. Honostly who cares about focusing on just doing barbell curls or silly tricep exercises, get you squat and deadlift up 100lbs, eat like a monster, and maybe throw the occasional arm exercise in and then your arms will get bigger. Solely focusing on arms is a waste of time, as your body is not going to make them bigger and out of proportion with the rest of your body, you need to focus on heavy compound lifts that make the rest of your body bigger.

Stop wasting time.

BODYBUILDERS care about their barbell curls and tricep exercises, and believe it or not.... so does any successful powerlifter or strongman. These muscles need to be strong too.

And just because, hypothetically, some idiot might schedule an "arms" day just before a "chest" day and end up not making progress on his bench, that does not mean that an Arms day, properly scheduled, is inherently going to harm your progress.

Legs
Chest
Rest
Back
Shoulders
Arms
Rest

Now you tell me how this arms day is going to ruin someones progress...?

Also... nobody said ANYTHING about a person only focusing on their arms and nothing else. Where did you even get that from?

Of course you should be training EVERYTHING, and training everything with INTENSITY and FOCUS. That includes your back, chest, biceps, triceps, calves.... everything.

[Ghost26]

yea my routine as of rite now is
chest
back/hams
off
quads/shoulders
arms
off
off
I think im going to drop my sets on arm day a little bit maybe like 12 sets total instead of my usual 20 so im completely fresh on the larger muscle groups so i can do heavy compounds
by the way im 17

[getapump]

i have actually used this routine which is odd because i will hardly ever do a scheme of something i didnt come up with myself. however when i read this article it made sense to me and i gave it a go... my arms grew some and as for my leg growth... well ive still got some pretty tasty stretch marks that i got in my 8 weeks of runnin the program... i ate and slept alot and consequently didnt feel overtrained at all... i actually felt great and would recommend it if you get the calories and sleep neccessitated by such training... it is not a program you will be successful with if you dont got your shit together outside the gym...

ohh and MrMonday... i agree with everything you said... i dont know where this whole dont train arms just do some rows and presses thing came from... noone is saying to neglect those big excercises, in fact i am a huge advocate of them... but c'mon they are back,shoulder and chest excersises... if you feel that you get maximum stimulation of the arms that way... more power to ya... but i cant recommend it and do believe you would be selling yourself short...

[fenix237]

i think it's safe to say that it's up to the lifter to do what he/she thinks is necessary. it takes many years for most of us to determine what works for us as we are all different

Mr. Monday made a good point awhile back that if you happen to be tall, you might have trouble building some guns. I'm 5'10" and compound movements do a great job building up my arms. I also get feel my arms get a great workout from doing compound lifts

i still do some iso work to finish arms off, but if i try to destroy my arms with super heavy workouts, i end up with tendonitis. i'd rather save them for the heavy compound movements

in the past when i've stated for someone to do heavy compound lifts in order to build their arms- it's not that i think they should abandon arm training. many times they are trying to get their arms bigger (in proportion to their body) and are doing lots of sets/reps with little results. the body naturally keeps itself in proportion, and the fastest way to bigger arms to to build a bigger body