Q: I’m 55, so I appreciate that you have sections in Anabolic Reload and Stretch Overload for us old guys. My plan is to use the Pure-Positions Workout in Stretch Overload first for a few months, as it is slightly less traumatic. I like an all-isolation “contracted-position” day, all-midrange day, and an all-stretch day. My question is about no direct arm work on Wednesday, the all-midrange workout. I understand that the big exercises for chest and back train arms on that day, but my arms are a weak point. Can I add an exercise for bi’s and tri’s for more arm size?
A: Questions like this confirm our suspicions that many trainees get our ebooks and go right to the workouts—most don’t read the chapter text that goes with it…
Not a big deal, as it allows us to explain things in this newsletter in more detail…
If you read Chapter 4 in the Stretch-Overload ebook, you see this paragraph:
The Wednesday Midrange workout, which includes all big exercises like bench presses, pulldowns, rows, etc., does not contain any direct arm work. Why? Because the big compound moves blast your arms big time—bench presses hit triceps, rows hit biceps, etc. If you’d like to add some semi-direct arm work, do a superset of dumbbell pullovers and hammer curls.
Pullovers train the triceps long head for massive sweep and hammers hit the brachialis as well as biceps for sky-high peak.
Steve, who is 58, adds that superset often and gets a big arm pump with only two rounds. Use the same weight for both exercises…
Recline on a flat bench with a dumbbell in each hand and do pullovers. When you hit failure around 12 reps, sit up, scoot to the end of the bench and do simultaneous dumbbell hammer curls, thumbs up throughout the set.
Rest 1 to 1 1/2 minutes, then hit it again—two rounds. Simple and swole-tastic.
TIP: On round two, you can stand for your hammer curls and do them in alternate style, pulling each dumbbell across your torso to the opposite shoulder.
Remember, this is midrange day, so you can consider both of these moves as midrange arm exercises—pullovers activate your lats to work your triceps long head for a massive sweep, and hammers hit your brachialis muscles and biceps at the same time for a sky-high peak and impressive arm size.
For those unfamiliar, the brachialis is a muscle that snakes under your biceps and attaches to the forearm. If you’re lean, you may be able to see part of it as a “ball” between your biceps and triceps on your outer upper arm. Build it and you will push up your biceps muscle—and achieve a higher peak when you flex.
NEW: The Freak-Physique Stretch-Overload Workout contains new mass-building research and workouts supercharged with anabolic stretch moves and tactics, including Pure-Positions STX, Double-X Overload, and T/NT (traumatic/non-traumatic). For a limited time, you can add it to your mass-building library, a $19 value, for ONLY $9 HERE.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com