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Arm Immensity with Ultimate Density

Q: I’m on The Ultimate Power-Density Mass Workout [pages 25-28 of that e-program], and I look and feel much bigger already. Thank you! My problem is that on some of the last isolated exercises I lose touch with the muscle, like on concentration curls for biceps. Arms have always been a problem area for me. Should I do a second double-drop Density set for that exercise?

A: Interesting that you should mention concentration curls, as we’ve found that getting the best Density effect on the contracted-position exercise for many muscles, like biceps, works best with a cable move.

What? Aren’t free weights best because they have more negative resistance due to zero weight-stack drag? Well, free weights are usually best for the big midrange exercises that trigger the max-force mass-building component—like presses and rows…

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POF Triceps Program

Q: I’m making great gains with 3D Positions of Flexion [training each bodypart through its midrange, stretch, and contracted positions], but my triceps still look small. I’ve noticed they have pretty good sweep from the side, but from the front, my arms look skinny. How should I alter my POF triceps program to address this problem?

A: Your medial and long triceps heads are getting the brunt of the work in your current arm program. You want to shift the focus of your triceps program to getting the outer heads as beefy as possible so they give your arms width when they’re viewed head-on. Here’s one of the triceps “width” routines from our X-traordinary Arms e-book (see note below about how to get this e-book)…

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Gymnasts’ Muscles—Olympic Size-Sculpting Method

If you’ve watched the male gymnasts during the Olympics before, you no doubt noticed their eye-popping upper-body mass. Some have delts, arms, and torsos that resemble competitive bodybuilders’. Very impressive, especially considering that muscle mass isn’t one of their goals; it’s just a side effect of their sport…

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One-Station Mass Attacks (Improvise for Muscle Size)

Q: My gym always seems to be crowded—and people “camp out” on equipment. It’s hard to work in because I’m using the 4X method and rest only 30 seconds between sets (I love the Positions-of-Flexion version). Should I just lengthen my rest times to work in on a piece of equipment?

A: If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. In other words, you can “camp out” on equipment too—sometimes you can do your entire POF 4X bodypart routine in one spot. For example…

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The Muscles Women Notice

Q: I’m not a competitive bodybuilder or physique athlete, but I want to look muscular for more sex appeal. I train all my major muscles, but I want to specialize on the muscles women notice. Any ideas on which ones those are and the best way to make those attention-grabber muscles pop?

A: Several years ago IRON MAN did a survey, an anonymous poll of a number of women about their likes and dislikes concerning the male physique. The results were very interesting… [Read more…]

5-Minute Blasts for Fast Arm Mass

Q: Help! I need more arm mass, and I’m hoping to add about an inch quickly. I’m using the Direct/Indirect 4X Mass Workout [pages 30-32]. It has only one direct arm workout a week [on Wednesday with delts]. Can I add some extra arm work on Friday when I train chest and back again?

A: Absolutely, but you don’t want to do full arm workouts on Friday’s chest/back day. Instead, we’ve found a couple of quick-hit two-move combos that will do the trick to get your arm mass up so they’ll be looking huge and thick. [Read more…]

Should You Skip Triceps Work?

Q: I was reading that because most bodybuilders do a lot of pressing, they shouldn’t do much direct triceps work. I do bench presses and incline presses for chest and overhead presses for shoulders, so isn’t that enough work for my triceps? I’m drug-free, so I don’t want to overtrain them.

A: Two things to consider:

1) MRI studies show that bench presses and overhead presses do hit the triceps, but mostly the medial and lateral heads; in other words, the bulkiest section of the triceps, the big long head, is almost totally neglected. [Read more…]

Volumizing Muscle Tissue (significant size increases)

Q: So glad you clarified many of the hypertrophic requirements for muscle size in Anabolic Reload [progression, exercise rotation, metabolic stress, etc.]. One that really got me thinking was volumization. I believe it was Vince Gironda who said that more work done in the same or less time creates mass quickly. My question is, What do you think about drop sets instead of rest/pause as the volume addition to each exercise? Seems like you get more work in the same time frame.

A: The drop-set method is one of the best hypertrophic tactics around because it does condense workload into a short time frame. Studies verify the [Read more…]