Building bigger arms

[killerdude494949]

Pull Ups will improve your biceps for no other reason than because the biceps are used in a pull up. Arm work is not necessary for big arms, but if it is a priority for you then you should do SOME direct work on them to make sure you're actually tearing down the upper arm muscles.

[kidsoftheblackhole]

i guess i wouldn't mind doing some barbell curls or anything after my workouts, but biceps and triceps are small muscles and I'm afraid of wearing them out.

[killerdude494949]

Smaller muscles recover faster than the biggest ones. Just make sure that you keep the volume LOW. 1-2 sets for bis, 1-2 for tris.

[kidsoftheblackhole]

what about calves?

[jfh26]

what about calves?

Squat. Deadlift. Hill sprints. Sled drags. Or you could start wearing heels.

[kidsoftheblackhole]

I'll see if I can get my ex lend me her heels. Let's try that again:

What about calves?

[jfh26]

I just told you. Just because I made a joke about heels doesn't mean I was joking about the other 4 exercises. When you can squat a lot and deadlift a lot, your calves will be larger and stronger. Unless you are genetically predisposed to having small calves, in which case I'm not really sure what to tell you. I suppose you could do calf raises if you wanted but it's not really necessary.

My point being, judging from what I've read in your log, you've been on 5x5 for 4 weeks and likely weigh more than you're squatting, so you are probably much better off focusing on building up your entire muscular frame before worrying about isolation exercises. At this point, there's not really any need for you to be doing calves-specific exercises. But as I said, if you really want more calves work, hill sprints and sled drags would suffice. Or heels

[kidsoftheblackhole]

yeah, of course the main lifts -and especially squats and ddlifts- are all i really worry about.
i am however genetically predisposed to have small calves, and id like them to get bigger - sth that won't really happen through ddlifts and squats. that's why if i'm not exhausted, i spend 5 minutes after my workout to do some high-rep seated calf raises or sth. can't do sled drags in my gym and don't wanna do cardio.

so i asked about calves to see if 3 sets are too much for a small muscle like the calf. i think i can recall someone in here saying that the calves recover very quickly, generally speaking.

concerning my log, if you had any comments, i'd be glad to see them there. thanks.

[jfh26]

The reason I mentioned your log was just to let you know that that's what I was basing my assumptions about your lifts on. I saw that you were squatting 50kg, so unless your bodyweight is 30kg, my point was that you're not really at a level of strength where you should be worrying about your calf size yet. How do you know you are genetically predisposed to having small calves? I think it's difficult to judge that when you're not yet lifting weights at a level that will really put the size on you. I would recommend getting to 1.5xBW squat and 2xBW deadlift and seeing how your calves respond to that kind of weight. You might find that once you start moving some serious weight, your calves will grow to assist. If not, then would be the time to start thinking about isolation exercises for your calves. So for now, I will stand by what I said in that you should worry about getting big numbers on your compound lifts before you start worrying about things like calf size.

However, I will say that I've seen a lot of people here recommending power cleans as one of the better exercises for developing the calves. In the e-book, there's a section that says you can drop inverted rows and do power cleans instead. So if you're still that concerned about your calves, you may consider doing those. Good luck with whatever you choose.

[kidsoftheblackhole]

well, as i said getting my big lifts up is the only thing i focus on. but i don't think 3 iso calf sets at the end of my workout if i'm not exhausted will get in the way of my lifts. are they? i mean,
i know that just sticking with the program and accepting how my calves are would be more reasonable, but i see no harm in it and i have the time, so why not?

i can squat around 15kg more than my BW for 5x5. as for being genetically predesposed, i know it from my father; he always had small calves too.
i'm doing BB rows, not inverted rows. I would consider doing power cleans, but i think i will leave those for later (advanced workout).

[jfh26]

Hey, it's completely up to you. I don't really care whether you do them or not, I'm just sharing my opinion My point is no, they probably won't hurt - perhaps the isolation exercises will put another half inch on your calves. But in the long run, it's simply not really necessary.

I will leave you with a link to a thread on the subject. I think you'll find that most people there share my opinion. But in the end, who cares? It's up to you and what you feel like will make the most of your training. As long as you're getting what you want out of your lifting than I suppose that's what really matters. Anyway, here's the link to the thread:

calf-raises-t13658.html?hilit=calf

Best of luck to you.

[kidsoftheblackhole]

i can see where you're coming from, i don't think we disagree really.

anyways, thanks for the link.

[TheAnonymous]

You guys think it is alright if I front squat for a few months instead of back squat? I mean as long as I am squatting then it's all good right?

[dylanamus]

What makes the back squat such a powerful and beneficial exercise is the amount of weight your body can handle (relative to other lifts). You will only be able to lift around 70% on a front squat, which changes things a lot. That said, I expected to lose a lot of strength on back squats when I was forced to only do front squats for a few months (no rack) and I didn't, so it's definitely a lot better than dropping them all together! Fitting both into your routine would be a lot better though, provided your reasons are logical.

My arms have grown about 2 inches around in 8 months from doing nothing more than lifts on SL and SS. Intelligently programming isolation exercises into my routine could quite possibly have seen even more growth in this time, but I am echoing what others are saying about it being unnecessary - unless you have specific goals revolving around your arms being proportionally larger. I personally have nothing against bicep curls, but I will always remember them as having gotten me no where when I did them without accompanying compound lifts.

[guru]

kidsoftheblackhole, jfh26 & TheAnonymous, please stay on topic. If you want to discuss calves or front squats, start a new thread.

However, I should point out that there have been already many threads on these topics, so using the search button would help.