If you have ever train here at LIFT you may have noticed we don’t always directly train the arms because compound lifts (just a fancy word for 2 or more joints) are more efficient for our clients. Having said that, we do believe there are benefits to hitting the arms when programmed correctly.
Benefits:
Improve compound lifts
Improve shoulder health
Improve arm growth
Thinking about how you program arm training can do wonders to consistent and sustainable growth. Here is what we like to consider…
What days?
We suggest including direct arms into 2-3 days of training. Doesn’t have to be a lot, but the frequency of stimulus will help. We like having them on both of my upper days and then on a little on my circuit day before lower. Ensuring you give adequate rest will keep you feeling good and able to continue training long term.
Clean Up Technique.
Mastering the move and doing it properly will increase the overall effectiveness of each rep. Sloppy reps, will require way more volume to produce the same impact on the muscle.
Less Warm-up.
Stop wasting time and energy on warming your arms up…they don’t need that much. Think about having more intense sets in the actual training session. Save the energy, work harder during those few sets.
Growth vs Maintenance.
Designate certain days to be more intense and other days to be less intense. Maybe go heavier and more intense early in the week and less intense later in the week. A common mistake in any training is always working to near failure. It doesn’t ALWAYS have to happen. In fact, we feel training to failure should happen way less than not doing so.
Your Exercises.
Choose exercises with a greater loading potential and ones that feel good on your body. Stable exercises will be better than unstable for arm growth because you have a more loading potential. If there are exercises you see online, but feel like shit when you do them, adjust and find new ones.
Let us know if this helps or if you have questions in the comments below!