I have a question concerning direct arm work. I was curious how many of you guys do not do any DIRECT arm work, i.e. curls or pressdowns. I’ve been following some of the routines in “The New Rules of Lifting” and the routines Alwyn has designed do not include any direct arm work.
At first I was a little unsure about not doing any curls or pressdowns (for example), but then I thought that if I was increasing the weights I was using on my bench press, deadlift, rows, chins, etc. that my arms would surely grow as well. I guess I can’t imagine my arms not growing if I’m benching my bodyweight, squatting 1.5X my bodyweight, and deadlifting 2X my bodyweight. I’m not at these levels yet, but I’m working on it.
All that being said, if any of you folks do not do any DIRECT arm work, is it because your arms are already fairly well developed or do you believe that they are getting all the work they need from rowing, bench presses, etc.?
I haven't done any actual direct arm work in a while, but I've noticed that after some of the FL sessions, my biceps are pretty tired. They seem to get hit pretty well with the rows, mixed-grip lat pulldowns, and other indirect work.
I am just starting my lifting, and since there are no curls in the program, I don't do curls. But the presses, cable rows, etc, seem to hit the arms pretty well.
I do a curl here and there, but nothing specific. I've noticed that since I've been on NROL Strength that my tri's seem to have gotten bigger. Or maybe I'm just wishing that they would get bigger. No measurements to back this up in any way shape or form!
I don't do any ... honestly I don't want huge arms, and I have noticed with BreakIn, FLI and now FLII that they seem to be leaner and more defined ... and definitely stronger ... I can now carry both my kids (each is about 30 lbs) for fairly long distances and my arms don't get tired like before ...
do you believe that they are getting all the work they need from rowing, bench presses, etc.?
Yes, they are getting plenty of work from these big lifts.
One of the hardest things for guys who used to do bodybuilding workouts to change is NOT doing curls, lol. I have clients like this. I tell them ok, after our workout if you want to do curls fine, do all the curls you want. But only at the end of one of our workouts, not on other days when you're fresh, lol. You really, really have to want to do some curls to do them at the end of one of Alwyn's workouts! I still have one guy who does a few curls before he leaves the gym though, lol. That's ok.
I haven't done a curl or press down in about eight months and I'm on the verge of getting bigger shirts because of my arm growth. My wife has commented on it as well. I'm developing nice heads on my biceps and could never do it with the endless curls I was doing before. Deadlifts, squats, presses, pulls and variations of each will work everything you need.
__________________ If you see a woman wearing a bikini made of sea shells and you pick her up and hold her to your ear . . . . . you can hear her scream. - Ron White
I haven't done curls or pressdowns for about 6 months now yet my arms are still steadily growing from first doing Alwyn's minimalist workout published in Mens Health and now the NROL workouts.
I haven't done direct arm work since starting NROL. My arms were quite sore after the HTI workouts. Between the rows, pulldowns, close grip presses and high pulls, my arms have gotten quite a bit bigger (and stronger).
Craig Ballantine wrote: Let's say you have two guys in a gym. One guy can deadlift a lot of weight but never does biceps curls. The other guy can curl a lot of wieght, but never does deadlifts. Odds are close to 100 percent that the first guy would also be able to curl a lot of weight, even though he never practices the exercise. But, Craig wrote, there's no guarantee the second guy could deadlift so much as a sack of cement off the ground. And even if he could, there's a chance he'd hurt himself doing it. - (excerpt from NROL p. 103).
Rest assured, if you follow Alwyn's workouts closely, your arms will get all of the work they need and be just as big as they're supposed to be. Now if your goal is to have biceps and triceps that are out of proportion to rest of your musculature, that's a different story. I did have a friend who only did two exercises, curls and bench. Now trust me, he could bench and curl an impressive amount of weight, but he sure was funny looking.
I hate to use myself as an example of anything, since my genetics don't allow a lot of lean tissue growth no matter what I do. (Although the older I get, the easier it is to add non-lean tissue. Alas.)
But my arms certainly look and feel bigger now that I don't do any direct arm work. If I want to switch something up and do a few workouts just for vanity, I'll superset chins and dips, and follow that up with shoulder presses.
However, I do notice a new problem:
When I do have direct arm work in a routine -- some of Chad's workouts have curls and extensions, for example -- they really feel awkward. I did some extensions last week, after a few months without any direct, single-joint triceps work, and my elbows didn't feel good at all.
So now I'm going to have to do more extensions just to make sure my elbows are okay.
No curls, though -- I figured out years ago I just don't like that exercise, and it sure as hell doesn't like me!
Who does no DIRECT arm work?
Linear Mode
