Question about shaping your arms

[Charisma]

Hey,

I have this question about actually SHAPING your arms. I mean I've been boxing for a couple of years now, and with good results to my shoulders as far as the shape. But the arms they don't shape up. So I started lifting besides the boxing training. The thing is, I can now see a 2cm improvement, but not in the shape. I mean like ... Let's say you tense up your biceps/Triceps, that gives you a nice shape doesn't it ? Now if I don't tense up my muscles, I have these John Doe arms, nothing that's a bit rounded or anything. My question is, is this possible, or do those posing people just stand there all the time with their muscles tensed up ?

If it's possible what am I doing wrong ? I mean there's an obvious 2cm improvement, so I must be doing something right , I follow the guidelines for lifting to the bone :

-Biceps : 4 times 8 lifts, when I reach 8 I really really can't do any more. So I rest for a minute, and start on the next set.
-Triceps : The same thing

 

[California Love]

It's because you probably have too much fat on your arms, which takes away from definition.

 

[Charisma]

Ah ok, damn, and I'm not even a fat person wtf.. Who knows I'm going to have to go on a diet .. lord no Cardio should take care of it damned. What food should I stay away from without ****ing up my muscles ?

 

[semag]

Hey Charisma, are you doing 4 work sets for biceps, at 8 reps???

Your bis probably could handle a bit more than that, tris as well. I shoot for 6-7 work sets (3 exercises of 2 sets each/2 exercises 3 work sets)

One of the good Bicep routines I've done I saw from a post DIESEL made:

2 sets of straight bar curls (the 45 lb bar + weight)
2 sets reverse grip EZ bar curls
2 sets Dumbbell incline curls

You can shoot for sets of 10 and then 8, and increase the weights. Or, another way of building mass in your arms that's worked for me is to pick 2 exercises and do 3 sets of each... 10 x 8 x 6 and increase the weight.

 

[Charisma]

semag, thank you very much for the info.

If it's not too much trouble, could you just explain the exercises in dumb language for me ? I'm not english by nature, so the terms are described totally differently here.

a curl is I suppose standing straight, bar in both hands, hands facing ******ds, then lift bar to shoulders, in a curly motion ?

EZ bar curls, no clue

incline, is that with the head higher then the feet ? How much ?


Again, thank you for the info. If you don't want to explain it to me more I fully understand, but I would appreciate the help

 

[hb]

When you do your biceps as well as any other body part, dont aim on sets, BURN OUTT, lift till u cant lift anymore!

 

[semag]

When you do your biceps as well as any other body part, dont aim on sets, BURN OUTT, lift till u cant lift anymore!

Ummm.... no. Burnouts are all right, but only after you've done some heavy weight, or something in a lower rep range. You need to break down muscle in order to build it back stronger and bigger.

As far as Charisma, lemme explain.

Straight bar curls are with the straight bar (duh )
you stand, with the bar below you, and curl it up. Like this.

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Biceps/BBCurl.html

However, I like to do it with the straight rather than EZ bar (the squiggly one that he's holding) because it hits the bis differently.

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Second is reverse EZ bar. Just basically this one, exactly

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Brachioradialis/BBReverseCurl.html

Notice the grip of his hands as opposed to the first link. They're reverse, palms facing out, where as in the straight bar they're facing palms toward him.

Note: you won't be able to do as much weight on the reverse. Pile it on till you fail at around 10 reps. I like to keep this one about the same weight for like 2 sets because I Find when I go up in weight it gets waaaaay harder.

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Last, is the incline dumb bell curl. Here's a link to that one

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Biceps/DBInclineCurl.html

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Hope that helps.

 

[Charisma]

Really, thank you very much, extremely helpful !

Could I PM you later on for maybe some help on other exercises ? I work out at home, so it's always cool to get new information.

Thank you all very much, great info.

By the way : I work out biceps etc.. only ONCE every week. That is correct right ? Or should I work out maybe twice a week the same parts ? Cause when I drink a lot of water to make muscles recover faster, and even if I really burned out everything I could at my workout, after 3-4 days I'm totally recovered imo, I don't feel anything odd.

 

[semag]

Could I PM you later on for maybe some help on other exercises ?

sure

As far as the working out more than once a week. I split my routine into an interesting combo for just that.

Mon - back (which indirectly hits bis)
Tues - Shoulders and Tris
Thurs - Legs (which indirectly hits everything)
Friday - Chest and Bis (which indirectly hits tris)