My four week arm workout plan is complete, and I have to say it's not all positive. If you remember from my previous post I was embarking on a four week quest to add two inches to my arms, now this was 2 inches overall around my arm, so I was never expecting another two inches to the peak of my bicep. The plan worked on a 7-3-3-7 basis where you trained arms twice a week and did 7 sets of an exercise, then 3 sets of heavy, 3 sets of heavy and then 7 sets to finish. This is my result and review of the workout.
Firstly if you are going to commit to this workout you really need to commit, this doesn't just mean in the gym, i'm talking diet. Cut out all alcohol, chocolate, crisps.... basically say bye to everything that tastes amazing. My main diet consisted of carbs such as brown rice and lots of meat and eggs. For me this wasn't much of a change from my usual diet as I am strict with what I eat anyway. The hard work for me was in the gym.
Compared to my usual arm workouts the plan seemed short and at the start of the 4 weeks I did question whether there was enough in each workout to fully work your arms. The 7 set exercises hurt, and I mean they HURT. You just have to keep pushing yourself and drop the weight slightly to make sure you reach 10-12 reps for every set. The 30 second rest period between sets seems short but it was very effective, without a doubt I got a good pump after my workouts early on.
The hardest week out of the four was definitely the second week. My arms were still getting used to the new regime and I had a week off my pre-workout (bad move), but the further into the 4 weeks I got the easier I found the workouts and slowly the pump went away. By the end of the third week I was feeling extremely demotivated. My other workouts (e.g. chest, back legs) were all excelling, but my arms which I was concentrating most on didn't seem to be changing, albeit I felt significant stronger all round my body including my arms. I decided something needed to be done so I kept to the 7-3-3-7 regime but instead of just the 4 exercises in the workout I would do 7 sets at the start of my workout, then 3 sets of five or six different exercises and then do my 7 sets at the end of my workout. I found this much more effective and by the end of the workout I couldn't lift my arms.
I finished on Friday and I have to say I found the workout enjoyable and although the results may not have been as effective as I would have hoped, I think my new idea of the 7 sets at the start and end of an arm workout along with 3 sets of heavier weights for around 6/7 different exercises for each arm muscle makes for an extremely effective arm workout. I also found the Friday - 7 set high cable curls extremely effective so check those out on my previous blog!
Now i've finished my bulk I am going to move onto strength training as I want to hit 38/40 on dumbbell bench press and lift as heavy as I can for a while on all my body parts, before I tone or cut for summer. I plan on strength training for around 6-8 weeks whilst keeping a healthy diet.
I will update you on how that is going and maybe one of my workouts in a few weeks.
For now I will leave you with a before and after from my enjoyable and educating 4 weeks of arm muscle building.
Thanks guys
Alex :)
p.s. Check out a mate of mines personal training page, he is called Alex Gooch and he has just qualified as a personal trainer. He is deffo worth a look! He will be uploading Youtube videos full of workouts and tips. Follow the link here: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialAGFitness?fref=ts and his youtube is here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe3cGLaEXyvx_H_MjmVqbmQ
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| before |
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| After and high cable curls! |
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