Get Massive Muscle Pumps
To make the quickest, most
massive muscle gains, weight training should be based on basic, compound
exercises that utilize very heavy weights. Remember that whenever the weight is
high, the training volume needs to be low in comparison, or so the general
advice follows.
High intensity, low volume
training may not always be the most efficient way to make those massive muscle
gains. While it would be ridiculous to suggest that no other training protocol
has a valid place in the bodybuilder’s pursuit of massive muscle building, as
far to many have succeeded using higher volume and/or lower intensity training.
Regardless of the combination, if it’s unchanging in its training, intensity,
frequency, and volume, it will quickly lead to stagnation and muscle growth will
come to a halt.
When it comes to the arms,
there’s a lot of good evidence out there showing that the higher volume “pump”
training is the most effective means to build massive muscles. The trainers who
use higher volume, looser style, “pump” training are often the ones to develop
the better-muscled arms versus their counterparts who swear by the heavy, power
training.
When working the arms using
this method, keep in mind that the arm muscles are already heavily involved in
all major upper body compound movements you do. Because of this, exercises that
better isolate the muscles of the arm are, by their very nature, going to
provide less weight stress anyway. The fact that arm muscles will gain strength
capacity in proportion to your strength gains on the major compound lifts; the
best way you can assist in their growth is to stretch the fascia out so there’s
room for new growth. What does this mean? It means you pump them up, and then
stretch them hard!
Following this logic, the
structure of an arm workout has several unique considerations. Because your goal
is to have maximum pumps and maximum stretch, you must try to train both the
triceps and the biceps together in the same workout, use compound sets where you
alternate each set of biceps with a set of triceps, and for the last exercise in
your workout try incorporating in a stretch movement.
After you finish your arm
workout following these slightly unconventional rules, use a weight, a fixed
device of some kind, or a partner at the gym for some very intense fascial
stretching.