29 y/o woman i want bigger arms

[freak_accident]

Hey Y'all, new here but I've been working out for 2 years now. Mostly legs, glutes and ab work outs. Last year i started focusing more on arms since i have string beans but I'm filled out everywhere else. I can't do pull ups, maybe 3 or 4 push ups, biceps curls are meh MAYBE 7.5 p to 10 p per arm. I'm starting to give up since my brothers have the same issue as well. Maybe genetics play a roll in this?. But shoulder and back work outs I'm killing. I work out M-F 3 hours plus doing every body part and i see the results just not much in my biceps/ arms in general. I don't want the muscle mommy figure lol i just want to increase my strength and be physically fit. I also changed my diet to more protein intake.

any advice? thx!

Edit: thanks everyone I really needed this

Edit 2: yes I go to the gym for 3 hours. No I don’t do weights for 3 hrs. I do cardio, sauna, hot tub/pool. Lifting heavy shit comes from your legs abs and shoulders/back. I’m currently at 60/70 pound bent over rows with barbell. I struggle doing a barbell curls at 40 pounds.

 

[godsend11]

@freak_accident It sounds like the issue is you're doing relatively light weight or small sets of bodyweight exercises. If you can only do a few pullups or pushups, you either need to find easier alternatives like incline pushups or band assisted pullups, or replace them with bench press and cable pulldowns where you can do much lighter weights than your body. With bicep curls, try the 15s until you can't do good form, then drop to the 12s, then the 10s (you might need to start with just the 12s but try 15s).

Genetics probably do play a role but you can still get fuller arms for your own frame.

 

[freak_accident]

@godsend11 I’ll try these out today! Thx for the advice

 

[texas_flood]

@freak_accident I don't think natural women can grow their arm so much

 

[kayfeather]

@freak_accident I believe the recommended routine in the subreddit wiki will have progressions from basically zero strength to full pullups and pushups.

If you find that you can only do something at light weight, one strategy for getting stronger is to do insanely large sets until failure, and then to breath for a few seconds, and then to do another set at a lighter weight, until failure. You continue this process until your arm is completely spent. But it's best to do this towards the end of your workout. Afterwards, you need to eat like an animal, because there's no way to gain muscle without getting slightly fatter. You can lose weight later, but you need to have a calorie surplus.

 

[asmith228]

@freak_accident You work out for 3 hours plus at a time? There is no way you can work any muscle hard enough to grow it for that long. Sounds like you're working way too light and too many reps.

 

[freak_accident]

@asmith228 Yes, it’s called pre work out aka crack! I do cardio as well it’s not just 3 hours straight of weights. It’s worked for me and I see the results just not my arms, I’m increasing my weight on arms today and see what happens by March

 

[popsthebuilder]

@freak_accident I'd you're serious about increasing muscle, you're going to want to separate your heavier cardio and strength training portions. Doing them at different times of the day or different days.

 

[freak_accident]

@popsthebuilder Yea I’m going to try this! I’m taking 4 days off due to travel but I’m going to start spacing my workouts next week

 

[raymo]

@freak_accident If you are trying to target a specific area you'll probably want to consider various exercises that more or less isolate those muscles. Compound movements can hit things a bit but there might be other movements that can work them a little more.

Pullups would be more lat focused and there are more muscles than just the biceps.

 

[brokenhumbled]

@freak_accident If you got a rock climbing gym in your town, do that. Some of those girls have seriously strong arms, hands, backs, abs without bulking up the way weightlifters do. Plus its way more fun and social than regular gym exercise.

 

[heavenlysongbird81]

@brokenhumbled I came here to suggest the same. Excellent workout and you can get very toned (genetics does play a role in how you'll look visually) while having fun.

 

[dr650adv]

@freak_accident you are using 5-10 for curls but "killing it" on back&shoulders, vould you elaborate here? sounds VERY odd/unusual, borderline implausible Protein matters a ton am glad you addressed that. 3hr sessions m-f, 15hr a week? if i read that right, you may be overdoing things (not enough info here to make conclusions but IME people frequently approach training using too much time, with too little intensity) When doing curls, tell me Re the feeling in your biceps 1 and 2 days after doing them. are you getting very sore, moderately, or barely at all? given what you said Re family pattern here, and Re your bicep strength, my hunch is genetically weak neuronal activation (and am suspecting minimal soreness as a result of this) If that's the case i would suggest a strong focus on increased volume and intensity....youll want to work towards an 'optimal' (for you) routine wherein you're doing something like one session on your bi's every 3 or 4 days ie ~2x/wk, ideally getting yourself a total of like ~12-20 sets per week (basically as much as you can properly recover from) But as mentioned/suspected if the problem is intensity/full recruitment then that needs to be addressed for this to work. maybe try using a curling bar, and realllllly focus mentally on squeezing/recruiting the biceps during the motion, especially at the top, and do weight where you can get at least ~10 reps but not over 15-20 reps, and make sure you struggle & fight to finish sets (again this is if you're not getting too sore, for most people it's best to be sore, but mot toooo sore, 2 days after a session)

 

[grover16]

@freak_accident 3 hours? That's excessive.

Three sets of failure a few times a week is enough to see growth in a specific muscle. You are also training your arms indirectly with your major push and pull movements.

If you're training 3 hours a day and not eating enough, you will be in a catabolic state. The key to growth is to have a big difference between protein synthesis (building muscle) and protein breakdown (mobilizing amino acids from muscles for energy). The more volume you do, the more protein breakdown you get.

 

[hiservant]

@freak_accident My one tip is that most upper arm size comes from tricep exercises, not bicep. Barbell and bar work (things that use grip) will get your forearms at work a lot more than you realise if you do a lot of those, and you can supplement your routines with skull crushers or overhead tricep extensions. I prefer the latter because they work more parts of your tricep in a greater range of motion

Bicep exercises are still good and should be done, but theyre the smaller muscle of your arm, and if you're looking for size in proportion to the rest of your muscles I'd prioritise overhead extensions. I used to superset them with wide grip lat pulldowns before I changed my routine entirely to bodyweight fitness and I don't mind boasting that my triceps are fuckin delicious

If you just want bodyweight exercises, the RR (in the faqs of this sub) will work your whole arms over the course of the routine, using dips, pull ups, press ups and deadlifts

Importantly, do lower rep ranges on higher weights for mass. I do 5-8 reps of big compound movements, and 6-10 reps of more isolated movements

 

[estherisrael]

@freak_accident If you are looking for size and strength weights are 100 percent the way to go.

Standing tri press ( French press)

Pushdowns

Kickbacks

( Bodyweight bench dips)

Ez bar curls

Hammer curls

Preacher curls

( Bodyweight ring curls)

Tri's you can get away with with bodyweight but biceps are genetics and one of those muscles that responds far better with weight.

You can knock out a arm workout in 10-15 minutes they burn out fairly fast so they can be targeted and done on the same day you do another workout.

 

[mommajulesberry]

@freak_accident you should be able to regularly add reps to your tricep extensions and curls until you are able to increase the weight. you can probably do as much volume as you can recover from ie not being sore by the next workout.

other than that barbell rowing twice your curl is extremely normal so just be patient

 

[laramarina]

@freak_accident Lift heavy and eat. Can’t grow with no fuel.