Real Bodybuilding: Old-School Arm Specialization

 

An Old-School Program for Shirt-Busting Biceps and Titanic Triceps

     This essay is the start of a planned series on old-school, real bodybuilding training.  It is a follow-up, however, to an article I wrote earlier this month entitled “Real Bodybuilding the Old-School Way.”  That article has proven popular enough that I figured there would be interest in an entire series on the subject.  So, I guess this is technically the 2^nd part, even though I never intended that first one as part of a series when I wrote it.

     I would advise reading that article before continuing here (and not just because it will help you understand this article but because I think it’s a pretty damn good read even if, you know, I’m a bit biased), but the gist of it boils down to this:  Old school bodybuilders built impressive size, strength, and definition (before the advent of large amounts of PEDs) by following 3 “stages” of training.  In the 1^st stage, they focused on building a combination of mass, power, and strength (with an eye always toward the aesthetic) through full-body workouts.  In the 2^nd stage, once they had built an impressive amount of size and strength, they utilized specialization training (which is what we’re going to cover here) to bring up any weak points in their physiques.  And at the 3^rd stage, they focused on definition, conditioning, and endurance through (largely) 2-way split workouts that were high-volume, high-frequency affairs.  This latter stage training, by the way, is what you would typically read in the bodybuilding magazines, but it’s not how the champion bodybuilders built their physiques.

     This was almost unanimously the approach used by bodybuilders from the ‘50s up until the ‘70s.  It was the method recommended by John McCallum in his column “Keys to Progress” for Strength & Health magazine in the ‘60s.  It was the kind of training recommended by the great George Turner in the pages of IronMan magazine (he wrote a column called “Real Bodybuilding;” the title of this series is an homage to that).  It worked then and it will work now for any bodybuilders who take up this method.  I have a feeling, in fact, that if steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs had never entered the picture, it would still largely be the strategy used by the majority of bodybuilders.

     It might be best to view these as “phases” of training.  It’s not as if, once they moved on from full-body workouts to specialization routines, old-school ‘builders were “done” with full-body workouts at that point.  Lifters would rotate between these 3 “systems” depending on what they needed most at a particular time.

     You may wonder why I’m starting this series with a specialization article instead of an article on full-body training.  But that’s because I have plenty of articles and essays here at Integral Strength on the kind of full-body training used by old-school lifters.  You should not attempt the program here unless you’ve spent some degree of time using full-body workouts.  If you’re just starting out, or if you need to get “back to the basics” of training, then here is an article I wrote last year that would be perfect for you: Old-School, Full-Body Mass Building.  (There are plenty more where that came from, so please take your time pilfering through my many full-body programs.)  You need to build up the work capacity capable of handling this program—and any other specialization programs that follow—before utilizing it.  (I’m sure that some of you may attempt it anyway, but you’ve been warned!)

     With this program, you will do a (fairly) brief, full-body workout (sans arms) on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  You will then train your biceps and triceps—and only your bis and tris—Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, utilizing two different programs that you will rotate between.

     Do the following program on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  All sets listed do not include warmups, so make sure you do 2 or 3 warm-up sets for each movement (more depending on your strength):

Squats: 3 to 4 sets of 6-8 reps

Stiff-legged deadlifts: 3 to 4 sets of 6-8 reps

Incline bench presses: 2 to 3 sets of 6-8 reps

Chins: 2 to 3 sets of near max reps

Behind-the-neck presses: 2 to 3 sets of 6-8 reps

Standing calf raises: 3 to 4 sets of 15-20 reps

Incline sit-ups: 1 to 2 sets of 30-50 reps

     Do less work for your chest, lats, and shoulders than your lower body, so that your biceps and triceps will be refreshed (at least, relatively so) for your arm workouts.

     Alternate between the two arm workouts below on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.  This means that one week, you would do Program #1 twice that week and Program #2 once.  The following week, it will be the opposite.

 

Arm Workout #1

Barbell curls: 5 sets of 3 to 5 reps, 8 sets of 10 reps.  Do a few warmup sets of curls to ensure that your biceps are ready for the onslaught.  For the first 5 sets, select a weight where you know you will struggle to get 5 reps.  Now, attempt 5 sets of 5 reps.  You will probably end up doing a set or two of 5 reps, followed by some sets of 3 or 4 reps.  Just stick with the same weight at each workout #1 until you can get 5 sets of 5 reps.  At that point, add weight and repeat the process.  Rest around 3 minutes between sets.  Once you’re finished with your 5 sets of 5(ish) reps, drop down in weight to a weight you think you can get 15 to 20 reps for one all-out set.  Now, attempt 8 sets of 10 reps with that weight.  Move fast between these sets, taking no more than 1 minute rest at the max.  For the 8 sets of 10, you want to achieve a large pump.  If you get 8 sets of 10, then add weight at the next workout.  If not, stick with that weight until you do get 10 reps on all sets.

Skull crushers: 5 sets of 3 to 5 reps, 8 sets of 10 reps.  Use the same technique on these that you used on the barbell curls.

 

Arm Workout #2

Cable (or band) curls: 3 triple drop sets of 6-8 reps.  Your 2^nd workout is going to center on flushing your arms with as much blood as possible!  Select a weight where you know that 8 reps will be really tough.  Do a set of 6-8 reps, immediately drop the weight and do another set of 6-8, and then drop it one more time for another set of 6-8 reps.  That’s one triple drop.  Repeat 2 more times.

Cable (or band) pushdowns: 3 triple drop sets of 6-8 reps.

Dumbbell curls: 3 sets of 10-12 reps (each arm)

     Supersetted w/

Lying dumbbell extensions: 3 sets of 16-20 reps.  Rest around 1 minute between each superset.

Preacher curls: 3 sets of 10-12 reps

     Supersetted w/

Bench dips: 3 sets of 16-20 reps

 

 

Final Thoughts

     For this program to work, you need to ensure you’re getting proper nutrition and adequate rest.  Eat at least 12 times your bodyweight in calories each day, and at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight daily.  Even more would be better.

     Get enough sleep each and every night.  Get a minimum of 7 hours at night—8 or 9 would be even better—and, if possible, take an hour nap in the middle of the day.  I have written about this before—and it very well might be apocryphal, but it’s still good advice—but I once read that the national Cuban weightlifting  team would sleep 9 hours at night and take a 3-hour nap in the middle of the day.  Try your best to imitate the Cubans!

     It has often been said—or written about—that you need to gain 10 pounds of bodyweight to gain 1 inch to your arms.  I think that’s fairly accurate.  But I also think that, with a specialization program such as this one, you can gain inches to your arms without gaining that much bodyweight.  The key is to have your diet and recovery methods dialed in as much as possible, and to not miss a workout.  Consistency is key.

 

 

 

 

    

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