Let me start with a disclaimer here, I do not think I have "BIG GUNS". However, I have made some solid improvements with the size and shape of my arms. God, the old me would have really hated the new me writing this.

I know hypertrophy is much more sought after in the powerlifting world than it used to be and that is a good thing. But back in the day there were a lot of us that thought training arms was akin to sacrilege. Arms simply got bigger as a byproduct of your pressing and back assistance work.

When I was a Twinkie shy of 330 lbs my arms at least filled out my shirt sleeves, along with a power belly in the front. With losing over 100 lbs my shirt sleeves were looking a little empty. First step, buy smaller shirts. Unfortunately I now had shirts still tight in the belly and not in the arms. Damn it!

Ok, I figured the only other solution was actually to train arms. I read every article I could find on the perfect arm exercises. Then I poured over the amount of sets and reps to optimize my new hope for growth. Was the right solution to be found in drop sets, pyramids, occlusion, or tempo training? Holy crap, there are a lot of articles out there on training arms. You'd think there was a national crisis.

With my plan in hand, I started implementing the "perfect" combination of exercises for the prescribed sets and reps. I followed a progression with increasing volume. Seriously, I was writing programming for biceps and triceps. Man that got old quick. I find it exhausting tracking everything needed to improve on squatting, deadlifting, and benching, but now I have to do it with triceps kickbacks. Sorry, as a strength athlete that was just not for me.

So what did I do, I simply started increasing frequency. Instead of focusing on blasting my arms specifically one day a week, I just added one to two exercises tops to three of my four training days a week. The days were not important to me. I only wanted to make sure I'd have a day off between training them.

Now here's where I geek out on you bodybuilding style. All I'm really searching for when working arms is for a pump. With training my arms more frequently, I knew it would be important to "Stimulate and not annihilate." If it only takes me one exercise and 2 sets of however many reps to get a pump, then I'm done. That said, sometimes I'll push reps well up over 20 and even to 50 or more. Then again, there are times when 6 to 10 reps get the job done.

It's all by feel. I have found no benefit from going past the pump. Plus, with the increased training frequency, I don't want to overtrain what are pretty small muscle groups.

Since doing this for a while now, I have found there are no magical exercises. I switch them up constantly. I choose whatever tickles my fancy for the day. Sometimes I'll get creative and try something new. If I'm finding I don't get a good feel from it, I stop and try something different. It's just arm training for Pete's sake.

I also like to use varying methods of resistance, again, based on how I feel that day. I'll implement bodyweight movements like dips, triangle pushups, blast strap curls, etc. I'll also use bands, chains, and of course traditional weights.

There you go, another arm article into the training ethos. Like I have said many times in life, my hypocrisy knows no bounds.