Spring jerk: plus 5 centimeters to the volume of the arms

Add 5cm to your arms with four intense biceps and triceps workouts in one week!

Author: Bill Geiger

Hopefully you’re ready to pull your sleeves up a bit because this super-intense biceps and triceps workout program is the hardest and most effective you’ve tried. You will have four – and that’s not a typo! – arm workouts in one week, and you will use techniques such as blood flow restriction training, heavy partial reps and cluster sets on them.

Wouldn’t such a jerk in arm training become an overkill? Not. Although the number of training sessions per week will increase, the amount of load on each workout will decrease markedly. It turns out that instead of two workouts of four exercises, you have four workouts of two.

It may seem that the sum does not change from the permutation of the terms, but this is not so. We are always stronger on the first exercise for the target muscle group. With the approach I suggested, you would do the first exercise (for both biceps and triceps) four times a week instead of two. As a result, you will get twice as many opportunities to take the maximum working weight and toss firewood in the muscle growth furnace. In addition, increasing the frequency of working out will lead to more frequent activation of muscle protein synthesis mechanisms.

Here’s an example of a simple split that includes 4 arm workouts and 2 rest days per week. As you can see, two days are entirely devoted to hand training.

• Day 1: Biceps and triceps.
  
  
• Day 2: Legs and abs.
  
  
• Day 3: Chest, front and middle delts, triceps and biceps.
  
  
• Day 4: Recreation.
  
  
• Day 5: Triceps, biceps, abs.
  
  
• Day 6: Back, back delts, biceps, triceps.
  
  
• Day 7: Recreation.

Weeks 1-4: emphasis on eccentric (negative) phase and heavy partial reps

For the first four weeks, on one arm workout, you focus on eccentric or negative training, and the second on heavy partial reps.

Negatives

Typically, athletes focus on the positive (concentric) phase of the exercise, during which the task is to contract the target muscle while lifting the load. In negative (eccentric) training, we focus on muscle lengthening during weight loss.

Experiments have shown that during eccentric work, muscles can generate 20-60 percent more force than in positive contraction. In these workouts, your energy expenditure will increase, because you will spend more time lowering the projectile: 4-5 seconds instead of the standard 1-2. Negative training stimulates muscle gain to a greater extent than concentric training, in large part due to a sharp increase in protein synthesis and an increase in anabolic response, as well as due to an increase in strength indicators.

On the other side of the coin is increased damage to muscle fibers and subsequent soreness, but this quickly passes. You will do negatives in short periods with a large rest interval between them to avoid fatigue of the nervous system, not to clog muscles and reduce the risk of too much pain after training.

In this workout, you only do negatives on the last set of each biceps and triceps exercise.

For example, you usually end a set with muscle failure in the positive phase of the last set of a narrow grip triceps press. In this workout, your buddy will start pushing hard on the barbell after you fully extend your arms.

With your arms fully extended, you begin to “do the negative,” extending the return time of the bar to the bottom to a full five seconds. In this vein, perform 3-4 repetitions, until the moment when there is no longer any strength left to slowly and under control lower the projectile down. If there is no partner, choose exercises that can be performed with one hand, and use the other hand in order to return the projectile to the top point.

Heavy partial reps

We all know a blind spot – that part of the range of motion in which you are weakest in terms of biomechanics. Heavy partial reps help you bypass this point so you can lift more and grow faster. The technique is best used in a power rack. To perform partial reps on the bench press, place the safety straps 7-10 cm below the bar with your arms fully extended. Since you will not have to cross a dead center and will work in the part of the range of motion where you are stronger, you can hang more pancakes on the bar than usual. Try a weight for six reps at full amplitude.

After 3 approaches, lower the safety jumpers one position and do 3 more approaches; the operating weight may need to be reduced slightly. Then move the jumpers down one more stop and do 3 final approaches.

Weeks 5-8: Focus on blood flow restriction training and cluster sets

The second phase of the program builds on the same schedule of four arm workouts per week, but with the addition of two new high-intensity training techniques.

Blood flow restriction (CFC) training

TOC, or blood flow restriction training, is an innovative training technique that blocks the flow of blood through the veins, but does not affect the flow of arterial blood. Blood continues to flow to the target muscles, but it can no longer get out of them. As a result, muscle levels of metabolic end products such as lactic acid and hydrogen ions increase, which stimulate protein synthesis and promote hypertrophy.

CURRENT, sometimes called, works best in arm and leg workouts, making it the perfect choice for those looking to add 5 centimeters to their biceps.

To use TOC correctly, drag the target muscle as close to the shoulder joint (at the top of the biceps or triceps) as possible using regular elastic bandages. The degree of tightness of the bandage should be from 7 to 10. If you feel numbness or tingling, loosen the bandage until these sensations disappear.

This technique is most effective when combined with relatively light weights. Work with a weight that allows 20-30 reps in the first set, and then do 2 more sets of 15 reps each. Rest no more than 30 seconds between sets to continue pumping blood into your muscles, increasing your pumping and increasing lactic acid build-up.

Cluster sets

For decades, famous powerlifters and representatives of strength sports have successfully used this technique, which is a hybrid of techniques and.

In cluster sets, the approach is broken down into several parts. For example, instead of the usual set of 12 reps in a row, you do a set of 4 + 4 + 4 reps with a very short rest in between. When working on muscle mass, try to rest no more than 15 seconds. By resting more often than with the classic approach, you will be able to lift more weight, get additional anabolic stimuli and boost muscle growth.

The clusters we use in this workout are based on a program designed by Josh Bryant, PhD, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, Personal Trainer with extensive experience. Bryant calls them hypertrophy-oriented cluster sets (GOKS).

Start your GOX with a working weight that you can lift 8-10 times. Do 4 reps, rest 15 seconds, and do 4 more reps. Continue in this sequence for 5 minutes. When you can no longer do 4 repetitions, go to 3. When you cannot lift the projectile 3 times, increase the rest interval to 20 seconds. And when that doesn’t help, finish the cluster set. On the other hand, if after 5 minutes you still have strength, continue with the set and do as many reps as you can.

Our Arm Cluster Sets include two exercises for the biceps and triceps. They start with slightly increased weight and fewer reps.

What do you need for training?

• An experienced partner who can motivate
  
  
• Power frame
  
  
• Elastic Blood Restraint Training Bandage
  
  
• A workout diary to record your progress, focusing on sets, weights, and reps for each exercise
  
  
• An effective meal plan for bulking

Warm-up sets are not included in the proposed training program; Do as many of them as you see fit, but never push your warm-up to failure. For work sets, choose a weight that allows you to achieve muscle failure with the intended number of repetitions.

Since this split generates additional growth stimuli for the arms, it may be necessary to reduce the amount of training load for other muscle groups, in particular for the legs, back, chest and shoulders, at least for a short period.

Two out of four arm workouts per week use high-intensity training techniques that put the muscles to the test. Of the remaining two, make one relatively light, and on the last, use the usual sequence of sets and exercises.

Hand Workout: Spring Snatch 5cm

1-4 weeks

During the first four weeks of your new split, you train your arms 4 times a week, but reduce your training load.

Monday (negatives)

Wednesday (after chest and delt workout)

Friday (heavy partial reps)

Saturday (after back and delt workout)

5-8 weeks

In the second phase, you incorporate two more high-intensity training techniques into your arm workouts.

Monday (CURRENT)

Wednesday (after chest and delt workout)

Friday (cluster sets)

Training

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