How to get meat on your arms
 

Not necessary muscles. I just want to have some meat on my arms.
Is pumping iron the only way? Or can I eat specific food that builds up meat around your arms and not your legs?

Also, I've been wondering about this for some time. What happens if a person who have been pumping iron for like 1 year then suddenly stops? Will he have still have all that pumped meat...?

To my knowledge, fat will form in certain places on your body no matter what you eat.

And I'm pretty sure that you have to continue working out to keep your muscles the same size. I mean, they're not going to disappear right away, but over time they'll...shrink? I guess that's the right word.

You can't really force the food you eat and guide it to the place you want it to deposit lol... If you want fat on your arms, watch TV and eat chips but that means fat everywhere else too. But if you want bigger arms that isn't fat, you need to do some work like pumping iron. And yes, if you stop working out, expect a decrease in the size of your muscles.

I'm not the kind of type that wants to pump iron the rest of my life.
If I do pump my arms up and then stop, will they be a little bigger or will they remain the same as if I didn't do any pumping at all?

There's no way around it. You have to work out, a lot. Make sure to get enough protein after work outs too.

I made a thread a while back talking about stuff like this:

http://www.gamingforce.com/forums/ge...rking-out.html


It should help you out quite a bit.

You can't get some ''meat'' on your arms without getting fatter in general. No, there isn't any ''specific food'' that targets your arms. Some people genetically have larger arms (large frame). You can try measuring the circumference of your wrist — if it's less than about 6.5 inches, you have a small frame (like I do).

Yes, your arms will remain bigger even after you stop lifting weights, provided that you eat well. However, it's not that simple to make them visibly larger in the first place, especially since you say you have no real interest in weightlifting. You will not be able to ''pump your arms up'' with a curl machine or something (well, you can, but it's very ineffective). You will have to use free weights and do compound lifts, which will give your whole body the impulse to grow.

On the upside, that will make you a healthier person, and it only takes a few hours every week (spending more than about an hour at a time in the gym is a waste of time).

Hmmm.... thanks for the tips :)
So what's the deal with drinking protein drinks...?

I'm also thin but my height nearly 2 metres!
i asked my friend how to increase my weight and muscle.
he told me to eat red meat ( any cooks ) and fish. lots of protein will do it.
dont forget to work-out your arms. try lifting something heavy... emm... 5kg is okay, yes 5kg. i've try this. now my weight had icreased 4 kg.

If you're a beginner, do not use any supplements. Just eat a lot of meat (lean meat, chicken), and other good foods. You need supplements when your body simply can't get enough fuel from food, but if you're only starting out, just eat a lot of healthy food, and you will soon see results.

No, it's not, unless you're a woman who's deathly afraid of some muscle actually appearing on your arms. I mean, it doesn't matter at what weight you start out, but you have to gradually increase it. If you stay at 5 kg for an extended period of time, that's completely useless for muscle building.

no, im just starting 3 weeks ago!!!! i dont wanna hurt my arm carrying 10kg+ weight so sudden. let's gradually increase the weight, okay?

You don't sound like you have the kind of attitude that is conducive to gaining mass, but if there's one tip you should follow (assuming you want to gain mass instead of just tone), it is that you should work whichever muscle you are training to failure. That means you keep on going until you literally cannot lift the dumbell (or whatever it is) again. It'll hurt, but your body will regenerate the damaged muscle and then some extra in an attempt to avoid damage again, giving you bigger muscles. This takes a lot less time with a heavier weight.

Also make sure to keep your muscle under constant tension (i.e don't rest it somewhere for a few seconds before going for another repetition) and perform a full motion across the entire range of movement if possible. If you're skinny, 5kg is fine but you'll probably find that once your muscles have recovered, that you'll be able to lift more quite soon.

The guy's asking for structural training, not necessarily functional, so there's no need for him to lift heavy weights in order to trim his arms. In my opinion, the best thing for him would be to train the endurance of his muscles, doing as many repetitions as possible until it starts to ache, kind of what Ulysses mentioned.

There are other things to consider too, aside from what has already been mentioned. Ulysses described the supercompensative principle, which is fundamental in every training. But some other things to think about are your individual traits (i.e. genes), the principle of reversibility (easy come, easy go) and also the principle of undergoing specific training, meaning; you're only going to get better at what you do. For instance, there's no point in pumping up your biceps and shoulders if you're a runner.

Also, something that most people seem to overlook is the importance of rest. Sure, you should eat alot, generally keeping a ratio of about 25-30% fat, 55-60% carbohydrates and 10 to 15% proteins, but if you lack the discipline to go to bed in time and rest when you really need to, that exercise won't help you at all. If you want healthy exercise, you need to eat right, train right and rest right.

Yes, of course you should increase it gradually, however I would say that three weeks is enough to start increasing it already. Of course, it also depends on your age and the type of exercises you are doing. Though, I don't think you will hurt your arms with just 10 kg.

I wouldn't say that it's a universal rule. There are arguments for and against it. Some people say they get great results from training to failure, some have a completely different opinion. In any case, most seem to agree that you should not train to failure more than once a week, to give the muscles enough time to recover.

Also, it's very important to remember that ''to failure'' means ''the most you can do while maintaining good form''.

What? He doesn't want to trim his arms, he wants to make them bigger. :confused:

My bad, by trimming, I was actually referring to increasing the volume. The difference lies in the fact that he wants to look bigger, he doesn't want to get stronger. That's what I was saying.

Also,
Interesting, didn't know about that. I just measured mine, 7 inches. Though I've always considered myself a small-framed person.

Fucking metric system...I never understood why we use pounds and shit but nobody else does.

Anyways, I hear that your triceps actually make up about 2/3 of the muscle in your upper arm, so don't forget to work that muscle group as well if you do indeed plan on working out to get bigger arms.

Okay, so you wouldn't say that lifting heavy weights is a good way to increase muscle mass? I think doing exercises like deadlifts, squats and bench press is a great way to give your body an impulse to grow, as in those exercises most of the larger muscles are active. I think those exercises should be at the core of a good regimen; combined with a lot of good food and resting well (as you said), they will make you bigger.

I wouldn't necessary work out till exhaustion. Your muscles when they're really sore release toxins into the body. A good indicator is is if you're having trouble doing your daily tasks the next day, you've worked out too much the previous day.

Lifting heavy weights is a good way to increase your maximum strength, it doesn't make you bigger. The increase in mass is minimal compared to the increase in volume. It's harder to grow new fibres than to increase the volume of the existing ones. A larger mass of muscles doesn't necessarily make you stronger. If you haven't activated enough nerve-units, you won't be able to use the full capacity of the muscle, thus the extra mass is not really necessary.

I get the feeling you still don't understand what I'm trying to say here. The guy wants to look bigger (i.e. he wants to look bigger than what he is right now). Judging by what he has written, he doesn't seem to be the kind who wants to get stronger, he just wants to get bigger. Just because he lifts heavier weights doesn't mean that his growth will become more rapid (individual traits etc.) The kind of muscle growth you usally see is because of the increased volume (the fibres' circumference increases), but that doesn't mean that you have more fibres. The reason you lift weights in the first place is because you want to activate more motoric units in your muscle, thus increasing the overall output capacity. So, in order to actually grow stronger, you don't need to put on a ridiculous amount of muscles, you just need to train the ones you have right now and coordinate the functions inbetween different muscle groups.

So, bottom line is, there's two types of training. I mentioned this before, there's structural (you want to look bigger and toned) and there's functional (you're not interested in looking like a male pornstar, you just want to grow stronger) - I'm trying to make him realise that if he wants to look bigger, he doesn't have to lift an insane amount of weights or add extra muscle mass, he only needs to work the muscles he has right now and increase the volume by working with light/medium weights but by doing more repetitions.

The effect of growth is more substantial at the beginning, but this effect wears off rather fast. That's when it's important to change exercises and target other muscles, or by increasing the intensity of training.

Hmm, I'm pretty sure you can't "grow" new muscle fibers. All you can do is make the ones you were born with bigger.

Did you even read my post?

For a beginner like this guy, that doesn't really apply. You should always expect some soreness after a good workout. Stretching before and after will help, but I've always thought of soreness as an indicator that I was doing something right.

Alright, Killy, I understand what you mean now, and you are right. What you said about changing exercises after a while is definitely true (and very important) as well, though I do think that almost any good exercise program should be based on various compound lifts.

Hah, yeah. I hadn't really worked out for a few months, so after I went to the gym last week, the next day it was hard for me to raise my arms to take off my t-shirt.

It's true that slight soreness is an indicator of a good workout, though if it regularly leaves you literally incapable of doing your daily tasks (as SF said), you probably are overtraining.

Since I have started working out I have gained almost 50lbs in muscle. This is over the span of 6 months. Thing is though that most of my work outs consist of about 70 - 90% of the max weight I can lift and I do it usually for 5 sets of 5 reps. I also make sure that I do some low weight high rep work outs while my muscles are still recovering for a few days. This works for me because I am only looking for functional strength, not to look like a pool boy.

But if this is something you want to do then consider what it is your want before you go deciding on a work out. As a general rule of thumb, High rep work outs are more for tone and endurance were as high weight work outs are more for strength training.

I actually rarely get sore after a work out. I drink a great deal of water during the day and make sure to stretch out my muscles when I am done working out. I have managed to get myself pretty sore after bear crawling for a half mile.

Absolutely, and just for the sake of being clear - I wasn't saying that the exercises you had mentioned were bad or anything, but one needs to vary. Free weights are the best, so you're right about that!

Stretching can help against soreness, but I hear that swimming works great too.

My point is that you can't grow new fibers period. All you can do is make the ones you were born with bigger.

Remember to never isolate yourself on working just the arms. The best thing to do is work your whole body. And in your case that would be a good thing. No point in having arms 3 times the size of your back or legs. That would be very disproportinate.

But you can grow new fibres, although that growth is - as I have already said - minimal in comparison to the overall increase in volume. Bottom line is, it is possible to add mass to the fibres, but you're not going to grow a bundle of fibres out of nowhere, that's for sure.

Also, if you were unable to grow new fibres, how do you expect damaged tissue to repair itself? For instance when a muscle snaps in half, it needs to grow new fibres and repair the damaged ones.

gaming, are you still in high school? If you are I suggest joining the swim team if they have one, if not then just go to a local pool and swim laps. That is an excellent way to get in shape and the advantage of swimming is that it works your entire body at once. You get a great deal of tone from doing a lot of swimming and if you train for sprinting you will get some rather large shoulders and legs in no time flat.

I think we're stuck on this because of a lack of a better term to coin muscle growing to repair damage and the growth of a bundle of new fibers. This website explicates better, and I'm sure we can reach a consensus.

http://umanitoba.fitdv.com/new/artic....html?artid=23

Each muscle comes with a certain number of fibers. This number can never be increased. The fibers can repair themselves, and they can grow bigger, but you can never grow more of them, just like you can't grow more neurons.

I wasn't saying that you could grow brand new ones, but if someone is able to increase his weight with 5kgs of muscle mass and the growth of muscles is largely dependant on the volumous increase, then we're overlooking something. If you increase the volume, you still need to increase the mass as well. So, although it's barely noticable, the fibres can increase their mass, but I believe the volumous increase is the most substantial - there's no doubt about this.

A correction is at hand.

I should've mentioned that yes, you do need to rest after exerting yourself so much, until you can feel no soreness at all. I don't actually think "kicking them when they're down" by doing lighter exercises on already sore muscles is necessarily a good idea, but as long as you know you're not just impeding their recovery I guess it's OK. I guess my point about training to failure was simply that if you only work within the limits of your body, your body won't have the stimulus to change. It would also help to regularly change the types of exercises you do, as someone mentioned, to avoid the risk of your body getting used to a pattern.

I don't care much for the more technical aspects of growth, but it can be observed by anyone that a person's physique will change to adapt to their environment. If your daily routine involves doing a lot of heavy work, you'll grow stronger (and a bit bigger) to cope. Good old-fashioned hard labour would be a perfect workout, yard work maybe.

I would prefer personally to be strong rather than huge, and to be strong you need core strength in vital groups, you can't strengthen just one particular set of muscles and expect to be strong; all that will happen is that the weaker of your muscles will fail when stressed by the stronger ones and let you down. So I agree with what Killy said earlier. Grip strength is a classic example of this; you could probably do a lot more pull-ups using those huge biceps if you could only hold on to the bar a bit longer.