Some strength coaches and “functional training” guys have a thing against direct arm work. You shouldn’t train bi’s or tri’s because doing so doesn’t help you on the field or develop real world strength they say.
Others tell you that training arms makes you look like a narcissistic douchebag.
I see this kind of stuff in articles and Facebook posts all the time. In all honesty, I’ve probably said something similar myself in the past just to make a point.
The anti arm training brigade says that you should only train for strength or function, looks and aesthetics be damned.
The only thing they forgot to tell you was that they were a bunch of hypocrites. Why do I say that? Well, just think about it for a second…
If it’s not cool or hardcore to train for looks then why do you eat healthy foods or do extra conditioning? Because you obviously care about the way you look and don’t want to end up a big flabby fat ass.
If you have made these kind of anti arm training statements then I’m sure you don’t have any tattoos, right? Because the only reason to get a tattoo would be because you thought it looked cool.
It’s also the reason you buy a certain t-shirt or pair of jeans or sneakers. You think they look good and you, my friends, want to look good. You care about your appearance and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s when you truly don’t care about the way you look that you’re in trouble. If you really didn’t care about the way you looked you wouldn’t shave in the morning or even bother showering. Nor would you buy new clothes more than once a decade.
Not caring about the way you look is a BIG problem. It means you’ve basically given up on life and need some professional help. So don’t say that training arms is an act of vanity if you do any of the aforementioned things. It’s hypocritical.
To follow that line of thinking means you shouldn’t do high rep kettlebell work, chin ups, presses, hill sprints, or for that matter… any form of training at all unless you are an athlete and the training is necessary to help you improve your performance.
Some people use the tired old copout, “I train for strength and I don’t care about how I look.”
Of course you do. That’s just an excuse for your inability to get bigger or leaner and a way to explain your lack of dedication.
Even if you’re a huge powerlifter with a 46 inch waist you can’t honestly tell me you don’t like being bigger than everyone else. Hearing people say, “Hey big guy,” is a highlight of any lifters day.
I train for a variety of reasons and getting stronger is a very high priority. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t care how I looked. Anyone that tells you that is lying.
And the honest truth is this- doing a few sets of curls a week is going to have absolutely zero negative impact on your training or your sports performance. In fact, if you’re an athlete, it’s probably a good idea in most cases.
Why? Because big arms look better than small arms and can intimidate your opponent. It sends a message. Nobody should have the goal of taking the field or court with a pair of pipe cleaners hanging from your shoulders.
The bottom line is this…
Despite what tough guys tell you on Facebook, caring about the way you look is a good thing. Training for aesthetics is completely fine. GSP and Reggie Bush both care about the way they look. And because of the way they look they get more attention than they would if they weren’t in such great shape.
So after you’ve gotten your squats, deads and presses out of the way, do your curls and be proud, damnit.
Stay tuned for an upcoming follow up post where I’ll get into more detail and share some updated thoughts on how to build bigger arms.
Please leave your comments below.
16. Mar, 2011
at 10:14 am #
You speak the truth sir. As much as I love being strong and the big lifts, I equally love looking better than everyone else at the beach and rocking out some hammer curls from time to time at the end of my workout.
PS: Hurry up and get the new hypertrophy workout up in the inner circle! ;) My barbell hang snatch is respectable now from the yoked program. Now I am ready for this bonus one.
16. Mar, 2011
at 10:31 am #
very well said. u never cease to amaze me with your awesome posts
p.s. i actually train mostly to improve my physique, but i will tell anybody that strength is a good byproduct and an important precursor of looking your best!
16. Mar, 2011
at 10:52 am #
Absolutely right. Plus training bi’s can improve your chinup, and tri’s bench press. If you’re a combat athlete you are covering your body with arms and forearms. If you’re a jumper, massive arms give you more momentum. So don’t say they’re useless.
16. Mar, 2011
at 10:53 am #
As you say in MGS, training for strength will get you also bigger and will get you better chances to get leaner. But still my arms haven’t grown very much compared to the rest of my body, although in MGS you say not to change the reps, would it be better for arm growth to increase a little bit the reps rather than continuing like before? or do the last set with slightly higher reps (8-12)?
16. Mar, 2011
at 11:05 am #
It’s people like that who should be slapped on sight!!
16. Mar, 2011
at 11:12 am #
Great post! The part about not caring about how you look reminded me of the Seinfeld quote: “You know the message you’re sending out to the world with these sweatpants? You’re telling the world, ‘I give up. I can’t compete in normal society. I’m miserable, so I might as well be comfortable.’”
16. Mar, 2011
at 11:46 am #
Right on, Jason! Finally, *somebody* said it :)
Do you take back what you’ve said in the past about training/building calves :) Some of us exercise those to look better, too, even though doing so might harm our athleticism. Some chicks actually dig good calves. Of course, they like the big arms better.
16. Mar, 2011
at 12:20 pm #
Great Article. Even thought you’ve said “you are not there to drive people who aren’t already committed” I find you articles true, honest and motivating.It’s packing wit alot of pertaining information. Keep it going.
Have yourself a nice day
16. Mar, 2011
at 12:24 pm #
I neglected isolating my tris and my bench suffered (lesson eventually learned). If you curl a lot of weight I bet it helps when locking in a triangle in MMA. Although most people (at least the ones I know and see at the gym) neglect compound movements, those of us who don’t should not neglect the benefit of working a single muscle (preferably with strategic programming, like powerbuilding or something similar). Great Article! I never thought about the physiological part (about big arm affecting you opponent(s)).
So is this also true for legs???
16. Mar, 2011
at 1:03 pm #
Self esteem is the best thing u can have in order to reach any goal.. and looks, health and performance are all part of it.. if you neglect one the other will be affected.
Like extreme bulking is nothing but an excuse for not wanting to diet down, not caring for your looks is just an excuse to not having the will to put in the hard work it takes to have a perfectly balanced body..
I like to see how sometimes you change your oppinion over some subects.. that shows intelligence and a will to allways keep learning..
keep it up J. !!
16. Mar, 2011
at 1:18 pm #
I eat healthy to live longer, not because it will keep me “fit” like GSP or Reggie Bush (A couple douchebags, but anyway). Oh and eating “healthy” isn’t some pathetic vegan diet. Name a population group that has ever thrived eating vegan……yeah thought so. What’s with the obsession with vanity nowadays and worshipping these pro athletes……pathetic. I’ve never seen a centurian with a six pack. Leanness does not equal health. Nor does overexercising. Lance Armstrong is put on some sort of health pedestal and think his cancer was just some fluke thing. Anything to excess isn’t good no matter if it’s exercising or not.
16. Mar, 2011
at 4:10 pm #
@Chris N.: what a lack of self esteem.. tell me what is your passion or what is your addiction.. not exercising or eating healthy for sure.. i’m sure it’s couch surfing !! keep hating others, that way you might still keep forgeting the hate you have for yourself..
16. Mar, 2011
at 1:20 pm #
Very true its “do what I say not what I do” type of mentality .. a lot of people and probably me try to fool ourselves and thats the message I get here.
I would love to have better developed arms so I’ll do whatever it takes to get them.
Look forward to the next article then.
Raymond
16. Mar, 2011
at 1:57 pm #
Cool. I train my arms cos I’m vain (I’m Italian) I thought it was detrimental to performance, I’m glad its not! Thanks Jay, again you gave pulled me from the flames!
16. Mar, 2011
at 2:09 pm #
Right on dude.
I ALWAYS include direct-arm work in my programs.
Being hot is no joke.
16. Mar, 2011
at 2:43 pm #
I do arm work because I like it. Dare I say, I like the pump! I also do some ab work and even hypertrophy work. Strength is the core but the other stuff improves my overall phytsique and does contribute to my overall well being mentally.
I don’t give a F*** about what anyone thinks but me (and of course my wife – who thinks my calves are super sexy BTW)
So, I’m with you Jay. There is merit in it all.
16. Mar, 2011
at 3:04 pm #
I agree that we all train because we want to look better to a certain extent. Granted, I train mainly for performance, as being leaner, stronger and faster than others gives you a massive boost to your self-esteem.
However, I mainly do isolation movements as a finisher superset and not because I feel they’re that necessary. Weighted chin-ups and dips help to build my arms just fine – at least at present. I’d also rather do some conditioning or an ab circuit than direct arm work, where vanity is concerned.
16. Mar, 2011
at 3:06 pm #
@Chris N. So…..when was the last time you saw a Centurion? I’d say whatever you’re doing just keep doing it cause you must be a couple thousand years old. Well done.
16. Mar, 2011
at 3:46 pm #
Sorry Jason I’m a bit confused, since last summer I’ve been following your methods and I’ve had my best gains ever, I dropped all isolation moves and just focussed on big compound lifts. Are you saying curls aren’t just cutting into my recovery time now?
16. Mar, 2011
at 4:16 pm #
I will. Thanks.
16. Mar, 2011
at 5:01 pm #
@ alex
I have a lack of self esteem because I don’t agree with obsessing over my body? That’s what builds self esteem is staring at the mirror?
My passion is not obsessing over anything. Not diet, not exercise, not my biceps, not my bench 1RM. I would say I eat healthier than most. I grew up on a farm and till this day have never eaten any meat but the meat my family and I have raised, on grass of course. Raw milk, eggs, salad bar beef, and pastured poultry. I have eaten vegetables and fruits that weren’t organic but very few of those. No vegetable oils whatsoever and NO SOY! It’s amazing what people think is healthy. All of these vegans are worshipped as the pinnacles of health yet they eat a food like soy in such abundance that women cease to menstruate. Why are African American females starting their menstrual cycles at age 10? WIC? Soy formula? We are the only species on the planet that don’t know instinctively what to eat. I wouldn’t either if it hadn’t have been for my parents. Weston Price would be rolling over in his grave if he could see our society today.
As far as centurions, two of my grandparents lived to over 100. They never went to gyms or did bicep curls. They also never won any bodybuilding contests or powerlifting competitions, but they were healthy. They never took any allopathic medicine, though were advised to well into their 90′s.
I do surf the Internet some. It’s my window to watch the madness that’s going on. I’ve never had and never will own a TV. There’s very few things that interest me on there.
I participated in one of Jason’s contests and placed third so I know a little about altering my body comp. The only thing I did different was increase my starch intake and do a few extra trailer pulls in the afternoon. People think they have to spend all this extra money and time to change their bodies. If they would just use a little common sense it would come natural. I’m by no means a greek god but who has the time or desire to place that much emphasis on the way they look anyway?
I don’t hate anyone, especially myself. I just don’t agree with what 99.9% of the population says about health. Jason is way ahead of most but I don’t tow any party line but my own.
17. Mar, 2011
at 4:24 am #
@Chris N.: On my reply to you i never referred anything about any diet, i’m not a vegan myself, i was just bothered by the unrespectable manner in wich you referred to others..
Tell me about any other obssession as healthy as exercise or diet..
I wish we all lived in a farm and ate only natural foods, had a job where physical activity was a huge part of it, but unfortunatelly most of us live in big cities, have to sit behind a desk 8+ hours to earn a living and trying to find healthy food options is very difficuld, orelse we would all live past 100. Believe me, living here and not obssessing about trying to eat healthy and working out would lead us to be just like more than half the population, fat and unhealthy.
I agree with you about peoples obsssession about the looks, but that is unfortunatelly the way that society is evolving and i really appreciate your option of not even owning a tv.
Anyway if you wanna be part of a discussion you must respect others oppinion, that is the ground for debate, progress and even democracy.
Cheers
16. Mar, 2011
at 5:32 pm #
The anti curling info mostly has to do with the near obsession with the “want’ to grow big arms for aesthetic reasons while ignoring or being oblivious to the methodology on how to do so, especially amongst new lifters.I am also of the arguement that we all want to look good irrespective of program. My belief is that, while direct arm work has it’s place in a hypertrophy program, distinguishing between the necessity of it between levels of practitioners (newbies to Intermediate) is important.
As Jason would probably advocate, for us naturals,strength is size. I focus on growing my clients on compound movements, and quite often, the result is overall size increase, including arm size. We then focus on direct arm work if and when necessary, once the individual can be considered “intermediate” and above, while always tempering expectations(Casey’ Butts’s very excellent article on growth expectations should be read by all)
I currently have 18 inch arms at 13% bf and do direct arm work once maybe every 2 weeks, because I find that I get direct stimulation doing chin ups( bw plus 100lbs). In my case, I just find when I focus on my compounds, trailed by some level of iso. work, I see the best gains. my 2 cents.
16. Mar, 2011
at 8:21 pm #
You are so right that big arms scare the people you play against. I have been in and around sports all my life and every athlete from a pro to the beginner notices the size of the people they compete against. Even though big arms may not make you run faster they sure make you look like you can doing something.
16. Mar, 2011
at 10:02 pm #
I played rugby up until a few years ago and I must say big arms on the opponent was always a little bit unnerving. If you are playing sports and your doing bicep, hammer curls whatever – couldn’t your time be better spent doing something else that would benefit more than having strong biceps. You have approx 45 – 1 hour to spend building muscle wouldn’t it be better spent doing squats, cleans or something to increase your explosive?
I’m not saying anything wrong with doing arm isolation exercises, just thinking that your time could be better used doing something else. (This only applies to athletes)
16. Mar, 2011
at 10:28 pm #
Great article man! Very true, I don’t understand how people don’t take pride in their appearance.
16. Mar, 2011
at 11:57 pm #
Damn right, I love your no hold bars approach, I never get why people say ‘arm movements’ or any movement is off limits! I hear the same thing about bench press from some people!
Both movements are great, they are only crap, when all you do is arms & chest!
17. Mar, 2011
at 6:08 am #
“The only thing they forgot to tell you was that they were a bunch of hypocrites. ”
Like I’ve always said – if becoming really strong meant looking like a marathon runner – there are a lot of guys who currently compete in powerlifting / strongman who would never have started.
18. Mar, 2011
at 3:42 am #
Ha ha try telling the dude in the picture that ‘curls are for girls’!
18. Mar, 2011
at 4:42 am #
Big arms rock. Anybody that says different is a full of it. Give me a flipping break–shesh. Functional training, yea okay. Give me shirt ripping arms
99.9% of lifters aren’t “athletes’ and you lift weights to look good.
19. Mar, 2011
at 12:31 pm #
Great article bro! As a trainer, its a given that your clients are going to want to increase their arm size and strength, one way that I do it is I make them “earn” their curls/isolation arm work by doing sets of rows, chinups, etc. beforehand. Take that advice for what its worth, also thanks for referencing one of my all time favorite Bears, Brian Urlacher, even though it was in a somewhat negative light. Keep up the good work!
21. Mar, 2011
at 4:04 pm #
here in Brazil, we r so late
“we” r starting functional trainning n starting dont-do bi/tri exercises