Training

Has "ugly" killed female professional bodybuilding?

Here's a quick summary

1. In 2015, the Ms. Olympia competition was removed from the program, marking the possible end of female professional bodybuilding.
2. "Man face" is a term used to describe the masculinization of the facial features of female bodybuilders.
3. Of course, steroids can cause such a "man face", but other factors are also involved.
4. The audience for women's bodybuilding is shrinking, but the fetishists may be keeping it alive.

The decline of women's bodybuilding

A long, long time ago, there was only one category for men who wanted to compete in body sports: bodybuilding. And the same was true for women.

Today, women can compete in the bikini class, the fitness class, the physique class and the bodybuilding class. The posing and the necessary requirements in terms of body development are different in each class, but the main difference is obvious: the size of the muscles.

But something has changed in 2015: The Ms. Olympia title was no longer awarded. It was removed from the program.

Let's look back to 2005, when the IFBB introduced the infamous "20 percent rule". In a memo, they asked female bodybuilders to reduce their amount of muscle mass by 20%. They didn't say, "Ladies, would you please reduce the amount of steroids?" or "The audience is shrinking because many people - and even bodybuilding fans - say you look kind of gross." But the message was clear.

The question is whether it was the muscularity that was the problem or - for lack of a kinder expression - the "man face", as this masculine facial expression is also known in bodybuilding.

It's time to show your true colors

There has been a lot of teasing about the facial features that some female bodybuilders display when they are in competition shape.

Sunken eyes, veins on the forehead, a sharply defined jawline, a larger nose and a general coarseness to their dark orange skin that made the stowage of an oil tanker look silky - and this also matched the sound of their voices.

Such discussions tend to be quite unfriendly.

Inevitably, there will be those who react quite defensively to this topic, which is especially true if they are happy to be one of those women out there on stage.

But the truth is painful.

That doesn't mean I necessarily have to say it, but then we'd be ignoring something that virtually every one of those giant pink Amazons in the room displays: a male face.

It's a trending topic in light of the cancellation of both the Ms. International and Ms. Olympia competitions. Could this state of affairs potentially be part of what's contributing to the decline of women's bodybuilding?

"It's not a beauty contest," we hear them say. But that's not entirely true.

Bodybuilding is all about beauty. It's only when we move away from beauty that we get compromised aesthetics, poor symmetry and big bellies.

As far as women are concerned, bodybuilding has been beaten with an ugly stick. And now women's bodybuilding is disappearing.

Does femininity attract fans?

When Corey Everson was Ms. Olympia from 1984 to 1989, the competition was often held at a sold-out Madison Square Garden in front of an enthusiastic crowd. Thirty years later, it's a sideshow at the Olympia Expo - or at least it was.

At first glance, this makes me a bigoted misogynist, but that's exactly how it was. It's not my fault that women's bodybuilding is disappearing, I'm just describing what happened.

There is no shortage of men who can't wait to give their opinions on femininity and how female bodybuilders have destroyed it and ultimately their sport.

No matter how true this may seem, in reality, no man has the right to say this. Personal femininity is defined by each woman for herself - even if what she looks at in the mirror has developed the face of a man - beard shadow and all.

Even the most seemingly gnarly women have an aspect of femininity. As long as she has a mu-mu and all X chromosomes, she could look like one of those old Indian characters from American tobacconists like Cameron Diaz, while there's still a trace of that somewhere that makes her feel like a woman.

But clearly there is a general consensus about what we consider feminine, attractive, admirable, etc.. It is these attributes that attract an audience willing to support women's bodybuilding.

Say what you will, the fact remains that the Ms. Olympia competition in the late eighties could fill large halls, while the Ms. Olympia competition of today has breathed its last. You can't argue with history.

Issues of femininity aside, a bodybuilder with exceptional muscle development could be smoking hot if her face wasn't completely ruined.

Ruined faces, shrinking audience

The level of muscularity and the pursuit of it has created a face and body image that is no longer sufficiently attractive to be supported by the public.

The declining interest is what led the IFBB to cancel the top two events in women's bodybuilding. Obviously - among other undesirable attributes - there were a lot of ruined faces up there.

If the Ms. Olympia top 10 had featured a set of faces that looked like the faces in the bikini class, the Ms. Olympia competition might still be alive today.

And if the top 10 of every competition in the bikini class had the faces of bodybuilders, then this type of competition would quickly come to an end.

I'm not saying that professional bodybuilders are ugly. That's such an ugly word. What I am saying is this: the Cory Everson era female bodybuilder that used to fill big gyms would probably be competing in the figure class today.

In the course of this evolution, the IFBB created the Bikini Class, the Fitness Class, the Figure Class and the Physique Class, gradually paving the way for female bodybuilders to put more and more distance between themselves and what is achievable and desirable.

And they have done a great job. They have literally done away with the Ms. Olympia title with their freakish looks.

What exactly is a so-called "man face"?

Prolonged hormone abuse tends to cause women's ears, nose, eyebrows and jaw to grow, promoting a masculine appearance to their face. But that's not the whole story.

What transforms a previously pretty and undoubtedly feminine face into a "man face"? Apart from hormones, there are a whole range of other factors.

Each one of these factors on its own is not necessarily a threat to the female facial features, but when all of these factors come together - as is the case with competitive bodybuilders - a woman can end up with a face that is an absolute knockout - which was literally the case for the Ms. Olympia competition.

The general structure of women's skin is inherently thinner than men's and also contains less collagen. This is also the reason why women tend to age less gracefully than men.

The older a female bodybuilder is, the greater her susceptibility to developing a "man face". The rapid aging of a woman's skin is the foundation upon which the development of an increasingly gnarled "man face" is built, while the other contributing factors accumulate over the course of a bodybuilder's career. This puts a lot of strain on their face.

A diet that is strict enough to make streaks visible on a woman's leg flexors will also negatively affect her facial features. One would have to travel back in time to Auschwitz to see more frightening manifestations of facial architecture.

Such repeated forays into the land of definition to the bone will dig deep furrows in a woman's face that no amount of residual saline will ever fill.

Facial hair is a direct result of some of the hormones that female bodybuilders use. Some female bodybuilders shave, others use lasers, but the fact remains that it's there.

Probably Mother Nature's cruelest joke is that the more male hormones a woman uses, the more of it her body will turn into DHT, which docks onto follicle receptors and causes androgenetic hair loss.

If only the hair that is meant to grow on the face would grow on the head. Who says God doesn't have a sense of humor?

Take the omnipresent wig, add a shadow of beard to the deep furrows where cheeks once were and you're approaching the kind of face not even a mother would love. But it can get worse.

Sebum is a skin oil that we secrete that makes the skin soft and supple. Men tend to secrete more sebum than women, but when a woman reaches menopause, her skin literally dries out.

This makes the skin appear coarser and drier as a woman ages. Adding testosterone to a woman mimics the signs of menopause - reduced sebum production being one of them.

Women who use male hormones will secrete less sebum and therefore have drier, often older-looking skin. Remember that women already have less collagen in their skin to begin with. Combine this with their thinner skin and less sebum, add male hormones and the condition worsens.

Basically, we have a situation where women are naturally predisposed to dry, rough, thin skin as they age.

Enhancing these characteristics with anabolic and other artificial agents will make the face even thinner and more emaciated.

Add to this extreme dieting and there is little hope of avoiding a man face. Add all these detrimental effects together and you have the perfect recipe for something most people find abhorrent.

When you consider the paltry pittance that even the winners of the TOP IFBB shows were rewarded with and the painful impediment to their beauty, one can only speculate as to why women do this to themselves.

Could fetishism save women's bodybuilding?

Interestingly, there is a subculture that finds these extreme cases of masculinized women attractive and desirable. In America, these men are also known as "Schmoes" - men who sexually fetishize female bodybuilders.

I used to look at these men who book female bodybuilders for private posing sessions, wrestling matches and other kinkiness with disdain for their perverted nature. But because of the female bodybuilders out there who are intent on pushing the boundaries further, I'm going to change my mind.

These guys have managed to save the appearance of elite women's bodybuilding....

Since 2015, there has been a new competition for professional female bodybuilders called Rising Phoenix. Promoted by Tim Gardner and financially supported by the "Schmoes", this show offers former professional female bodybuilders the opportunity to boost their bank account with prize money of $50,000 plus a Jeep worth $55,000. This beats the top Olympia prize money in its heyday.

Looks like you can make a nice chunk of money with a Man Face. And that's a very good thing.

We all deserve the opportunity to pursue our goals and aspirations. And it's always nice to have a place where you can showcase yourself and get recognition for your efforts.

It doesn't matter if the masses accept it as long as enough people support it.

If such promotions continue and women's bodybuilding is supported by fans, then this will be proof that it is indeed not a beauty contest and the women who are so inclined can just do it.

by John Romano

https://www.t-nation.com/powerful-words/death-of-womens-bodybuilding

This article provides you with the 150 best muscle building tips including specific information about training, nutrition and supplementation in a highly condensed form. Here are 150 of the best muscle building tips I could think of in one evening. They're short, sweet and to the point. But don't let brevity and conciseness fool you. Follow them and you will be successful.

150 muscle building tips

1. Multi-joint exercises are your best tool for muscle growth. Use them.
2. Eat your biggest meal of the day about 30 to 60 minutes after your workout with weights.
3. Get strong! There are no weak bodybuilders. You don't have to become a powerlifter, but you do have to dramatically increase your strength compared to where you are now.
4. Squats are the king of muscle building exercises and they're not bad for your knees unless your form is terrible and/or you're only doing half squats.
5. Train deadlifts. If squats are king, then deadlifts come second in command. Deadlifts aren't bad for your knees either, as long as your form isn't terribly bad.
6. Learn proper exercise execution form. Read every article, and watch every video on proper exercise execution. There is no excuse for performing squats and deadlifts with less than perfect form.
7. Maintain balance in your upper body workout. This means equal effort for chest, back and shoulders. Stop doing 7 exercises for your chest and only lat pulldowns for your back. A good balance will keep you healthy and strong and protect you from shoulder problems.
8. Beginners, stop training like advanced exercisers using advanced splits and training techniques. You don't need them. What you need more than anything is to get strong at the basic multi-joint exercises.
9. Beginners, stop increasing the training volume. 3 bicep days per week will not help you. You need to get strong first and not exhaust yourself with endless sets.
10. Stop believing that building muscle is rocket science. Get stronger, eat enough and stay consistent.
11. Stop skipping training sessions.
12. Stop complaining about sore muscles. Sore muscles are just part of the game. Don't skip training sessions because of sore muscles. No excuses - go train.
13. Stop complaining about every ache and every little strain. Moving weights is hard and for REAL men (and women). You're not going to feel perfect at times. No excuses - go train.
14. There's a lot more to proper muscle building nutrition than broccoli, rice and chicken breast. Eat a variety of whole foods every week.
15. Eat more red meat.
16. Eat more eggs, including the yolks. Egg yolks have a high nutrient density.
17. Drink plenty of water. And then drink even more.
18. Sleep 8 hours every night and nap during the day if you can.
19. Learn to cook. Muscle building nutrition doesn't have to be boring.
20. Having trouble reaching your calorie goals? Add butter or olive oil to your vegetables.
21. Having trouble reaching your calorie goals? Switch to whole milk and drink at least 3 large glasses a day.
22. Having trouble reaching your calorie goals? Add sour cream and cheese to every possible meal.
23. Having trouble reaching your calorie goals? Snack on almonds and nuts between meals.
24. Beginners, stop being so obsessed with muscle confusion. You won't be stuck on a plateau for years. Instead, confuse your muscles with more weight.
25. Stop changing your workouts every 2 weeks. It's a huge waste of time. You spend more time adapting to specific conditioning demands of the workouts than building muscle.
26. If you are obsessed with maintaining visible abs and therefore under-eat, you will always be skinny with visible abs.
27. Learn to evolve your training based on your needs rather than making arbitrary changes to your workouts.
28. Commercial bodybuilding programs include a lot of nonsense. Have you ever noticed that 95% of these workouts never tell you to increase your training weights? Guess what - increasing weight is the cornerstone of progress and results.
29. Not all supplements are bad, but some supplement advertising promises can be. Learn the difference.
30. Very few muscle building topics are black or white. Match what you read with what advanced and successful strength athletes are doing.
31. Science can help, but training will still be hard. Everyone is different. Try new things based on science, but adapt them to fit your personal needs.
32. Anyone who insists that a topic or training concept is 100% black or white should be viewed with caution. Different things work and work differently for different exercisers.
33. A progression of weights represents the magic key to building muscle.
34. Why does every workout seem to work? Because an exerciser who is committed, eating right and getting stronger can make progress with even the most disorganized muscle building workout.
35. Fat is not bad. Don't avoid healthy fats. Your body needs fat to function properly.
36. Eat 90% healthy, whole foods. Allow a few of your calories to be "fun calories" so that you can remain a mentally healthy member of the human race.
37. Just because someone has a six-pack doesn't mean that person knows how to build muscle. Learn the difference between a diet expert and good muscle building advice.
38. Squats that are not performed at least to the point where the thighs are parallel to the floor are dangerous (and bad for the knees)
39. Squats with 20 repetitions are insane and fantastic. Try them out.
40. Have more sex. It's good for you.
41. Do cardio three times a week for overall health. Better health is never a bad thing.
42. Cardio training will not affect your gains. Only lack of effort in the gym and a poor diet will limit your gains.
43. A good back training combination includes deadlifts, a variation of rowing and a latissimus exercise such as pull-ups or lat pull-downs.
44. Dips are an underused but effective exercise. They were once considered the squat for the upper body. Don't underestimate their ability to build muscle mass in the chest and triceps.
45. Find ab exercises such as sit-ups with added weight or cable crunches that allow you to increase the resistance.
46. Do you have stubborn calves? Try a heavy workout with low reps and high volume as a change in training compared to sets of high reps over several months.
47. The reason that mass building phases result in excessive fat gain with little muscle gain is, in most cases, because 90% of the attention is placed on nutrition. A mass-building phase will only work if you train like a madman. Go all out on multi-joint exercises and build strength so that you can maximize your muscle growth without wasting those extra calories.
48. Eat as many fruits and vegetables as you want. Red, green and yellow equals plenty of nutrients.
49. The body needs sodium. Don't use too little salt.
50. A proper sodium/potassium balance is very important for overall health. Instead of worrying about too much salt, make sure you're getting enough potassium.
51. Your body needs cholesterol to function properly. If you're eating a healthy diet, you shouldn't worry too much about your cholesterol intake.
52. Pull-ups with overhand and underhand grip are the best mass building exercise for your biceps. Barbell curls are a good addition to these exercises.
53. Use a heavy multi-joint exercise and a supplementary exercise if you are targeting your triceps. An example of this would be close bench presses and seated two-handed dumbbell tricep presses.
54. Dips and close bench presses are effective bulking exercises for the triceps.
55. Want muscular arms? Remember that the triceps are responsible for 2/3 of your upper arm mass.
56. Is your trapezius lagging behind in its development? Try a combination of heavy deadlifts, power deadlifts, power shoulder raises (power shrugs), heavy neck presses and heavy rowing.
57. Don't underestimate full body workouts. Before the steroid era began, they built some amazing bodies. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger started with full body workouts.
58. Heavy rowing is the best building exercise for the rear shoulders.
59. Are you stagnating on isolation exercises and finding it hard to increase the weight without compromising form? Instead, use an isolation exercise performed on a machine - one that allows for greater progression.
60. Perform your multi-joint exercises first while you're fresh.
61. Training to muscle failure is not necessary and generally increases risk more than it improves results. Stop if you feel you are going to reach muscle failure on the next repetition.
62. Don't train with poor form. If your form begins to deteriorate during a set, stop the set.
63. Bench presses with your arms extended to 90 degrees is one of the worst things you can do for your shoulders. Instead, use a 30 to 60 degree angle.
64. Don't let the bar bounce off your chest when bench pressing. This is dangerous for several reasons.
65. Do not perform curls on the squat rack. The squat rack is sacred and reserved for squats.
66. When bench pressing, make sure your elbows are directly under your wrists. With your arms out to the side at 30 to 60 degrees, this will help you find a natural grip width.
67. Close grip bench presses are not performed with 15 centimeters between the hands. This is a good way to injure your wrists. Keep your elbows close to your sides and make sure your wrists are above your elbows. This will help you find the right grip width.
68. Eating 180 to 240 grams of protein per day will not harm your kidneys. Eat your protein.
69. Eat a variety of different protein foods...meat, chicken, fish, eggs, milk. Each protein source has a different amino acid profile, so variety is a good thing.
70. Training with weights will not stop your size growth.
71. Creatine is a good choice and has been studied extensively. Try it out for yourself.
72. Train large muscle groups before smaller ones.
73. If you use a training split, there should be as much time as possible between your chest and shoulder days. Both are "press days" and they use the same muscle groups to varying degrees.
74. Beginners, rest as often as you train. You should take a day off for each training day. Your body responds to the intense demands of training with weights and you need plenty of rest and nutrition.
75. Stop labeling yourself as a hardgainer. Focus on increasing your bench performance to 150 kilos, your squat performance to 400 kilos and your deadlift performance to 250 kilos. Once you've done that, look in the mirror and see if you're still a hardgainer.
76. Building muscle takes years - not weeks or months. Don't forget that.
77. If you really want to learn something interesting, ignore how a bodybuilder trains now and find out how he trained during the first 2 years when he was building mass.
78. Train most multi-joint exercises with a repetition range of 5 to 12 reps. Heavy weights work best with moderate reps.
79. Train most isolation exercises with a repetition range of 8 to 15 repetitions. Isolation exercises with lighter weights work best with a few extra repetitions.
80. Muscle soreness is not a clear indicator of the effectiveness of a training session.
81. Beginners, stop focusing on the pump. A pump will not help you if you use baby weights.
82. Eat some protein 60 to 90 minutes before training but don't train on a full stomach. Use whey protein if you have to.
83. Enjoy the journey.
84. It's okay to do your favorite exercise as long as 80% of your training session consists of effective exercises.
85. Taking advice from an exerciser with no personal experience is a risky business. Do your homework.
86. Be wary of internet advice from someone you haven't even seen a picture, video or other form of valid reference.
87. You will never 100% master perfect form on the big exercises. Remember this. The heavier the weight gets, the more challenging it becomes to maintain proper form when performing the exercise.
88. Overhead presses are not inherently bad for your shoulders, but performing 5 variations of the bench press while ignoring shoulder presses is.
89. It's generally better to perform multi-joint exercises before machine exercises.
90. Don't look for ways to make your workouts easier - look for ways to make them harder. Use and appreciate the most challenging exercises!
91. Never do cardio before training with weights. Save your energy for building muscle and do your cardio afterwards.
92. Do you do your cardio training after training with weights? Consider giving your body some protein in the form of a small wheyshake before you hit the treadmill.
93. Ignore the nonsense that all supplement companies should be ignored. There is certainly far too much hype around some worthless supplements, but that doesn't mean that all supplements are worthless.
94. Increase volume after you've already built up a good amount of strength.
95. Add advanced training techniques like descending sets and slow negative reps to your workouts after you've built up a good amount of strength.
96. Don't trust everything you read on the internet. Even this article. Do your own research and try things out for yourself.
97. Don't underestimate upper body / lower body splits.
98. When looking at volume for a muscle group, look at the number of sets per week. You could do something like 9 to 15 sets one day a week, 5 to 8 sets twice a week or 3 to 5 sets three times a week.
99. There are no magic numbers when it comes to sets and reps.
100. How many sets should you do? Use the "one hour guideline." As long as you train hard and keep your workouts in the one hour range, you will perform a reasonable number of sets.
101. As you get stronger, using higher repetition sets of multi-joint exercises will become a solid way of training for muscle building.
102. Don't be afraid to give yourself a complete week off from training every 8 to 12 weeks. You won't shrivel up and lose all your muscle. Rather, you'll heal some nagging injuries and overuse and probably train better when you return to the gym.
103. Slightly more advanced exercisers can use lighter weights every 3 to 4 weeks. Call it unloading. This will allow you to train hard and heavy for several weeks and then take a lighter week for recovery.
104. How wide should your stance be for squats? Get into a position similar to when you cover a player in basketball and check your foot spacing. This should be approximately the width of your foot spacing for squats.
105. Do not perform squats with your knees pointing forward. The angle of your knees should match the angle of your toes and for most of us the angle of the toes is 30 degrees. During squats, neither your knees nor your toes should be pointing straight ahead.
106. Believe in your training plan. If you don't trust it to get results, why are you using it?
107. Eat when you are hungry. This is good old-fashioned common sense.
108. Snacks between meals don't have to be complicated. Fruit, protein shakes, whole milk, almonds, nuts, cheese, protein bars and beef jerky are simple but solid choices.
109. Start with the basic supplements...a quality multivitamin, fish oil and whey protein. Once you're training consistently and making gains, you can try things like pre-workout formulas, BCAA drinks and creatine.
110. If you're an ectomorph, then there's a good chance you could benefit from more frequent training. Try a full body workout program.
111. If you are very overweight, then focus on training hard and getting stronger while losing fat. This should be your top priority.
112. Overweight exercisers trying to lose fat should not train with lighter weights and higher repetitions. A transition to lighter weights signals to the body that you no longer need as much muscle tissue as before.
113. It takes years to reach real plateaus. The gains will slow down over time. If you can do a few more reps of an exercise each month, you won't stagnate.
114. Leg presses are a good exercise, but they are not better than squats. If you want a great team that really makes your legs grow, use both.
115. Log your workouts. You need to find a way to monitor your progress.
116. Avoid unmotivated training partners who are always late or don't show up at all. Surround yourself with motivated people or train alone.
117. If you can't do barbell bench presses because you don't have a training partner, do dumbbell bench presses instead.
118. If you train to muscle failure, do this on the last set of an exercise.
119. Never waste a set. If you're not pushing yourself to do as many reps as possible, then there's no point in doing the set at all.
120. Always try to improve. If you did 7 repetitions of an exercise last week, try to do 8 to 9 repetitions this week.
121. When you lose fat, rapid fat loss usually leads to rapid muscle loss. Try not to lose more than 1.5 to 2 pounds of fat per week.
122. Be wary of advice that revolves around extremes. Most exercisers are somewhere in the middle and do not use extreme diet or exercise practices.
123. Understand that natural exercisers will never become as muscular as steroid users. It's a fairy tale if anyone tells you otherwise.
124. If you are unsure about your squat exercise form, use goblet squats for a week to get a feel for the exercise.
125. Ignore claims like "Build 5 inches on your arms in 2 months with the Biceps Blaster" or "Build 10 pounds of muscle in four weeks." This is simply nonsense designed to get your attention.
126. Use pulling aids for rows and pull-ups if necessary. Never let a weak grip interfere with your back training.
127. Want a stronger grip? Try 30 to 60 seconds of static barbell holds in a squat rack.
128. Never perform a multi-joint exercise until you've done a few non-demanding warm-up sets.
129. Train your abs last. The abs are a small muscle group. Fatigue larger muscle groups first.
130. You don't have to train your abs every day. One to three times a week is completely sufficient.
131. And what if you are tired? Exercise! Chances are you will feel better after training and the quality of your performance will most likely surprise you.
132. Don't be afraid to train opposite muscle groups together - chest with back, biceps and triceps. Variety can be a good thing.
133. End the workout for one muscle group with a pump set for fun. Destroy it with a kill set of 20 to 40 reps before moving on to the next muscle group.
134. Is a muscle group lagging behind in its development? Try the 7 - 14 day blitz. Train it with 10 sets a day, every day, with moderate weights. Then give this muscle group a whole week off.
135. Short on time? Try a rest-pause workout.
136. Hammer your shoulders. It's okay to use more than one pressing exercise per shoulder training session. Stop coddling your shoulders.
137. Eat something first thing in the morning. Your body has been without food all night. Give your day a boost with some quality food.
138. Eat protein regularly and often. This has been the foundation of bodybuilding for decades and to my knowledge has never let a trainee down. Eat at least 4 protein meals a day, with 5 to 7 being optimal.
139. Use the "shake and bake" rule after training. Drink a shake immediately after your workout and eat a meal of whole foods 30 to 90 minutes later.
140. Eat protein before going to bed. If you don't want to eat late at night, drink a casein protein shake.
141. Don't miss meals. Don't miss workouts, don't miss meals...do you see the connection?
142. Are you constantly tired? Use a pre-workout formula to give you an extra training boost.
143. Exercise during the time of day when you have the most energy or when you are least likely to miss a training session.
144. Hate vegetables? Chop up 2 handfuls of spinach and cook them in a pan until they curl. Spinach shrinks down to almost nothing, is tasteless and can be added to almost any meal in this form. Quick and easy vegetables!
145. Ignore haters and troublemakers. Stay away from people who try to stop you from achieving your goals.
146. Are you stuck in a rut? Try something completely different like a 10 x 10 training session.
147. There is no need to regularly test your maximum weight. Get out of the habit and focus on building muscle.
148. Stop thinking that training-free days are wasted time. Find a life outside the gym.
149. Go to local bodybuilding competitions. It's great motivation and it's cheap.
150. Train as if you expect to still be training at 70. Pushing yourself to the limit and beyond occasionally is fine. But don't overdo it. Go to the gym, train hard and then leave.

Source: https://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/150-muscle-building-tips

Are you aiming to build big arm muscles? These 5 arm training techniques are backed by science. Try these workouts on your own body!

Having muscular and defined arms is the primary goal of many exercisers, but it can sadly be a never-ending quest for many individuals.

The reason it's so hard to develop an impressive pair of upper arms is because many people don't understand that the muscles of the arms don't respond to the same training principles that you use for your legs or back.

Factors such as mechanical and metabolic stress or simply training frequency are essential for growth, but are not applied in the same way you would apply them to other muscle groups.

Within this article, we'll look at the science behind different advanced arm training techniques and look at some example workouts you can use to instantly increase the size of your arms.

The basics of building muscle

It's important to keep in mind that the arm muscles (such as the different muscle heads of the biceps and triceps alongside the forearms and shoulders) are smaller muscle groups than the muscles of the chest, back and legs.

It is often recommended to train the arms with lighter weights to take this into account, but this is not the whole truth. Although your arm training may benefit from slightly different training styles, these muscles will still respond to the same principles of overload and therefore require a sufficient amount of tension just like any other muscle group.

Progressive overload is basically a theory that says you need to increase the stress you put on a muscle over time in order to achieve consistent growth of that muscle. (1, 2)

Basically, this means that your arms will never grow unless you consistently increase the weight you use, the number of repetitions or the number of sets - or in a perfect world, all three. To use this method, you need to make sure that you consistently increase the stress you place on those muscles if you want them to grow.

Mechanical stress, metabolic stress & exercise variation

Next, it's important that you consistently increase the amount of mechanical stress you place on the muscle. Mechanical stress is basically the physical force applied to the muscle when you try to contract it against a weight.

When your muscle cells are physically stretched and contracted (by flexing and extending your limbs), many different responses are initiated within the muscle cells. These responses promote growth of the muscle to ensure that future strains of similar strength no longer pose as much of a threat. Typically, mechanical stress becomes relevant when the weight increases or the sets are performed to very close to muscle failure (3, 4, 5).

The third factor to consider is metabolic stress. Metabolic stress is basically the accumulation of metabolic by-products produced during constant muscle contractions.

Current research suggests that metabolic stress and related factors such as cellular swelling may play a central role in the increase in muscle size over time. While we know that mechanical stress is important, it is also possible that metabolic stress is also important (6, 7, 8).

Lastly, we need to consider exercise variation. Especially with the arms, many exercisers will use the same exercises day after day and then wonder why they haven't made any progress for a long time.

Just as you can get used to a specific weight, you can also get used to a specific exercise. In fact, recent research suggests that regular variation of exercises, even when these changes are minor and merely alter variables such as bar placement, grip width, foot spacing, etc., can provide a new stimulus for continued growth (9).

You can be sure that we will use each of these pillars of muscle growth in the following workouts to ensure that your arms grow in a timely and efficient manner.

Training session 1: Rest-pause

In training session 1, we will use a technique known as rest-pause. Rest-pause is an advanced training method that incorporates large amounts of mechanical and metabolic stress that allow for an amazing muscle pump while using high amounts of weight for repetition ranges you're probably not used to (10, 11).

Here's how the process works. You choose a weight on an exercise that will allow you to reach the point of muscle failure after 6 to 8 reps. Perform the first round until about one repetition before reaching muscle failure. Then pause for 30 seconds, take 10 deep breaths and repeat. Then repeat the whole process one more time.

Basically, you use a weight with which you would typically reach muscle failure after 6 to 8 repetitions and perform more than 12 to 15 repetitions with this weight.

The training session

*Choose your weight. Perform the repetitions and pause for 10 deep breaths. Continue training until one repetition before reaching muscle failure & pause for another 10 deep breaths. Continue training until one repetition before reaching muscle failure. This is a rest-pause set.

Training session 2: Descending sets - done the right way

Descending sets are a technique that typically delivers large amounts of metabolic stress due to the non-existent pauses and high volume. However, traditional descending sets are a waste of time in my eyes.

The reason I believe this is because mechanical stress drops dramatically after the first set is completed. In this case, the benefits of this method can be pretty worthless as long as the reps are not brought way up with a lighter weight. (12)

Rather than starting with the normal weight and reducing the weight from there, I prefer to start with a much heavier weight and a lower repetition range for descending sets and then move to a higher volume. Although this may look like a typical descending set at first glance, here is a better explanation.

In a typical descending set, you start with an 8RM weight, perform 8 reps with it and then immediately reduce the weight to perform more reps. But what if you finished your last set with that 8RM weight?

Considering that mechanical and metabolic stress are essential, this method allows you to maximize both instead of sacrificing mechanical stress for metabolic stress.

The training session

*Start with a 4RM weight and finish the set one repetition before reaching muscle failure, reduce the weight to a 6RM weight and perform further repetitions until one repetition before reaching muscle failure. Reduce the weight to an 8RM weight and perform further repetitions until one repetition before reaching muscle failure. Reduce the weight to a 10RM weight and perform further repetitions until one repetition before reaching muscle failure. Reduce the weight to a 12RM weight and perform further repetitions until one repetition before reaching muscle failure.

As you can see in the example above, by shifting the initial starting weight you can work in traditional weight and repetition ranges while using descending sets - this has the potential to stimulate your muscle growth to a much greater extent than a typical descending set, which would already start relatively light.

Training session 3: Restricting blood flow

Blood flow restriction (BFR) is a fairly new and popular technique that is backed by solid science. (7, 8).

Basically, depending on the movement and the body part being trained, you tie off one of your limbs at the top with a tourniquet. If you want to use blood flow restriction for biceps or triceps training, for example, you tie the tourniquet around the upper arm between the shoulder muscle and the biceps/triceps.

Restricting blood flow is an interesting technique that basically allows you to achieve a similar response to what you would see with a very heavy weight, even though you are only using 40% of your 1RM weight.

Typically, when using such a weight, you need to perform 20 to 40 repetitions or more to really stimulate muscle growth. Restricting blood flow, on the other hand, allows this response to occur more quickly.

By tying off one of your limbs, you call for a congestion of your blood in that muscle by preventing venous return or the backflow of blood to your heart. Scientific research suggests that the accumulation of metabolic products achieved by this method produces a muscle building response typically seen with much heavier training.

The training session

Note: If you are using blood flow restriction, you should band your arm at a strength of 7/10, where 10 is the pressure at which your arm falls asleep. If you lose feeling in your arm, then you have tied it too tightly. In this case, remove the pressure bandage immediately! Also make sure that you remove the pressure bandage immediately after completing the exercise. It is not advisable to leave the pressure bandage on your arm or leg for the entire duration of your training session!

*Perform this set with about 40% of your 1RM weight until muscle failure, which should occur at about 30 repetitions. Pause for 15 to 20 seconds. Perform another set with the same weight until muscle failure. Pause for 15 to 20 seconds. Perform another set with the same weight until muscle failure. Rest for 2 minutes and repeat the cycle two more times.

It is important to note that I have placed the sets with blood flow restriction further back in the training session. This is because blood flow restriction sets are extremely demanding and will fatigue the trained muscles to the maximum. I would suggest that if you plan to perform other exercises, you perform them before the sets with blood flow restriction.

Training session 4: Mega sets

Mega sets are an advanced training technique that allows for variety in training and high amounts of metabolic stress and cell swelling. The reason for this is that mega sets consist of three exercises with minimal rest.

Megasets are similar to supersets in that you perform exercises one after the other without rest, but megasets consist of 3 or more exercises instead of just 2. By performing such a high volume with minimal rest, you can generate extremely high amounts of metabolic stress, which can potentially increase your muscle mass (7, 8, 13).

The training session

Training session 5: Antagonistic sets

In traditional training, many people perform several exercises for the same muscle group one after the other. Although this may lead to a good pump, it could also mean that you are training at a lower intensity than if you were using antagonistic exercises. (14).

Antagonistic exercises involve training the opposite muscle group every other set. Basically, you will train your biceps on exercise one and your triceps on exercise two.

When using this method, one muscle group is working while the other is resting. Basically, you will be able to train each muscle group at a higher intensity than would be possible if you fatigued them with consecutive sets for the same muscle group.

The training session

Summary

As you can see, there are some unique considerations for arm training that can accelerate your arm growth, such as a higher training frequency. However, other fundamental factors such as progressive overload and metabolic stress are also important and need to be considered!

If you want to put this theory into practice, give these 5 brutal workouts a shot and watch the insane progress you'll make.

References

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8. Loenneke, J. P., Fahs, C. A., Rossow, L. M., Abe, T., & Bemben, M. G. (2012). The anabolic benefits of venous blood flow restriction training may be induced by muscle cell swelling. Medical hypotheses, 78(1), 151-154.
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10. Marshall, Paul WM, et al. "Acute neuromuscular and fatigue responses to the rest-pause method." Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 15.2 (2012): 153-158.
11. Prestes J., et al. "Strength and muscular adaptations following 6 weeks of rest pause versus traditional multiple-sets resistance training in trained subjects". Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. Published Ahead of Print DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000001923.
12. Schoenfeld, B. J., Contreras, B., Vigotsky, A. D., & Peterson, M. (2016). Differential Effects of Heavy Versus Moderate Loads on Measures of Strength and Hypertrophy in Resistance-Trained Men. Journal of sports science & medicine, 15(4), 715.
13. Schoenfeld, B. (2011). The use of specialized training techniques to maximize muscle hypertrophy. Strength & Conditioning Journal, 33(4), 60-65.
14. Baker, D., & Newton, R. U. (2005). Acute effect on power output of alternating an agonist and antagonist muscle exercise during complex training. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 19(1), 202.

Source: https://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/5-advanced-arm-workouts-using-scientific-techniques