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"Position Your Arms For Maximum Growth"

By Todd Elliott

At no time in history has our species had such a massive breed of mortal in its midst. Today's bodybuilding champions are the most muscular humans ever to walk the planet, and compared to the average man, they look like completely different beings. Freaks in some people's eyes.

If you are a dedicated bodybuilder like myself, you are no doubt trying to duplicate that type of extreme development. The question is how? For the most part it's obvious: Simply follow those who have succeeded and emulate their training protocol. Take the average champion's quad routine, for example, which may include squats, leg presses and hack squats, among other exercises.

Those three movements may appear to be the cornerstone to any great leg workout, but if you analyze the action for each, you'll notice that they're very similar as far as training angles go. Each works your thighs with almost identical squatting type movement. The angle difference is so very slight, it's not worth the extra effort and drain on your recovery ability to do them all in the same training session.

Consequently, your first step to developing the ultimate mass-building strategy should be to eliminate the overlap in your routine. After that you must make sure that you are training is effectively as possible by hitting the necessary angles, which means overhauling your current program, and turning it into the most precise, high-intensity, multi-angular training strategy available. This involves targeting the muscles from three, and only three angles, or positions: midrange, stretch and contracted.

If you apply this three position approach to each muscle group, you'll never use more than three exercises for any one body part, and the muscle groups will require even fewer because the compound nature of certain movements. With all this considered, this article will cover arm training using this philosophy. Please keep in mind, I possess 20-inch arms naturally. This philosophy works and I am living proof.

Arms are a bodybuilders? credentials. A set of big guns gives notice that the owner pumps some serious iron and is proud of it. The triceps's magnificent sweep, the biceps' mountainous peak and the forearms' fullness cause men, and even some women, to do a double take when they see this development hanging precariously out of a short sleeve short. To have admirable arm development is a dream of almost every man on the planet. I am no different!

As an obvious bodybuilding veteran, I am consistently questioned about my arm development. Questions like: "How much can you curl"? "How big do your arms measure"? "What are the best arm exercises"? and so on. Those inquiring minds are quite surprised when I tell them my training secrets.

I tell them to blitz each muscle angle with one or three high-intensity sets then move on to the next bodypart. Done on a consistent basis, total arm development and growth will be yours in much less time.

My philosophy for precise arm training is very simple. This involves targeting the muscles from three- and only three-angles, or positions. Those are the mid-range, stretch and contracted positions. Just pick one exercise for each position, train it very intensely and watch your arms blossom rapidly to eye popping proportions.

Here is a typical off-season arm training routine:

 Biceps
Barbell Curls 3 X 6-8
Incline Dumbell Curls 3 X 6-8
Concentration Curls 2 X 8-10

Triceps
 Lying Extensions 3 X 6-8
One-Armed Dumbbell Extensions 3 X 6-8
Dumbbell Kickbacks 2 X 8-10
Forearms
Hammer Curls 2 X 8-10
Wrist Curls 1 X 20
Reverse Wrist Curls 1 X 20

For maximum development, I contract as hard as I can for the duration of each rep and I only train each body part once a week. This gives that muscle groups plenty of rest for growth. I have trained this way for years and I continue to grow, so I know that it works. There is a good chance that this will work for you too.

This Positon of Flexion philosophy isn't necessarily the best training strategy of the century. I believe however, that it is one of the best, and when properly applied, it has the potential to give anyone new found life to their training routine. Here's hoping that I helped shed some light on obtaining bigger biceps and also help put you on the path to achieve the physique that you dream of.

About the Author:

Todd Elliott is a certified personal trainer located in Orlando, Fl. He is a former Mr. America. His website is http://www.bodbytodd.com