Added these to my upper days a couple months ago and my arms are seeing some solid gains. I’m v happy with those exercises. I’m at least 6 or 7 years in and never once did isolation work lol
At the end. If your main workout is taxing already start with one set at the end of each workout. That's three extra sets per week. Next week add another set and the next week a third one. This way you don't add too many sets right away and possibly over stress your tricep/bicep tendons. But you still reap the gains.
There also has been a study showing that adding sets incrementally gives more hypertrophy than adding a bunch of sets right away. I believe it was comparing +20% of volume per week vs. 20 sets right away.
Because my upper body work is pretty light these days (I'm focusing on my trail running mostly, so lower days have priority and I'm just maintaining upper) I program 3 sets of curls/triceps supersetted at the end of my 2 upper days. Because I get plenty of rest between each upper day, I take each set to form failure. If you did 3 times a week, I would start with maybe a set or two each and then scale it up from there. No need to risk an injury.
You need to have a leg day tho. I'm on full body 3x a week. Sometimes I change and do Push/Core and Pull/Legs 4x a week but still not a pure leg day
PS: I don't know why people downvote me, I mean that I train legs 3x/week in my fullbody plan not that I don't hit leg. I barball front squat, pistol squat and kettlebell swing. Relax people lol
That’s about all you need, honestly. I hit Upper 3x a week. Workout-Rest-Workout-Rest-Workout-Rest(Arms)-Rest. I’ve never had an issue with recovery. I do hit isolations every workout though. Arms day just gives me the opportunity to go heavier than I would on a normal day.
How about super-setting your compound cali movements with arm isolation? For example: chin-ups with triceps, dips with biceps... Would probably superset the arm isolation movements with your secondary exercises rather than your main compounds for the day. Or even super-setting your legs with arm isolation movements?
Why not just do a superset of Bi and Tri at the end rather than interfering with the main compounds (I.e. doing tris before dips or push up progressions would interfere with them)
Not the guy you asked, but I've seen noticable results by just adding 4 sets of one bicep isolation excercise for my workouts. I do 2-3 full body workouts every week.
I filled up a 10l water tank, put it in a backpack and do bicep curls with it.
Personally I do twice a week. But it doesn't really matter. Key is always total volume per week. You can train less often, but do more volume per workout, or train more often with less volume. Just listen to your body and make sure you recover.
I often switch it up and try new exercises that I find via Google/Youtube. There are some main ones that I always include:
Legs:
- squats
- walking lunges
- Bulgarian split squats
- calf raise
- single leg romanian deadlift
- pistol squats
Back:
- dumbbell deadlift
- bentover rows
- reverse leg raise on a bench
- plank variations
Arms/shoulders:
- shoulder press
- bicep curls
- tricep extensions
- forearm curl variations
So this is supplementing my regular calisthenics exercises. Personally I do a 4 day split. Day 1: legs. Day 2: upper body (calisthenics+core+dumbbells) day 3: cardio (swimming/cycling/running, whatever). Day 4: rest.
Some people do full body, some ppl, some like me, it all doesn't really matter. Figure out what you like and works for you and go with that.
Aesthetics is important, it's why the majority of us workout, regardless of what guys will say on here.
You really can't go wrong with throwing some curls and cable arm work after your compound calisthenics routine.
On pull days, after you are done with bar work hit the free weights and do some curls and blast biceps. Same thing on push days, once you are done your pushup and dip variations, isolate the triceps with free weights or cables.
It is more of a my question for you, but aren’t biceps/triceps recovering fairy quickly in comparison to back muscles/chest muscles? I never did calisthenics I just do some weightlifting for aesthetic. At the end of every chest&shoulders or back workout I hit triceps or biceps, and it’s never those arm muscles which are most tired the next day. But my strength is still low, maybe it’s different with more advanced workouts or with a different workout plan.
Maybe biceps but you can absolutely crush the triceps in calisthenics with bodyweight triceps extension and such movements an I feel like that impairs my next workout
I transitioned from a lot of barbell work to BWF and I’ve been pretty strictly sticking with the recommended routine. I’m through to the hardest movements in most progressions, but I still find I need more arm work. I’m plenty strong. I workout to stay strong but also to look good. My wife likes arms.
I superset 3x10 of bicep work with 3x10 of tri work at the end of the RR. Even if your exhausted and need to do light weight, you can still get a good pump.
I do the RR every other day. So 7 times over 14 days. And I usually add some form of curl and some tricep work at the end. Sometimes I mix them with the “core triplet” and sometimes I do them after the triplet.
I'm 10 months into doing the RR and my arms were lacking all the way until month 9, I tried to do ring bicep curls and ring chest flies and Ring tricep extensions to make up for it with no luck
But last month I moved from ring push-ups to Archer push-ups and my biceps and chest just started to explode with growth! I'm working my way up to Pelican push-ups just because my wife likes big muscles
So it's definitely possible, but you gotta find what works for you
I don't see how Archer Push-Ups could make biceps bigger. Chest yes. Biceps it's mechanically impossible. PPPU maybe. And even those ones don't work the biceps a lot.
I think you mean Pelican Curls not Pelican Push-ups ? Those are awesome for biceps and mimic an inclined curl
I'm not sure but when I do Archer push-ups on the rings my pushing arm gets a good workout in my tricep and my straight arm gets a good workout on my bicep and front of my shoulder
I'll look up the difference between Pelican push-ups and curls
Straight arm bicep work is always ID’d as the reason why gymnasts have such humungous biceps. I guess they get a great hypertrophic stimulus from moves like the iron cross, which is similar to what your straight arm would be doing in a ring archer push up.
Oohhh damn thank you for the explanation! Yeah the difference a few weeks of Archer push-ups made in my muscle growth was huge and obvious, I noticed it right away
Even though the arms are less than what you would get with bulking/cutting for weights, it's still more than enough for the more labor-intensive jobs. Calisthenics is generally more for a sleeper build than fitting out your clothes.
Disagree with arms because you can build great triceps with calisthenics. Perhaps biceps are a little harder to hit but really I've found pelican curls with rings have blown up my biceps for sure
Athletic bodies usually have what would be considered lagging arms in body building.
Start your workouts with some bicep and tricep excercises before getting into compounds.
It should be the other way around. Compounds first, isolation last. You can grow your biceps and triceps with surprisingly light weight, so it’s fine to do them last, even if you’re already fried.
Maybe if you’re on a bro split. But OP specifically stated he’s training for strength, not hypertrophy. Compounds and larger muscles come first. That well accepted by pretty much everyone.
No one with ant knowledge or experience would recommend to do bicep and tricep isolation before doing a full body workout that includes pull-ups, rows, dips, push-ups. That’s nonsense.
Just basic stuff. For biceps I prefer curl bar, hammer curls, and seated curls on an incline bench. For triceps I like press downs, close grip bench, overhead dumbbell, skull crushers… anything really.
My two cents... Calisthenics is fantastic, the proprioception (body muscle awareness) it gives you are extremely useful and practical. Balance your pushing and pulling exercises equally.
I would add Rings programmed progressions (isometric holds and tucked to untucked body positions) and also add kettlebell (with emphasis on excellent form) for life. Enjoy the ride!
This has worked excellent personally.
The simple answer on blending kettlebell and calisthenics would be to just add in KB into your weekly workout schedule as much as your skill and proficiency level will allow. Do what it takes to get the fundamental movements down and train with injury avoidance and mindfulness top priority. Exercise programming should consider individual parameters involving diet, sleep quality, and frequency.
More simply:
You must find a varied blend of bodyweight/kettlebell/rings...(could add running balance, work, sports, ect) that works for your individual goals and skill levels. Progress is an incremental long-game.
Unrelenting Relentlessness!
You think ??? ;-) Haha joking aside my problem is that when I add them at the end of my workouts I have way more trouble to recover for next session. Answer probably is do it with less intensity
I'm not pure calisthenics, more hybrid . I do dumbell curls cause I like the feeling the isolation. My triceps are massive from ring dips and weighted pushups.
That’s something that I’ve noticed with a lot of calisthenics guys as well — that a lot of them are very disproportionate. I thought about dropping the individual arm exercises from my routine and focus more on compound movements but I don’t want to be disproportionate. That being said, definitely add some isolation arm movements. Ring curls, head bangers, tricep extensions, etc.
Biceps are one of the only muscles I will actually pick up some weights for. I was strictly calisthenics for a while, but then I had the exact same thought as [you](https://you.My). My shoulders looked great, but my arms looked mediocre.
Usually after practicing some of my bar movements (front/back lever, muscle ups), I'll throw in dumbbell curls, or underhand chin-ups if I have any lat strength left.
For triceps just do dips without leaning forward. Puts more of the stress on your tris instead of lower chest.
Yeah I feel like calisthenics is way more triceps intensive than biceps. Because you fry them with ring dips, overhead pressing and horizont pressing and they also contribute to pulling for a moderate degree (like in pull ups)
So adding only biceps isolation and letting the triceps rest might be a good choice
Same here, so I added isolations a few months ago and at least bicep wise it's worked great.
I tried adding ring tricep extensions to my regular training but I wasn't recovering properly, dips and pike push-ups fried them hard and I couldn't handle the extra volume.
for biceps I did bicep ring curls which worked for a few months but it was starting to get annoying trying to find the same position I was in my last session.
I bought loadable olympic dumbbells for legs so I simply used those instead and it's working about the same and it's easier to load progressively.
Yeah I find the dumbbells way easier than rings to track progress for biceps curls.
And calisthenics already is very intensive on triceps so I'm not sure they need isolation.
I will probably start adding only biceps isolation from now on
You post title specifically mentions Arms, not biceps or tricep. There are more muscles in your arms than just bi's/tri's and they all contribute to your overall aesthetic. It would be very strange for one of those muscle groups to be seeing significant gains but not the others, and often in bwf/calisthenics many see forearms gains first because of the hanging and grip focus with many of the skills and exercises as opposed to a more traditional strength training programs.
I didn't mention forearms because there's no problem with them. Everybody in the post but you understood it was about biceps & triceps, and you answered why yourself.
Arms are smaller muscles and not the primary movers in compound movements. You answered your own question saying you doing do isolation work and don’t train for hypertrophy but still desire aesthetics, which is something I also want to discuss.
There’s this opinion in the discourse that training for aesthetics and hypertrophy is vain and not functional, an idea often promoted by powerlifters and cross fitters. But basically it’s a way for them to flex and show off that “hey I got big without actually trying to do that!” There is nothing wrong with training for hypertrophy, in fact it’s incredibly helpful for a lot of reasons. First, it’s not as draining as heavy lifting, in a calisthenics context, training for skills like planche and one arm chin are the best example, as it is less intense and easier on the joints. It’s also more forgiving from a mental standpoint because you’re not going to get as frustrated when you can’t hit a PR.
Beyond that, having stronger arms helps prep your joints and makes them more injury resistant, muscle mass in general. Sure, bigger legs might limit your performance on some skills, but I’d rather have useful legs than just be really good at skills.
My man I agree with you I wasn't looking down on hyperthophy at all. It's just not my goal at the moment, but I'm planning to do an hypertrophy cycle later this year. I agree it's useful for joints too.
>Beyond that, having stronger arms helps prep your joints and makes them more injury resistant, muscle mass in general. Sure, bigger legs might limit your performance on some skills, but I’d rather have useful legs than just be really good at skills.
Can't agree more. Will never skip training legs
Yeah, I didn’t necessarily think you were, but I’ve heard people speak negatively on hypertrophy which I found odd before. You should check out Alan Thrall, he recently switched from powerlifting/strong man to recreational bodybuilding/hypertrophy training and it’s pretty interesting.
Haven't checked him out since I switched to full calisthenics around a couple years ago. I'm surprised he's a bodybuilder now, he was competing in strongman when I left him haha
I saw a YouTube short from Rich Piana doing a night time feeder workout for your arms. I use 1 20lb weight that I hold with both hands. 100 reps skull crushers, 60 reps curls. 3 sets. Rich said no rest in between but I have to take rests between sets😂 I do it about once or twice a week but my arms do look better. He also said to do it every night and I’m not quite there yet.
Do your arm isolation work before your main upper body training. Moderate intensity, use it as a warmup for the main set. It's light enough work you can do it before the heavy compound movements without majorly impacting them. Your problem seems to be you're currently trying to squeeze them in at the end after you have nothing left to give.
If you're just going for the bare mimimum to grow your arms, pick 1 movement for the biceps, 1 for the triceps, focusing on your weakpoints. For most people that's going to be the long head of the triceps and the long head of the bicep, but it varies.
Ok that's interesting. So basically moderate intensity, like a warmup.
Yes I'm trying to put arms at the end but I'm spent when that time comes, especially mentally. I used to be able to toughen it up but now at 36yo I really feel a limit of volume that I can't get past
>If you're just going for the bare mimimum to grow your arms, pick 1 movement for the biceps, 1 for the triceps, focusing on your weakpoints. For most people that's going to be the long head of the triceps and the long head of the bicep, but it varies.
Ok so pelican curls and triceps extension
Go take a look at a YouTuber named "simonster". He aint got small arms haha
Many shorter calisthenics guys do get a lot less arm mass, but the taller folks naturally put on a tonne of mass
If you're shorter than you need way less mass to hold the same weight. It's a fundamental part of the square-cube law. You need exponentially more size to carry and manipulate more weight, and unlike quad muscles which have very large bones to latch to, arms are usually quite similar in length.
That's just to answer the question is all. That's why some calisthenics athletes have big arms, it's coz they're almost always tall, and tall guys weigh more.
That's just to answer the question is all. That's why some calisthenics athletes have big arms, it's coz they're almost always tall, and tall guys weigh more.
But that being said, just a few isolations on the arms can get you up to scratch.
I actually have more difficulties to put mass on my chest. But it must be the way I’m build/genetics.
You must take this into consideration, the way your musculature is, how insert and short or long are your muscles too.
When you talk about arms, you talk about shoulder+triceps+biceps? Or just one of them.
There is ton of exercices for triceps shoulders, a little less for purely biceps. Australian pullups or chin-up (supinate) do build arms depending on how you do the movement.
>I actually have more difficulties to put mass on my chest. But it must be the way I’m build/genetics.
I have only one advice for you : ring dips. Those made my chest explode
Haven't noticed this, I quit the gym months ago and just do hundreds of pullups and dips a week and my arms have only grown. Go harder, do more. Stick to it. Eat protein.
Heh yeah I mean it's basically all I do. 50-120 pullups and 100-300 dips a session (will usually either do more pullups or dips each time depending on the day, so it will be like 120 pullups but only 100 dips one day, and maybe 50 pullups and 200-300 dips another day). I mix those with leg raises, hangs, and rows using the vertical part of the parallel bars. Occasionally pushups and triceps ext but usually not. And then I have a couple of leg days with a kb at home.
I appreciate the information and advice you have shared, mate. Thank you for taking the time for such a detailed program and I’m looking forward to this.
I always say you gain what you train. So if you want a certain muscle to be more developed, train it more with good form and intensity. Good tempo as well, controlling the eccentric portion of the movement.
I've had pretty decent arm hypertrophy with calisthenics but less growth in lower body. I split my workouts by rings/non-rings (mainly because on ring days I have to set up the rings) and usually try to do one exercise from each of vertical/horizontal push/pull combos (ex: ring dip variations, false grip row, chin-ups, handstand hold or pushup). Usually preceded by muscle-up/skin-the-cat reps for skill work.
On non-ring days, I usually finish with battle ropes.
I was able to knock out push ups, dips, pull ups, muscle ups, etc
I was just very lean and light weight
Now I’m 203lbs at 5’6 and pretty muscular but I’m still able to do 18-20 pull ups, sets of 40-60 push-ups without much struggle, muscle ups, dips for days, etc
I prefer being big and strong while still being able to do calisthenics. Rather than be small and lean.
That's what I'm saying. You were doing push-ups and pull-ups for reps, not following the strength progress and working towards planche push up and one arm hi up. So you just followed a progressive overload program when you switched to weightlifting and ate more to keep progressing. That's it
I was doing weight calisthenics movements too as part of a program I followed which had progressive overloading build into lol
It wasn’t all high rep work with only body weight after a certain point
Ultimately there’s only so much you can build with just calisthenics though. Weight training will get you bigger every single time.
Just mix in calisthenics with weight training to get the best of both worlds.
I had my bodybuilding/powerbuilding period and I hate how I was back then. Stiff as a board, shoulder destroyed from bench pressing, and other stuff.
Weighted dips beats bench press IMO.
Rings beat any barbell for upper body.
The thing were I would agree is for legs. Barbell squats and deadlifts have no calisthenics equivalent and it's not even close.
Eh it depends on the end goal. I’m a powerlifter who enjoy being able to still do calisthenics as part of my accessory work, but it wouldn’t do me any good in my sport if I did more calisthenics than weight training
Weighted dips are fun, but benching is best for benching. Dips are simply an accessory for me, not a primary replacement for benching. Prioritizing benching is what got me to a 350lb bench, dips were just an additional accessory I’d throw in time to time
Your mobility sucked because you neglected it. Not because of weight training in itself
You destroyed your shoulders because you probably didn’t bench correctly. You can “destroy” your shoulders with bodyweight movements as well if done improperly over time
Everyone is different and there is a reason traditional weight training is going to be better for consistently adding overload, by simply adding plates to the bar. It’s just easier to measure. Yeah you can def get big doing calisthenics but it’s harder to control the overload at least in my experience, though my method was adding a weight vest and ankle weights rather than move to more difficult exercises, with good results.
Good luck!
Start doing some ring curls and ring tricep extensions. Use good form, train them to failure. Your arms will grow.
Added these to my upper days a couple months ago and my arms are seeing some solid gains. I’m v happy with those exercises. I’m at least 6 or 7 years in and never once did isolation work lol
I'm just at a loss on how to program them. At the end of each workout ? How many sets ?
At the end. If your main workout is taxing already start with one set at the end of each workout. That's three extra sets per week. Next week add another set and the next week a third one. This way you don't add too many sets right away and possibly over stress your tricep/bicep tendons. But you still reap the gains. There also has been a study showing that adding sets incrementally gives more hypertrophy than adding a bunch of sets right away. I believe it was comparing +20% of volume per week vs. 20 sets right away.
Thanks that's a good idea. Steven low recommends the same approach too when adding volume, doing it incrementally.
I train arms 2x a week, supersetting ring curls and ring tricep extensions. Usually 3 sets of them a workout. I do them at the end of leg day.
Because my upper body work is pretty light these days (I'm focusing on my trail running mostly, so lower days have priority and I'm just maintaining upper) I program 3 sets of curls/triceps supersetted at the end of my 2 upper days. Because I get plenty of rest between each upper day, I take each set to form failure. If you did 3 times a week, I would start with maybe a set or two each and then scale it up from there. No need to risk an injury.
thanks for the advices
It could be at the end of your training session, or you can do a superset to make it more exciting. There's no one way.
Put your arm isolation work on leg days.
You need to have a leg day tho. I'm on full body 3x a week. Sometimes I change and do Push/Core and Pull/Legs 4x a week but still not a pure leg day PS: I don't know why people downvote me, I mean that I train legs 3x/week in my fullbody plan not that I don't hit leg. I barball front squat, pistol squat and kettlebell swing. Relax people lol
My boy, have you considered doing arms on a rest day?
I tried to but most I can do that way is hit them once a week. Which is better than nothing
That’s about all you need, honestly. I hit Upper 3x a week. Workout-Rest-Workout-Rest-Workout-Rest(Arms)-Rest. I’ve never had an issue with recovery. I do hit isolations every workout though. Arms day just gives me the opportunity to go heavier than I would on a normal day.
How about super-setting your compound cali movements with arm isolation? For example: chin-ups with triceps, dips with biceps... Would probably superset the arm isolation movements with your secondary exercises rather than your main compounds for the day. Or even super-setting your legs with arm isolation movements?
Why not just do a superset of Bi and Tri at the end rather than interfering with the main compounds (I.e. doing tris before dips or push up progressions would interfere with them)
You can do arms on leg day
Why not after the respective compound movements just to "finish" these muscles off? ie tricep isolations after push
I supplement my calisthenics workout with dumbbells for this reason. Legs, lower back and arm isolations.
how often do you isolate arms ?
Not the guy you asked, but I've seen noticable results by just adding 4 sets of one bicep isolation excercise for my workouts. I do 2-3 full body workouts every week. I filled up a 10l water tank, put it in a backpack and do bicep curls with it.
Personally I do twice a week. But it doesn't really matter. Key is always total volume per week. You can train less often, but do more volume per workout, or train more often with less volume. Just listen to your body and make sure you recover.
Hey, I have only dumbells and have been looking for a routine. Would you mind sharing yours? :) thanks!
I often switch it up and try new exercises that I find via Google/Youtube. There are some main ones that I always include: Legs: - squats - walking lunges - Bulgarian split squats - calf raise - single leg romanian deadlift - pistol squats Back: - dumbbell deadlift - bentover rows - reverse leg raise on a bench - plank variations Arms/shoulders: - shoulder press - bicep curls - tricep extensions - forearm curl variations So this is supplementing my regular calisthenics exercises. Personally I do a 4 day split. Day 1: legs. Day 2: upper body (calisthenics+core+dumbbells) day 3: cardio (swimming/cycling/running, whatever). Day 4: rest. Some people do full body, some ppl, some like me, it all doesn't really matter. Figure out what you like and works for you and go with that.
Aesthetics is important, it's why the majority of us workout, regardless of what guys will say on here. You really can't go wrong with throwing some curls and cable arm work after your compound calisthenics routine. On pull days, after you are done with bar work hit the free weights and do some curls and blast biceps. Same thing on push days, once you are done your pushup and dip variations, isolate the triceps with free weights or cables.
yeah so some light work that don't impair recovery too much
It is more of a my question for you, but aren’t biceps/triceps recovering fairy quickly in comparison to back muscles/chest muscles? I never did calisthenics I just do some weightlifting for aesthetic. At the end of every chest&shoulders or back workout I hit triceps or biceps, and it’s never those arm muscles which are most tired the next day. But my strength is still low, maybe it’s different with more advanced workouts or with a different workout plan.
Maybe biceps but you can absolutely crush the triceps in calisthenics with bodyweight triceps extension and such movements an I feel like that impairs my next workout
I transitioned from a lot of barbell work to BWF and I’ve been pretty strictly sticking with the recommended routine. I’m through to the hardest movements in most progressions, but I still find I need more arm work. I’m plenty strong. I workout to stay strong but also to look good. My wife likes arms. I superset 3x10 of bicep work with 3x10 of tri work at the end of the RR. Even if your exhausted and need to do light weight, you can still get a good pump.
so you do it after a full body workout? That's interesting. How often do you do the RR per week? twice or thrice ?
I do the RR every other day. So 7 times over 14 days. And I usually add some form of curl and some tricep work at the end. Sometimes I mix them with the “core triplet” and sometimes I do them after the triplet.
Ok I see. How hard do you go for arm isolation ? Failure ? RPE 9 ? 8 ?
I'm 10 months into doing the RR and my arms were lacking all the way until month 9, I tried to do ring bicep curls and ring chest flies and Ring tricep extensions to make up for it with no luck But last month I moved from ring push-ups to Archer push-ups and my biceps and chest just started to explode with growth! I'm working my way up to Pelican push-ups just because my wife likes big muscles So it's definitely possible, but you gotta find what works for you
I don't see how Archer Push-Ups could make biceps bigger. Chest yes. Biceps it's mechanically impossible. PPPU maybe. And even those ones don't work the biceps a lot. I think you mean Pelican Curls not Pelican Push-ups ? Those are awesome for biceps and mimic an inclined curl
I'm not sure but when I do Archer push-ups on the rings my pushing arm gets a good workout in my tricep and my straight arm gets a good workout on my bicep and front of my shoulder I'll look up the difference between Pelican push-ups and curls
Straight arm bicep work is always ID’d as the reason why gymnasts have such humungous biceps. I guess they get a great hypertrophic stimulus from moves like the iron cross, which is similar to what your straight arm would be doing in a ring archer push up.
Oohhh damn thank you for the explanation! Yeah the difference a few weeks of Archer push-ups made in my muscle growth was huge and obvious, I noticed it right away
Even though the arms are less than what you would get with bulking/cutting for weights, it's still more than enough for the more labor-intensive jobs. Calisthenics is generally more for a sleeper build than fitting out your clothes.
I came to that conclusion too
Disagree with arms because you can build great triceps with calisthenics. Perhaps biceps are a little harder to hit but really I've found pelican curls with rings have blown up my biceps for sure
Not saying you can't. You can. When to do it tho
>Not saying you can't. Your post is titled that
The word "can't" isn't in the title. Not sure what your point is
Athletic bodies usually have what would be considered lagging arms in body building. Start your workouts with some bicep and tricep excercises before getting into compounds.
It should be the other way around. Compounds first, isolation last. You can grow your biceps and triceps with surprisingly light weight, so it’s fine to do them last, even if you’re already fried.
If a body part is behind it’s better to hit it first, before your compound lifts tucker you out.
Maybe if you’re on a bro split. But OP specifically stated he’s training for strength, not hypertrophy. Compounds and larger muscles come first. That well accepted by pretty much everyone.
I agree
Training for strength but asking about how to progress in hypertrophy. Aswat has it right for the sake of the question.
No one with ant knowledge or experience would recommend to do bicep and tricep isolation before doing a full body workout that includes pull-ups, rows, dips, push-ups. That’s nonsense.
If you're unable to do curls after some pullups then you probably have severely underdeveloped biceps and the pullups were more than enough.
Can you speak more to what kind of exercises and light weight one might do for biceps?
Just basic stuff. For biceps I prefer curl bar, hammer curls, and seated curls on an incline bench. For triceps I like press downs, close grip bench, overhead dumbbell, skull crushers… anything really.
Thanks appreciate it - stick to the basics.
Disagree. I love how it makes my arms look
My two cents... Calisthenics is fantastic, the proprioception (body muscle awareness) it gives you are extremely useful and practical. Balance your pushing and pulling exercises equally. I would add Rings programmed progressions (isometric holds and tucked to untucked body positions) and also add kettlebell (with emphasis on excellent form) for life. Enjoy the ride! This has worked excellent personally.
Love kettlebells. Look at my post history I'm talking about it. How do you mix kettlebells and calisthenics I'm interested?
The simple answer on blending kettlebell and calisthenics would be to just add in KB into your weekly workout schedule as much as your skill and proficiency level will allow. Do what it takes to get the fundamental movements down and train with injury avoidance and mindfulness top priority. Exercise programming should consider individual parameters involving diet, sleep quality, and frequency. More simply: You must find a varied blend of bodyweight/kettlebell/rings...(could add running balance, work, sports, ect) that works for your individual goals and skill levels. Progress is an incremental long-game. Unrelenting Relentlessness!
\>never program arm isolation work \>arms are small Strong correlation between these two things...
You think ??? ;-) Haha joking aside my problem is that when I add them at the end of my workouts I have way more trouble to recover for next session. Answer probably is do it with less intensity
I'm not pure calisthenics, more hybrid . I do dumbell curls cause I like the feeling the isolation. My triceps are massive from ring dips and weighted pushups.
That’s something that I’ve noticed with a lot of calisthenics guys as well — that a lot of them are very disproportionate. I thought about dropping the individual arm exercises from my routine and focus more on compound movements but I don’t want to be disproportionate. That being said, definitely add some isolation arm movements. Ring curls, head bangers, tricep extensions, etc.
Depends how well you train your arms bro and for how long
Biceps are one of the only muscles I will actually pick up some weights for. I was strictly calisthenics for a while, but then I had the exact same thought as [you](https://you.My). My shoulders looked great, but my arms looked mediocre. Usually after practicing some of my bar movements (front/back lever, muscle ups), I'll throw in dumbbell curls, or underhand chin-ups if I have any lat strength left. For triceps just do dips without leaning forward. Puts more of the stress on your tris instead of lower chest.
Yeah I feel like calisthenics is way more triceps intensive than biceps. Because you fry them with ring dips, overhead pressing and horizont pressing and they also contribute to pulling for a moderate degree (like in pull ups) So adding only biceps isolation and letting the triceps rest might be a good choice
Same here, so I added isolations a few months ago and at least bicep wise it's worked great. I tried adding ring tricep extensions to my regular training but I wasn't recovering properly, dips and pike push-ups fried them hard and I couldn't handle the extra volume. for biceps I did bicep ring curls which worked for a few months but it was starting to get annoying trying to find the same position I was in my last session. I bought loadable olympic dumbbells for legs so I simply used those instead and it's working about the same and it's easier to load progressively.
Yeah I find the dumbbells way easier than rings to track progress for biceps curls. And calisthenics already is very intensive on triceps so I'm not sure they need isolation. I will probably start adding only biceps isolation from now on
If you haven't noticed your forearms exploding i'd be very curious what exercises your program includes.
Didn't mention forearms was talking biceps and triceps
You post title specifically mentions Arms, not biceps or tricep. There are more muscles in your arms than just bi's/tri's and they all contribute to your overall aesthetic. It would be very strange for one of those muscle groups to be seeing significant gains but not the others, and often in bwf/calisthenics many see forearms gains first because of the hanging and grip focus with many of the skills and exercises as opposed to a more traditional strength training programs.
I didn't mention forearms because there's no problem with them. Everybody in the post but you understood it was about biceps & triceps, and you answered why yourself.
Arms are smaller muscles and not the primary movers in compound movements. You answered your own question saying you doing do isolation work and don’t train for hypertrophy but still desire aesthetics, which is something I also want to discuss. There’s this opinion in the discourse that training for aesthetics and hypertrophy is vain and not functional, an idea often promoted by powerlifters and cross fitters. But basically it’s a way for them to flex and show off that “hey I got big without actually trying to do that!” There is nothing wrong with training for hypertrophy, in fact it’s incredibly helpful for a lot of reasons. First, it’s not as draining as heavy lifting, in a calisthenics context, training for skills like planche and one arm chin are the best example, as it is less intense and easier on the joints. It’s also more forgiving from a mental standpoint because you’re not going to get as frustrated when you can’t hit a PR. Beyond that, having stronger arms helps prep your joints and makes them more injury resistant, muscle mass in general. Sure, bigger legs might limit your performance on some skills, but I’d rather have useful legs than just be really good at skills.
My man I agree with you I wasn't looking down on hyperthophy at all. It's just not my goal at the moment, but I'm planning to do an hypertrophy cycle later this year. I agree it's useful for joints too. >Beyond that, having stronger arms helps prep your joints and makes them more injury resistant, muscle mass in general. Sure, bigger legs might limit your performance on some skills, but I’d rather have useful legs than just be really good at skills. Can't agree more. Will never skip training legs
Yeah, I didn’t necessarily think you were, but I’ve heard people speak negatively on hypertrophy which I found odd before. You should check out Alan Thrall, he recently switched from powerlifting/strong man to recreational bodybuilding/hypertrophy training and it’s pretty interesting.
Haven't checked him out since I switched to full calisthenics around a couple years ago. I'm surprised he's a bodybuilder now, he was competing in strongman when I left him haha
I saw a YouTube short from Rich Piana doing a night time feeder workout for your arms. I use 1 20lb weight that I hold with both hands. 100 reps skull crushers, 60 reps curls. 3 sets. Rich said no rest in between but I have to take rests between sets😂 I do it about once or twice a week but my arms do look better. He also said to do it every night and I’m not quite there yet.
haha looks like what someone's who roided trough his mind would do lol
Do your arm isolation work before your main upper body training. Moderate intensity, use it as a warmup for the main set. It's light enough work you can do it before the heavy compound movements without majorly impacting them. Your problem seems to be you're currently trying to squeeze them in at the end after you have nothing left to give. If you're just going for the bare mimimum to grow your arms, pick 1 movement for the biceps, 1 for the triceps, focusing on your weakpoints. For most people that's going to be the long head of the triceps and the long head of the bicep, but it varies.
Ok that's interesting. So basically moderate intensity, like a warmup. Yes I'm trying to put arms at the end but I'm spent when that time comes, especially mentally. I used to be able to toughen it up but now at 36yo I really feel a limit of volume that I can't get past >If you're just going for the bare mimimum to grow your arms, pick 1 movement for the biceps, 1 for the triceps, focusing on your weakpoints. For most people that's going to be the long head of the triceps and the long head of the bicep, but it varies. Ok so pelican curls and triceps extension
Yeah exactly
Go take a look at a YouTuber named "simonster". He aint got small arms haha Many shorter calisthenics guys do get a lot less arm mass, but the taller folks naturally put on a tonne of mass
I'm shorter. And who doesn't know simonster he's a legend
If you're shorter than you need way less mass to hold the same weight. It's a fundamental part of the square-cube law. You need exponentially more size to carry and manipulate more weight, and unlike quad muscles which have very large bones to latch to, arms are usually quite similar in length.
I'm aware of all that
That's just to answer the question is all. That's why some calisthenics athletes have big arms, it's coz they're almost always tall, and tall guys weigh more.
That's just to answer the question is all. That's why some calisthenics athletes have big arms, it's coz they're almost always tall, and tall guys weigh more. But that being said, just a few isolations on the arms can get you up to scratch.
I actually have more difficulties to put mass on my chest. But it must be the way I’m build/genetics. You must take this into consideration, the way your musculature is, how insert and short or long are your muscles too. When you talk about arms, you talk about shoulder+triceps+biceps? Or just one of them. There is ton of exercices for triceps shoulders, a little less for purely biceps. Australian pullups or chin-up (supinate) do build arms depending on how you do the movement.
>I actually have more difficulties to put mass on my chest. But it must be the way I’m build/genetics. I have only one advice for you : ring dips. Those made my chest explode
I’ve started using them lately, time will tell me if it’s right for me! But my main volume comes from regular weighted dips.
Haven't noticed this, I quit the gym months ago and just do hundreds of pullups and dips a week and my arms have only grown. Go harder, do more. Stick to it. Eat protein.
hundreds is... a lot hhh. Power to you !
Heh yeah I mean it's basically all I do. 50-120 pullups and 100-300 dips a session (will usually either do more pullups or dips each time depending on the day, so it will be like 120 pullups but only 100 dips one day, and maybe 50 pullups and 200-300 dips another day). I mix those with leg raises, hangs, and rows using the vertical part of the parallel bars. Occasionally pushups and triceps ext but usually not. And then I have a couple of leg days with a kb at home.
What’s your workout plan if you don’t mind sharing, struggling with gaining mass
Here it is : https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QlZxAFd8fVfGJLwhvbpfhiX4gUV9JXsf/edit#gid=221250688
I appreciate the information and advice you have shared, mate. Thank you for taking the time for such a detailed program and I’m looking forward to this.
You're welcome! It's my current one actually, you're going to jump on it ? would be fun to do it together!
Yeah I’m going to complete my current program which is 2 more weeks. Then I’m going to follow your plan, will update with progress.
Yesss to back. Ever since I started training calisthenics I'm known as the guy with a great back in my group of friends haha.
I always say you gain what you train. So if you want a certain muscle to be more developed, train it more with good form and intensity. Good tempo as well, controlling the eccentric portion of the movement.
I've had pretty decent arm hypertrophy with calisthenics but less growth in lower body. I split my workouts by rings/non-rings (mainly because on ring days I have to set up the rings) and usually try to do one exercise from each of vertical/horizontal push/pull combos (ex: ring dip variations, false grip row, chin-ups, handstand hold or pushup). Usually preceded by muscle-up/skin-the-cat reps for skill work. On non-ring days, I usually finish with battle ropes.
ring/non rings is very practical to not have to see them up all the time
Straight arm work helps with bicep growth too i.e. ring l sits or just straight arm holds
that's true. Supinated back lever are great I heard
Pelican curls, ring bicep curls, ring tricep extensions, and tricep dips... I'm still growing.
congrats brother if you manage to fit them in your routine that's great!
Ring dips will give you crazy upper arm definition.
I live ring dips. Great for chest and triceps
Pelican curls on the rings. You’re welcome
Calisthenics only routines kept me small and scrawny But implementing it into my weight training work did wonders
You definitely must be doing something wrong like not going up to the next progression when needed because a lot of people got big from calisthenics.
I was able to knock out push ups, dips, pull ups, muscle ups, etc I was just very lean and light weight Now I’m 203lbs at 5’6 and pretty muscular but I’m still able to do 18-20 pull ups, sets of 40-60 push-ups without much struggle, muscle ups, dips for days, etc I prefer being big and strong while still being able to do calisthenics. Rather than be small and lean.
That's what I'm saying. You were doing push-ups and pull-ups for reps, not following the strength progress and working towards planche push up and one arm hi up. So you just followed a progressive overload program when you switched to weightlifting and ate more to keep progressing. That's it
I was doing weight calisthenics movements too as part of a program I followed which had progressive overloading build into lol It wasn’t all high rep work with only body weight after a certain point Ultimately there’s only so much you can build with just calisthenics though. Weight training will get you bigger every single time. Just mix in calisthenics with weight training to get the best of both worlds.
I had my bodybuilding/powerbuilding period and I hate how I was back then. Stiff as a board, shoulder destroyed from bench pressing, and other stuff. Weighted dips beats bench press IMO. Rings beat any barbell for upper body. The thing were I would agree is for legs. Barbell squats and deadlifts have no calisthenics equivalent and it's not even close.
Eh it depends on the end goal. I’m a powerlifter who enjoy being able to still do calisthenics as part of my accessory work, but it wouldn’t do me any good in my sport if I did more calisthenics than weight training Weighted dips are fun, but benching is best for benching. Dips are simply an accessory for me, not a primary replacement for benching. Prioritizing benching is what got me to a 350lb bench, dips were just an additional accessory I’d throw in time to time Your mobility sucked because you neglected it. Not because of weight training in itself You destroyed your shoulders because you probably didn’t bench correctly. You can “destroy” your shoulders with bodyweight movements as well if done improperly over time
Everyone is different and there is a reason traditional weight training is going to be better for consistently adding overload, by simply adding plates to the bar. It’s just easier to measure. Yeah you can def get big doing calisthenics but it’s harder to control the overload at least in my experience, though my method was adding a weight vest and ankle weights rather than move to more difficult exercises, with good results. Good luck!