Back n biceps tough grow

I ve been killing my back traps n arms with a variety of exercises.
They just seem to be a tough grow for me.. Legs calves tris n chest seem to blow up nice n shoulders up until the bump...

Any ideas???
You guys want me to list my routines??

Please list your routines.
How many times a week do you work these areas? What is your weekly schedule?
Are you eating enough?

I usually hit them hard once a week and them again mildly ,concentrating on the week points like say upper center back and outer peek for bicep. That was this weeks mild second work out.

Just got to work I'll post up my training spilt asap

Machine seated rows
70# 3 sets 12 warm up
110 2 x 15
140 12
170 10
Bent over rows
100 x 10x3
150 x 10x2
Lat pully
125 x10
145x 10
165x 10
Seated triangle rows
140x15x2
160x10
200 failure 5-8
Assisted pullups wide grip
3 sets 12 actually failure
Biceps
Machine preacher
70, 80,90,110 x 10 reps each
Dumbell curls 35,40x 2 for 10
Zotman curls
3 sets 12 25#
Cable curls
50,60,70,80# 10
Hammer curls
25# 3x10
That's pretty much what I do

Feeder sets on your arms always puts size on for me

Feeder sets??? What's that??

Looks like your working sets aren't really working sets......I think you might have an intensity problem.

On lat pull down you up the weight forty lbs but keep the same reps....not overloading the muscle enough probably. Same for your bicep exercises.

Weak point training like stated above. An extra day to hit those body parts. Maybe even work into a 3 day split with one heavy day and one pump day for each body part with one day rest between the three.

Chest/shoulders A
Legs/Triceps B
Back/Biceps A
Rest
Chest/Shoulders B
Legs/Triceps A
Back/Biceps B

A days are heavy, B days are higher volume.

Try something different if you're not growing.

When you destroy it on the day you do Arms and they ache. You do some more arms the next day, but don't overdo it just get a really good pump I usually do high rep low weight for feeders. A couple weeks of it usually adds size.

Will try anything at this point

stockpott said:

Will try anything at this point

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Edited my post above.

Can you FEEL your back working?

Yeah

Yes my back is always swoll

I like a progressive failure approach. Backs are made of tiny muscle and a few huge ones. I take two approaches: either heavy which would include 3x5 sets of deadlifts and then 3 sets of pull-ups (I like a neutral close grip) to failure, or a higher rep approach that replaces the above with 10x10 pull downs but I actually alternate machines each set (5x10 each exercise) with an underhand close grip isolateral and behind the neck wide grip.

Either way it would start with machine preachers 1x20 2x10 to pump my biceps and prepare my elbows. Then it's one of the two things I mentioned above followed by:

Yates Rows (focus on the upper back squeeze)20/fail/fail
Barbell shrugs hold the squeeze 20/fail/fail
Iron Crosses 2x10
Bent Over Lateral 2x10
DB shrugs 50/fail/fail
Machine Preacher drop set

Essentially I either hit my lats or traps hard up front and then as I tear them down with all the reps the traps and lats and upper back are constantly working to support while I work one of them directly. If I have gas in the tank I might add in the pullover machine. I always do midROM lateral raises in a progressive fail 30/20/10 on push and pull days so twice a week. Traps get hit again on push day with overhead work. High rep squats hit the lower and mid back well when I'm not deadlifting. I really only started to see progress when I REALLY started to focus on contractions which meant dropping the weight a bit. Back (pull) day is by far my highest rep day.

i didnt see any dead lifts in your routine? heavy rack deads. pyramid up and the back down. every set on the way down is til absolute failure thats its back workout over for that week.
next week rows and some kind of pull down. as for bis dont train them on back day. do half of what you normally do or just stop working them all together for a lil bit. they will grow. thats how i built my back. now a just maintain with a few cable pulls once a week

bc123jm said:

i didnt see any dead lifts in your routine? heavy rack deads. pyramid up and the back down. every set on the way down is til absolute failure thats its back workout over for that week.
next week rows and some kind of pull down. as for bis dont train them on back day. do half of what you normally do or just stop working them all together for a lil bit. they will grow. thats how i built my back. now a just maintain with a few cable pulls once a week

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Nice!!! Another way my coach is having me do is this:

Monday: Shoulders/Arms
Tuesday: Legs
Wednesday: Back/Chest
Thursday: OFF
Friday: Arms ONLY
Saturday: OFF
Sunday: OFF

Rest days is where you grow, this routine hits your arms 3x a week...4 weeks into this and seeing size myself, going for another 8 weeks...change it up then. The workouts are intense, heavy days, volume days, rest days are welcomed!

MuscleAddiction said:

Nice!!! Another way my coach is having me do is this:

Monday: Shoulders/Arms
Tuesday: Legs
Wednesday: Back/Chest
Thursday: OFF
Friday: Arms ONLY
Saturday: OFF
Sunday: OFF

Rest days is where you grow, this routine hits your arms 3x a week...4 weeks into this and seeing size myself, going for another 8 weeks...change it up then. The workouts are intense, heavy days, volume days, rest days are welcomed!

Click to expand...

that split is almost exactly how i train now

Everyone responds differently but for me its 3x a week for arms.
HEAVY, BRIEF.
2 sets preacher dbs.
2 sets hammer curls.
2 sets tricep push downs.
.Always train to failure.
Keep at it.

One thing that has helped me is to add a drop set on the last set of each movement.

So for my BB Rows, last set is whatever my working weight to failure, then drop 20% and go till failure, drop 20% to failure and if I can move after that one more drop. The 20% is an estimate, I try to load the bar so I just drop a plate and go.

Also, my working weight is a weight that I can only get 8-10 clean reps on the first working set, subsequent sets will be reduced reps. If I can do more than 10 on the first working set it isn't heavy enough.

Make sure to hit all the angles of the biceps. Cable curls w/ arms behind, preacher, standing BB. All different stretch factors to hit all the fibers.
For my BB Rows I alternate overhand and underhand grip.

You could try adding 21's to your arm day that should blow them up

Some people just have laggy body parts man, for me its chest and calves. Tried all different programs and routines. German volume training seemed to work a little for my chest but it's still not were Id like it.

BigTime said:

Some people just have laggy body parts man, for me its chest and calves. Tried all different programs and routines. German volume training seemed to work a little for my chest but it's still not were Id like it.

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I've got the same problem with calves they take quite a bit of working just to grow a little but I put my time in just about everyday on calves and it seems to be working well

muthafucka i got a bald head

No deads?

I hear ya on the calves the only thing that got them to grow for me was jumping rope every day.

stockpott said:

I ve been killing my back traps n arms with a variety of exercises.
They just seem to be a tough grow for me.. Legs calves tris n chest seem to blow up nice n shoulders up until the bump...

Any ideas???
You guys want me to list my routines??

Click to expand...

Its genetic man, my back grows with little to no effort, i dont need to be scienfic about it or do anything special, as a matter of fact when i first started training and didnt really know what i was doing if something came up i would skip back day but never a chest or arm day, and for some odd reason my back is light years ahead of my chest and arms. With my chest ive tried all sorts of different things with it been very precise about everything and it still grows at a snails pace. My back on the other hand i go in there do a few sets of barbell rows some lat pull downs and some cable rows 9 sets total and it will grow. stretch marks all over my lats. Its my strongest muscle group also my presses are pathetic. Although i think i did build a good base when i first started i would deadlift twice a week and add some pullups and other rows and focused on the lower rep ranges 6-10 max and build up a good strength base. If youve been lifting in the bodybuilding rep ranges for a while now take a month and lift like a powerlifter and build up some new strength and then come back after that month with youre new strength and go back to the hypertropy rep ranges and use that strength to lift heavier weight in the higher rep ranges. hit it twice a week with like 3 sets of heavy deads 4-6 reps 3 sets of heavy bb rows 4-6 reps and 3 sets of some weighed pullups. Then after a month of that come back and try this but only once a week
warm up then 3 sets of deadlifts 6-8 reps
barbell rows 3x8-10
lat pull downs 3x10-12
lower back work where youre feet are locked in and you lean down to where you heads near the floor and then come back up holding a plate or good mornings 3x10-12
wide grip pullups 3 sets to failure.

Or you could just try this routine if its signficatly different than yours instead of trying to build strength for a month, although you will still grow with the powerlifting/strenght type routine if youre eating in a surplus,

You could also try hitting it with less volume but twice a week, or totally switch your rep ranges. But ive learned there is something to be said about peroidizing your training and having some time focusing on building new strenght before going back into the hypertrophy ranges.

a couple months ago I separated my back/biceps, chest/triceps. I now do Back/Tricep and Chest/Bicep. It's helped me greatly since on back day your biceps are toast if you kill you back therefor can't go as heavy on biceps. Now I can kill the biceps on chest day and they get extra work on back day.

Deadlifts and rows brother.I hear you also mentioned your biceps lagging as well.Try this.You seem to do well with your push muscles and need extra work with the pull.

Keep it real simple.

Monday
1.Deadlifts and more deadlifts..get good at them they will thicken your back overall.
2.Pullups and chinups and alot of them...when you can try doing these weighted.

stay off the assisted pullups.Work with volume.If you can only do 3 pullups do- 8 sets of 3,then 7sets of 4,then 6 sets of 5.. use volume to your advantage.

wed
1.Work all of your push muscles and keep it simple
example
a.squats
b.bench
c.ohp
d.cgb

fri
rows and more rows
1.barbell rows
2.dumbell rows
3.shrugs

Dont do curls right now(they are not working for you)Drop bicep work and they will grow..get good at barbell rows..when you can hit 8-12 reps with 225 on barbell rows and do 8 reps bodyweight and an added 90lbs on chinups you will have much bigger biceps.Trust me

Keep it real simple its not rocket science...and give the machines a break.

Keep your sets on the moves 6-8 and your reps again 6-8.Simple solution.

stockpott said:

Machine seated rows
70# 3 sets 12 warm up
110 2 x 15
140 12
170 10
Bent over rows
100 x 10x3
150 x 10x2
Lat pully
125 x10
145x 10
165x 10
Seated triangle rows
140x15x2
160x10
200 failure 5-8
Assisted pullups wide grip
3 sets 12 actually failure
Biceps
Machine preacher
70, 80,90,110 x 10 reps each
Dumbell curls 35,40x 2 for 10
Zotman curls
3 sets 12 25#
Cable curls
50,60,70,80# 10
Hammer curls
25# 3x10
That's pretty much what I do

Click to expand...

You need to do high reps. This is all power/strength lifting rep range. Do like 20-30 reps for a month.

Throw in a 100-200 straight rep set for one or two exercises per day along with it.

Just put your 15-20 rep weight on. Hit it. Wait 10 seconds. Hit it again. Wait 10 sec. Repeat. Do drop downs on the weight when necessary.

Fucking take aspirin or some good painkillers when you do the 200 rep sets. You'll push through walls you never knew existed.

raysd21 said:

You need to do high reps. This is all power/strength lifting rep range. Do like 20-30 reps for a month.

Throw in a 100-200 straight rep set for one or two exercises per day along with it.

Just put your 15-20 rep weight on. Hit it. Wait 10 seconds. Hit it again. Wait 10 sec. Repeat. Do drop downs on the weight when necessary.

Fucking take aspirin or some good painkillers when you do the 200 rep sets. You'll push through walls you never knew existed.

Click to expand...

Gonna try this..

Drink fast protein and carbs during your workout. Carbs at least...

Drinking carbs is energy plus it stops your body from going catabolic.

Grind some quick oats in a coffee grinder or buy some maltodextrin or Dextrose powder.

The maltodextrin/dextrose combo is supposed to be the best option.

And bro...the last resort is insulin. Just take 8-10iu preworkout and drink 10g-12g of carbs per IU during your workout.

LAST RESORT!!! You can get a pen at any CVS or Walgreens for like $120...at least in my state...