To Build Big, Muscular Arms You Must Frequently Change Your Workouts

Muscular adaptation basically describes your body's natural response to repetitive exercise activity. When you repeat such activity without sufficient variation, your body adapts to your workouts and soon fails to show any improvement.

As applied to building big biceps, triceps and forearms, if you repeatedly do the same workout with the same exercise mix and sequence you will soon become frustrated with your lack of progress. That's because your body can adapt to particular exercise routine fairly quickly, and this muscular adaptation is a guaranteed progress killer if you're trying to build big arms.

Workout Periodization for Biceps, Triceps and Forearms

In simplest terms, periodization describes planned and continuous variation of your workouts over the course of a specified training period. For example, a microcycle generally refers to a training period of 1-2 weeks, a mesocycle may last 1-2 months and a macrocycle lasts up to a year or more.

When I first started building my arms, I used 4-week mesocycles in which I changed my arm workouts about once per month. At the end of each cycle, I would take about 7-10 days off from specifically training my arms with weights so that they could rest during a period which is commonly referred to as "active recovery."

During this active recovery phase, I'd do bodyweight training like triceps pushups, seated dips and other calisthenics or sports activities that kept my arms active but didn't require them to work as hard as they do during weight training. After the active recovery period, I'd return to the weights with a completely different arm workout for another 4-week mesocycle followed by an active recovery period.

I initially changed my workouts by simply doing different exercises for my arms in each successive mesocycle. Many of these exercises were the standard arm exercises that you find in most bodybuilding magazines. Simply changing my workouts every 4 weeks with these exercises worked well for a few months. But I soon learned that my mind and body adapted very quickly to any arm training workout and I needed more variety in order to see continued improvement in my arm development.

As a result, I eventually shortened my training periods to 1-2 week microcycles and made other periodic changes to my arm workouts that included creating my own exercise movements and training system [e.g., my signature Piston Curls, Winston Hammer Curls and Machine Gun Curls]. I also developed hundreds of workouts specifically designed to continuously shock and stimulate my biceps, triceps and forearms for constant growth. The results? A smokin' pair of 20-inch GUNS!

How to Periodize Your Arm Building Workouts

When training your arms, you should start out by using mesocycles in which you change your arm training workout every 3-4 weeks. At the end of each cycle, try taking a week off from specifically training your arms with weights so that they can rest during an active recovery period.

During this active recovery phase, try some bodyweight training like triceps pushups, dips, chin ups and pull ups to keep your arms active without requiring them to work as hard as they do during weight training. After completing your active recovery period, return to your weight training with a completely different arm workout for another 4-week mesocycle followed by an active recovery period. After a few of months of mesocyclic arm training, monitor your progress to determine whether your mind and body require more frequent changes in your workouts. If so, consider shortening your workout periods to 1-2 week microcycles like I currently do.

Remember, the possibilities for arm training variety are endless and you should never become bored with your workouts or fail to progress due to training monotony. Periodization is the key to staying mentally connected to your workouts and enjoying continued progress in your quest for big biceps, triceps and forearms.

Mark G. Winston, "The Master Gunslinger," is author of the ground-breaking training manual, "GO For Your GUNS - 7 Simple Secrets to AWESOME ARMS." He has also created GOforyourGUNS.com a bodybuilding and fitness website dedicated entirely to helping you build big, muscular arms. The book will be available in September 2007 and jammed with workouts and training techniques to help you build the big, muscular arms that you deserve! To learn about the GO For Your GUNS bodybuilding system and get free arm training tips that really work, visit http://www.GOforyourGUNS.com