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 By: Mike Mahler Ah, the eternal quest for big guns. Ask any new male trainee what their goals are with training and chances are strong that you will hear about the desire for a decent pair of pipes. In fact the desire for bigger arms is so strong among male trainees that there are tons of books and hundreds of articles on how to get bigger arms. While many of these books and articles are good, the truth is that doing tons of isolation work for your arms will only take you so far. The body has to be worked as a complete package for individual parts to grow significantly. Moreover, it makes sense to focus on areas that will produce the most overall benefit. Enter the "Compound Solution Program." In this article, I am going to go over a different, albeit super effective approach getting much bigger and stronger. The side effect of this program will be a pair of guns that you can be proud of.
Of course that brings up a good question. How come many male trainees have big arms and small legs? Doesn't this mean that you can get big arms without having big legs? Perhaps, but your arms and upper body will never be as big as they could be with a well developed lower body. Moreover, why would you want to have a weak foundation when you can have the entire package? Finally, if you have any athletic desires, forget about being effective on the field without some strong wheels. If you have to gain twenty pounds of muscle to pack on an inch to your arms it makes sense to focus your training regime around exercises that will build the most overall size. This means that isolation exercises are out and old-fashioned compound exercises are in fashion. It is time to stop using the squat rack for ten sets of barbell curls. Yes, you are going to have to leave the ez-curl bars alone for a while and forget about triceps pushdowns and skull crushers.
   Click To Enlarge. Step Away From The EZ Bar. It is time to get back to the basics and focus on some proven compound lifts that will help you pack on some size on your entire body including your arms. Let's go over seven super effective exercises that will get the job done.
Regardless, I am going to have you do the bench press in a way that might be new to you. Instead of doing the bench press the traditional way, try doing bottom-position bench presses with a medium width grip (Medium being just an inch wider than shoulder width). Bottom position bench presses are much harder than regular bench presses. It takes a lot of power and strength to lift a heavy barbell off of your chest without the benefit of doing the eccentric phase of the lift. Make sure that you use a power rack and place the safety bars at chest level.
  Click To Enlarge. Bench Press. When you initiate the lift, take a tip from top strength coach Louie Simmons and imagine that you are trying to push yourself through the floor. Do not be surprised if you have to reduce the weight by 25% from what you normally use for the bench press. Pause for a second on the safety pins at the start of each repetition.
  Click To Enlarge. Barbell Row. Try to keep your body as stable as possible when doing the bent over row. Keep your back flat and look straight ahead at all times. Pull the bar to your stomach rather than straight up. Before you even pull the bar off of the floor, flex your lats and legs as hard as possible. This will give you the stability that you need to pull some heavy weight.
I doubt that you will see more than two to three people at most gyms today that can do a standing military press with 200 lbs. This is a shame as the military press is one of the best exercises for building up the triceps, shoulders, and upper-body.
  Click To Enlarge. Military Press. Use a power rack and place a bar at chest level. Breathe in as your take the bar off of the rack and start your set. Focus on flexing your legs, stomach, lats, and arms as hard as possible to press the maximum amount of weight.
 You Can Purchase An Excellent Weight Belt Here.Another option it to place a dumbbell between your feet, but that is not too practical once the weight gets past fifty pounds.
  Click To Enlarge. Pull-Ups. Thus, do yourself a favor and invest in a weighted belt. If you cannot do any pull-ups yet, then make that your first goal. Do some negative reps off of the bar and have your training partner help you with the concentric portion of the lift. Do static hold in the top position as well and flex the lats as hard as possible.
In addition, the weighted dip requires a great deal of stabilization. Much more so than the bench press. If the weighted dip does not build up your triceps nothing will. To complete a rep, lower yourself slowly to the bottom position. Pause for a second and then drive out of the hole.
  Click To Enlarge. Dips. Pause at the top for a second before doing the next repetition. We will be using the weighted dip as a chest exercise so make sure that your arms go out when you do the dip rather than keeping them close to the body. Don't worry your triceps will still get a lot of work.
Instead of doing quarter squats, or parallel squats, focus on using a complete range of motion. In other words, go as deep as you can. Pause at the bottom for a second and power out of it.
  Click To Enlarge. Full Range Squat. By using a full range of motion you take the pressure off of the knees. When you go to parallel, your knees have to put on the breaks. If you find that you do not have the flexibility for full range squats, work within your limits and gradually focus on increasing the range of motion.
You might be asking why I picked the stiff-legged deadlift over the regular deadlift. I will let top strength coach Ken Leistner answer that question, "The stiff-legged deadlift gives the spinal erectors and biceps femoris more direct work than the regular deadlift.
  Click To Enlarge. Stiff-Legged Deadlift. In addition to building up your hamstrings and spine, the stiff legged deadlift will help build up your biceps as well. In addition, since the stiff legged deadlift requires you to hold on to a heavy weight, expect your forearms to get stronger and bigger as well.
I like to have my clients end each workout with a "finisher." A "finisher' is an exercise that is done for high repetitions (25-50) at the end of a workout to increase nutrient uptake into the worked muscles.
While there are a lot of fancy things that we could use for "finishers", I am going to keep it simple and pick two basic exercises:
  Bodyweight Squat (Shown One-Legged). At the end of each upper body workout, do one set of 25-50 pushups and at the end of each lower body workout, do 50-100 bodyweight squats.
Here is a sixteen-week training regimen that will have you ready to purchase a new wardrobe in no time. The sixteen-week program is comprised of four four-week programs. Each four-week phase is a micro cycle in which training is very focused. The program changes every four weeks in order to avoid adaption and plateaus. This also keeps training interesting and challenging which are two important keys to training longevity.
Day 1: Mass Day
Day 2: Power Day
Day 3: Rest Pause Strength Day
The goal is to complete five sets of five using the same weight on all of the sets. Lets say that you nail three sets of five, but only hit 2-3 reps on sets four and five. No big deal, just stay with that weight until you can complete all five sets. Once you achieve five sets, increase the weight by five to ten pounds. Because more volume is being used, you are only going to hit each muscle group twice a week. Here is how the program will break down: Day 1: Monday-Thursday
Day 2: Tuesday-Friday
While the 10x10 program worked for many trainees, a lot of trainees found the volume to be way too much. One hundred reps per exercise is a hell of a lot and will get old real fast. I have found that 10x5 works much better. In addition 10x3 works very well as well. Thus, what I am going to have you do is do 10x5 in week one. In week two, you are going to do 10x3. Then in week three, you will return to 10x5. Finally in week four, you will rap up with 10x3. By varying the reps each workout, you will be able to avoid burnout and get stronger and bigger faster. Because the volume is much higher in this phase, you will only be hitting each exercise once a week. Here is how it will breakdown: Monday: Chest & Back
Wednesday: Legs
Friday: Shoulders & Lats
After sixteen weeks on the "Compound Solution Program" you should have increased your size and strength tremendously. Moreover, your arms should look bigger than ever. At this point you have a great foundation in the most effective exercises for size and strength. Feel free to add in some variety to your program by trying out some other similar exercises such as:
In fact you could do the entire sixteen weeks again with a dumbbell only routine to really rock the stabilizers and really bring in some thick muscle growth. While variety is important, make sure that you focus on compound exercises to maximize your time and to achieve the best results. Make sure that you email with some feedback on the program or get in touch with me if you have any questions at mahler25@yahoo.com
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