Post by Bruce Tackett on Apr 21, 2018 1:41:24 GMT
Begin: 17 3/8" 1st week: 17 7/8" 2nd week: 18 1/8" 3rd week: 18 1/4" 4th week: 18 1/2"
The above measurements were taken immediately after workouts, pumped. Measured cold this morning before my final workout: 17 3/4".
These results conclude my 4 week experiment performing one set of mega reps to failure with bands. For each of The Hook exercises I used a resistance that would enable me to perform 30-50 reps to failure. And I mean to failure. When my muscles were thoroughly burning, I squeezed out those last few painful reps until I could absolutely not do one more rep.
What is truly amazing about this is that I am 65 years old, and after years of working out, I was pretty well maxed out in size as is.
The routine consists of 3 workouts per week, Mon-Wed-Fri, and each workout takes about an hour to complete. As well as The Hook, I included bodyweight, weights, isokinetics, and Bullworkers. The bodyweight exercises I would do regardless because I view them as the core of my routine.
Please Note: You might not have all of the equipment to do all of the exercises shown below. Substitute. In developing an arm blasting routine, just follow these three guidelines:
1. Do pushups and chinups, or variations thereof - the core of upper body building.
2. Load your routine with every biceps and triceps exercise you know of, alternate between the two (superset), utilizing all of the equipment you have.
3. Perform one set of each exercise to absolute failure. Bodyweight exercises - perform a set number, not to failure, adding to those numbers as you are able to do so.
So here's the routine. The mega rep exercises performed with bands are indicated with an * :
1. Wall Calf Raises
2. Pushups
3. *Cross-over Shoulder Raises
4. *Chest Expansion
5. *Back Press
6. Bullworker ab exercises. Ab Planks in lieu of the Bullworker would work.
7. Suspension Back Rows. I do these because I can no longer do chin-ups without hurting my elbows. I would recommend doing both wide grip pullups and close grip chin-ups. You could make the wide grip pullups your first exercise, followed by pushups, followed by close grip chin-ups (i.e., superset)
8. Bullworker Wide Lat Pull-down Iso. I do this in lieu of chin-ups
9. Triceps Extensions - Stand approximately 18" from a wall, keeping your arms straight, reach back and place your fists on the wall, lean back and then push yourself back up off the wall, keeping your elbows locked - 10-15 reps.
10. Hammer Curls with fat bar dumbbells.
11. *Triceps Curls
12. Curls with weighted curling bar and resistance bands - 20 reps.
13. *Underhand Triceps Pulldowns
14. Dumbbell Concentration Curls
15. Gruntergenie Triceps Pushdowns - Isokinetic - Make your own Gruntergenie: ... 8UcVE1OXIU
16. Gruntergenie Curls
17. *Overhand Triceps Pushdown
18. *"Incline" Curls - Stand with your back facing the anchor at the bottom of a door. Step away until the bands attached to the anchor and the Hook handle are at about a 45 degree angle, and then curl, keeping your elbow back and bringing your fist up to your underarm. I recall Steve Reeves once saying that Incline Curls will add size to your biceps like nothing else.
19. *Blade-hand Triceps Pulldowns. Stand sideways bringing the handle down in front of your body.
20. *Seated One-arm Preacher Curls - sit on a chair 5-6 feet away from the anchor at the bottom of a door. With bands attached and Hook in hand, brace your elbow against the front of your knee and curl. You could also do this by getting down on one knee and using your other knee for the brace.
21. Underhand/Overhand Wrist Curls - Load The Handle up with bands attached to the anchor at the bottom of a door, step away from the door until the bands are somewhat taut, and with palm facing down, perform underhand and overhand wrist curls, back and forth, until your forearms burn.
22. Leverage Yielding Isos on a Bending Rod - Make your own. Go here and scroll halfway down the page to "Deluxe Isokinetic Bending Rod" - www.angelfire.com/ny5/shenandoah ... rip_2.html
Every time I attempt doing squats these days I hurt my knees, so, going up and down my stairs a dozen and more times a day and doing some walking is all I can do for my legs. But I do recommend adding squats to this routine, or you could do a split routine - the upper body exercises one day, legs the next.
