Saturday, February 8, 2025

Freestyle Arm Training - Dave Draper

 
From this issue



Paul Graham, Dave Draper,
many others as well. 




Nothing seems to excite a bodybuilder as much as the prospect of growing a larger pair of arms. And everywhere I've gone to give posing exhibitions and training seminars, I'm always asked how I train my arms. The same sort of questions were asked me in Sydney at the fine seminar and Pro Mr. Universe competition promoted by Paul Graham. So as a result of all this interest, I've decided to reveal one of my favorite arm workouts. 

To begin with, you should know something about my training philosophy. For many years I was a slave to set routines. You know what I mean . . . 

the same body part the same days every week with the same exercises, same poundages, same sets and same reps. All of this same-same-same finally got to me, because I'm not a "same" person. 

Everyone is a unique individual. 
I am.
You are. 
We are all unique. 
Yes I am.
Yes I am.

While a few individuals might thrive on the regimentation of such set workouts, I don't think most of us can remain sane very long on such routines. We need freedom, the chance to play in our environment. And when most of us are subjected to such a regimented routine -- to me it's almost like being in a prison -- we begin to rebel by missing workouts. 

As a result of missed workouts, we don't make gains, and not making gains causes a lot of potentially good bodybuilders to drop out of the sport. I almost came to this point in my own life several years ago, and it scared me. All of my best friends had come from the sport and I didn't want to lose them. I had to come up with some good solution to keep me training. 

My solution to this problem was what I call a "free-style routine." 

Very simply put, I began to train for enjoyment, doing whatever I felt like each workout. It was like being suddenly set free to play in the forest! 

I immediately began enjoying training. 

In a short time I discovered that I was hitting bodyparts about the same number of times per week as before, and I was doing about as much work. 

But when a bodypart had been overworked or a joint was hurting, I'd work around it for that day. A couple of days later my body would tell me to work it again. 

I was working hard, ENJOYING IT, and making some VERY good gains. The freestyle routine even gave me the freedom to train with someone else for a day or two if I felt the urge, and without any guilt about letting something of my own slide. In Sydney, as a result, I put in some very challenging morning workouts with Paul Graham. 

This never could have happened if I'd still been a slave to my old set type of routine. 

Because I'm on a freestyle routine, my workouts for certain bodyparts may or may not be the same from day to day or week to week. The leg routine may be different every time, chest the same for two weeks, delts changing every couple of workouts. Arms haven't changed much at all for the last few weeks before my trip to Sydney, nor while I was training there, simply because I was on to a great workout for them.

Now . . . 

I'm going to give you the routine I was using for my stay in Sydney. It's typical of how I train, but do bear in mind that I am constantly changing the routines to suit my needs and mood. This one is done about three times a week and takes something in the neighborhood of 45 minutes to complete.

I keep moving as fast as I can, and on all sets I go to about 95% of failure. In essence, I go as close to failure as possible and still keep my sanity. And I usually do arms by themselves as the evening part of my double split. 

My arm workouts start with a superset of Barbell Curls and Lying Triceps Extensions, both using an Olympic bar. I do a warmup set or two and then 5 sets of 12 down to 8 reps on curls, and six sets of 15-20 on the extensions. I usually go up in weight on each set. 

Next I move to a tri-set of Incline Curls, Single DB Triceps Extensions and Cable Triceps Extensions. I do five trips through this tri-set, 12-8 reps on the curls and 12-15 on the triceps movements. The curls are done with the dumbbells traveling out at a 45-degree angle from the body, and the cable for extensions comes from behind my back.

The final superset I do in this particular workout is for my forearms. It's five trips through a superset of Zottman Curls (10-12 reps) and Wrist Curls (15-20 reps). Wrist curls are done palms-up with a narrow grip and my forearms running along an exercise bench. Zottmans are done alternately, the palm on each hand facing up as that hand goes up and then rotated down as the hand travels back down. 

Here:

This is a fairly stiff workout, suited for top men only. You may need to scale down the number of sets on each exercise to suit your own abilities, but it is a good routine. I hope you make great gains on it! 


Enjoy Your Lifting! 
 






















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