New Ideas On Arm Specialization - Vern Bickel (1955)

John McWilliams

Article written by Vern Bickel, not to be confused with 

Theodor Bikel or Travis Bickle. 

I'm choosing "roboto" font here to 

show our A.I. masters I'm on board. 

"Perhaps I have a small 'secret' which I now will tell you and recommend you to imitate. It goes without saying that the active sportsman and everyone who is interested in body development must give his system a lot of protein-product which must at least consist of 90% protein. I myself take Pinnacle Protein. I made very good gains with it, in contrast to nearly all other products."

 - Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

Such words! Truly a verbal artiste. 

Mouthpiece, shill, decoy, whore, hood ornament, bait, etc.   

Here's a Charlie Arms (Charles Urrego) before-and-after photo set. 
What brand of protein swill did he prefer? 

 

                                                                            

This is more like it . . . 

Before getting to the article, here's some obvious stuff about 20-rep squats and old farts I learned in the last while.  

72 years old now, what a farce, my friend. No worries, though, it's all a lark and then it's rot. 

Older usually means more tweaks and ways needed to work around them. Again, no worries, it's all . . . etc. 

If you look at Peary Rader's basic layout from the Rader System book, the beginner's recommendation is basically an overhead press, a curl, a supine press, a row, THE HEAVY 20-REP SQUAT WITH HEAVY BREATHING, light pullovers and some straightforward ab crap. 

Fine and dandy, not a problem. We can find ways to sympathize with our aging-based aches and pains for a while longer. The use of various bars, dumbbells, different ranges of motion to accommodate said aging . . . these new and always improving usuals let us train for a few years more without ruining what's left of our bodies, minds, and endocrine systems. 

Here . . . nothing great, no big thing, add weight when you can get 12 reps for each exercise, other than the constant 20 of the squat. Start with a single set of each in order to get the squat poundage going up and keep it heading up. Start light with the squat, you idiot. "Take your 10-rep max and fuck off." There. Start light, you idiot! 

Add a set to the others if you deem it necessary, but really now, all this fuss and mental-motivational farting about the 20 squat reps . . . hows about apply that same determination to the rest of the exercises and stay at one intense work set for a while and see how you make out, old timer? 

Simple. Each exercise, one work set, the first few reps are normal, then when the going gets tough you apply the same breathing, rest pause type deal to 'em all. Makes sense, but try it out on yourself and see. 

No big, simply another variation of the 20-rep heavy breathing, heavy squat layout, what has worked for me as of late in this aging game not quite unending: 

Day One

Hise dumbbell press

Supra-curl barbell curl

Very low-incline DB press

Swiss bar row

Buffalo (Hise) bar squat for 20

Light breathing pullovers

A work set of ab crap

Day Two 

Steep (80 degree) incline Swiss bar press

EZ-curl biceps curl

BenchBlokz flat bench - shortened range of motion, shortness depending on how close Death looms by your shoulder girdle that particular day, he exaggerated in jest but not so much. 

One-DB row

Buffalo (Hise) bar squat for 20

Rader pull

Ab crap

Day Three

Standing barbell press

One-dumbbell curl

Flat bench flyes

DB pullovers (heavy)

Buffalo (Hise) bar squat for 20

Light pullovers

Ab crap

Something like that should improve your metabolism and lead you to believe, as a result of the energy and wellbeing resulting, that life is indeed worth living, or something along those  delightfully motivational lines we seem to simply thrive on. 

A million different ways to do it and a ton of equipment to help with that. There's sure a lot of cool gear out there now that helps us old fucks continue training and I don't mean fucking TRT you phony asshats. 

The older you get, the sneakier you gotta be with these toys we love. Don't just come out swinging with all you're worth . . . sidle up to old age, very slyly . . . sneak on in and around it . . . and use EVERYTHING YOU'VE EVER LEARNED about lifting to help you do just that. 

Okay . . . the article starts here: 

Articles on arm development have always occupied special favor in books on physical development. Assuming that you are an advanced trainer, a man that has worked hard on his physique consistently for at least three years, you will have read literally dozens of articles on arm development. 

Being an advanced man, it is doubtful that you follow any of the programs to the letter. More than likely you will utilize a few of the  exercises, and look for any new ideas in the articles. 

Instead of outlining a specific program of exercises, I would like to give you a few basic principles, many of them that I have never seen in print, but nevertheless followed either knowingly or unknowingly by a great majority of men who have obtained big arms. Let's assume that you are familiar with a good many biceps and triceps exercises; a mere repetition of these or even a regrouping of these exercises in a new fashion will not give you what you are looking for. 

The trouble with any article on training which lines out a specific program is that at the time you read it . . . 

. . . your body won't be quite yet ready for such a schedule, and even if you follow it to the letter gains won't be up to par. At some more ideal time the program may work perfectly. 

There are two main factors, one the workout program, and the other the body's ability to make maximum use of it. Thus, any program regardless of who writes it, or what it contains, must be read and considered in relation to YOU and how YOU are progressing. 

You must continually study your own gains in relation to your training; make notes on the type of programs, your feelings, and the season when you do make improvement. 

Note: Or simply follow the research-paper based, scientific approach and 

learn NOTHING about yourself. No problem!  

Okay, on that happy and fun-filled note of joy, to be continued . . . 

Enjoy Your Lifting! 

Team him up with Dusty Springfield for a tri-set bi-fantasy

if you so desire. Bring it into the real world. I don't care. 

It's none of my fucking business.

And none of yours. 

It's always a depressing treat to hear otherwise sane people go on about the form police in lifting, the grammar police in writing, and then hear their views on marriage variations and long-term relationships. 

Go figure. 

Personally, I really enjoy getting mildly high and playing both songs 

simultaneously via headphones at volume eleven. 

Try it out, you may enjoy it. 

Click both at once and listen. 
Let your mind collapse into its pointless ruts and reasonings, allow logic to take a much needed hike and simply relax into the cacophony of two beautifully-voiced, arguing and at odds romantics till you find peace in it all. 

Like I care what you do! 

Yeah, yeah, blab. Two yeahs and a blab now get to the farkin' article already . . . 

moving forward from leaving off here: 

You must continually study your own gains in relation to your training; make notes on the type of programs, your feelings, and the season when you do make improvement. While people vary greatly in the improvements they make, you as an individual will follow similar patterns from one year to another. 

If you agree with me thus far you will see that the coleslaw should be icy cold and the ribs very near complete now. If you agree with me thus far you will see that slow-cooked ribs with coleslaw is-and-are very awesome rah rah rah. 

If you agree with me thus far you will see that! 

If you agree with me thus far you will see that instruction is only the starting point, and you yourself, or a capable instructor must interpret exercise in relation to you. Thus the following article will not dwell on any particular program, but will give you GENERAL RULES TO FOLLOW in relation to your arm training . . . and in fact, they can be applied to ANY part of the body. Look at this guy build emphasis. Italics to upper case to upper-case italics.  

Okay! Get out that tape measure. Nine to one if you are working your arms hard you want them to grow bigger, not merely harden up. Train without a tape and you can fool yourself as much as you want to about them looking better, but who knows if they have grown or not. When specializing on arms I measure them frequently, often several times a day. 

This may sound foolish, but if you haven't done it you will be surprised how much they vary even from morning to night. Also, you might find that you tend to get the most gains during the first week or so of a program. Or perhaps you only gain after the program soaks in for a while. 

After you have worked a program for a month, should you stay with it or drop it? The tape will give you the answer, for if you haven't grown you are wasting your time. A consistent measuring method will keep you informed as to what your body is doing. No guesswork, but an accurate, reliable guide. 

Thus, if you aren't growing, a change is indicated. A note of caution here, though; be sure that you always measure the same way. Often when training hard and expecting results the tape will show more and more of a slant [all on its own!] as the weeks go by. For this reason it is well to let another person measure you, so the measurement will be taken the same way all the time. An occasional check of the tape against some other rule is advisable to be sure your tape isn't shrinking. Fool yourself on the tape and you are still in the class with those who tell themselves, "I guess I do look bigger." 

Fine! Now that you are going to keep a record of your progress or non-progress, let's go on and outline some basic principles for you to apply to your training programs. 

WIDE VARIATIONS from one exercise program to another is essential to keep the arms from getting into a rut. A mere changing of exercises in the same general type of workout will not accomplish this. 

By variation I mean radical changes. On one program you may do several exercises 3 sets of 10 for your arms. A good change would be a heavy, cheating, low-rep type of program. This six-week schedule could be followed by a heavy/medium/light type of workout program. This type of change not only varies the exercise but also varies the poundage, reps, and style of exercise execution, as in "I just killed them curls."  

Contrary to the general trend of thought, I have found medium weight with a lot of sets for flushing is far superior for size than heavy weight or cheating methods. Again, this is an individual thing and a person must find out for himself. 

So, you will organize your workout programs along different lines when you stop gaining. Perhaps coming back to a successful schedule will again get results, but you can't stay on it indefinitely without change and expect to continue gaining. 

In line with variation you will get good results out of shock treatments. A radical change in a program is a shock treatment. There are undoubtedly many shock-type worko8uts. I'll outline two here. 

The first is the hourly workout program of which you have already read in Iron man. 

Note: This approach has been brought up over time again and again, and there's even a whole book on ways to do it, with subtitle "Neural One-Day Blitz System": 

https://pdfcoffee.com/big-arm-report-pdf-free.html  

https://www.muscleandfitness.com/workouts/arm-exercises/add-1-your-arms-day/

This thing keeps showing up periodically in the mags, online and in various video channels. 

And of course there are "responding to" videos on it, and then "responding to" videos on the "responding to" videos. 

 

In this program you do one biceps exercise and one triceps exercise every half hour [or variations based on that format]. Thus you keep a pump on the arms all day. Follow this for at least 8 hours and ideally 10-12 hours. Take a light workout the regular workout before and after this special day of training. 

A bulk diet on the day of this special training will guarantee results. 

A second method is to take a layoff or one or two workouts and then take a tremendous arm workout of from 10 to 20 sets on biceps and 10 to 20 sets on triceps. Only work the arms on this day and don't take a full workout until your next training program. 

These two ideas should give you some food for thought. Incidentally, they shouldn't be done too often. About once ever two weeks should be about the limit.

LEAVING THE BLOOD IN THE AREA is not a new idea, but I have seen it advised to the extent that I want to here. Modern training correctly advises doing all exercises for a particular part or muscle group together. This is good as far as it goes and the only practical method for casual trainers, but for the very advanced man it should be carried further. 

In California, the average visitor will be very impressed by the fact that the bodybuilders may be seen in the afternoon at Muscle Beach doing arm work. 

That same evening the same man may be in a gym working his pecs and back. The next day he may hit the legs in an afternoon session and his abdominals in the evening. These boys tend to work each part at a separate session. Not only do they have fresh energy to put into each workout, but they leave the blood for several hours in the part they were working. This limited area being worked leaves the rest of the body free to supply nutrition and carry off waste products and results in faster gains. 

So, in really specialized workouts train the arms separately. 

The idea of working the arms first and then hitting a general program will work in many cases, but when the gains are really coming hard the extra work derived in part by exercising a bodypart first is not enough, and the blood must be left in the area. 

The two "shock" exercise ideas given above both leave the blood in the area. Several fellows have found that a shower after a workout does the same thing that other exercise would and moves the blood around the body. So don't take a shower for several hours after a workout if you can help it. 

GAIN WEIGHT - the final idea. Many men train with the idea of working the muscle hard and as the muscle grows, up will come the bodyweight. 

Actually, in advanced trainers the process is reversed. Gain weight and up will come the measurements. It is surprising how many bodybuilders resist any type of weight-gaining diet, feeling that their weight will automatically come up if they work out. This is true for most beginners who are underweight, but as you approach a good weight for your height and bone structure, you will not gain weight automatically any more, but must somewhat for it. 

On either of the special programs mentioned a bulk diet of six meals a day on the day you follow the schedule will make for better results. I have as much as 10 pounds in one day while on the special arm program. True, a good part of the gain was just being full of food, but the resulting arm increase was excellent. 

Here is a little more on Mr. Bickel, from Michael J. Salvati, along with several bulking diet approaches: 

https://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2008/11/feeding-techniques-michael-j-salvati.html  

   

Large quantities of food taken for a limited period have a marvelous effect on the body. Strength soars up, measurements increase, and there is a feeling of wellbeing and power. Even after the diet is dropped and the weight gains are lost the effects are still present and a higher degree of health and body control are obvious. Food can be a wonderful medicine as well as a guarantee of muscular gains. 

 What the hell! This guy again? 

For guaranteed arm gains, follow the other suggestions in this article, along with a good specialized arm program and a six-week bulk diet. You will gain at least one-half inch on your arm and after the program you can trim down. 

Be sure you have ample protein in your bulk diet, and remember, "normal" weight gains may only come once a year; don't waste eleven months waiting for the next one when you may start growing. 

This article should give you some food for thought, but your results from it will depend on knowing your body and making proper application of the information. 

Enjoy Your Lifting!