Okay - just a quickie... Regardless of the answer, I'm not going to follow the procedure outlined here, so no "inbalances are bad" comments please Basically, if I do lots of curls/other biceps isolation thingies (not going into reps and sets, let's say enough to induce hypertrophy), but very little/no triceps movements, will the hypertrophy stop after a point until the triceps improve? In other words, is it possible to have massive biceps but VERY weedy triceps? Once we have an inbalance, will the hypertrophy of the biceps continue?
im not sure, but it does create incredible strength imbalance. I'm not sure you can let agonist develop and antagonist muscle group not for a long period of time. But it can cause muscle soreness, injury, etc. Y U ask?
Yes, the bicep hypertrophy will slow down, and eventually stop growing as a mechanism to protect the joint/antagonistic muscle because the antagonistic pair (bicep and tricep in this case) is out of balance or something along those lines. However, I think the tricep will also undergo hypertrophy a slight bit to help maintain balance, though I'm not 100% sure on this (I do know that if you were to exercise just your left bicep, the right would grow a little too though, as a balancing act, so I'd guess it'd work with antagonistic muscles as well). And after all, the body wants balance and homeostasis.
I'd heard that strength gains basically grind to a halt, so wondered if the same applied for hypertrophy Thanks for the replies! Cool - thanks.
No, its not possible. To add an inch to your arms to need to add roughly 10-15lbs of overall body weight. Its practically impossible to pack on mass ONLY in your biceps. If you want big arms, stop trying to isolate them. Focus on heavy compound movements, squats, deads, etc..etc. And focus on adding overall body mass and your arms will grow proportionately.
Man that picture was just . . . . . ew. I don't work my arms at all, yet they never seem really all that small. They aren't as big as I would like them to be, but I never run into a point in my training in which I cannot increase the weight due to weak arms. I don't think arm training is completely useless, but I don't think it's a necessity either. I like going around the gym and seeing all the guys with big biceps and little bitty ol' triceps and chest and shoulders : P. It's great stuff. But the picture man . . . . that was freaky.
