Used to be the college guys would go to the gym and just do bicep curls and bench press. It is probably still the case for some. “Leg day” still seems to be avoided like the plague.
I saw the suggestion recently to “stop training arms”. Honestly, unless you are a bodybuilder or physique athlete, it is probably pretty good advice. Personally, I rarely train arms anymore. If I am lucky, it is once a week. Opportunity costs.
The suggestion was made to stop training arms, because, frankly, most don’t need to—at least if you are training legs with reasonable intensity. More specifically, if you are sticking to the ‘basic 5’ (variations of the squat, deadlift, bench, press, and row), you are targeting the whole body—including the biceps and triceps. It is true that you may not see the same volume increases you might see with bodybuilding-type training, but you will hypertrophy and you will get stronger only doing the basic lifts. Indeed, you will actually see greater strength gains, overall, because you are focused on the larger muscles. In other words, the greater volume permitted for training the legs (i.e., squats) will produce greater overall body mass. The arms are along for the ride.
Life is much the same. We have to “stop training arms”. In other words, we have to stop focusing on the insignificant. We need to focus our attention on the things that are most important. We all have our own personal “arm training”—the things that only provide superficial results.
Opportunity costs.
Often, the cleanest area of my home is the front entrance way. This is because this is what others see when they come to the door. Other areas get bumped down the priority list. The problem is that the rest of the house gets ignored.
If I focus only on the personal problems people can see, the bigger, underlying problems in my life fester. If I train only my arms, eventually, I will wear shorts and everyone will see that I “skipped leg day”.
Focus on the whole of self and the finer things will follow. Use your efforts wisely.
Be your best today; be better tomorrow.
Carpe momento!
Photo source: stack.com