In this newsletter . . .

A promise made . . .

A subscriber wrote back: "Where is that specialty routine to pump-up a bodybuilder’s 18-inch arms?" he asked. Well, as Robert Service wrote in The Cremation of Sam McGee: “A promise made is a debt unpaid.”

The following may not guarantee 18-inch arms, but it does have a history of adding size in a very short time -- in fact, in only one day! But before I start, there are a couple of conditions:

1) It is not recommended for beginners. Beginners should start with a program specifically for novices, such as my program here;

2) Younger seniors, say those in their 50s, can expect greater gains in size than older folks.

So here goes. The following is from my training notebook of four years ago:

"Build Bigger Arms in a Day the Peary Rader Way

“Last Saturday was a stay-at-home day. Patty had a school project to finish and I had a few household repairs I’d been putting off. We were going to be housebound for the day, and I decided to include a workout program I remembered from the 1950s.

“Trainees who have been around as long as I have may recall Peary Rader’s wonderful, pre-steroid era Iron Man magazine, before it was sold to new owners. One program Peary Rader wrote about explained how to gain up to 3/4 of an inch to your arms in a day. (Steroids, thank God, were not involved.)

“In a nutshell, here’s what you have to do:

“First, pick a day (the program takes 12 hours) when there won’t be many distractions. Select a barbell, or two dumbbells, or resistance band that allows you to curl 10 reps without going to failure or near failure. This is an important point. You want the reps to be reasonably arduous and produce a fair pump, but absolutely no exhaustion.

“Next, pick a weight or resistance that produces the same effect while doing 10 reps of triceps extensions or press-downs.

“For the next 12 hours, every hour, on the hour, you superset doing one set of biceps curls for 10 reps; immediately follow that with one set of triceps extensions or press-downs. The idea is to isolate the two upper-arm muscle groups with a decent pump lasting 12 hours.

“The time between supersets should be active rest periods. Desk-work or lightweight household chores are perfect. Massaging your upper-arms a bit is a good thing, too.

“Feeding the machine

“Eat your normal daily diet (assuming it is a healthful one) during the 12-hour period, but also brew up a good sized whey protein shake and sip on it throughout the day.

“Okay, did I gain 3/4 of an inch on my upper-arms? No. That would be an unlikely outcome for someone age 73 and who already works out regularly. But on Monday, two days later, I did measure and seemed to have added about 1/4-inch, and my arms feel more solid than before.

“Will my gain last? Perhaps. And any muscle gain is a plus. But at my age, simply remaining as fit and strong as nature, a good diet, and my training allow is primary. I had fun making the effort, and I got some desk-work cleared up. All in all, it was a pretty good day.

“Younger seniors, say in their 50s, may expect a greater muscle gain than mine. If you decide to give it a try, I’d like to hear about how it worked.

“Notes: Give your arms a couple of days rest before the 12-hour workout. And don’t workout your arms, specifically, for a couple days afterward. . . . If you like the results, you can do the workout again several months later. But doing the workout more often than that is pushing it and probably will be counterproductive. . . . In the Iron Man course the muscle gain was for your arms. However, super-setting other isolated body parts should work in much the same way. . . . Taking Creatine might also add to muscle volume increase.”

Your comments and questions are always appreciated. Simply click on the "Reply" bottom.

Sincerely,

Logan Franklin
The Gray Iron Fitness Newsletter
www.senior-exercise-central.com