John’s workouts are taking my physique to a whole new level. Visit www.mountaindogdiet.com for more information.
Arms
Biceps
- Z bar curl: Three light sets of 15 reps to warm-up. Then, grab a moderate weight. Do 10 perfect reps and set the weight down. Count to 10…and repeat. Do five sets total. That’s five sets of 10 reps with 10 second breaks. The last two sets should have your arms screaming.
- Hammer curls: Same thing – five sets of 10 with 10 second breaks. On these, I actually took the dumbbells to my ears and flexed as hard as I could. I did both arms at the same time.
- Preacher curls: Can’t use much weight on these – same thing five sets of 10. I did these very slowly. I don’t like dropping these at the bottom for fear of a bicep injury, so don’t be afraid to use a lighter weight. I think I did 55 pounds…maybe. I let my arms straighten very gently, and curled up with deliberate form.
Triceps
- Rope pushdowns: Three sets of 12 to warm-up. Then I did this tri-set:
- Rope pushdowns for 15
- Dips between benches (I know, old school) with two 45 pound plates on your lap for 10
- Dumbell kickbacks heavy for 6 reps – kick up hard and contract T
- I super-setted these two last for three sets: skullcrushers/lying extensions – 10 reps, keep elbows in and stretch at the bottom real good. Seated over dumbbell extensions using one dumbbell – sets of 8.
As you can see for triceps, I like to do contraction-type exercises first, and then when fully pumped, do the skullcrusher and stretching exercises. This sequence keeps my elbows healthy!
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Shelby Starnes is a national level bodybuilder and top nutritionist and trainer. He has helped hundreds of athletes dial in their training, nutrition, and supplementation. Shelby has been involved in powerlifting and bodybuilding for over twelve years, competing and placing very respectably in both. He has placed in the top 5 at the national level in bodybuiding in three different weight classes (welterweight, middleweight, and most recently light heavyweight). He also holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Wayne State University and has written numerous articles on physique development for many magazines and websites.
To find out more about him and his consultation services, visit his website at www.ShelbyStarnes.com
View Shelby’s Training Log 
Link broken for me. Got a 404
Mike
fix the mountain dog link
Dumbbell kickbacks for 6 heavy reps? Really?
I’ve never done much for biceps. I noticed you said 10 “perfect” reps. I usually cheat like crazy when I do biceps. For years I read in Flex Mag how you should do strict reps, then when I saw the bodybuilders training on video none of them did strict reps…so I quit doing strict reps.
What exactly are you talking about when you say perfect reps? B/c after yrs of swinging the weight up on curls (and no growth) I’m starting to think I had it wrong all along.
try this
Do you repeat the triceps excercises no. 1,2 and 3 or doing them only one time?
I have to congratulate you on an excellent workout. Its intense, and well thought out. All the exercises follow eachother well and the logic is sound, I just have a few comments.
1)15 sets for biceps is high and will quickly put even the best of constitution trainees into a state of OVERTRAINING, and that’s with straight sets. (Provided you are doing all the proper heavy back work)
2)Rest pause while extremely effective cannot be continued indefinitely for small muscle groups, the biceps while needing a kick every once in a while will not take this constant prolonged torture forever. So if your a normal human being and wanted to follow this protocol I’d vary the total sets from 6-12 performed in the same fashion but ultimately based on fatigue factor. 15 is just overkill.
3)If your using 55s and calling that light at the end of this you’re a monster!
4)The triceps workout is one of the best ive seen and the order is excellent for those elbows.
Dustin bro, perfect form means perfect for the muscle. Some sligt swing is involved but the work must go to the bis. Cut your weights 20-30 percent and rework your form to 95% percent strict. Only then once you feel comfortable maintaining that form should you go up in weight. Man up and take the ego hit your bi’s will grow. Ive helped die hardship gain inches and fast…
Error on website…
Guys- the workouts change EVERY week… some weeks we do biceps first, other weeks triceps first, other weeks we superset bis and tris.. it’s always different. This is just ONE workout. And some weeks we do more or less sets than others.
If you’re interested in learning more, check out John’s website: http://www.mountaindogdiet.com