Building big arms and weight gain

Vitender Singh Pawar

 

I received a question from a young friend of mine regarding arm building. Here I present that mail of his and also my opinion on the subject.
QUESTIONS
My height is 177cm; weight, 72kg. I’m thin with tooth pick arms measuring 10 inches roughly. Long ago I read that for one’s arm to grow in size by one inch, he has to increase body weight by 4kg. Assuming I would want to increase my arm size by 6″ (10″ to 16″), I need to become 72+24 = 96kg! (4 kg a year as per Mike Mentzer’s calculation x 6 years).
1. Let’s say I do increase my body weight to 96 kg, will my arm size surely increase to 16″?
2. Is there the weirdest possibility that I can grow a 16″ arm even at 85kg? I mean will genetics favour it that way? Or does the fact that I have a 10″ arm now (weight 72kg) in itself convey that I can never grow bigger arms?
My view:
That you are almost 5’ 11” and only 72 kg with 10” arms shows that you HAVE to gain more lean muscle.
My suggestion is start training and eating right. I don’t know whether a person can keep gaining at the rate of 4 kg every year for six years straight…he might gain that much or might not…he might gain more the first year and less the following years…or whatever.
I come from a school of thought which says that the arms grow to their fullest potential only when the overall body weight increases. I would also like to add that by gaining lean muscle and losing fat, a trainee may not show much increase on the weight scale but his body composition would have drastically changed. Even in such cases, the person might have gained some size in his arms. Examples of such cases are some bodybuilders who are on the shorter side and compete in 55, 60 or 65 kg. Their original body weight might have been 60 kg and contest weight 65 kg. However, by losing fat and gaining muscle, they might have actually gained more than 5 kg of lean muscle than what is seen on the weight scale. In all possibilities, their arms would have grown.
So, I feel a trainee should increase his total lean muscle mass to help his arms grow.
1. Will your arms surely touch 16” at a body weight of 96 kg? They might…or they might be slightly less or more. It’s a hypothetical question.
2. As regards your question on 16” arm at a weight of 85 kg, you have to try and see for yourself. There are champs with 16” arms at that body weight…but, each individual is different. Just because it happened for A, it need not happen for B.
And, having a 10” arm now does not mean you can never get a 16” arm. My suggestion is start your journey with a perfect plan today and keep moving towards you goal.

- C. LakshmiKumar

Tips to build huge muscles

Mr. India runner-up Senthil Kumaran and 3-time Mr. India Jayaprakash

My friend and I recently had a discussion on points put forth by training experts such as Steve Holman of Ironman and John Hansen, world champion bodybuilder , which can be used by trainees like us in our quest for building bigger muscles. Here are some of those points which may be very helpful:
1. Your workout should be centered around basic movements such as bench presses, dips, squats, deadlifts, barbell rows, military press, close-grip bench press and biceps chinning.
2. Finish your workout within 60 minutes.
3. Steve Holman advocates partial kind of movements at the end of a couple of sets of basic exercise or even drop sets for a good burn. This facilitates maximum growth, he claims.
4. Holman also advocates the use of certain exercises which he calls ‘stretch position movements.’ Examples are wide-grip dips or flyes (for chest), sissy squats (for thighs), stiff-leg deadlift, overhead extension (for triceps), lying incline side laterals (for delts), pullover (for lats), incline dumbbell curl (for biceps). He advocates doing partials on these too.
5. As soon as you get up in the morning, drink a mix of fast-acting whey protein isolate, glutamine and some fast-acting carbohydrate to create an anabolic environment. One hour later, have a solid meal consisting of slow-acting protein and carbohydrate such as egg whites and oats.
6. Have a serving of whey isolate, casein and BCAA before a workout and immediately after a workout. Half-an-hour after training, have solid meal which may contain chicken breast or fish, brown rice and vegetables.
7. Eat 6 to 8 meals a day, each one providing 20 to 30 gm of protein, depending on the individual’s body weight. Carbohydrate intake should also be based on how much or how little that individual needs. This can be found out by keen observation on how the body changes to a diet plan. Do not get too fat.
8. Take supplements which are specifically formulated to curb the release of stress hormone cortisol.
9. Do perform cardio in the offseason, but do not go overboard – 2 to 3 sessions a week (each extending to 30 minutes) should be fine.
10. Ensure that you get at least 8 hours of sleep; some individuals grow better when they sleep for 10 hours, it seems.

- C. Lakshmi Kumar

Mr. India 2012 – Flash report

52nd Senior National Bodybuilding Championship was held in Pune on April 19 and 20.
Suhas Khamkar dominated the show once again and won the overall title for the third time in a row.

Here is a message Team Masters received on Tamil Nadu team’s performance:

70 kg – Jayaprakash – 2nd place

70 kg – Vignesh – 4th place

80kg – K. Manikandan – 4th place

85kg – Senthil Kumaran – 2nd place

90+ – M. Rajendran – 1st place

Information courtesy : M. Arasu, Secretary, TABBA

_ P. Srimathy

Mr. TamilNadu 2012

Tamil Nadu state level classic bodybuilding championship was conducted on 22nd January, 2012 at Saligramam, Chennai. Mr. J. Muniappan, multi Mr.India had organized the event under the auspices of Sweat & Fit gym.

R. Munusamy won the champion of champions award with a prize money of Rs. 50,000/-

Top 5 finalists were awarded with cash prize of Rs. 5,000, Rs.3,000, Rs.2,000, Rs.1,000 and Rs.500 respectively.

Here is how the competitors finished in top five places of each weight category.

55 kg class:
1. K. Kanagaraj – Kanchi
2. F. Rajasekar – Chennai
3. N. Karunakaran – Vellore
4. V. Kumaresan – Vellore
5. M. Ramamurthy – Chennai

60 kg class:
1. K. Kali – Chennai
2. S.S. Dhanapal – Kanchi
3. R. Dhayanidhi – Tiruvallur
4. B. Venkatraman – Kanchi
5. M. Manimaran – Cuddalore

65 kg class:
1. M. Manikandan – Salem
2. K. Sriram – Kanchi
3. R. ManojKumar – Tirupur
4. S. Sudhakaran – Kanchi
5. D. Saseendran – Tiruvallur

70 kg class:
1. R. Munusamy – Chennai
2. B. Haribabu – Vellore
3. A. Vinothraj – Kanchi
4. T. Gopi – Chennai
5. M. Raja – Madurai

75 kg class:
1. S.P. Naresh Kumar – Chennai
2. V. Sridhar – Trichy
3. H. Saliya – Chennai
4. K. Kamalesh – Tiruvallur
5. S. Yuvaraj – Cuddalore

80 kg class:
1. P. Karthik – Tiruvallur
2. S. Balaguru – Tiruvallur
3. J. Harikumar – Tiruvallur
4. A. Aruraj – Kanchi
5. S. Kamalakannan – Tiruvallur

85 kg class:
1. E. Karthik – Chennai
2. S. Karthikeyan – Chennai
3. V. Manohar – Tiruvallur
4. M. Mahendran – Chennai
5. S. Mohanasubramaniam – Chennai

+ 85 kg class:
1. C. Natarajan – Salem
2. S.Sharathpriyan – Chennai
3. A. Dinesh – Salem
4. K. Sridharan – Tiruvallur
5. R. M. Rahul – Chennai

- P. Srimathy

Mr. Muscle Makers Classic 2011

Tamil Nadu open state level bodybuilding champion was conducted on 11th December. Mr.Karunakaran, proprietor of Muscle makers gym, Ramavaram, chennai had organised the event. Competition for physically challenged and Masters also took place.

A. Kumar won the champion of champions award with a prize money of Rs. 25,000/-

R. Munusamy was runner up.

Top 3 finalists were awarded with cash prize of Rs.3,000, Rs.2,000 and Rs.1,000 respectively

Here is how the competitors finished in top five places of each weight category.

55 kg class:
1. K. Kanagaraj – Kanchi
2. E. Devaraj – Chennai
3. N. Karunakaran – Vellore
4. K. JaiShankar – Trichy
5. F. Rajasekar – Chennai

60 kg class:
1. L. Lenin – Chennai
2. G. Arulanandhan – Tirupur
3. R. Anantha Ramakrishnan – Chennai
4. B. Elangovan – Coimbatore
5. G. Madhan – Chennai

65 kg class:
1. A.J. Nijam – Nagai
2. N. Sekar – Chennai
3. K. Arunkumar – Chennai
4. Prakash – Kanchi
5. M. Manikandan – Salem

70 kg class:
1. R. Munusamy – Chennai
2. V. Sridhar – Trichy
3. D. Muthupandi – Madurai
4. R. Manoj Kumar – Tiruppur
5. K. Jhon Samuel – Chennai

75 kg class:
1. N. Sankar – Kanchi
2. K. Kamalesh – Tiruvallur
3. E. Arumugam – Chennai
4. H. Parthiban – Kanchi
5. K. Shamsundar – Chennai

80 kg class:
1. A. Kumar – Chennai
2. P. Rajesh Kannan – Krishnagiri
3. R. Ramachandran – Tiruppur
4. R. Dilip – Chennai
5. A. Vinoth Raj – Kanchi

85 kg class:
1. E. Karthik – Chennai
2. S. balaguru – Tiruvallur
3. A. Najumudeen – Tanjavur
4. M. Pradeep – Tiruvallur
5. V. Durai – Chennai

90 kg class:
1. S. Sharath priyan – Chennai
2. T. Gopi – Chennai
3. B. Poornachandran – Tiruvallur
4. K. Kamaraj – Kanchi
5. P. Manohar – Tiruvallur

Plus 90 kg class:
1. S. Manimaran – Chennai
2. K. Muthukumar – Madurai
3. C. Natarajan – Salem
4. P. S. Anish – Chennai
5. S. Parthasarathy – Chennai

MASTERS :
1. Y. Daniel – Coimbatore
2. M. Kanniyappan – Kanchi
3. E. Bava – Kanchi
4. N. Manoharan – Tiruvallur
5. T. Chinnadurai – Tuticorin

PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED
1. M. Raja – Chennai
2. R. Mohan Raj – Tiruvallur
3. Mayakannan – Kanchi
4. S. Rajesh – Chennai
5. S. Gunasekaran – Tiruvallur

- P. Srimathy

Pomegranate juice may help in muscle recovery

Any kind of recovery agent is considered the best friend of body builders and hard-training athletes.
Now, pomegranate juice is being considered to have the capability to help in muscle recovery. A recent study reported in Journal Strength Conditioning Research has said that pomegranate juice reduces post-workout muscle soreness in some muscles, if not all. Pomegranate is rich in polyphenols, which help to control free radical damage and inflammation. There are also some studies which claim that pomegranates help in preventing skin and prostate cancer.
Team Masters is of the opinion that any hard training body builder or sportsman would benefit by adding a serving of pomegranate juice to his or her diet regimen.

_ C. Lakshmi Kumar

MEET – Mr. India runner-up K. Balamurugan

Balamurugan at Senior Mr. India held in Meerut

In the sport of body building, we have competitors who scale great heights, and, accomplished competitors who keep helping up-and-coming champions. Then there are a select few who keep winning titles themselves yet squeeze out time to whip-up others into top shape simultaneously. And, if such persons do it without clamouring for publicity, they deserve all the respect in the world.
Nobody else but K. Balamurugan of ICF fits into that category. He is among the younger crop of Tamil Nadu bodybuilders, but a person who has helped so many competitors without telling others that he was actually the “guy behind their success.”
Personally, I have observed Bala as a competitor and heard a lot of champions say how “Bala anna” helped them to win titles.  I take pride in writing about him and telling all my readers that Bala is one of my best friends.

Cut, ripped and full - an awesome combination!

Team Masters: I am personally very eager to learn more about you Bala…the more I hear about how you help competitors get ready, the more curious I get. It’s just unbelievable that a person like you is so down to earth!
Bala: (Blushes) Oh sir please, I just am doing whatever little I can and that’s it.
Team Masters: Your words speak about your nature Bala, you are a great guy… Well, so here we go again…please tell me how your incredible journey as a competitor began.
Bala: I was born on April 18, 1985 in Vadalur. My father is called V. Kandan and my mother, Jayakodi. I have two elder sisters and a younger brother.  I started training in 2001.
Team Masters: Who is your first guru? I know you are very strong in legs and squat with an awesome heavy weight. Were you strong in all muscles right from the beginning? And were you an easy gainer?
Bala: My first guru was a gentleman called Jothiramalingam. I played a lot of cricket and used to be wicket-keeper. I started weight training to gain strength. I was strong in the legs right from the beginning.
Team Masters: Which was your first contest and what did you place?
Bala: My first contest was a local show called Mr. Guru Classic in 2001. I entered it just two months after I started training. I was in 55 kg category. Looking back, I now feel I knew nothing about diet or contest preparation at that point of time. Needless to say, I got eliminated in Round 1 (laughs).
Team Masters: Oh, so when was your next contest?
Bala: It was in 2002. I entered the same contest in 60 kg class and won.
Team Masters: When did you come to Chennai?
Bala: Shortly after my first victory. Sivakumar of Western Railways, who was living on the next street from ours, was the one who brought me to Chennai. I met Mr. India M. Arasu, who gave me a job at Gold Gym, Alandur. I stayed there and learnt a lot from Arasu.
Team Masters: I am curious to learn how you learnt so much that you are able to help so many competitors.
Bala: (Blushes) A lot of competitors used to come to Arasu ‘anna’ for guidance. Whenever he guided some member at the gym for fat loss or a champion for contest preparation, he told me to remain by his side. I learnt a lot observing him. Arasu ‘anna’ also used to give me a lot of books and magazines on body building and fitness. I have completed Standard X in school and could read all those well. So, help came in all these ways.

Rocking the Federation Cup Nationals to finish second

Team Masters: And you met your best buddy V. Jayaprakash (3-time Mr. India) at Gold Gym, right?
Bala: Yes sir. We hit it off right from day one. My next contest was Mr. Kanchi 2004. It was a very unscheduled show for me. I was told to compete in it all of a sudden and had no time to diet…It was just one day after a festival. I entered it and placed fourth.
Team Masters: Wow, that means you should have been reasonably lean. Please continue…
Bala: My next contest was Mr. Tamil Nadu 2004, which was held at Ambedkar Arangam, ICF, Ayanavaram. I was second and Velmurugan of Tiruvallur was first.
Team Masters: Oh yeah. Murtuza and I were there that day to watch that show. We can never forget that contest.
Bala: The fight was close…I improved dramatically by the next week and beat Velu at Junior State meet held in Hosur. This was my first State title. But, I beat him after a lot of comparisons. The judges kept comparing us a lot of times. The thing went on for about 15 to 20 minutes!
Team Masters: Awesome man… that you two had the endurance to keep posing that many times is unbelievable. Ok, when was your next contest?
Bala: I won Junior Mr. South India in 2005. However, I did not get selection for Junior Mr. India 2005 and was forced to travel in an unreserved compartment for the event. But, I finished fourth and made our State and my friends proud. I also did an inter-district meet in 65 kg class and won.
Team Masters: And then you also did the Senior Mr. India 2005 held at Nehru indoor stadium in Chennai, right? I clearly remember you looking really good and finishing fourth in 60 kg class.
Bala: Oh, that was a great experience getting ready for that show sir. Arasu ‘anna,’ Jayaprakash and I used to go out together for walking. We did it together for three days to reduce body weight and enter our categories. After the Nationals came a Senior Mr. Tamil Nadu, which I won. Unfortunately, I fell ill after that and took a break from training. I came back in top form for 2006 Junior Mr. India in Bangalore and won silver.
Team Masters: Then you got a job in ICF?
Bala: No sir, I applied for a job in Western Railways, went for a selection, but couldn’t get a placement! I have no idea whatsoever as to what happened to the results of the selection!!! I didn’t let anything affect my spirit. I did another Senior Mr. Tamil Nadu held at Madurantakam and won again. I also entered 2006 Federation Cup Mr. India held at Kolkata. Daljit Singh of Punjab was first and I was second. However, the judges called for a lot of comparisons and it told me that I pushed him hard. I participated in a State meet held at Coimbatore in 2007 and won again. I then applied for job in ICF and got it. I joined service as a technician on February 15, 2007. Three days after that, I entered the inter-railways competition and finished second. S. Kumarananthan was first. I then participated in another Mr. Tamil Nadu contest and finished second once again behind Kumarananthan.  But the biggest disappointment came when I didn’t get selection for Senior Nationals from Railways!

Bala and Senthilkumaran

Team Masters: Ouch, that hurts Bala, especially after having proved your worth so many times! OK, please continue…
Bala: I did 2008 Inter-Railways and took second once again behind Kumarananthan. I entered Mr. Tamil Nadu held at Ambur in 70 kg category and won. I participated in Senior Mr. India held at Meerut and placed fourth. I could have finished…well…even third or second, that’s what a lot of persons said. But that’s fine. I moved ahead. I competed in Mr. Tamil Nadu in 2009 at Tiruvallur and won my class and the overall.
Team Masters: Ah, I loved that show Bala. What a line-up!!! And while doing contest coverage, I wrote in my blog that you were worth the overall and it was a great decision. And after that, you went to Senior Mr. India held at Kolkata and won silver, I can’t forget that.
Bala: Yes sir. After having done a lot of shows, I knew my body badly needed a break from dieting and brutal training. So I took a long layoff. I got married on September 14, 2009. My wife is called Sudha. She was a teacher and now housewife.
Team Masters:  Was it arranged marriage Bala?
Bala: Very much sir. She is from Vridhdhachalam in Villupuram district.
Team Masters: Alright Bala, you told me earlier that you are interested in cricket. Who is your favourite player?
Bala: Sachin Tendulkar, of course. I still love cricket and watch Test matches too, which a lot of people don’t prefer watching today.
Team Masters: You have helped an awesome lot of competitors. I remember so many champs telling me that Bala ‘anna’ told them to do this, do that, eat this or not eat that. That’s really great work Bala. I am even more impressed by the fact that you don’t seem interested in taking credit for the victory of so many champions whom you helped. Ok, tell me a few names whom you cannot forget and persons whom you owe a lot.
Bala: Arasu ‘anna,’ and Jothiramalingam top that list. Then comes my good friend Jayaprakash, who taught me things like carb loading. I also owe a lot to ‘Gold’ Prakash, Arasu’s brother, and my friend Senthilkumaran of ICF. I have a special place in my heart for Arasu’s mother, who took great care of me while I was preparing for my first Senior Nationals in 2005.  The affection she showed touched my heart. I was moved.
Team Masters: Nice to hear this Bala. Let’s talk a little about training. Tell me something about your offseason and pre-contest training.
Bala: In the offseason, I workout four days a week, hitting each muscle once. I do cardio 2 or 3 times a week. Pre-contest, I train each muscle twice a week and do cardio every day for an hour.
Team Masters: Who are your favourite champions in our sport?
Bala: I am a fan of Jay Cutler. As regards Indian champions, I like Premchand Degra and Li John. I love Mohammed Abdullah for his posing and Jayaprakash for his hard-working nature.
Team Masters: Tell me about your ambitions Bala.
Bala:  I still feel that I have to achieve a lot. My wife is very supportive. Let’s see.
Team Masters: Great to hear that. I am waiting to see you back onstage and move to the next level. I wish you the very best of luck to win the Senior Nationals soon and then the Asia. Good luck.
_ C. Lakshmi Kumar