Dear M&F, I've been trying for more than a year to bring my arms up to speed with my upper body. My chest, back and shoulders are where I want them, but neither my biceps nor triceps are very big or separated. Here's my current arm workout, which I do twice a week, always with at least one day of rest after training chest, back and shoulders.
Sincerely, Barely Armed Dear Barely Armed, One thing that might contribute to your lack of progress is overtraining. You're performing 15 sets each for tri's and bi's twice a week, which amounts to 30 sets a week for each. Not that this number is astronomical—we've seen worse—but assuming you're also training the rest of your body with similar volume, over the long term it becomes difficult to recover sufficiently. Try cutting your total sets to 18 to 20 per week for each muscle group. It may not sound like much, but over the long haul it'll add up. You may also find that using slightly less volume allows you to train with more intensity.
Speaking of intensity, continue to throw curveballs at your arms to spark growth—drop sets, rest-pauses, supersets, forced reps, etc. Your routine, while fundamentally sound, won't be effective forever (and from the sound of it, it has already run its course). Continue rotating your current exercises in, but we suggest kicking off your triceps routine with some close-grip bench presses. Also, instead of regular dips, strap on some weight to keep your reps at 8 to 10, which will help pack on size. The workout below will be completely fresh for you, not to mention very intense. You won't abandon the exercises and techniques you currently use but rather expand your repertoire to include new growth-inducing methods. After trying this routine a few times, switch things up again.
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