Bicep and tricep training in full body workouts - advice needed

[SirJinks]

I train Monday, Wednesday and Friday, each day being a full body workout consisting of -
Bench press 2 x 6 reps
Dips 2 x 6-8 reps
Wide grips pull ups 2 x 6-8 reps
Close grip rows 2 x 6 reps
Dumbell shoulder press 2 x 6 reps
Shoulder press in smiths machine 1 x 6 reps
Dumbell lateral raises 1 x 12 reps
Squats 2 x 6 reps
Leg curls 2 x 12 reps

As you can see I stick to 6 reps on compounds and aim for 12 on isolation exercises. I found the final 2 week cycle of HST Specific Training worked well so thats roughly what I use for my routine. For my arms I am doing -
Dumbel curl superset 12 - 8 - 6 reps
Skullcrushers 1 x 12 then 1 x 8 reps
Tricep pushdown on cable machine 1 x 12 reps

So thats 3 sets on biceps and triceps each workout. I aim for 12 reps but fatigue easily after the first set so my numbers normally drop to about 6-8 reps toward the end. Do you think this is overtraining and I should drop down to 2 (or even 1 set) for bi's and tri's?

[MiniHulk]

It is hard to tell you if it is overtraining or not as everybody is different. With a good diet I believe you could do that easily without overtraining. You are the only one that can know if you are overtraining or not, look for the signs... if you are taking the weekend off then I imagine you are very far from it.

You making any gains?

[SphinX]

1) Your already working out your biceps and triceps by doing bench press,dips,pull ups,close grip rows.

2) Im guessing the 6 reps are set at a heavy weight, which would fatigue your muscles.

Personally i train til i fatigue, because i get good rest before my next session. Its a small muscle group so i'd say 2 sets of each at the end of 6-8reps is fine.

[Tox]

overtraining...never

I just finshed 6 week HST cycle this week....last 2 weeks were 1 week 7's and one week 5...instead of doing two weeks on 5's...just for a change.
i was doing the following exercises

Bench Press (inc or flat) 7 x 3 (5's last week....same goes for the rest of exercises)
OHP or Arnold Press 7 x 3
Weighted Wide grip pullups 7 x 3
Machine rows 7 x 2
Weighted dips 7 x 2 (some times 3 sets depending how I was feeling with weight... as was up to +60Kg on 5's)
incline Rear Delt Flies 7 x 2
Bulgarian Split Squats 7 x 3
Hamstring Curls 7 x 2
Leg Extensions 7 x 2
Calf Raise ..kept high reps and max weight...2 x 12-15
EZ curls or Concentration Curls 3 x 7
Pushdowns or OH Tri Extensions 3 x 7
Abs....2-3 sets of Weigyted Leg raise or cable crunches

Loved it....was cutting for weeks/low carbs and never felt beter while training to be honest. 3 times per week...recovery was great.

[PROF]

Quote

overtraining...never

I just finshed 6 week HST cycle this week....last 2 weeks were 1 week 7's and one week 5...instead of doing two weeks on 5's...just for a change.
i was doing the following exercises

Bench Press (inc or flat) 7 x 3 (5's last week....same goes for the rest of exercises)
OHP or Arnold Press 7 x 3
Weighted Wide grip pullups 7 x 3
Machine rows 7 x 2
Weighted dips 7 x 2 (some times 3 sets depending how I was feeling with weight... as was up to +60Kg on 5's)
incline Rear Delt Flies 7 x 2
Bulgarian Split Squats 7 x 3
Hamstring Curls 7 x 2
Leg Extensions 7 x 2
Calf Raise ..kept high reps and max weight...2 x 12-15
EZ curls or Concentration Curls 3 x 7
Pushdowns or OH Tri Extensions 3 x 7
Abs....2-3 sets of Weigyted Leg raise or cable crunches

Loved it....was cutting for weeks/low carbs and never felt beter while training to be honest. 3 times per week...recovery was great.

Gains good?

I've never ran a routine that wasn't my own before, I was thinking about something lower frequency like this for a while.

[Tox]

massive gains if you bulking (especially the first time u do it)...i was doing it cutting this time...so weights stayed the same in most lift which i was pleased about considering I had lost 5-9kg in body weight from las time I did. 1st 2 weeks..2 sets of 15 of each...2nd 2 weeks...2 sets of 10...then I did 1 week of 7 and one week of 5. Its all about constantly increasing the load over time, full body sessions 3 times per week. HST..I love it.

[MiniHulk]

Gains definitely showed off from your last pics Tox... I for one won't argue with your methods.

I actually find it impossible to overtrain because my DOMS gets so intense I can't use the same muscle the next day lol. I am going to try some more curcumin soon to try to knock the DOMS down a bit, it worked a lot last time.

The only problem is that some parties would argue that DOMS is actually a good thing, the muscle inflammation actually helps create a growth response... sometimes it's hard to know what to believe - you would think they could establish an answer by now after all these years.

*Slackers* :P