- FitnessVolt Newsletter
- Posts
- Turn Peashooter Arms Into Cannons With This Brutal Superset Pairing
Turn Peashooter Arms Into Cannons With This Brutal Superset Pairing
Bodybuilding icons are stirring the pot this week: Arnold Schwarzenegger is poking holes in your pre‐workout scoop, and Shawn Ray wants to scrap confirmation rounds altogether.
You don’t need marathon arm days to build badge‑of‑honor biceps and triceps. This routine pairs chin‑ups with close‑grip bench presses, EZ‑bar curls with skull crushers, concentration curls with kickbacks, and cable curls with pushdowns for four fast, pumpy supersets. The article reminds readers that triceps make up most of your upper‑arm mass and argues for training them as much as biceps. Supersets slash rest time and flood muscles with blood, delivering a brutal pump and balanced growth. You’ll train one or two times per week on non‑consecutive days and finish with a drop set on the final pairing. Warm up thoroughly, keep your equipment hogging to a minimum, and be ready for compliments on your sleeve‑stretching arms. [Build Your Cannon Arms Here]
Six‑time Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates still trains with the high‑intensity focus that defined his prime, and his latest tip is pure mind‑muscle sorcery. In a recent Instagram post, Yates said he imagines his muscles as a compressed spring during leg presses, hack squats, and bench presses, then explodes out of the bottom like the coil releasing. He believes the visualization helps lifters control the weight, keep tight form, and unleash more power. Yates also cautioned against turning lying triceps extensions into pullovers and reminded followers to hang from a pull‑up bar to loosen tight shoulders. [Master Yates' Mind Trick]
Jay Cutler is still showing athletes how it’s done, breaking down a “skin‑bursting pump” back day on YouTube at age 52. His session strings together reverse pulldowns, Hammer Strength isolateral low rows, a pullover machine, dual‑pulley seated cable rows, T‑bar rows, and a pulldown machine to hit the lats from every angle. Cutler insists on staying above eight reps for each exercise to chase the pump and warns lifters to lock their chest down and pull only with the lats. He praises the old‑school pullover machine for truly lengthening the lats and finishes with paused reps on the pulldown for extra squeeze. [Get That Thick‑Back Pump]
Ever wondered if your nitric‑oxide booster is more hype than help? Arnold Schwarzenegger dug into a controlled study of 46 trained participants and found that L‑arginine and citrulline malate—two stalwarts in many pre‑workouts—didn’t improve performance in CrossFit workouts, cycling sprints, or the Harvard Step Test. Participants completed Wingate sprints, the CrossFit “Cindy” workout, and the Harvard Step Test after taking either a placebo or the supplement blend, and researchers saw no difference in rounds completed, heart rate, or peak power. The seven‑time Mr. Olympia points out that these ingredients may need chronic use or higher volume training to show benefits, but warns that your pump might be the only payoff. If you’ve been chasing an instant performance boost from arginine or citrulline, this research suggests you may just be chasing tingles. [See Arnold’s Supplement Skepticism]
Lee Priest never retired and still loves to teach old‑school secrets. In a recent YouTube demo, he slammed lifters who stand ten feet away from the cable machine and swing the handles like ropes, urging them to step just far enough to get a stretch and treat the movement like a fly. Priest alternates between bringing the handles together and crossing them for a deeper squeeze, cautioning that going too low turns the crossover into an upper‑chest curl. He views cable crossovers as a warm‑up or finisher: once your chest has size from pressing, crossovers pump blood into the muscle and add detail. Priest’s blunt advice—stay close, squeeze hard, and save the gymnastics—could make this classic exercise actually work for you. [Perfect Your Crossover Form]
During a live chat with Bob Cicherillo, retired standout Shawn Ray argued that confirmation rounds are an unnecessary time sink at bodybuilding finals. He believes all comparisons should happen during prejudging and that the finals should focus on posing routines, top‑15 announcements, and awards. Ray said fans who miss prejudging shouldn’t get a re‑run in the evening show, calling the extra comparisons “redundant” and insisting they dilute the entertainment. The pair also criticized modern competitors for sharing their steroid cycles online, warning that impressionable fans may copy dangerous protocols. In Ray’s view, secrecy around drug use isn’t deception—it’s responsibility—and the sport would be better off without encore comparisons and gear tutorials. [Join The Debate On Bodybuilding’s Future]
Former 2019 212 Olympia champ Kamal Elgargni hasn’t hung up his trunks yet. After a family emergency forced him out of the 2023 Olympia, he’s sharpening his focus on the 2026 Tampa Pro and even hinted at an sooner return. Elgargni told the Cutler Cast that Tampa feels like home, and he intends to win it again. He’s been training at MI40 with Open star Andrew Jacked, whom he believes has the potential to win five Mr. Olympia titles. Known for burying partners with brutal sessions, Elgargni joked that he’s not as savage as his reputation, but he’s excited to push Jacked and maybe jump back into the 212 or Open ranks. [Follow Kamal’s Comeback Journey]
Is your body aging faster or slower than your birthday cake suggests? The Fitness Age Calculator from researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology uses gender, age, height, weight, resting heart rate, waist circumference, physical activity level, smoking status, and diet quality to estimate your VO2 max and assign a “fitness age.” Studies show that Senior Olympians averaged a chronological age of 68 but a fitness age of 43, hinting at a 25‑year biological advantage for the active. A lower fitness age correlates with better cardiovascular health and longevity, while a high score could signal increased risk for chronic diseases. The calculator employs formulas like the Karvonen equation and VO2 max estimation to turn simple metrics into actionable insights. Plug in your numbers, see where you stand, and let the tool motivate smarter training and lifestyle choices. [Find Your Fitness Age Now]
Nick Walker breaks down his carb strategy so you can stop fearing bread and start fueling your lifts 🍚📹💪
Recovery Tip of the Day: NSDR Power Session Instead of a Nap
Instead of crashing for a groggy mid‑day nap, try a 10‑ to 20‑minute Non‑Sleep Deep Rest session. Lie down, plug in a guided NSDR audio, and focus on slow breathing and body scanning; this yoga‑nidra‑style practice can recharge your nervous system, boost memory consolidation, and leave you more alert than caffeine. Unlike a nap, you won’t drift into deep sleep and sabotage your circadian rhythm. Keep it short, set a timer, and return to work feeling like you just hit a mini reset button on your brain.
The Strength Bulletin
A 10‑week elbow‑flexor study found that traditional sets delivered slightly more hypertrophy (about 0.07 cm more growth) than a novel drop‑set protocol, though drop sets packed more muscle gain per minute. [Ditch the Drops?]
Reply