Thread: Training biceps..

Why would you dedicate an entire day to biceps? Ive never heard of anybody doing that I don't think. Some people don't do any direct work for biceps at all. I'm one of them; and my biceps are one of my strong points.

Something eles I can see happening w/ a dedicated bicep day over time, plus the daily work you do (e.g. if you sit at a chair) plus the additional work it gets on back day - tendonitis baby, and lots of it. Wrist & forearm. Something similar to "tennis elbow" is very common. An example is when you realize it hurts too much to use a straight bar and you have to start using the ezcurl bar.

Originally Posted by MrKeenan

Can you give any examples mate? Other than deads?

BB rows, pull-ups (lat pulldowns), chin-ups, rack pulls, deadlifts, dips going heavy all attributed to my best size gains for arms. No need for fancy isolation or days dedicated for biceps for optimal growth, I think that may even be counter productive.

Great advice given on this thread! This helped me a lot! Thanks

how about bi's and tri's together great pump thats what I do.

Originally Posted by skinnyd

how about bi's and tri's together great pump thats what I do.

Essentially there really is no reason to directly target the biceps and triceps. It may work for some, but not for most. Once in a while to break up the routine, sure. But on a regular basis, probably not.

Originally Posted by Anabolic5150

You are doing way too much volume for such a small muscle group. You are blasting the biceps on Monday while doing back and then hitting them again on Thursday with 15 sets. It's no wonder they won't grow, they never get a chance to recover. I do maybe 6 sets a week for biceps and have never had an issue with them growing.

the only time I noticed my arms giving me any improvement was when I first went back to the gym, within the first 3 mos. the volume was lower, I did 6 sets, sets 3 exercises, one of which was hammers, preacher and an incline dumbell curl... All I did and they always seemed harder and full.

I have gone and done 15 sets and no matter what I have done in recent months, they arent going anywhee, high volume light, 3 sets, 3-4 exercises, etc....

I have been thinking that I have been overtraining them even tho they did get sronger, I am after hypertrophy.

Going back to basic routine, low volume, see if I get anything from it.

Stopped seperate bi & tri days now, advice came at the right time really because there's a pain starting in my right elbow that I feel the worst doing skullcrushers and overhead dumbell pushups.

Going to introduce more compound exercises next week to my routine and see how that goes with little to no isolation work. I did previously used to do deads but I hurt my back bad when I was much younger doing them with an insane weight for my size at the time along with a terrible form.. which pretty much scared me off from doing them all together anymore haha.

On another note i'm trying to get the technique for the squat nailed but I always end up on my tip toes haha; always wanted to add this to my routine as I've progressed quite well on the leg press with my best being 661 for 6

Also I was thinking today could this be a case of my shoulder training not being effective enough? I mean, you don't see someone with good arms without good shoulders?

Originally Posted by MrKeenan

Obviously a sign of a good workout is being sore the day after, and each body part I train I can get this feeling EXCEPT biceps no matter how much I change my routine around.

My split is:
Mon: Back
Tue: Triceps
Wed: Shoulders
Thur: Biceps
Fri: Chest
Sat: Legs
Sun: Rest

Typical workout would be:
Machine preacher curls x 3
Alternating dumbell curls x 3
Incline bench, dumbell curls x 3
Cable curls x 3
One arm preacher curls x 3

I've tryed nearly everything. I've tryed incorporating an extra set onto the exercises (which I don't see the need to it being such a small muscle I shouldn't need this many exercises to stimulate), I've tryed negatives/partials, I've tryed training them on back day (which I don't like doing because i'm pretty drained from the bigger body parts that I have a seperate day for each body part which is why my split is how it is).
For some reason barbell work never seems to work either no matter how good my form/weight I use is

Any help would be appreciated guys

-Being sore the next day doesnt necessarily mean you had a good workout..obviously..

-Triceps before Shoulder day(military press, etc.) Sounds like a perfect schedule for overtraining your tris...

-no need to give tris or bis their own seperate day..sounds a bit like a waste of a training day..


Try THIS...next time you go do your arm bicep,(yes arm bicep, you ham has a bicep too..i.e Bicep Femoris) try 10 or less sets. It may not seem like a lot, but up your intensity and make it so you can barely do your last set. Because if you can complete 15 SETS of BICEPS, I GUARENTEE your intensity isn't up to par.


Barbell work doesn't seem to work? LOL wtF?

The thing was, the intensity WAS there thats why I couldn't understand what was going on. Although the advice from this thread I've changed everything around.

Barbell work didn't work because no matter what I tried, whether increasing the weight for more intensity or decreasing slightly to get a better form I wouldn't see any results.

Originally Posted by MrKeenan

The thing was, the intensity WAS there thats why I couldn't understand what was going on. Although the advice from this thread I've changed everything around.

Barbell work didn't work because no matter what I tried, whether increasing the weight for more intensity or decreasing slightly to get a better form I wouldn't see any results.

how long have you been working out consistently?

under a year?

if so, your beginning strength gain for the first few months were all psychological. Your body was learning how to activate more motor units in your muscle cells. Due to this you get a rapid increase in muscle..up to 20 lbs in the first year. If you just finished this initial mass increase due to just starting training, your progess will slow down up to 1/10 of the progress you were making due to G.A.S.(general adaption syndrome). Instead of 1-2lbs of muscle a month, it might be more like 1-2 every few months for many people.

Originally Posted by stfuandliftbtch

Instead of 1-2lbs of muscle a month, it might be more like 1-2 every few months for many people.

Source ?

Originally Posted by stfuandliftbtch

how long have you been working out consistently?

under a year?

if so, your beginning strength gain for the first few months were all psychological. Your body was learning how to activate more motor units in your muscle cells. Due to this you get a rapid increase in muscle..up to 20 lbs in the first year. If you just finished this initial mass increase due to just starting training, your progess will slow down up to 1/10 of the progress you were making due to G.A.S.(general adaption syndrome). Instead of 1-2lbs of muscle a month, it might be more like 1-2 every few months for many people.

Working out consistently for about 2 years, with my diet more in place and set out since the last 8 months

Originally Posted by stfuandliftbtch

how long have you been working out consistently?

under a year?

if so, your beginning strength gain for the first few months were all psychological. Your body was learning how to activate more motor units in your muscle cells. Due to this you get a rapid increase in muscle..up to 20 lbs in the first year. If you just finished this initial mass increase due to just starting training, your progess will slow down up to 1/10 of the progress you were making due to G.A.S.(general adaption syndrome). Instead of 1-2lbs of muscle a month, it might be more like 1-2 every few months for many people.

"Neurological" not "psychological."

Originally Posted by chronicelite

Source ?

its a rough guess and pretty persist one in fact. Gaining 15-20lbs the first year is very common..is that common to gain 15+lbs during your 2nd, 3rd, etc year? No... 1-2lbs every few months, which is anywhere from 4-12lbs of muscle a year, is more like your gains following the years after your neurological adaptions. Of course you won't continue gaining 4-12lbs a year every year, they eventually start declining, but this is obvious to most.

This information does not require a source. I have been studying for the past 3 months at the School of Exercise & Training Science. Monday-Thursday, 5 hours a day. The course has 1 month left. I will be graduating with 3 certifications and be 100% ready for my NSCA test. Which, by the way, is one of the top 2 personal training certifications you can acquire.

In other words, I don't need a source..

Originally Posted by njc

"Neurological" not "psychological."

yea my bad, i had a brain fart. that's what happens at like 2am =P.. i tried to edit it earlier but i dont know if it wouldnt let me or if i was brain dead. but yes, that's correct.

I put on 21lbs in the second year and I've recorded my weight since November so I've got an accurate result of how much weight I've gained every couple of weeks.

Estimating my first year I've got a recording of being 186lbs in December 2009 so it took me 11 months to put on 16lbs to hit 202lbs when I first recorded what I weighed. Obviously this weight isn't all muscle

Looks like you've got sound advice so far. I haven't seen much mention of diet. I always bring that up as well in this type of thread.

There isn't a replacement for things like heavy rows and pull ups. Nothing allows you to load the biceps like heavy back work.

And yes I'd lilke to just reiterate that soreness, etc., has little to do with anything.

Your biceps should grow from murdering yourself on back day alone. They will always give out before your back does and just like 5150 said you are probably over trainnig them. 3 sets of BB Curls and 3 sets of Rev BB Curls are great.

Originally Posted by sassy69

Something eles I can see happening w/ a dedicated bicep day over time, plus the daily work you do (e.g. if you sit at a chair) plus the additional work it gets on back day - tendonitis baby, and lots of it. Wrist & forearm. Something similar to "tennis elbow" is very common. An example is when you realize it hurts too much to use a straight bar and you have to start using the ezcurl bar.

That happened to me a couple years ago. Both arms at the same time.

Originally Posted by Zaphod

That happened to me a couple years ago. Both arms at the same time.

yup! when I use a straight bar, I have to hold it inside shoulder width to put more pressure on the outside bicep head and away from teh belly and forearms when I go shoulder or slightly more. I think the EZ bar sort of creates a similar angle. once the bicep is warmed up, it doesnt bother me as much.

try doing an 8 rep set of barbell curls and only performing the top half of the movement, then immediately afterwards doing a few reps with full ROM. your biceps should get REALLY pumped