Thread: Need bigger biceps

With EXTREMELY simple research, you could of easily figured out the answer to your question..

For biceps i like to do close grip pull ups with a 35 or 45...

Originally Posted by CaptainNapalm

You need to drop all isolation lifts for arms and replace them or add more of: pull ups, chin ups, bb rows, dips, rack pulls and deadlifts. Do those lifts alone for arms not neglecting squats, bench press and shoulder work and your arms should explode. The best gains i ever got for arms was when i became diligent to compound lifts and dropped all isolation work.

Drop all isolation lifts for arms??
-^There is exactly what not to do. Captain's arms grew, if i can remember 2 1/2 inches from doing this with none to little isolation work. 2.5 inches is a lot, but this is from someone who trained for 6 years on and off non-consistently. He claims this growth came from the heavy compounds, which i agree it did to an extent, but remember, this is from a non-consistent lifter. Most of those gains on his arms were due to him starting to lift again.

Your question in this post clearly states that you are a beginner lifter, so therefore your arms aren't going to be super thick already. Yes, you might have an impressive peak, but that may just be due to your low bodyfat and lack of food consumption. How often do you see a bulked up bodybuilder with over 15% bdft with a huge peak? usually never. It's not noticeable until they cut down. ME on the other hand, feel like i have thick arms, and not enough peak. (we can trade some thickness for peak if you want..haha)

So if you are worried about the thickness of your arms/sides of your arms, your grip will have a lot to do with where you are primarily hitting the bicep. Bicep is 2 muscles, inner and outer. Maybe next workout start with a close grip or wide grip and don't worry so much about a neutral grip for hammers of a shoulder width grip until the end of your workout.

On the other hand, i do agree with Captain. A lot, if not most of your arm development will come from compound lifts. But, i do not agree with completely eliminating every isolation movement for your bicep. After your back workout try getting in 2-3 exercises for biceps with around 3 sets for each exercise. Remember, you are 19 and still young(im young too), and bicep thickness/arms thickenss will take some time to develop, especially if training naturally.

*Focus on training as much as nutrition and calorie intake and you'll start seeing some bicep thickness soon! Good luck!

It's all about finding what works for you.

I personally like hammer curls and preacher curls.

people are cracking me up...

everyone keeps saying hammer curls! during a hammer curl, the agonist muscle is the brachioradialis, not even the bicep is a primary mover.

and preacher curl^, that mainly hits the longhead of the bicep.

"thickness" people...c'mon...seriously?

be more specific, hammer curl cross overs "close grip" preacher curls.
- 1/2 you guys are just naming random ass bicep exercises which don't even mainly target the outer biceps. ok, i should stop here.

^^^ If I could rep you from my phone, I would.

Returnofthdragon,

Can you please pm me? Need to ask a question about one of your old post.

I didn't give 2 shits about what the OP asked, I simply stated movements that have helped me. I saw your t-rex arms, stfu, so I don't think you should be giving advice.

As I previously said, find what works best for you. So many times I see guys giving advice straight out of the textbook, or shit they google searched. Then I see what results they've obtain, and I can't help but chuckle. Get in the gym, sling some heavy weight, try different exercises, and see where it gets you.

If I went by the textbook, I would be short changing myself. I never go below 12 reps for arms in almost all of my workouts, and have seen good results. Most guys would say "you have to do barbell curls 8-10 reps" or "you have to do dips". Find what works best. I know guys who have better legs than a lot of dudes, and they don't even squat. It's not about what you read in a book or an online article, it's about what gets the job done for each individual.

Originally Posted by bigbenj

I didn't give 2 shits about what the OP asked, I simply stated movements that have helped me. I saw your t-rex arms, stfu, so I don't think you should be giving advice.

As I previously said, find what works best for you. So many times I see guys giving advice straight out of the textbook, or shit they google searched. Then I see what results they've obtain, and I can't help but chuckle. Get in the gym, sling some heavy weight, try different exercises, and see where it gets you.

If I went by the textbook, I would be short changing myself. I never go below 12 reps for arms in almost all of my workouts, and have seen good results. Most guys would say "you have to do barbell curls 8-10 reps" or "you have to do dips". Find what works best. I know guys who have better legs than a lot of dudes, and they don't even squat. It's not about what you read in a book or an online article, it's about what gets the job done for each individual.

if you don't give a shit about what he asked why are you posting?

My arms get about 18" pumped at 5'8"/20yrs old How big were your arms at age 20? im sure huge!!

p.s. haha t-rex arms was really funny! im actually still laughing, which is why i am about to give you some pos. rep!

At twenty years old I wasn't into my second or third cycle, using 800mg of test and 400mg of tren, as you stated you're using in another thread. At twenty I was smart enough to know I wasn't ready.. Just sayin'.

To each their own. Have fun.

Originally Posted by dAMvN

I have this problem, the peak of my biceps are pretty big but i'm very unhappy with the sides of my biceps. There thin and not very cut. I was wondering if you guys could tell me a few exercises I could do in order to make my biceps thicker and wider.

get leaner and ask santa for better arm genetics

Originally Posted by stfuandliftbtch

Drop all isolation lifts for arms??
-^There is exactly what not to do. Captain's arms grew, if i can remember 2 1/2 inches from doing this with none to little isolation work. 2.5 inches is a lot, but this is from someone who trained for 6 years on and off non-consistently. He claims this growth came from the heavy compounds, which i agree it did to an extent, but remember, this is from a non-consistent lifter. Most of those gains on his arms were due to him starting to lift again.

I totally agree. Isolation is very important but is very hard to do. There is one trick though. With to much weight it will not work, try to lower the weight and hit your biceps by doing a very slow exercise. This will help.

Originally Posted by jbuck27

Returnofthdragon,

Can you please pm me? Need to ask a question about one of your old post.

Sorry to jacked this again...but I need some important info from returnthdragon and I can't pm yet.


Return,

Search your thread about your 3 weeks on letro. Ive asked you a few questions.

Two things... 1. Do you guys prefer working biceps with tri's or chest 2. How many exercisers and sets/reps do you aim for.

Originally Posted by jbuck27

Two things... 1. Do you guys prefer working biceps with tri's or chest 2. How many exercisers and sets/reps do you aim for.

Depends on all kinds of things like:


- Experience (are you a beginner)
- History (what did I do yesterday)
- Vary (surprise your body and your muscles will grow)

So I don't prefer anything

I would say I'm a beginner on arms both tri and bi. Back and Chest come easier for me. I struggle with arm growth.

Originally Posted by stfuandliftbtch

Drop all isolation lifts for arms??
-^There is exactly what not to do. Captain's arms grew, if i can remember 2 1/2 inches from doing this with none to little isolation work. 2.5 inches is a lot, but this is from someone who trained for 6 years on and off non-consistently. He claims this growth came from the heavy compounds, which i agree it did to an extent, but remember, this is from a non-consistent lifter. Most of those gains on his arms were due to him starting to lift again.

Your question in this post clearly states that you are a beginner lifter, so therefore your arms aren't going to be super thick already. Yes, you might have an impressive peak, but that may just be due to your low bodyfat and lack of food consumption. How often do you see a bulked up bodybuilder with over 15% bdft with a huge peak? usually never. It's not noticeable until they cut down. ME on the other hand, feel like i have thick arms, and not enough peak. (we can trade some thickness for peak if you want..haha)

So if you are worried about the thickness of your arms/sides of your arms, your grip will have a lot to do with where you are primarily hitting the bicep. Bicep is 2 muscles, inner and outer. Maybe next workout start with a close grip or wide grip and don't worry so much about a neutral grip for hammers of a shoulder width grip until the end of your workout.

On the other hand, i do agree with Captain. A lot, if not most of your arm development will come from compound lifts. But, i do not agree with completely eliminating every isolation movement for your bicep. After your back workout try getting in 2-3 exercises for biceps with around 3 sets for each exercise. Remember, you are 19 and still young(im young too), and bicep thickness/arms thickenss will take some time to develop, especially if training naturally.

*Focus on training as much as nutrition and calorie intake and you'll start seeing some bicep thickness soon! Good luck!

I respectfully disagree. I think for a beginner especially to get good arm growth it is especially recommended they focus on compound lifts along with the right diet. Primary reason for this is they are aiming for overall body growth aka the bulk. If you're a beginner and you think you can just focus on arms to make them grow forget about it. Your arm growth will be proportionate directly to your overall body development therefore most if not all of your initial energy devoted in the gym should be to compound lifts. As a direct example, take the 20 rep squat program for example. This program is notorious and well proven to, if followed correctly, give some of the best size gains which includes arm growth. Interestingly enough it solely uses squats with the exception of extremely minor other work to achieve this.

Originally Posted by CaptainNapalm

I respectfully disagree. I think for a beginner especially to get good arm growth it is especially recommended they focus on compound lifts along with the right diet. Primary reason for this is they are aiming for overall body growth aka the bulk. If you're a beginner and you think you can just focus on arms to make them grow forget about it. Your arm growth will be proportionate directly to your overall body development therefore most if not all of your initial energy devoted in the gym should be to compound lifts. As a direct example, take the 20 rep squat program for example. This program is notorious and well proven to, if followed correctly, give some of the best size gains which includes arm growth. Interestingly enough it solely uses squats with the exception of extremely minor other work to achieve this.

you didn't say especially focus earlier..you said "completely eliminate all iso."

I'm just jumping in on the end here, did anyone recommend squats yet?

Originally Posted by Cork

I'm just jumping in on the end here, did anyone recommend squats yet?

Did you mean squats for a bigger biceps, that's odd? Or the fact that squats increase testosteron levels to stimulate muscle growth?

Woops double post.

Originally Posted by bigger biceps

Did you mean squats for a bigger biceps, that's odd? Or the fact that squats increase testosteron levels to stimulate muscle growth?

I'm mostly being a smartass. My comment has many meanings though and is not limited to the huge number of benefits squats have. When most people post on forums about how to make their arms bigger, it is usually the only focus of the individual's physique, thereby letting everything else fall by the wayside, namely legs. Most upper body warriors only care about arms and will plateau very fast. That is why when most people ask how to make the arms bigger, I say squat. It will give the arms more time to recover in between bouts of 40 sets of bicep curls, and it will create a large anabolic response throughout the whole body.

This just reminds me of this one guy in my gym who only works out arms. He is a small guy but he probably has 20" arms. The rest of his body is so far behind his arm development, I can't help but laugh every time I see him curling in the squat rack.

Originally Posted by Cork

I'm just jumping in on the end here, did anyone recommend squats yet?

im with you on this one. when i really starting focusing on heavy squats, deads. and bench is when my body really started to respond size wise. arms included.