monkster

I did my first workouts for my bicepts, and I was doing heavy weight for me, low reps (4-8), in sets of 3. I was having difficulty with form, I can't lift wieght with my bicept for my life. I think i was using my back more to swing it around. Are there better workouts for starters? any suggestions for form and maintaing it? thanks

danzik17

Do a lighter weight then. Don't lift more than you can control.

And yes, a full body workout with lots of compound exercises would be far more beneficial to you. Read some of the stickies, they have crap tons of info.

Ron Paul 2008

Journal: Boom goes the dynamite

Gazhole

Do rows instead. Much better movement.

To be honest i wouldnt go much heavier than 10 reps for any isolation exercise anyway, and 10 is pushing it. I try to stick around the 14-20 rep area for single joint movements.

Like Danzik said - go lighter and focus on your form. If you cant lift the weight properly its obviously too heavy. Read the stickies aswell, compound movements are much better anyways.

http://sdatrainingprograms.blogspot.com - Updated 25/04/08

nartic

I like to do a reverse pyramid. What a reverse pyramid is is doing the heaviest weight you can do up to 4 times then doing the heaviest you can do 8 times then dropping the weight to what you can 15 times. It might take some experimenting but after you figure out what those weights are write it down an you'll be doing 4 sets with 4,8,15 a set once you get used to that you can figure out what weight you can do 12 times so your sets will be 4,8,12,15. Give it a try for four weeks.

Witchblade

Stickies.

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monkster

1. I did read the stickies
2. No matter what I read in the stickies. I keep hearing different from everyone else.
3. There is alot of information in the stickies. So much that it is difficult to try and find the answers to 1 question.

Gazhole

2 - Sometimes there are differences in opinion, a lot of the time some people are either wrong or don't say anything particularly relevant.

***

Basically - form is paramount. Whats the point of lifting something if you cant lift it properly? Before you look at ANYTHING else you should make sure you CAN do it.

You wouldn't drive a car without knowing how to work the controls, even if you knew roughly how the car moves.

Lower the weight, and practice your form. Concentrate on using as little body english as possible, and always complete FULL range of motion at a constantly controlled speed for every rep.

http://sdatrainingprograms.blogspot.com - Updated 25/04/08

danzik17

Remember the number you lift has nothing to do with how much muscle you put on - higher numbers are not necessarily better. You will put on MORE muscle using a weight than you can do nice controlled reps with than you will swinging 80lbs around with terrible form in each arm.

Not to mention with terrible form you are just asking for injury.

Ron Paul 2008

Journal: Boom goes the dynamite

tomuchgear

easy way to check if you have to much wieght when you do a standing curl put your back against a wall. if you have to use your body to lift the wieght the wall should prevent it from happening.

eddieod

put the effort your using on your curls into your back workout instead and your biceps will benefit plenty. maybe stick in 3 sets of bb curls at the end of your back workout but drop the weight so your not cheating cause your only cheating yourself, as someone mentioned put your back against the wall