Getting past a biceps wall

[Rich46yo]

Ive ran into a serious biceps wall. About 6 to 8 weeks now Ive peaked and just cant progress. Im drug free cause I "have to be", and eliminateing other causes such as rest and diet does anyone have any advice on techniques to get thru this ?..........................Take care and thanx.................Rich

 

[kbm8795]

Rich - I'm no expert, so I might not be much help here - I just try to mix up the movements I use more often. Since I'm still pretty much a rookie after only 2.75 years at this, I might suggest you look for a training thread Gopro has on here - he posts some workouts that I've seen several members make some great gains in utilizing.

If you haven't seen it already, look for a Gopro's workout thread - I think one of the early posts (like on the first page) has links to bodypart workouts. You might get some ideas there.

 

[P-funk]

what does your routine for biceps look like?

 

[JLB001]

No routine works forever so you need to change it up frequently.

Besides that, there are so many "shock" techniques out there that I can't post them all here....but here are a few I found to be helpful.

21's...i am sure you are familiar so i wont explain unless you ask

german volume training:

chooses a weight that seems fairly light and do try for 100 reps (not a typo...it says 100)...if you have to stop then stop but try not to rest too long...do as many as you can each time till you reach 100....your arms should be pumped like crazy at this point.

this seems to be a great "shock" method....many theories on why it works but the one i believe is that the tremendous pump stretches the fascia around the muscle allowing it to grow more....whatever the reason, give it a shot if you are feeling adventerous!

 

[Rich46yo]

Thanx fellas...............my routine...........

Im on a 4 day split with legs,back, and bi's on mon-tues. I keep things simple with my workouts. A wise old body builder once told me to keep it simple just mix it up. For Bi's I do a combo of machine pull downs, standing curls, both curl bar and free dumbells, and sitting dumbell curls. I have one super heavy bi day and one maintenance one. On my heavy day I do 6 to 8 sets,includeing cheats, lighter day 4 to 6 "no cheats". I listen to my body and stop when my body tells me to.

For 6 weeks ive just been stuck on both weight and reps. I could go on about what my weights are but that isnt relevant, just being stuck is. I have a propensity to overtrain cause I simply love throwing myself at the iron. I dont think Im overtraining, I feel fine, but now I have to consider it. Rep-wise if I cant lift it 6 times I dont bother lifting it. Things depend, with cheats I'll go 6 to 8 reps, with perfect form Im at 8 to 10 reps, on occasion I'll do countdown sets.

Diet wise Im doing well. Two full meals a day with meat and veggies, 1 light meal, two myoplexes a day with extra protien/creatine, and vitamins. Everything else is doing fine, my tri's are doing great, my squats are strong, chest is moving forward, shoulders are slow but progressing, its just my damned bi's.

Im really stumped and a little intimidated by it. Any help is appreciated. Have to go work a midshift .............take care.......................Rich

 

[JoeR.]

There is an awesome 8 week program in the new FLEX magazine that would prolly puch you past your wall.

 

[CowPimp]

Originally posted by Rich46yo
Diet wise Im doing well. Two full meals a day with meat and veggies, 1 light meal, two myoplexes a day with extra protien/creatine, and vitamins. Everything else is doing fine, my tri's are doing great, my squats are strong, chest is moving forward, shoulders are slow but progressing, its just my damned bi's.

Im really stumped and a little intimidated by it. Any help is appreciated. Have to go work a midshift .............take care.......................Rich

That is not what I would consider a good diet. I eat every 3 hours (5-6 meals per day). I eat protein and carbs at every meal. Although I don't have the best diet in the world, it is leaps and bounds above that. You should be eating more than 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. Try 1.5 grams per pound of body weight if possible. Here is a sample day for me:

Meal 1 (9:30AM):
Bowl of cereal w/ 2% milk
4 egg whites w/ slice of cheese
Banana

Meal 2 (12:30PM):
Turkey & cheese sandwhich
Sardines
Salad

Meal 3 (3:30PM):
Bagel w/ cream cheese
3 servings of cottage cheese
Apple

Meal 4 (7:00PM) - Pre WO:
Pita & hummus
Sardines
Cucumbers & carrots

Meal 5 (9:30PM) - Post WO:
2 scoops whey w/ water
Tuna w/ mayo & celery
Peanut butter sandwhich (3 servings of PB)

Meal 6 (1AM) - Pre bedtime:
3 servings of PB
2 servings of cottage cheese
1 scoop whey w/ milk

 

[seabee]

I broke through a sticking point by doing dumbell curls (one at a time) at the stand up preacher pad. Force your hand to go outside your elbow, exposing your bicep more (go light). It takes you twice as long to do your bicep workout, but what a shock. Really feel it and look at it. Don't cheat and pull it up with your body. Keep everthing still except for that curl. 3 sets of 10 then move on to your usual (if you can). And keep the yelps of pain down to a minimum, please. It is grueling. 2-3 weeks you will see it popping.

 

[vas85]

"JBL001" this statement "No routine works forever so you need to change it up frequently." i think is half false, its not a MATTER of the ROUTINE working its about Increasing the Poundages that you lift, if you ever find you cant increase the weight, try MICROLOADING which you add like 1lb chains at a time, it could be a possibility to help you lift more

 

[jakethesnake]

I remember reading about some way of breaking through a plateau and it went something like this: 1 x 10 of heavy weight (your maxing out here on around the 9/10rep)
1 x 10 half your max
1 x 10 of fairly light weight.

The idea is, by the last set, that light weight should be just as difiicult to perform as the first heavy weight. It shouldnt be done too often as it isn't good for the SNS

 

[LAM]

Originally posted by CowPimp
That is not what I would consider a good diet. I eat every 3 hours (5-6 meals per day). I eat protein and carbs at every meal. Although I don't have the best diet in the world, it is leaps and bounds above that. You should be eating more than 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. Try 1.5 grams per pound of body weight if possible. Here is a sample day for me:

Meal 1 (9:30AM):
Bowl of cereal w/ 2% milk
4 egg whites w/ slice of cheese
Banana

Meal 2 (12:30PM):
Turkey & cheese sandwhich
Sardines
Salad

Meal 3 (3:30PM):
Bagel w/ cream cheese
3 servings of cottage cheese
Apple

Meal 4 (7:00PM) - Pre WO:
Pita & hummus
Sardines
Cucumbers & carrots

Meal 5 (9:30PM) - Post WO:
2 scoops whey w/ water
Tuna w/ mayo & celery
Peanut butter sandwhich (3 servings of PB)

Meal 6 (1AM) - Pre bedtime:
3 servings of PB
2 servings of cottage cheese
1 scoop whey w/ milk

this is off-topic but IMO your diet is too high in processed grains. I would limit "breads" to 1 serving a day

 

[Vieope]

Originally posted by Rich46yo
does anyone have any advice on techniques to get thru this ?.......

Take some time off.

 

[Deeznuts]

Variate your workouts. Heavy weight low reps one workout (try negative preacher curls w/ the EZ bar) and then try 21's followed by some high rep - light weight dumbell curls the next workout. This outta give your bi's a pretty good shock.

 

[Rich46yo]

Thanx for the replys nd the advice. Vie I hesitate to take time off because Im gaining everywhere but my Bi's, feel good, and my next "week off" isnt till Jun. "I normaly take 2 or 3 weeks completely off each year. Im getting one or two days a week of complete rest, like today which is Sopranos and Deadwood anyway, so I take Sun,s completely off. I work midnight shifts but get a good 7 to 9 hours sleep a day.

As to diet. I know it isnt perfect, but its getting better. I work the street where there is nothing but garbage to eat so a myoplex in a container, or a metrex bar, is the best I can do. My two "good meals" are meat of some kind "lean" and big servings of green raw veggies. My light meal is normaly eggs,cheese, some veggies, and maybe some unsalted nuts. Im trying to completely cut out all the breads,cereals,pastas...ect out of the mix. I dont believe in all these carbs anymore, "funny but BB's were living on skinless chicken,eggs,and raw broccoli before anyone heard of Atkins".

Anyway overnight, at work, Ive been thinking about this. Im going to take the advice here and go lighter, focusing more. The bi is a small muscle and I think Im hitting it like I hit my chest and legs. Dietwise Im going to focus more but with my schedule it is extremely difficult...........thanx again.................Rich