# weak biceps growth



## striker (Feb 12, 2008)

hi. .. i need help from you guys. . .i really have weak biceps growth.. 

tried pullups.. curls.(db and bb) but still it does not grow as im expecting it.

though i am familiar of genetic build up.. all i want for my bis is to have a good peak. . .

any suggestions? 

i am doing pullups and seated db preacher curl (inside curl) on one day

then 

seated db curls (outside curls) on other day


----------



## tomuchgear (Feb 12, 2008)

what are you doing for triceps?


----------



## striker (Feb 12, 2008)

tomuchgear said:


> what are you doing for triceps?



when im training my arms i just do ONE arm db tris extension..  (i change my tris exercise whenever i feel the current is not working anymore most probably every 2-3 weeks) 

since im already having bench and push press (separate days)


----------



## Irons77 (Feb 12, 2008)

Stick with a group of exercises for at lease 4-6 weeks before changing. Give it time to work. Work your bi's and tri's once a week hard, I mean hard then let them rest and hit them again the next week. They are smaller muscles and easier to overtrain gotta be carefull. Remember muscles don't grow in the gym they grow on rest days.


----------



## striker (Feb 12, 2008)

Irons77 said:


> Stick with a group of exercises for at lease 4-6 weeks before changing. Give it time to work. Work your bi's and tri's once a week hard, I mean hard then let them rest and hit them again the next week. They are smaller muscles and easier to overtrain gotta be carefull. Remember muscles don't grow in the gym they grow on rest days.



yes i know.. but  i have been training it for the past 6years but still no evident change has come with regards to its peak..  my triceps responds more than my bis. . .


----------



## Metallibanger (Feb 13, 2008)

Biceps peak are more a matter of genetics than training. All you can do is emphasize the outer head of the biceps with concentration curls, supinating curls or EZ-bar curls, for example. Also, find the exercises that work for you and stick with them, don't change things constantly.


----------



## Metallibanger (Feb 13, 2008)

Work your mind-muscle connection


----------



## tomuchgear (Feb 13, 2008)

all good advice but one major thing you need to look at triceps make your arms look bigger do some hammer curls that will help. another exercise that isnt bad but not great either is standing cable curls. get into a cable cross over stance hold your arms up bout shoulder level and curl the wieght into your shoulder basicaly that will help with a peak as well.


----------



## PreMier (Feb 13, 2008)

tomuchgear said:


> all good advice but one major thing you need to look at triceps make your arms look bigger do some hammer curls that will help. another exercise that isnt bad but not great either is standing cable curls. get into a cable cross over stance hold your arms up bout shoulder level and curl the wieght into your shoulder basicaly that will help with a peak as well.



heavy hammer curls.

the muscle type of the bicep responds better to heavy weight, and low reps. try something like 2 reps for 4-6 sets.  maybe 2 exercises total


----------



## StanUk (Feb 13, 2008)

Maybe you should take a look at your diet? Are you eating enough? Is the rest of your body growing? Your not just going to add 2 inches onto your biceps without putting on a good deal of mass on the rest of your body.


----------



## Witchblade (Feb 13, 2008)

90% says it's mental.


----------



## RasPlasch (Feb 13, 2008)

PreMier said:


> heavy hammer curls.
> 
> the muscle type of the bicep responds better to heavy weight, and low reps. try something like 2 reps for 4-6 sets.  maybe 2 exercises total




Really? I have heard the exact opposite of that. I read somewhere that you should always do 8-12 reps with biceps.


----------



## striker (Feb 13, 2008)

StanUk said:


> Maybe you should take a look at your diet? Are you eating enough? Is the rest of your body growing? Your not just going to add 2 inches onto your biceps without putting on a good deal of mass on the rest of your body.




yes i am aware of my diet. . .and i know diet-exercise and rest are relevant. .and yes the rest of my body grows. . but it comes slow in the biceps area. . . my friends tease me that my arms looks like a ham since my tris are bigger than my biceps. . 

thanks for the advice guys. . . 

ok il try to add "heavy hammer curls" 

but am i right hammer curls targets the brachialis? and forearms?


----------



## tomuchgear (Feb 13, 2008)

i find biceps respond best to heavy wieght no more than like three exercises maxing at nine sets total. some times if i dont feel i did enough i will throw a killer in there to really burn em but that is rare and only when i feel i had a bad workout and want the feeling of accomplishment. also maintain perfect form on all bi lifts if you are throwing your back its to much wieght.


----------



## tomuchgear (Feb 13, 2008)

yes you are correct on were the hammer curls target but tri's are a bigger portion of your arm build em up to make your bi's look better. hammer curls make your arm look thicker in the middle you could also try the french press I think that is what it is called or skull crushers those are nice.


----------



## 18islucky (Feb 14, 2008)

I had similar problems and I took androtest and it really seemed to help me out. I'm not gaining as much as when I first started taking it. But when I did I gained alot of mass in under a month.


----------



## KelJu (Feb 14, 2008)

There is no perfect rep range for any muscle in the body. Variate the rep range with some sort of periodization. 

Make sure you are doing the important pulling compound movements like pull-ups, chin-ups, and rows. Don't do more than one isolation for the biceps. Variate between exercises to keep the body from adapting. 

Try Ez-bar curls one week, dumbbell hammer curls one week, then preacher curls one week. Try 3-5 reps range one week, then 8-12 the next. Every so many week, do some drop-sets are supersets to shock the body.  

Biceps can be tricky. Make sure your weight is low enough to where you can go slow during the concentric movement, and squeeze the shit out of your biceps at the peak of the contraction.


----------



## CowPimp (Feb 15, 2008)

Let's get things straight.  Are you growing everywhere else but the biceps in particular are lagging?  Are you only trying to get your biceps to grow, but you aren't concerned with growth over the entire body?  Are you eating enough food, in the right quantities, and at the right times?


----------



## striker (Feb 16, 2008)

CowPimp said:


> Let's get things straight.  Are you growing everywhere else but the biceps in particular are lagging?  Are you only trying to get your biceps to grow, but you aren't concerned with growth over the entire body?  Are you eating enough food, in the right quantities, and at the right times?



yes the rest are growing. .. and yes also my biceps are lagging. . .eating the enough food and i am aware of it. .


----------



## 18islucky (Feb 16, 2008)

*Maybe this will help*

Something that works good for me. Is to get a weight I can only do about 25 reps. Do them take only a few secs off and repeat over and over until there to sore to move properly normally after about 20mins. Then don't work them out for at least a week. Get plenty of rest and eat alot of protein a gallon of skim milk a day would be a  good start. Sometimes I like to do low weights followed by super heavy weights followed by low weights again. Normally a 25rep 5 rep 25 rep range works good.


----------



## KelJu (Feb 16, 2008)

18islucky said:


> Something that works good for me. Is to get a weight I can only do about 25 reps. Do them take only a few secs off and repeat over and over until there to sore to move properly normally after about 20mins. Then don't work them out for at least a week. Get plenty of rest and eat alot of protein a gallon of skim milk a day would be a  good start. Sometimes I like to do low weights followed by super heavy weights followed by low weights again. Normally a 25rep 5 rep 25 rep range works good.


----------



## CowPimp (Feb 17, 2008)

Are you measuring or just looking subjectively?  Make sure you are measuring, because objectively analyzing the size of your arms will leave you off every time.

Write out your program in it's entirety.  Exercises, sets, reps, intensity, frequency, split, whatever.  We will try to offer suggestions from there.


----------



## Gazhole (Feb 18, 2008)

18islucky said:


> Something that works good for me. Is to get a weight I can only do about 25 reps. Do them take only a few secs off and repeat over and over until there to sore to move properly normally after about 20mins. Then don't work them out for at least a week. Get plenty of rest and eat alot of protein a gallon of skim milk a day would be a  good start. Sometimes I like to do low weights followed by super heavy weights followed by low weights again. Normally a 25rep 5 rep 25 rep range works good.



A gallon of milk a day?

Welcome to fat city.


----------



## striker (Feb 18, 2008)

CowPimp said:


> Are you measuring or just looking subjectively?  Make sure you are measuring, because objectively analyzing the size of your arms will leave you off every time.
> 
> Write out your program in it's entirety.  Exercises, sets, reps, intensity, frequency, split, whatever.  We will try to offer suggestions from there.




DAY 1

are you familiar with EDT by Charles Staley? --that's my routine.. but basically i just get the time involved.. so in 15mins time i do :

Bench press 
inclined db press

seated cable rows


DAY 2 -- same 15mins:

Squats
leg extensions

REST

2nd set of 15mins

one arm db triceps extension
standing db outside curls


DAY 3 

Deadlift (progression phase) i add 10lbs every DL day.. until i reach my target (400lbs) i am now at 340lbs. did 3reps in 4sets

then 15mins :

pushpress
pullups

after the 15mins
3 sets of close grip ez bar curl

suggestions are open. . .


goal -- gain strength and have a nice built

training days Monday Wednesday and Saturday


----------



## ArnoldsProtege (Feb 18, 2008)

2 things: periodization and progressive overload... if you are not consistently lifting more and heavier weight and constantly confusing your body, it is easy to plateau.

 If it was me, id definitely be changing it up and hitting my Bi's differently each time i trained them. completely shock them. dont let them adapt to anything to a point where they are FORCED to grow. I just recently started using the P/RR/S training program, while implementing the FTFS technique by the same author, and I have gained more size and strengh in the past month than I have in the prior 3-4 months of training. definitely look into that, its ridicoulosy crazy and intense and not for the faint of heart, but its great for plateu busting and forcing growth.


----------



## nartic (Feb 18, 2008)

PreMier said:


> heavy hammer curls.
> 
> the muscle type of the bicep responds better to heavy weight, and low reps. try something like 2 reps for 4-6 sets.  maybe 2 exercises total



PreMier is right hammer curls are key. I would do pinwheel curls. Pinwheel curls are hammer curls done while standing up an you curl up to your shoulder across the chest. You can go past failure with these using your weight to help get the weight up to the shoulders but do this only after failure not before.


----------



## UFC rocks (Feb 18, 2008)

from what i have read, hammer curls are important for biceps to grow. i am trying to stick to a routine based around compound exercises, so i was thinking would dumbbell rows be good as your hands are parallel, just like hammer curls. or do you think i should just do a few sets of hammer curls after my compound exercises, basically i am asking are hammer curls and dumbbell rows similar.


----------



## UFC rocks (Feb 18, 2008)

can anyone help with my question.


----------



## PreMier (Feb 18, 2008)

they are not similar.. there is activation in the bicep, but i would do 3-4 sets at 2-3 reps of hammers at the end of the workout.

or dont train your biceps directly at all.. that does work for some people.   how long have you been on your current routine


----------



## UFC rocks (Feb 18, 2008)

why is it that a lot off people like hammer curls and always talk about hammer curls inshead of normall dumbbell curls. is it becasue they work the forarms more and the part of the biceps which appears to give you a big peak. what i want to know is am i missing out by not doing hammer curls, is there a big difference between hammer curls and normal dumbbell curls.


----------



## PreMier (Feb 18, 2008)

hammer curls activate the brachialis, which is under the bicep.  it does this because the way your arm is turned its isometric elbow flexion.  normal dumbell curls are a dynamic elbow flexion, and they hit the bicep.  i would focus on both, but since i do a push/pull split, i do a lot of my back/pull movements with my elbows in dynamic flexion.. thats why i just do hammers at the end so i hit my arms with an isometric flexion movement


----------



## PreMier (Feb 18, 2008)

also, maybe p-funk or cowpimp or DD will chime in, they know a lot more than me


----------



## tomuchgear (Feb 18, 2008)

impressive explanation premier.


----------



## UFC rocks (Feb 18, 2008)

tomuchgear said:


> impressive explanation premier.



i agree, well explaned, thanks. 

i was thinking on my pull day if i do pullups with a over hand grip, (palms facing away), then do chin ups with a under hand grip, (palms facing towards me) and then do dumbbell rows, (hands sidewards) then i will be hitting the biceps from all angles. and then i may just finish of with a few sets of an isolation exercise, something like concentrated curls.

what do you think, is this a good pull routine?


----------



## striker (Feb 19, 2008)

any updates or suggestions on my posted program/routine? thanks


----------



## tomuchgear (Feb 19, 2008)

i would add a couple exercises for some variation in your biceps doesnt look like you are doing enough to really stimulate all the fibers.


----------



## buening (Feb 19, 2008)

Hammer curls, heavy bent BB rows (palm up for more bicep recruitment), and weighted neutral grip (hammer) chins. If those don't make your bi's grow then the rest of your body is not growing or your genetics hate you LOL. 

Though not relevant to everyone, but a good rule of thumb is in order to gain an inch on your arms you need to gain 25lbs of lean muscle mass. 

Don't mess with a lot of isolation bicep workouts and hit some heavy compound movements that involve the biceps.  I typically save the isolation lifts (hammer curls) till the end after the rows and chins. My 2 cents


----------



## tomuchgear (Feb 19, 2008)

good point and much better explanation than i gave buening.


----------



## striker (Feb 19, 2008)

THANK YOU for your suggestions. .. and yes i read in t-nation that in order to make your arms bigger a trainee should focus on compound rather than isolation.. ok i will try your advice guys.. i will keep you posted for developments.. 

btw i think i have the "short" biceps development instead of the "long" type.. so i am expecting it just to be at its peak.. .rather than to be long. .


----------



## dontsurfonmytur (Feb 20, 2008)

Honestly, I realized that most people either have big bi's or big tri's
i am one of those people who always had big tri's but puny bi's. I'm sure within time my bi's will grow, but they will always lag behind my tri's.


----------



## buening (Feb 27, 2008)

dontsurfonmytur said:


> Honestly, I realized that most people either have big bi's or big tri's
> i am one of those people who always had big tri's but puny bi's. I'm sure within time my bi's will grow, but they will always lag behind my tri's.



It's funny you mention that. I'm the exact opposite. I have a decent bicep peak, but feel my triceps are lagging. 

I haven't done curls in probably a year, so my compounds must have done something with the help of genetics.


----------



## UFC rocks (Feb 27, 2008)

dontsurfonmytur said:


> Honestly, I realized that most people either have big bi's or big tri's
> i am one of those people who always had big tri's but puny bi's. I'm sure within time my bi's will grow, but they will always lag behind my tri's.



i am the same as you, my triceps are a far bit bigger than my biceps. i feel my triceps dont need as much work for them to grow, because ever sience i started lifting i havent ever done much isolation work on them just been doing the compounds, bench press, shoulder press and dips and they have grown well. but as for my biceps, even after all my compounds i still have to do about 4 sets off isolation for the biceps in order for them to keep up the the triceps.


----------



## tomuchgear (Feb 27, 2008)

try only doing three sets of isolation you may be doing to much isolation work. to much can be counterproductive.


----------



## UFC rocks (Feb 27, 2008)

dont worry i am not overtraining, i said ABOUT 4 sets, so that means it depends how i feel. somedays i will do 2 sets, somedays 3 and somedays 4.


----------



## tomuchgear (Feb 27, 2008)

consistancy can help alot as well. i would really just stick with three actual sets of isolation movements. per isolation exercise. for free wieghts i like to do standing ez bar curls, preacher curls, then conentration, or hammercurls. i rely on my back exercises as well. for machines one arm cables, the one arm suspended curls thats bout it for machines.


----------



## buening (Feb 29, 2008)

Be sure to change things up. For instance don't do 3 sets of 10 for six weeks in a row. Vary the sets, reps, and even the exercises and continue to increase weight if possible.  Oh yeah, and don't forget to spend time in the kitchen. A good analogy is like a gun. The weights are the trigger and the gym is the bullet.  You can pull the trigger all you want and nothing will happen without the bullet. The more you eat (healthy that is) the larger the bullet.  I'm sure bigger ammunition is always a good thing in this analogy


----------

