amusclehead
09-09-2002, 01:15 PM
Heh, this is going to get moved again i sense, but hey, as long as it's hear, please give me your feedback and tell me what you think :)
(only wrote it because my dvd burner is taking a while to burn, and i don't have anything else to do now, heh)
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Well, let’s get down and dirty and start learning, shall we.
General background
The number one mistake most people make when they start training is that they feel the only way to get a bigger arm measurement is to have bigger biceps. WRONG! Biceps only count for 1/3 of total arm size. Triceps are where the meat is, weighing in around 2/3 of total size. It’s a shame that people who don’t lift are able to influence those that do. For example, when you flex chances are a non-lifter will say ‘WOW! Huge biceps.’ Not, ‘wow, you’ve got some nice tricep development going on’, and thus overtime you’re almost taught that to get big arms you have to hit your biceps heavily. That’s true, but only for a certain extent- you can’t forget about triceps.
Also, don’t forget that you yourself have to be carrying around some size in order to have big arms. What I mean by this is you can’t expect to have 18’’ arms and weigh only 120pds. So if you’re sitting there at 130pds and wanting 20’’ arms, it isn’t going to happen. You have to bulk up first.
Now, for the rest of the article, I’m going to assume that you already knew this, and are here for bicep pointers.
It’s all genetic
There’s nothing you can do to change the dimensions of your bicep. You don’t like its height, peak, shape, length, etc.., TOO BAD. That’s set for life, unless you want to try some plastic surgery. All you can do is make the muscle itself bigger, not longer or higher. That really annoys me when I see people doing concentration curls saying ‘A few months of these babies and I’ll add some peak to my biceps’. If you don’t have a peak by now, you never will, simple as that. There is no magic exercise that will give it to you, sorry to say.
The training
There’s no point me sitting here and saying ‘Do X sets and X reps for biceps’. Everybody responds to training differently; however, you want to keep in mind that some set guidelines still apply. Biceps are a small muscle and don’t need 16sets to be hit. 5-7sets, imo, is perfect. Some people prefer only doing 3-4, but I’ve found, atleast for myself, 5-7 is great. Experiment and see how many you like to do. Also, make sure to lift for less than 55minutes, but if you’re going over 55minutes with bicep training, then you’re probably doing way too many sets. For myself, i tend to spend 30-35minutes on biceps a week, max. Remember, the bicep itself is a VERY small muscle. It doesn't need a lot of work to exhaust itself
As for reps, once again everybody has their preference. Mine is the 4-6range. Maybe you will prefer the 6-8range. Once again, experiment and see what works. What will NOT work though is doing like 10+reps. People who do that seem to think that it’ll help define their biceps. Common mistake. It won’t! The only way to get good definition is to diet and do cardio and drop the body fat. Doing 10+reps will only build your endurance, and do very little for hypertrophy or strength gains.
The exercises
There are literally hundreds of exercises you can do to work the biceps. To be honest, I think I’ve done them all at one point or another, thinking that there was some super exercise out there that would encourage insane growth. Well, the one thing I learned is that there isn’t- growth is all about proper training and giving it time, not super secret bicep exercises. Here’s a list of some that I’ve found quite helpful, and others I don’t like at all.
BB curl- The meat of any bicep routine. A must have
DB curl- Can be done seated or standing. A great exercise. However, to gain the most out of it you want to use a palms-facing forward grip. Most people when they curl, at the bottom of the rep their palms are facing sideways(and thus facing eachother). WRONG! Well, not wrong, but not the best for optimal gains. Have the palms-facing forward at the bottom of the rep. This places more stress on the bicep.
Back to wall curls- Done with the back against a solid surface. Waste of time, imo. It’s easier to just stand up and focus on keeping good form rather than forcing it on. Besides, eventually you’ll start cheating and using the wall to help you lift. It’s easier to just stand and do it properly.
Preacher curls- I like them, some don’t. Try them and see what you think.
Concentration curls/kung-fu curls/XXXX curls- Completely useless. There are way better exercises out there, and make these unnecessary. All of these claim to be able to either add a better peak to your biceps, help elongate them, etc…-> COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME. Dimensions are determined by genetics, not by any exercises you do
Hammer curls- I like them. A great way to finish off a program. Hits the forearms and biceps.
Zottman curls- I don’t understand why people would do these. Stay away from them. It is NOT naturally to twist your wrist and forearm at the top of the movement like that. I injured myself doing them once, and would stay far, far away from them if I were you. Sure, you can do them with light weights, but why bother. You won’t be training for hypertrophy then.
Zane curls- I use these to finish off my workout. Basically it’s a standing db curl, except at the top of the rep, you squeeze the bicep for 5seconds, REALLY hard. I mean, give it all you have in that squeeze. If done properly, when you finish 1 set of these you won’t want to do anymore. The squeeze is the important part of this exercise. If you use hold the weight up, don’t waste your time with it. However, if you flex and squeeze that bicep for all it’s worth, I think this is a great way to end it(with 1 set).
21s- WASTE OF TIME! Period. If anything, these would train the biceps for endurance, not strength or size. Only 2/3 of the actual movement is useful(see below). Most people who do these like them because, well, they can lift a lot(reps). BIG MISTAKE! This goes against quality over quantity training. Maybe as a shock routine once in a blue moon, but regularly these would totally defeat the purpose of hypertrophy. If you want size and strength, stay far away from these
Form schmorm
I always find it humerous when people ask how much I db curl and I say 57.5pd dbs…and they look at me, look at my 18’’ arms, and say ‘WTF? I curl 70pders and have 13’’ arms’. Biceps respond to heavy weight, yes, that is true. HOWEVER, biceps do NOT respond to heavy weight and poor form. There’s 2 cases of bad form.
1) Swinging the weight. If you’re arching your back, bending your knees and throwing the weight up, stop. This will not give you any growth. Most people call these ‘cheat curls’, and claim they’re far superior to regular bicep curls because they let you move more weight. Yea, good for you, you’re moving more weight, except now the stress is being placed on the knees, back, forearms, shoulder, everywhere but the bicep. At the end of a set, it’s okay to do a cheat rep or two, however, to base your whole program around it is wrong. Watch your form in the mirror. If you’re cheating, lower the weight and try again.
2) Lifting the elbows. This is rather hard to detect and stop because it happens unconsciously. Ideally you’d like your elbow to be glued to your side; however, unless you’re lifting 10pds, this isn’t going to happen. The elbow will naturally lift a bit and move forward. This is fine. However, it is not fine let it move a huge distance. If you’re doing this, then you’re using momentum to lift. Also, when you let the elbows move a great distance, the stress is taken off the bicep and placed on the forearm and anterior deltoid. Lower the weight and focus on keeping the elbows as still and in place as much as possible, but accepting that a bit of movement is natural.
Half curls OWN you :rolleyes:
I love this one. People only do the upper part of the curl because they think it places more stress on the bicep. WRONG! Most of the benefit of the exercise comes from the time your arms are hanging down holding the weight, until the point where the forearms are just slightly past parallel. A small bit of benefit comes from finishing the movement(the end ‘curling’ part). It’s a common mistake to believe that this end part is more important, mainly because it’s during here that the biceps appear the largest(because they’re contracted and flexed). Well, that’s wrong. As said above, most benefit comes from the beginning half of the rep, when they’re lifting the weight up. Am I saying only do the first half- no. Do the complete movement. I’m just telling you where most of the benefit occurs, so you don’t sit there don’t upper half curls(I used to do that and made absolutely no progress).
GENERAL TIPS ON NEXT PAGE BECAUSE THE WORD LIMIT CUT ME OFF :p
(only wrote it because my dvd burner is taking a while to burn, and i don't have anything else to do now, heh)
---------------------------
Well, let’s get down and dirty and start learning, shall we.
General background
The number one mistake most people make when they start training is that they feel the only way to get a bigger arm measurement is to have bigger biceps. WRONG! Biceps only count for 1/3 of total arm size. Triceps are where the meat is, weighing in around 2/3 of total size. It’s a shame that people who don’t lift are able to influence those that do. For example, when you flex chances are a non-lifter will say ‘WOW! Huge biceps.’ Not, ‘wow, you’ve got some nice tricep development going on’, and thus overtime you’re almost taught that to get big arms you have to hit your biceps heavily. That’s true, but only for a certain extent- you can’t forget about triceps.
Also, don’t forget that you yourself have to be carrying around some size in order to have big arms. What I mean by this is you can’t expect to have 18’’ arms and weigh only 120pds. So if you’re sitting there at 130pds and wanting 20’’ arms, it isn’t going to happen. You have to bulk up first.
Now, for the rest of the article, I’m going to assume that you already knew this, and are here for bicep pointers.
It’s all genetic
There’s nothing you can do to change the dimensions of your bicep. You don’t like its height, peak, shape, length, etc.., TOO BAD. That’s set for life, unless you want to try some plastic surgery. All you can do is make the muscle itself bigger, not longer or higher. That really annoys me when I see people doing concentration curls saying ‘A few months of these babies and I’ll add some peak to my biceps’. If you don’t have a peak by now, you never will, simple as that. There is no magic exercise that will give it to you, sorry to say.
The training
There’s no point me sitting here and saying ‘Do X sets and X reps for biceps’. Everybody responds to training differently; however, you want to keep in mind that some set guidelines still apply. Biceps are a small muscle and don’t need 16sets to be hit. 5-7sets, imo, is perfect. Some people prefer only doing 3-4, but I’ve found, atleast for myself, 5-7 is great. Experiment and see how many you like to do. Also, make sure to lift for less than 55minutes, but if you’re going over 55minutes with bicep training, then you’re probably doing way too many sets. For myself, i tend to spend 30-35minutes on biceps a week, max. Remember, the bicep itself is a VERY small muscle. It doesn't need a lot of work to exhaust itself
As for reps, once again everybody has their preference. Mine is the 4-6range. Maybe you will prefer the 6-8range. Once again, experiment and see what works. What will NOT work though is doing like 10+reps. People who do that seem to think that it’ll help define their biceps. Common mistake. It won’t! The only way to get good definition is to diet and do cardio and drop the body fat. Doing 10+reps will only build your endurance, and do very little for hypertrophy or strength gains.
The exercises
There are literally hundreds of exercises you can do to work the biceps. To be honest, I think I’ve done them all at one point or another, thinking that there was some super exercise out there that would encourage insane growth. Well, the one thing I learned is that there isn’t- growth is all about proper training and giving it time, not super secret bicep exercises. Here’s a list of some that I’ve found quite helpful, and others I don’t like at all.
BB curl- The meat of any bicep routine. A must have
DB curl- Can be done seated or standing. A great exercise. However, to gain the most out of it you want to use a palms-facing forward grip. Most people when they curl, at the bottom of the rep their palms are facing sideways(and thus facing eachother). WRONG! Well, not wrong, but not the best for optimal gains. Have the palms-facing forward at the bottom of the rep. This places more stress on the bicep.
Back to wall curls- Done with the back against a solid surface. Waste of time, imo. It’s easier to just stand up and focus on keeping good form rather than forcing it on. Besides, eventually you’ll start cheating and using the wall to help you lift. It’s easier to just stand and do it properly.
Preacher curls- I like them, some don’t. Try them and see what you think.
Concentration curls/kung-fu curls/XXXX curls- Completely useless. There are way better exercises out there, and make these unnecessary. All of these claim to be able to either add a better peak to your biceps, help elongate them, etc…-> COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME. Dimensions are determined by genetics, not by any exercises you do
Hammer curls- I like them. A great way to finish off a program. Hits the forearms and biceps.
Zottman curls- I don’t understand why people would do these. Stay away from them. It is NOT naturally to twist your wrist and forearm at the top of the movement like that. I injured myself doing them once, and would stay far, far away from them if I were you. Sure, you can do them with light weights, but why bother. You won’t be training for hypertrophy then.
Zane curls- I use these to finish off my workout. Basically it’s a standing db curl, except at the top of the rep, you squeeze the bicep for 5seconds, REALLY hard. I mean, give it all you have in that squeeze. If done properly, when you finish 1 set of these you won’t want to do anymore. The squeeze is the important part of this exercise. If you use hold the weight up, don’t waste your time with it. However, if you flex and squeeze that bicep for all it’s worth, I think this is a great way to end it(with 1 set).
21s- WASTE OF TIME! Period. If anything, these would train the biceps for endurance, not strength or size. Only 2/3 of the actual movement is useful(see below). Most people who do these like them because, well, they can lift a lot(reps). BIG MISTAKE! This goes against quality over quantity training. Maybe as a shock routine once in a blue moon, but regularly these would totally defeat the purpose of hypertrophy. If you want size and strength, stay far away from these
Form schmorm
I always find it humerous when people ask how much I db curl and I say 57.5pd dbs…and they look at me, look at my 18’’ arms, and say ‘WTF? I curl 70pders and have 13’’ arms’. Biceps respond to heavy weight, yes, that is true. HOWEVER, biceps do NOT respond to heavy weight and poor form. There’s 2 cases of bad form.
1) Swinging the weight. If you’re arching your back, bending your knees and throwing the weight up, stop. This will not give you any growth. Most people call these ‘cheat curls’, and claim they’re far superior to regular bicep curls because they let you move more weight. Yea, good for you, you’re moving more weight, except now the stress is being placed on the knees, back, forearms, shoulder, everywhere but the bicep. At the end of a set, it’s okay to do a cheat rep or two, however, to base your whole program around it is wrong. Watch your form in the mirror. If you’re cheating, lower the weight and try again.
2) Lifting the elbows. This is rather hard to detect and stop because it happens unconsciously. Ideally you’d like your elbow to be glued to your side; however, unless you’re lifting 10pds, this isn’t going to happen. The elbow will naturally lift a bit and move forward. This is fine. However, it is not fine let it move a huge distance. If you’re doing this, then you’re using momentum to lift. Also, when you let the elbows move a great distance, the stress is taken off the bicep and placed on the forearm and anterior deltoid. Lower the weight and focus on keeping the elbows as still and in place as much as possible, but accepting that a bit of movement is natural.
Half curls OWN you :rolleyes:
I love this one. People only do the upper part of the curl because they think it places more stress on the bicep. WRONG! Most of the benefit of the exercise comes from the time your arms are hanging down holding the weight, until the point where the forearms are just slightly past parallel. A small bit of benefit comes from finishing the movement(the end ‘curling’ part). It’s a common mistake to believe that this end part is more important, mainly because it’s during here that the biceps appear the largest(because they’re contracted and flexed). Well, that’s wrong. As said above, most benefit comes from the beginning half of the rep, when they’re lifting the weight up. Am I saying only do the first half- no. Do the complete movement. I’m just telling you where most of the benefit occurs, so you don’t sit there don’t upper half curls(I used to do that and made absolutely no progress).
GENERAL TIPS ON NEXT PAGE BECAUSE THE WORD LIMIT CUT ME OFF :p