I don't feel my biceps burning.

[helme]

How come when I do bicep curls, I only feel my forearms burning but not my biceps? Is that normal?

[justasquid]

not sure if its normal, but it happens. I can feel every muscle I work while I work it, but I have a hard time feeling my biceps until the next day, so I know I worked them. The one thing I can't do is preacher curls with an EZ curl bar. It puts too much stress on my forearms for some odd reason, so I just don't do them. I will from time to time use DB's on the preacher bench though.

I have found a few moves that help me feel it better. I still do standup curls with a straight bar, or cables curls with a bar. But seated curls with strict form help me to feel the muscle. Another good one for really feeling the bicep is sitting on the incline bench, around a 45 Deg angle, and use lighter weight with good form. Do the reps slow and consist, don't go all the way down to lock out, stop just short of putting your arm fully extended. Also, I squeeze at the top for a second before I start to decend the DB.

In addition, you may want to try using lighter weight. Many times, people use weight that think is a good weight, but is too much and their form suffers. I recenlty did just that without even knowing it. Im usually a form Nazi but was recently corrected by a workout friend. I had to drop weight to get my form back. Its not hard to slip up once in a while.

[NextProtege]

Shut your forearm flexors off by creating a "loose" wrist.
Drop the weight by half, start doing your bicep exercises by not flexing at the wrist, the tension will be on your elbow flexors completely.

[Bo_Flecks]

If you want your biceps to burn, check out Fitnessman's Bicep Training Secrets thread. A lot of folks on here have used it and reported much success. Good stuff.

[Bob45]

When you don't feel the muscle worked it is usually because you aren't getting that mind muscle connection. That usually comes from using more weight than you can handle to do it. Try some incline curls. Don't allow your head to move off the bench. It is easy to feel the bi's on lifts you can't cheat on so easily. With heavy BB curls you can cheat like crazy.

[Korr]

My biceps are killing me this morning from barbell rows.

My point is isolation exercises are not necessarily needed to feel a burning in the muscle.

[Bob45]

My biceps are killing me this morning from barbell rows.

My point is isolation exercises are not necessarily needed to feel a burning in the muscle.

Right, and they don't have to burn for it to work either. I was never a fan of isolation for much growth. They are a good supplement IMO.

[liegelord]

Forget the curls, start doing pull-ups.

[BergMuscle]

If you're feeling it mostly in your forearms, then you may be working too hard on keeping a grip on the weight. That will impact the physical and mental aspects of the curl.
Like a couple of other posters said, cut the weight in half and do some curls with strict form and really concentrate on what your bicep muscle is doing. (You can even do this with no weight at all if you really focus.) When you have that feeling burned into your mind, gradually increase the weight keeping the bicep doing all the work. If you start to feel anything in the forearm, lower the weight.
And don't be afraid to check your ego, if necessary. If you train 'em right you can build a good set of guns that you'll be proud of. It just takes a bit of mind/muscle work.

[TN_WORKOUT]

Try some incline curls.

I agree.

Incline curls are a nice way to mix things up.

Also...loosen/relax your grip.

[DanielBeauchamp]

I feel burning in my Biceps when I do preacher curls or Chin-Ups, but sometimes I also get a sore feeling in my forearm right where it connects to my bicep at the elbow. I'm guessing it's just my fast-twitch fibers getting stronger. Is that kind of like what you're feeling?

[Discov3ry]

This is a routine I used last week to work on biceps. I haven't had biceps soreness for months despite working them out on regular basis, mixing my exercises, and increasing the weight. My last arms workout was last Wednesday (5 days ago). It's Monday now, and my biceps are still sore. They hurt so bad over the weekend, that I couldn't sleep at night on Friday.

This is the routine, I warn you, if executed the right way, it will give you a taste of hell on earth:
Bulging Bicep #1:
http://contest.double-tsports.com/tr...rain_bicep.php

[ezra76]

I used to work out with this guy from Laos. He was like 5'2" 125 with 18in. arms. He taught me to do force reps with no lockout, limited range of motion. Basically, going past a certain point brings your forarms and especially elbow tendons too much into play. Those will fail way before the bicep will. He showed me how to stop before that, then pull to the point of max flex, then go back down. The spot would be to get to the stop point, then assist to if the weight could not be handled by the tendons, to the point where the bicep would take over.

Sounds like a lot but it's very simple. The basic idea is this, the range of motion where the bicep is actually working, without being held back by the forarms and elbow tendons, is actually pretty small.

I do this with my brother now and we'll be doing it today. We finish back workout with bi's. We'll use 115 with a standing BB curl. Get as many reps as we can full range of motion, then a spot to "stop" the weight pre lockout, then a spot to force the last couple reps to pure bicep-only pull, which is like about 1/3 of a full range of motion. My brother has been thoroughly impressed with this. He said his bi's were sore for 3 straight days last time and he's never felt them even close to that sore.

[DanielBeauchamp]

I used to work out with this guy from Laos. He was like 5'2" 125 with 18in. arms. He taught me to do force reps with no lockout, limited range of motion. Basically, going past a certain point brings your forarms and especially elbow tendons too much into play. Those will fail way before the bicep will. He showed me how to stop before that, then pull to the point of max flex, then go back down. The spot would be to get to the stop point, then assist to if the weight could not be handled by the tendons, to the point where the bicep would take over.

Sounds like a lot but it's very simple. The basic idea is this, the range of motion where the bicep is actually working, without being held back by the forarms and elbow tendons, is actually pretty small.

I do this with my brother now and we'll be doing it today. We finish back workout with bi's. We'll use 115 with a standing BB curl. Get as many reps as we can full range of motion, then a spot to "stop" the weight pre lockout, then a spot to force the last couple reps to pure bicep-only pull, which is like about 1/3 of a full range of motion. My brother has been thoroughly impressed with this. He said his bi's were sore for 3 straight days last time and he's never felt them even close to that sore.

When I'm doing Preacher Curls, I don't extend my arms fully or bring my forearm up to touch my Bicep. That way I maintain a lot of tension in my Bicep; gives it an awesome pump.

[rhinoace13]

How come when I do bicep curls, I only feel my forearms burning but not my biceps? Is that normal?

I used to have this problem untill a guy at my gym told me that doing concentration curls and suppinating my curls at the top while flexing my bicep helps and guess what i don't feel it anywhere else but my biceps.

[tsoden]

I actually found preacher curls were very effective for bicep burn.. However in doing them, you need to keep the weight a bit lighter to avoid putting too much stress on the tendon - especially if you intend to do a full extension.

[Ronaldix]

Shut your forearm flexors off by creating a "loose" wrist.
Drop the weight by half, start doing your bicep exercises by not flexing at the wrist, the tension will be on your elbow flexors completely.

I don't think i understood what you said.

[Bando]

I used to have this problem untill a guy at my gym told me that doing concentration curls and suppinating my curls at the top while flexing my bicep helps and guess what i don't feel it anywhere else but my biceps.

This actually sounds amazing. Will try it.


Yes aware zombie thread

[mellis50]

When I work out or just even flexed my bicep I could never feel it actually flexing it is just their. And when I curl it just hurts my forearms and the tendon where my bicep connects to my forearm. I tried doing half reps for the top portion but I still can't feel anything. Any suggestions?

[drkelly74]

Try different exercises. I recently listened to Dave Palumbo talk about how he didn't get much from the standard bicep exercises, and found that doing single arm curls using the cable machine made his arms grow the best. Don't use too much weight. I occasionally see guys trying to curl dumbells that are WAY heavier (like 1.5-2 times) than they can handle, and it is obvious that they are not working the bicep.

[HalfRightFACE]

They don't have to burn to grow.

[OldFartTom]

When I work out or just even flexed my bicep I could never feel it actually flexing it is just their. And when I curl it just hurts my forearms and the tendon where my bicep connects to my forearm. I tried doing half reps for the top portion but I still can't feel anything. Any suggestions?

Odd.. only today my coach said that was a *good thing* (providing that it happened after good form exercise) and that needs to strengthen first, then concentrate on bicep and brachialis after the forearm and ligaments on inside of elbow are stronger. FWIW that's what he's telling me.

[11201ny]

Two exercises I really enjoy (for burn) are: incline curls, & spider curls. In both cases I use light weight, & keep elbows extended out, so there is constant tension on biceps, and do reps of 8 - 12.

Too many people use biceps curls as a show off exercise, which curbs effectiveness. Too much weight is unhelpful.

[drkelly74]

My favorite bicep exercise lately has been the EZ curl bar, BUT I stand with my back against a wall so there is ZERO chance for any swinging or momentum. Lift and lower slowly. When I can't lift it anymore, I will step away from the wall and swing it up once or twice more letting it down VERY SLOWLY to get a good negative.

[chacha15]

21s
hanging bb curls
chin ups
hammer curls

[thnknhevy]

As the third reply (from way back in 2010) said, loosen your grip. I did hammer curls and tried it and found it works the biceps much harder. The other things that I do is to stand against a wall with my shoulders and butt touching. Feet are only far enough away from the wall to give me stability. This prevents you from engaging any back muscles to help with the lift. Also helps with slowing how fast you lower the weight as you don't want to hit the wall. When I do that I feel the burn and my max lift is a good 20-25% lower then just standing freely.

Somewhere on the internet there is a video of a guy doing curls while leaning forward supported by a strap around his chest. Sounds like a killer way to build some biceps. I don't have any place to do that right now so I haven't tried it.