Bicep Struggles

[ZealPlaysBass]

Hey guys,

I'm pretty new to bodybuilding. I started going to the gym in July 2020 (but then there were a couple extra lockdowns thrown in) last year but only up until April this year have I started properly going to the gym. By that, I mean watching what I eat, making sure my form is good, monitoring my strength progress. I'm really happy with how much I have changed in those 5 months. Despite it being only newbie gains, I'm still quite pleased. The only thing I am not so pleased about is my biceps. I wasn't really too fussed on bicep growth at first but now it has become a big part of my workouts. I really enjoy training biceps. However, I have 1 problem. I am always too tired to work them out properly. I run on a legs+shoulders, push, pull, rest schedule. It has worked alright for me up until about June when I realised I wanted to develop my biceps more. I had always had a hard time getting good bicep growth and would always leave them as a throw away exercise and not care too much about them. So I decided to change that. I would still do the basic L+S, P, P routine but I would also do biceps on L+S. This was great for me. My bicep strength really increased and I felt great. I would still do biceps on pull but giving that extra day in my routine was great, up until about 3 weeks ago. My friend was telling me all about the importance of rest and how leaving 1 day of rest for biceps was not good enough. I since dropped my bicep workout from my L+S day and since then, every bicep workout has been pretty awful. I have very little energy left to do more than one or two exercises for them. I am running at the same level weights I would do whilst I was still doing that extra day but I really struggle now. I even tried the technique of putting your thumb over the bar so that it activates forearms less but nothing seems to work.
What should I do? Is the answer really as obvious as "go back to the old routine" or should I stick with my current routine with more rest for my biceps and just keep grinding?

Had to post somewhere else on this website because I'm not sure if the original post was in the right area.

Thanks for reading, any replies are appreciated and if you have any further questions, fire away 👍

P.S: For some reason, my account says I am 51. I am 17 but I'm not sure how to change that haha. 17, 6'2", 80.5 kg, 21%~ BF

[smokinal]

For starters, why are you running out of energy?
Are you on a cut? What do you eat before the gym? How soon before training do you eat?

Next, how much volume are you doing with your back on your pull days? I assume you train back first, then bis?

[ZealPlaysBass]

For starters, why are you running out of energy?
Are you on a cut? What do you eat before the gym? How soon before training do you eat?

Next, how much volume are you doing with your back on your pull days? I assume you train back first, then bis?

1. I originally thought it was because I was just going too heavy on back. I am on a bulk, I normally have lunch at about 1-2, get home from school, have a small snack, 500ml of water and a protein shake (I also have protein shake after gym, too. My scoops are about 12g of protein and I'll have 2 scoops a day) at 5 and head to the gym at 5:30-6:00. I started drinking a lot more before going to the gym because I was finding I was getting headaches whilst in there. I started drinking more and they went away.
2. Yeah, I train back first. Again, though, biceps are the very last exercise I do after a gym cycle before my rest day. Could be that(?)
2.

[smokinal]

Whats your typical back session look like?

[ZealPlaysBass]

Lat pulldowns, close grip cable rows, barbell rows and straight arm pulldown

[smokinal]

So I'd cut that down to 3 exercises for back and then do 3 for bis.
Be sure to eat a banana, bagel, oatmeal...etc around 30-40 mins before training; with water.

Then, do a good variety of bi movements and alternate them weekly.
Mix in:
BB curls
preacher curls
spiders
low cable curls
hammer curls
reverse curls
incline db's
cross body curls

[ZealPlaysBass]

So I'd cut that down to 3 exercises for back and then do 3 for bis.
Be sure to eat a banana, bagel, oatmeal...etc around 30-40 mins before training; with water.

Then, do a good variety of bi movements and alternate them weekly.
Mix in:
BB curls
preacher curls
spiders
low cable curls
hammer curls
reverse curls
incline db's
cross body curls

What 3 back exercises do you recommend? I was previously doing 3, lat pulldowns, close grip cable rows and barbell rows, until a friend recommended straight arm pull downs. Should I go back to that 3? Or have you got any other suggestions...
Could it also be a good idea to alternate between exercises back and bis. Say I could do barbell row, barbell curls, lat pull down, hammer curls, preacher curls, close grip cable row? Or just do back then bis?
Thanks so much for the advice, I appreciate it

[smokinal]

I'd stick to doing all back then all bis.
But I'd mix in some more different back movements too.
wide lat pull downs
narrow lat pull downs
underhand pull downs
close grip pull downs
close grip seated rows
underhand seated row
BB row
Yates row
straight arm pull downs
T-bar rows
DB row

Pick 3 of these for one week, then 3 different ones for the next session, 3 different ones next etc...
Same with bis

And you should have a long list of different movements for every bodypart and use the same pattern for everything....3 different ones every session. Don't pigeonhole yourself to the same movements every week!

Good luck man, train hard!