I'm looking to make my biceps bigger. Are there any certain techniques for curls that are better for mass than others? Should I go for form (keeping my elbows even with my torso) or weight, or balance both? Anyone out there who knows what I should be doing? (I've been curling, among other things, for 3 years but seem to only make my pecs bigger)
Boost the weight until you max out after 8 - 10 reps. 12 is too many. When you say 85lbs, thats with a two handed curl bar right? If thats with single hand dumbells then... f**k... what are you askin for help for? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Try sitting and using single handed dumbells, that focuses more effort on the arm without your pecs and back instinctively trying to help you cheat. Or if you do have to use a curl bar, then do them with your back against a wall to eliminate any extra leverage from back movement. Strip sets are also good for variety, do first set max weight, 2nd set drop 5lb and do as many reps as possible, 3rd drop another 5lb etc.
Still.. doing 50 lb concentration curls at 12 reps per set is impressive. Personally, I max out between 10-12 at 50 lbs. I'm relatively new to weightlifting (been doing it for about a year or so). I learned to work the biceps doing concentration curls as you do because that's what my brother taught me. After a while of doing it, I found my progress to be slowing down considerably. So I began reading. Here's a good website. www.ast-ss.com This site has a program which will teach you about Max-OT. If you've never heard of Max-OT, I urge you to learn about it! But if you're young and still growing, it would probably be best to hold out until you're a bit older. Anyway, the guy in the site recommended straight bar curls (with the curvey handle-thingies) standing up. The site tells you about how to perform the execution in great detail. And since I started doing those, I noticed a huge difference in my biceps workouts. Though I do a lot more standing straight bar curls, I still do concentration curls. It's good to have variation. Gets the muscles at different angles, intensities, etc. You know how your biceps feel like balloons after your workout? Doing it like this, it's twice as bad. I don't measure my arms (maybe I should) but I know I made a lot of progress since I changed my routine. Trust me, it makes all the difference. As a side note, I find that my most painful workouts are the ones that yield the best results. For an example, out of all the muscle groups I work out, the shoulders hurt the most, but I've made the most progress with them. Conclusion: If you find you're not building much mass, change your routine. Remember, pain is a good thing.
Exactly. You've had responses from two people to this thread and already two opposing views! I'm guessing you'll get a few more as well. Pick whichever method gets you the best results. I used to find the curl bar quite awkward and therefore wasn't doing it often enough, then i switched to single arm dumbells and actually enjoyed it a lot more, so i did more, so i got better results.
Bud-dy! First off, curls don't back your pecs bigger! Secondly, if you are looking for big arms, train your triceps! they back up 2/3 of your arm mass. Finally, don't just train your biceps. Thats a common newbie mistake ppl make. Train your whole body to get a nice body. Training legs also releases growth hormones that will help upperbody. Also, don't just do barbell curls. Try hammers, heavy bent-over rows, or chinups. Aim for 8 sets of 8 reps altogether
I'm not; I'm just trying to bring my biceps into proportion with the rest of my body. I'm up to 20 pull ups, bike between 3 and 9 miles a day, and sometimes run 6. So, any specifics (other than tricep buildings) for getting bigger arms?
Or you could tape towels to your arms and wear a shirt over it. That would make you look buff... or fat. Both ways you will have big arms.
Don't forget protein. If you're going all out Max-OT, bodybuilders recommend that every day you consume one gram of protein for every pound you weigh. If you weigh 180, that's right, make sure the food you're eating has about 180 grams of protein. For me, that's a pretty hard thing to do. I usually try to eat a high protein diet and then I supplement that with 80 grams of protein from a protein mix. I know you're not going all out and you only want bigger arms, but the point is that diet is a huge part of bodybuilding. It's just not worth the pain of tearing muscle and lactic acid burn if you ignore nutrition.
Isn't there a certain danger that they might shift under the skin? Especially if they are implanted over much used muscles? Just a thought.
The key to big muscles especially in the bicep region is this strategy. 1. First know your body's capabilitys to pain/rebuilidng.. If you rebuild fast, or are taking supplements you can work your biceps at least 2x a week. 2. When your working your biceps dont just do 1 exercise... Hit them all up.. Do standing curls, isolated, missionary curls, dumbell curls.. This is for maximum utilization and hypertrophy.. The key is to get on protein supplementation along with creatine for maximum "pumps" I like to use v12 turbo.. It has good creatine levels, no carbs, and gleutomine which actually helps rebuild your muscles. Www.bulknutrition.com has these products for good pricing.. NEver buy anything from GNC.. Its soooooooooooooooooooo overpriced, i cant overstate that enough. I am a former d1 football player, who has worked out since the 7th grade.. Some 10 years or so... So i know what im talkign about. YOu need to get on a high protein diet.. And its hard to get it from foods only.. Get some supplementation that contains at least 28 g of protein per serving, with low fat and low carbs... That is the secret.. MAX protein, for muslce building. -peace
p.s. Even thinking about getting implants for muslces should result in being stoned in the street to brain death. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Been training for 10+ years now, arms hoovering around 17.5 inch and have some mean veins running over them by now, i think I can give some usefull pointers on arms: What works really well is having a dedicated arms day with an insane amount of sets, like 20 sets biceps, and 24 sets triceps, pyramids, dropsets, overtraining them bigtime, but for compensations the two days after that involve no arm assistence at all, I do many volume, because i don't use steroids, my aim is to release more natural IGF-1 and GH by prolonged strenious exercise) ARMSDAY : - biceps, triceps, forearm The next day and the day after that, don't do ANY arm related work, like pecs/back, have a rest day or train legs instead. I like to split up the legs and the day after arms i do: first arms recovery day: - Hamstrings, calves, lowerback, glutes (the whole posterior chain) 2nd arms recovery day: - quads abs 3d day, use the recovered arms to up your presses and rown , chins etc. The arms take about 2 days to recover, I do benchpressing on the third day after arms, as the peaking armstrength to make progress on my bench, also your recovered biceps will be able to handle some pretty heavy dumbell flyes. Generally triceps like more reps (12-8) than biceps (9-6) Consistantly training the forearm alongside upperarms is important in two ways: - astaetically (a big upperarm, with a scrawny forearm that tapers like the end of a club doesn't look good, no you should have matching forearms that have a boston strangler clench about them hehe) - functionally : stronger grip, equals heavier chins, deadlifts and bicepscurls. Training biceps and triceps on same day , seperated chest/bakc means you can attack arms with full poundage without being exhausted from any benchpresses/chins you might have done earlier in the workout. also a ful pumped biceps gives a headstart in pumping the triceps as many blood already in the area, with a full pumped biceps and triceps, you not only sure you have trouble with putting your coat on, but also fascia of the arms will be extra stretched, leading to better growth. Further "Slicing" the workout is beneficial by: - doing 3-4 sets biceps - followed by 3-4 sets triceps - 3-4 sets biceps - 3-4 sets triceps.... .....etc this way after completing you 3-4 grueling sets of the first biceps exercise, you get a few minutes recovery time for the biceps because you are working 3-4 sets triceps, but meanwhile you keep blood/nutrients flowing to the whjole arms area. this way you can take relative little rest between sets within the same exercise (wich tends to enhance the conditioning/striations/seperations etc of a muscle), while the artificial rest you create with the triceps slices allow you to keep using heavy weight on the second biceps exercise, for mass, you can have your cake and eat it to!
