Hey CT,
Just read the article you posted on training biceps everyday for 3-4 weeks to trigger growth. A couple of (potentially stupid) questions.
Should the last rep of sets 3-10 all be taken to failure, or should the “leave one rep in the tank” approach be taken until the last set?
Also, with a 5 day split would this be done only on training days, or “non-training” days as well?
Thanks for all the great work you do!
Set 10 is taken to failure, that’s it.
5 days a week is what I had in mind when I wrote this.
any rest thats wanted like 60 sec between sets or just how it feels?
[quote]daracv wrote:
any rest thats wanted like 60 sec between sets or just how it feels?[/quote]
Just short of complete rest. So go by feel. The biceps must feel ready to go, but still pumped from the preceding set.
Been running this for the last fewweeks, arms appear to be responding well and measurements are up. Which I’m buzzing about at my arms have been pretty stubborn over the past years.
I’m having a bit of a problem with my forearms, I’m getting pain down the inside when doing the heavier sets. I’m assuming this is down to a weakness. Biceps are holding up find and recovering well, which means I’ve been progressing with the weight, it’s only the forearm pain that’s slowing my progress
is there any forearm assistance you would run, either alongside this or after I’ve finished this block that can help improve for next time?
thanks
Won’t this put me into an overtraining mode, and if so when can I expect to see growth?
"Been running this for the last fewweeks, arms appear to be responding
well and measurements are up. Which I’m buzzing about at my arms have
been pretty stubborn over the past years.
I’m having a bit of a problem with my forearms, I’m getting pain down
the inside when doing the heavier sets. I’m assuming this is down to a
weakness. Biceps are holding up find and recovering well, which means
I’ve been progressing with the weight, it’s only the forearm pain that’s
slowing my progress
is there any forearm assistance you would run, either alongside this
or after I’ve finished this block that can help improve for next time?"
The pain associated with inflammation of the distal biceps tendon localizes to the forearm. For years before my tendon finally ruptured, I had chronic ‘forearm pain.’
I just finished an article on overtraining. Overtraining is NOT “training too much”. Overtraining is a physiological state that takes months of excessive training AND OTHER stress to build up. Overtraining is not something you recover from in a week or easy training, a real overtraining state takes months to recover from. In my career Ive worked with athletes from 28 different sports including pros, Olympians and pro bodybuilders. I’ve only seen 2 REAL cases of overtraining in about 15 years.
Now… Olympic lifters snatch, clean & jerk and squat 4-6 times a week, sometimes twice a day. The new breed of powerlifters from Norway and Russia train the competitive lifts 4-5 times a week. Crossfit athletes use their whole body every day. People working manually also use their whole body every day. The body can handle frequency a lot better than excessive intensity and volume.
Thank you Christian. I will send before and after pictures. Jeff
After finishing this program, should you take any time off from direct biceps work before resuming regular arm training?
I would suggest one week with no direct biceps work and then training them once a week.
Thanks! Looking forward to trying the protocol
Just got done with day 6, didn’t know it was a 5 day a week program. (it did feel weird to go in and train just biceps for 10 minutes on Sunday). But much like an earlier poster, my forearms are killing me. I just mashed them with a lacrosse ball for a bit, so hopefully that helps, but I was wondering if this is expected, and will go away in a few more days (like when you start squat every day and it hurts like hell for a week, then it’s not so bad); or if I should stop until my forearms feel better, then restart, I don’t want to screw up the protocol. My biceps have been a glaring weakness of mine forever.
To me this indicate that you are using your forearms too much when doing arm flexion exercises and thus stimulating the biceps less. This might also explain why your biceps are lagging: your forearm take too much of the workload.
Try keeping your wrist extended when curling, it will reduce reliance on the forearms.
Oh! That’s perfect, just tried a couple reps out with wrists extended and it was IMMEDIATELY better. I was starting to dread my bicep workout (never a good thing). Thank you so much, can’t wait to see what my bi’s are capable of.
Coach, when using this method, can BACK (pulling) still be trained (because of biceps involment)??
Yes but you might want to pick pulling exercises will less biceps involvement (horizontal pulling has much less biceps activity than vertical pulling for example). Straight-arm pulldown variations are good fit too.
@Christian_Thibaudeau Coach, i gotta hand it to you, didn’t think you would reply so quickly. Thanks a lot!!
For everything you do for the sport, performance and community.
Hey @Christian_Thibaudeau
Is most effective with only one kind of exercise or you can take some
Variations everyday? Do to lets say 4-5 different exercises in those 5 days
CT, you seen only “2 REAL cases of overtraining”, and learn and know too much for overtraining ?! … that’s mean - you know what is overtraining, but u didn seen/exist ?