Biceps Seriously Lagging

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

No, i’m not a bro. my biceps are really lagging. i am 5"10 203lbs, and pretty filled out everywhere except for the biceps. I have really neglected them to not look like a douchbag but now my arms look crappy. they are close to 17’, but im lucky if i can bb curl 115x4.

now, how can i bring them up. train them 2x a week? rep ranges? volume? currently doing

Weighted Chin 2x4-6 +45lbs
Pinwheel Curl 3x4-6 50-60lbs
DB Preacher 3x8-10 35-40lbs

and they crap out and are rarely sore. should i up the reps? they are so fucking high, i can easily fit 3 fingers between the gap, and it seems that they get tired very fucking fast.

does anybody have any tips or good workouts they used for biceps? it has come down to my devoting an entire day to them.

2

I’m curious about this as well, as my biceps are weak in both aesthetics and performance.

I’m trying to give them a higher frequency of training.

I don’t know if this helps, but I observed that most of the guys in and before the 70’s had huge arms, particularly in relation to the rest of them. I have a feeling arms were a focus (I know Arnold mentioned such things in “The Education of a Bodybuilder”), and were therefore trained very hard, very often.

It’s funny you said they’re rarely sore, because mine are the same way. I feel like they can take more punishment than other bodyparts.

3

so what about.

Weighted Chin 2x4-6
heavy cheat curls 3x4-6
Pinwheel Curl 3x8-12

then a few days later at home ill do 4 or 5 sets of light barbell curls 10-15 reps with a slow eccentric

4

THESE ARE NOT FUN

mechanical drop sets for biceps will fuck your shit up. do them:

squeeze traps together to isolate the bicep, standing position, ez bar

6-8 reps pronated grip
rest 10 secs
rep as many as you can, supinated grip
rest 10 secs
rep as many as you can neutral grip

rest 90 secs, do the above with dumbbells, rest 90 secs do the above with dumbbells seated

DO NOT CHANGE THE WEIGHT.

Your biceps should be on fire. if, not you’re doing it wrong.

as long as youre eating alot of kcal, this should wreck your biceps good.

5

and squeeeeeeze them hard at the top of each rep

6

I have always liked supersetting a bicep and a tricep movement with 10-12 reps for a total of 5 supersets with no rest between the supersets.

7

[quote]schultzie wrote:
so what about.

Weighted Chin 2x4-6
heavy cheat curls 3x4-6
Pinwheel Curl 3x8-12

then a few days later at home ill do 4 or 5 sets of light barbell curls 10-15 reps with a slow eccentric

[/quote]

Chins do not count as a bicep exercise man.

Throw in some hammer curls, BB curls, and preacher curls. I almost always stay in the 6-12 rep range for all of those exercises and that made me grow for years.

8

[quote]waylanderxx wrote:
schultzie wrote:
so what about.

Weighted Chin 2x4-6
heavy cheat curls 3x4-6
Pinwheel Curl 3x8-12

then a few days later at home ill do 4 or 5 sets of light barbell curls 10-15 reps with a slow eccentric

Chins do not count as a bicep exercise man.

[/quote]

lolz Way

9

[quote]schultzie wrote:
so what about.

Weighted Chin 2x4-6
heavy cheat curls 3x4-6
Pinwheel Curl 3x8-12

then a few days later at home ill do 4 or 5 sets of light barbell curls 10-15 reps with a slow eccentric

[/quote]

I say to heck with the straight sets if you are having a hard time gaining strength. Just ramp up to one top set of 6-12 reps and give it your all (try to add weight every single workout). Use some english on the positive (not so much that it ceases to be a biceps exercise though) and control the negative. That should get your curl numbers up a lot quicker than what you’ve suggested above.

Also, agree that chins are not a biceps exercise. If you want to do them on back day for some supplementary biceps stimulation that’s cool, but stick to curling exercises on biceps day.

10

Doing your biceps doesn’t make you a bro lol, If you dont do them at the beginning you end up like this and posting later on because you’ve worked everything else out so nicely but neglected your biceps. Strength Training, Bodybuilding & Online Supplement Store - T NATION bunch of great routines to make your arms stronger and look better.

11

Must be nice… mine measure like 16 1/4 in and now I’m 6’1", 210. check the profile for pics So it could be worse!

12

I have this problem…mainly because i have a short torso and long limbs…

but, my biceps aren’t that strong either(bb curl - 105x9)…The way I’m going to handle it is I think I’m going to at least try to get into the BB curl - 135 range…then, I will reevaluate my exercise choices…

i don’t think I would deviate from my routine…I would probably just pick 2-3 bicep exercises as always…and add weight to them…I think the key thing would be picking exercises that actually hit your biceps and using form that lets you hit your bicep…

13

[quote]nz6stringaxe wrote:
I’m curious about this as well, as my biceps are weak in both aesthetics and performance.

I’m trying to give them a higher frequency of training.

I don’t know if this helps, but I observed that most of the guys in and before the 70’s had huge arms, particularly in relation to the rest of them. I have a feeling arms were a focus (I know Arnold mentioned such things in “The Education of a Bodybuilder”), and were therefore trained very hard, very often.

It’s funny you said they’re rarely sore, because mine are the same way. I feel like they can take more punishment than other bodyparts.[/quote]

Considering your avatar, I’d be more worried about triceps to be honest.

Schultzie, if you can only bb curl 115x4… Then you answered your own question pretty much.
Get significantly stronger (in the moderate or even high rep ranges). Arm training is no different from training other major muscle-groups.

Whether you use higher frequency and high or low volume should depend on which way gets you stronger faster.

You can of course do a ton of drop-sets, train them 2-3 times a week and use high volume all together.
That makes you gain half an inch or maybe even a full inch due to inflammation and fluid storage, but it’s nothing long-term and probably not the best idea for tendon health either.

See modok’s t-cell thread, fattyfat’s thread etc for some ideas. I’ve posted some stuff on curl-styles, technique and intensity in BOI and some other threads before…

Make it a point to be BB or EZ curling (with a technique that hits your bis) 135 for 6-12 in a few months, then 155, and so on. (or do alt. db curls with an offset grip or whatever)

Those coupled with pinwheel curls or alt. hammers should do the trick.

14

The only general thing I’ll say here is don’t sacrifice intensity for volume.

Yes, balance between the two is required.

What I mean is that I see guys just pounding on their biceps day in day out, but with only moderate type loads. If you’ve done 2 specific bicep exercises then get to a third, are lifting 6 reps max for sets, and you know that the load is only about 50% of your max because of fatigue, I you’re wasting your time.

If you are pounding on 2 or 3 bicep exercises and know that all you’re loads are high for each, then more power to you.

But biceps are probably the best where I’ve seen this abused, people sacrificing intensity for volume.

15

This is why I never suggest not training biceps, even when you are new to lifting.

16

i remember there was an article on here talking about using different intensity techniques and recovery time for muscles and the results basically said biceps recovered well and quickly so you could use shit like drop sets and negatives on them and even train them two days a week. that too goes along with what i did last summer before a show - i would do some bis with back and some tris with chest then do a crazy arms day with supersets, negatives, and drop sets and i made some nice gains. as for what you curl id say fuck it just use some good technique and add a nice squeeze as you contract

17

[quote]schultzie wrote:
No, i’m not a bro. my biceps are really lagging. i am 5"10 203lbs, and pretty filled out everywhere except for the biceps. I have really neglected them to not look like a douchbag
[/quote]

Wow…these authors have really done a number on these guys if they though training biceps directly made them a “bro” or a douchebag.

I feel sorry for those who listened.

18

5’10 203 and 17" doesn’t seem to be lagging to me :shrug: Of course I’m using my own stats, which I know I don’t have great genetics for the gunz.

19

I dunno… 5’10" 203…almost 17 inches…depending on your bodyfat level, this doesn’t seem particularly small to me. If you’re average, not too fat not to lean bodyfat…then it just sounds to me like you just aren’t big enough to look the way you wish, yet.

I would bet that if you lost bodyfat and got impressively lean you’d drop about 0.5-0.75 inches off your arms - though they would obviously be more defined and may more closely represent the “look” but just not quite up to snuff in terms of size.

I could be wrong, though, as I’m just going off of what I imagine you to look like based on your stats and your profile bodyfat percentage.

I may sound like a broken record but…Got any pics?

EDIT: For clarity, I’m thinking you aren’t lean enough, and don’t have enough definition in your arms, to look impressive, AND your arms aren’t large enough to look impressive despite not being lean…if anyone can follow that.

That’s just my guess, though, based on your stats…I may very well be off base completely. If so disregard!

20

I see me and ND were thinking the same thing :wink: