A Few Ideas to Improve your Biceps Training

Have you been working your biceps more than the rest of your body but are still not seeing results?  It may not be the routine but how you perform it. 

Biceps are a compact muscle group so they are easy to work for growth.  It is not uncommon for a body builder to not actually know how to build biceps, but some essential biceps training techniques will help you see results.  This article is specifically about a biceps routine, if you want to know about building all the muscle groups, see the article on this page. 

Concentrate on correcting the frequency of your workout and do not overtrain.  You actually diminish the effectiveness of your workout if you overtrain your biceps.  You can avoid this if you use only one targeted workout consisting of six or more sets isolating the biceps only once a week.  Using your biceps when doing other exercises during the week is fine, as long as you only isolate the biceps once a week. 

When isolating the biceps, be sure to use your full range of motion.  People who work their biceps using very heavy weights tend to use a small range of motion – they do not put their arm all the way down nor do they lift it all the way up.  This shortened motion keeps the arm from growing because all the muscles of the bicep are not taxed.  To use all the muscle fibers in the bicep, begin with your arm fully extended.  If your bicep is fully extended, you should be able to briefly flex your tricep..

With your arm fully extended check the position of your wrist.  Your wrist should not be bent toward your forearm at this stage of the curl.  Bending your wrist like this at the bottom of the curl actually takes stress off the biceps and puts it onto the forearm.  If you want a big forearm you can do the wrist curl as a separate exercise – but if you want giant biceps, you need to make sure your wrist is locked so that your knuckles are facing the ground.

When you get to the top of the curlyou can tilt your wrist toward your forearm to give the biceps some extra burn – squeeze the muscle for 1 – 2 seconds.  Doing this will force blood, water and lactic acid to the muscle.  These will be used during rest to repair muscles and increase muscle size.

To get the best supination and improve your range of motion, there is one more technique you can use if you use a straight bar.  This technique won’t work with dumbbells or the EZ Curl bar.  With a straight bar, use a thumbless grip.  Put your thumb on the same side of the bar as your fingers.  This puts your pinky somewhat higher and pointing more toward your shoulder than it would be if your thumb was on the opposite side.  Your contraction will be better at the top of the curl if you use this grip.  You have to grip the bar tighter to keep it in your hands, so you use [your forearm more.

For some tips on how to improve your entire workout, see the tips in this article or for a routine that gets you in and out of the gym in 45 minutes see Learn About the Best Way to Build Muscle.