Post by Tim Wescott on May 29, 2004 20:47:24 GMT -5
15 Tips For Bigger Biceps
By: PSN
For most bodybuilders biceps training is as natural an act as breathing. So you don't have to put a gun to there head to get them to train biceps. On the other hand biceps are also the most overworked bodypart of all time. Some guys train biceps two, three and four - ah hell every time they walk into the gym. So getting them to train biceps isn't the problem, getting them to train biceps right is.
With all the arm training articles that proliferate mags each and every month you think that everybody would be a curling wiz. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The barbell curl isn't the easy exercise that it appears to be. If done incorrectly stress is instantly shifted from the biceps to the other muscles, deltiods, traps, lower back and legs. If truth be told its a rare site to see someone actually doing curls correctly.
So you say why is this so, lets look st he culprits.
EGO - The use of way to much weight. You see them, what started out as a bicep curl now resemble so form of dead hang clean.
SPEED - USING TO MUCH inertia from the legs as a kick start then pulling with the deltoid and lower back just to finish the rep.
IGNORANCE - No one has just never shown them how to do a legitimate bicep curl.
Since doing bicep curls correctly greatly increases results, it obliviously pays to do your bicep exercises correctly. Its a more time efficient way to train. You spend less time in the gym because you make every rep count which translates into greater bicep stimulation. On the other hand training incorrectly lead to poor results, wasted time and possible injury. It could take half the time if you used good form.
With this in mind lets go over some effective tips for greatly increasing your biceps curling ability. We will first go through some general terms to help improve your curling technique. Then we'll talk specifically how to do certain types of curls for best results.
CREATING A BETTER BICEP CURL
When we are talking about improving your bicep curl we're not talking about drastic changes but minor adjustments that make all the difference.
Wrist Position: When curling you must keep you wrist straight and locked through out the full range of motion. You must not let the weight fall onto your shoulders on rest. As soon as you do this you loose tension on the biceps. If you do your curls correctly the barbell or dumbbell will never touch your shoulder because the contracted bicep will prevent this from happening.
Hand & Thumb Position: Always keep your hand under the bar, with your palms facing up. This is essential to all exercises but especially the curl. We love to people doing dumbbell curls with the palms turned up and the thumb level to the floor to begin each curl. Don't allow the wrist to turn in as you curl so that the thumb is higher the pinky finger. Turn them out so to keep the thumb is below the pinky finger level which supinates the wrist at the top for a forceful contraction.
Elbow Location: Keep your elbows locked to your sides as you curl. In a proper full range curl the elbows should not move away from your sides. A strict full range curl should travel from 6 o'clock to 9 o'clock. Allowing the elbows to come up to a little to 10 o'clock or 11 o'clock is okay but don't exaggerate the movement to much or you will loose focus on the target muscle(your bicep).
Position of the Traps/Delts: I know most are saying what? If you watch most people doing curl you tend to see this initial shrug at the beginning of each rep, this is very bad! If you don't believe us try this. Stand in front of a mirror and shrug your shoulder as high as you can and hold them there, now try to do a curl like we discussed earlier. It's impossible. You see this all the time when people do dumbbell curls. So to do a good curl and take the trap and delts out of play start by dropping the shoulders and keeping your wrist straight and hand and thumb position correct and elbows.
Forearm Position: If you wrist are twisted out so the palm is parallel to the floor , then the under side of your forearm should also point up as you curl.
RULES ON CURLING PERFORMANCE
Don't do curls ASS-BACKWARD! If you watch most beginner and intermediate bodybuilders do curl you see a lean forward at the start to get the bar moving. Then there is a huge effort to get the weight to the shoulders and then a rest at the top. They can rest because they have broken every rule we've mentioned so far. Curling this way you get two rest stops at the top and bottom. So remember you only get one rest if done correctly and thats at the bottom.
Use your negative: Lots of people let the weight simply drop back down when doing curls. This robs you of half the rep. Resist they weight on the way down to use the negative to keep tension on the biceps.
Pre-stretch: There is a rule in exercise that the greater the initial stretch the greater the contraction. This is why half or cheating reps should not make up the bread and butter of you bicep training. Every rep should begin with you thinking stretch at the beginning and squeeze and contract at the end. This one will take you bicep training to new heights.
Curl Smoothly ~ NO CHEATING: The bar should accelerate smoothly top the top, as you squeeze your biceps and begin your descent back down under tension. By now you should know what makes a good curl.
Cheat to The Finish: When we say cheating to the finish we don't mean starting and finishing with something that looked pretty much like reverse cleans the whole way. Cheating to the finish means you have performed at least 6 good reps on you own and used just enough umph to grind out 2-3 more reps.
Know Your Exercises: Don't assume all biceps exercises work the entire muscle belly. Some exercises while stressing the entire muscle also stress certain areas more than others. Wide grip barbell curl stress the lower inner head of the bicep, while close grip curl tend to work the inner bicep head higher. Experiment with exercises and make a conscious effort to feel where stress is being placed.
Genetics Dictate Shape: Remember that you can't change what in you DNA. Maybe you don't have bicep peaks like Ronnie Coleman but with these tip you can change you bicep from nothing to something grand.
Speed Up You Training: Biceps are a small muscle group which means you don't need extended rest between sets. You don't need the 2-3 minutes rest as with larger bodyparts. If your having problems getting a pump try resting only 45 seconds between sets.
Biceps Thrive on High Intensity Training: The bicep more than and muscle loves high intensity methods. Super-setting two biceps exercise back to back for different areas works very well stimulating growth. 21's also work biceps great. Try all forms of high intensity training on biceps but remember your form ad technique.
Bicep Mind: Really focus on your biceps as you do your bicep exercises. Think about working your biceps and not lifting the weight. Watch them roll-up as balls as they contract, and stretch out as you lower weight. You'll know the weight is to heavy if you can't concentrate full on just the working bicep. Lower the weight a bit, in time you'll have a lot bigger biceps.
Thanks
By: PSN
For most bodybuilders biceps training is as natural an act as breathing. So you don't have to put a gun to there head to get them to train biceps. On the other hand biceps are also the most overworked bodypart of all time. Some guys train biceps two, three and four - ah hell every time they walk into the gym. So getting them to train biceps isn't the problem, getting them to train biceps right is.
With all the arm training articles that proliferate mags each and every month you think that everybody would be a curling wiz. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The barbell curl isn't the easy exercise that it appears to be. If done incorrectly stress is instantly shifted from the biceps to the other muscles, deltiods, traps, lower back and legs. If truth be told its a rare site to see someone actually doing curls correctly.
So you say why is this so, lets look st he culprits.
EGO - The use of way to much weight. You see them, what started out as a bicep curl now resemble so form of dead hang clean.
SPEED - USING TO MUCH inertia from the legs as a kick start then pulling with the deltoid and lower back just to finish the rep.
IGNORANCE - No one has just never shown them how to do a legitimate bicep curl.
Since doing bicep curls correctly greatly increases results, it obliviously pays to do your bicep exercises correctly. Its a more time efficient way to train. You spend less time in the gym because you make every rep count which translates into greater bicep stimulation. On the other hand training incorrectly lead to poor results, wasted time and possible injury. It could take half the time if you used good form.
With this in mind lets go over some effective tips for greatly increasing your biceps curling ability. We will first go through some general terms to help improve your curling technique. Then we'll talk specifically how to do certain types of curls for best results.
CREATING A BETTER BICEP CURL
When we are talking about improving your bicep curl we're not talking about drastic changes but minor adjustments that make all the difference.
Wrist Position: When curling you must keep you wrist straight and locked through out the full range of motion. You must not let the weight fall onto your shoulders on rest. As soon as you do this you loose tension on the biceps. If you do your curls correctly the barbell or dumbbell will never touch your shoulder because the contracted bicep will prevent this from happening.
Hand & Thumb Position: Always keep your hand under the bar, with your palms facing up. This is essential to all exercises but especially the curl. We love to people doing dumbbell curls with the palms turned up and the thumb level to the floor to begin each curl. Don't allow the wrist to turn in as you curl so that the thumb is higher the pinky finger. Turn them out so to keep the thumb is below the pinky finger level which supinates the wrist at the top for a forceful contraction.
Elbow Location: Keep your elbows locked to your sides as you curl. In a proper full range curl the elbows should not move away from your sides. A strict full range curl should travel from 6 o'clock to 9 o'clock. Allowing the elbows to come up to a little to 10 o'clock or 11 o'clock is okay but don't exaggerate the movement to much or you will loose focus on the target muscle(your bicep).
Position of the Traps/Delts: I know most are saying what? If you watch most people doing curl you tend to see this initial shrug at the beginning of each rep, this is very bad! If you don't believe us try this. Stand in front of a mirror and shrug your shoulder as high as you can and hold them there, now try to do a curl like we discussed earlier. It's impossible. You see this all the time when people do dumbbell curls. So to do a good curl and take the trap and delts out of play start by dropping the shoulders and keeping your wrist straight and hand and thumb position correct and elbows.
Forearm Position: If you wrist are twisted out so the palm is parallel to the floor , then the under side of your forearm should also point up as you curl.
RULES ON CURLING PERFORMANCE
Don't do curls ASS-BACKWARD! If you watch most beginner and intermediate bodybuilders do curl you see a lean forward at the start to get the bar moving. Then there is a huge effort to get the weight to the shoulders and then a rest at the top. They can rest because they have broken every rule we've mentioned so far. Curling this way you get two rest stops at the top and bottom. So remember you only get one rest if done correctly and thats at the bottom.
Use your negative: Lots of people let the weight simply drop back down when doing curls. This robs you of half the rep. Resist they weight on the way down to use the negative to keep tension on the biceps.
Pre-stretch: There is a rule in exercise that the greater the initial stretch the greater the contraction. This is why half or cheating reps should not make up the bread and butter of you bicep training. Every rep should begin with you thinking stretch at the beginning and squeeze and contract at the end. This one will take you bicep training to new heights.
Curl Smoothly ~ NO CHEATING: The bar should accelerate smoothly top the top, as you squeeze your biceps and begin your descent back down under tension. By now you should know what makes a good curl.
Cheat to The Finish: When we say cheating to the finish we don't mean starting and finishing with something that looked pretty much like reverse cleans the whole way. Cheating to the finish means you have performed at least 6 good reps on you own and used just enough umph to grind out 2-3 more reps.
Know Your Exercises: Don't assume all biceps exercises work the entire muscle belly. Some exercises while stressing the entire muscle also stress certain areas more than others. Wide grip barbell curl stress the lower inner head of the bicep, while close grip curl tend to work the inner bicep head higher. Experiment with exercises and make a conscious effort to feel where stress is being placed.
Genetics Dictate Shape: Remember that you can't change what in you DNA. Maybe you don't have bicep peaks like Ronnie Coleman but with these tip you can change you bicep from nothing to something grand.
Speed Up You Training: Biceps are a small muscle group which means you don't need extended rest between sets. You don't need the 2-3 minutes rest as with larger bodyparts. If your having problems getting a pump try resting only 45 seconds between sets.
Biceps Thrive on High Intensity Training: The bicep more than and muscle loves high intensity methods. Super-setting two biceps exercise back to back for different areas works very well stimulating growth. 21's also work biceps great. Try all forms of high intensity training on biceps but remember your form ad technique.
Bicep Mind: Really focus on your biceps as you do your bicep exercises. Think about working your biceps and not lifting the weight. Watch them roll-up as balls as they contract, and stretch out as you lower weight. You'll know the weight is to heavy if you can't concentrate full on just the working bicep. Lower the weight a bit, in time you'll have a lot bigger biceps.
Thanks