If your arms seem to be something that’s lagging in your physique, then this workout will absolutely have your biceps pumped to the max. More than anything, this will identify the weak points of your biceps and help you to not just fix the weak points but also turn them in to strengths.
Exercise #1: Incline Dumbbell Curls
Although it may not seem like it, but there a couple different parts to the bicep muscle. To create a longer bicep head, it must be stretched fully at the bottom of the movement. The incline dumbbell curl will allow you to be very strict with your form to have to keep your back and shoulder on the pad, as well as not using your front delts to get the weight up. Keep your elbows locked down and up against your torso to get the most out of the movement.
- Begin movement by setting up incline bench at a 45 degree angle
- Allow arms to hang down straight to the ground, but bent slightly to keep tension on the biceps muscle
- Keeping your shoulders back, curl the weight up to the top of the movement and slowly lower the weight back down
Sets and Reps: 4 x 12-14 (4 second negative)
Exercise #2: Heavy Barbell Curls
We’ve all seen Arnold doing 135 lb curls back in the day with all of his buddies, but we’ve all been taught that form is absolutely most important thing. And there is no way that someone of a normal nature can strictly curl that much weight! What we can do is cheat the movement every so slightly to completely overload the muscle without risking injury. By using just a little body language to get the weight up, we’re able to work the negative portion of the movement tenfold with all of the extra weight.
- Load up the bar with a weight you could curl 4-6 times with good form
- Instead of keeping everything extremely tight, use some slight hip and front delt movement to help “swing” the weight up to the top
- Squeeze for a 2- count and then slowly lower the weight back down to the bottom
Sets and Reps: 4 x 10-12 (2 second negative)
Exercise #3: Superset - Cable Curls/Preacher Curls
With an isolation movement and a heavy compound lift out of the way, it’s time to completely pump the muscle full of blood and really ignite the lactic acid buildup. The form will need to be as strict as possible on this but we are trying to pump the muscle up as much as possible with squeezing and contracting as well as moving quickly through the lifts with little rest. This will ensure a nasty pump and force your arms to grow to new heights.
- Start out on standing cable curls by curling the weight up by keeping the weight as close as possible to the body
- Start off with strict form then move quicker as the reps go up
- After failure, move directly onto the preacher curls to work the outer portion of the biceps
- Keep the back and shoulders pulled back and force the weight to remain on the biceps
- Slowly lower the weight and fully stretch the biceps, then squeeze the weight back up to the top
Sets and Reps: 3 x 10-12, then pump each lift at faster rate till failure
Take-Home Message
Although it will take time, growing your biceps will be a fun experience if you can learn to point out your weaknesses and being strong enough to make them strengths. Keep at it and have fun getting those guns tank-top worthy!
