Fitness

Get Bigger Biceps


Posted by Simon on 14 June 2008 11:23:12

Let’s face it, big muscular arms look great and most guys will want to get bigger biceps at some point in their training – so here’s how to do it.

Big Biceps Rule 1: Eat To Grow

It takes about 10 pounds of extra muscle to add an inch to your biceps. So you’ll need to eat extra calories for your body to grow any more muscle.

Big Biceps Rule 2: Go Heavy

There’s no point doing hundreds of reps of biceps exercises if you want big arms. Doing lots of reps trains your muscles for endurance – which is fine if that’s your goal. But if you want bigger biceps, you’ll have to lift heavy weights for a lower number of reps.

For the best muscle growth, you should use a weight that you can lift for only 6-12 reps and no more. If you can lift the weight more times than this, then it’s too light.

However, don’t use such a heavy weight that your form goes out of the window, which brings us onto Rule 3.

Big Biceps Rule 3: Use Good Form

I see far too many people at the gym using terrible form when training biceps. They use a weight that’s too heavy and swing it up using their whole body. If you’re using your whole body to lift a weight then it’s not focussing the exercise on your biceps so how can they be expected to grow. It’s a way of cheating – people feel good because they’re lifting more weight. But they’re only cheating themselves, and risking injury at the same time.

When performing any resistance training exercise, a general rule is to count one second on lifting the weight up, and 2-3 seconds on the way down. Keep the motion under control and you’ll get better results and you won’t make yourself look stupid at the gym.

Big Biceps Rule 4: Allow For Recovery

Like any muscle, your biceps don’t grow when you’re training them. Training causes microscopic tears in your muscle fibres which repair themselves more strongly. So your biceps will actually grow when you are resting. Training just provides the stimulus for growth. If you don’t allow enough time for your biceps to recover in between each training session, not only will they not grow as big, but you’ll also risk injury.

As well as being trained during specific biceps exercises such as dumbbell/barbell curls etc. your biceps also get used when you perform many other exercises such as pull ups and rows. These exercises should also be factored in to how much bicep training you’re doing each week.

Everyone is different, but most guys will get best biceps growth by specifically training them once per week. It’s a good idea to space this out from your back workout as much as possible because the pull-ups/pull downs and rows mentioned earlier for your back will also pump your biceps hard.

Best Biceps Exercises

More biceps exercises coming soon.

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