If your biceps are not quite where you want them to be despite your most ferocious efforts in the gym, read on!

Maybe you will run across a bi-law that will get the job done for you!

Bend ’Em Back
When it comes to working the biceps, one of the things I often see is people initiating their curls using forearm flexor power rather than pure biceps power. By the nature of their function, the forearms must be involved in every curling movement, but if you actually turn the beginning of the movement into a wrist curl, you take away a lot of the stimulation that you’re intending for your biceps.

Trainees often tell me that when they work their biceps, their forearms get the more intense pump. That’s not a good thing if you’re looking for bigger guns.

If that sounds like you, then what you should actually be doing during most curling movements is bending your wrists back and holding that position throughout the set. That effectively takes the forearm flexors out of the movement, forcing the biceps to do almost all of the work.

Yes, it will feel a little odd at first—and chances are your curling poundages will drop somewhat—but trust me when I tell you that you will actually be hitting your biceps harder than ever before. Try using this method on at least one exercise in each biceps workout (I suggest a barbell movement), and I bet you’ll see improvements.

Keep Your Chin Up
Close-grip, underhand chins are one of the most effective biceps exercises you can do, yet few trainees ever use them. Yes, they also work the back musculature, but within the construct of a biceps program, you’ll feel them almost entirely in your screaming biceps. I recommend using close-grip chins in one of two ways. Either perform them as the last exercise in your biceps routine, when your bi’s are already exhausted, or use them as the second exercise in a biceps superset (preacher curls followed by close-grip chins make an amazing combo).

To get the most out of your close-grip chins, make sure you use perfect form. I recommend spacing your hands no wider than six inches apart. Begin the movement at a dead hang, with your arms completely straight. At the peak of the concentric portion of the rep your chin should rise just above the bar (no half-reps please) as you squeeze your bi’s hard. Try to lower yourself very slowly, taking up to four to six seconds to get to the bottom position.

When you can get 10 to 12 reps with your bodyweight, add some extra resistance with a belt designed to hold plates and/or a dumbbell around your waist.

Grow With Slow-Mo
Whenever I watch the average gym rat training biceps, I often see more swinging during a single set than in an entire day at a children’s playground all of that cheating is only cheating you. Using momentum, leaning back and lifting your elbows while you curl is not a training technique. If you desire to fill out your shirtsleeves a little better, it’s time to clean up your form and slow things down.

It has been my observation that most guys do their curls with a tempo of 1/0/1/0. If you’re not familiar with that method of expressing lifting speed, it simply means that the eccentric, or negative, portion of the lift is completed in one second; there’s no pause at the bottom; the concentric, or positive, portion of the lift is completed in one second; and there is no pause at the top. At that tempo each rep takes approximately two seconds to complete, and since most sets are anywhere from six to 10 reps, the time under tension will only be 12 to 20 seconds. That’s not enough for those looking to stimulate hypertrophy (growth) in a muscle. Studies have shown that the optimal TUT for gains in muscle size is 40 to 70 seconds per set. Hmm, think it’s time to go into slow-mo?

My suggestion to anyone seeking more size on them bi’s is a repetition tempo of 3/1/2/1, which will bring the length of each rep to seven seconds. That translates to a TUT of 42 to 70 seconds for sets of six to 12 reps. Perfect!

Go Angling
By angling I mean changing your lines of pull, body position and/or planes of motion in order to stimulate your biceps in ways they aren’t used to. That will change motor recruitment patterns, wake up the central nervous system and even enable you to preferably recruit the inner or outer biceps head to a greater degree. All good stuff!

References

1 Oliveira, M.C., et al. (2003). Weight loss associated with a daily intake of three apples or three pears among overweight women. Nutrition. 19:253-56.

2 Aprikian, O., et al. (2002). Lyo-philized apple counteracts the development of hypercholesterolemia, oxidative stress, and renal dysfunction in obese Zucker rats. J Nutr. 132:1969-1976.

3 Ortiz, D., et al. (2004). Apple juice prevents oxidative stress induced by amyloid-beta in culture. J Alzheimer’s Dis. 6:27-30.