Overtraining biceps?

[lvtrojan]

I saw this guy training at my gym (no i wasnt checking out guys ) doing a lot of sets on his biceps. But the funny thing is that ALL he was doing was biceps. Curls, hammer curls, dumbell curls, cable curls, basically every exercise you can find in the book, for a whole hour. Thats its, just biceps for an hour. Probably 40+ sets when he was done, and then he left the gym. Looked like WAY overtraining to me.

BUT here's the problem (in comparison to my own HST style of training) - THE GUY HAD GUNS. The kind of biceps that make someone look like they obviously work out.

I guess some people just respond well to extremely high volume? Or is this just an injury waiting to happen?

 

[jminis]

He may be someone who has great recovery ability and somone in which volume works for. But if he's doing 40 sets it's no doubt overtraining. He may have guns but I'm guessing he could be a hell of a lof bigger if he cut some of that volume out. And yes if he is realistically doing that many sets for bi's a tear is just around the corner.

 

[lvtrojan]

thanks

Thanks for the reply, thats kind of what i figured.

I would guess he did at least 30, but 40 is probably closer. Like i said, it was easily an hour straight of only bi's. one set after another.

It was just frustrating to see someone getting seemingly great results, while training incorrectly.

 

[RaulJimenez]

He probably trains 1 bodypart per day, if he does that kind of training and has BIG GUNS, its definitely genetics but I swear to you if he dropped that kind of volume and focused on increasing his weights progressively on key mass exercises , he would have GUNS people would be afraid of.

 

[Bryan]

my biceps blew up as soon as I down my volume in half, I went from doing 3 sets of curls and 3 sets of hammer curls to doing only 2 sets of heavy barbell curls and my biceps got ALOT bigger. They used to be my weakest part of my arm now they overpower my tris and delts.

 

[lifted]

Yeah, I used to do like 5 or 6 sets at least when I first started as well. It would be like 2-3 sets of EZ-bar curls, EZ bar preacher curls, and reverse EZ-bars. It didn't take me long to realize that I had to cut volume down even more than my bigger compound movements to see better results.

Now, I do straight 7-foot BB curls with a wide grip and alternate them with EZ-bar preachers when I hit a plateau and at only 2 sets at the most. And then I'll do 1 set of reverses at about 15-20 reps for brachialis and upper forearms. My growth has been SO MUCH better than before.

And every month or so I'll throw in some fascia stretching for them. That alone causes the bottom of my biceps to actually bruise brown. Only once a month though.

 

[Jstrong20]

Well, maybe he does that as a shocker once a month or less?

 

[sage]

could be one of many things.... as stated before, his split might consist of one body part a day per week, giving a respectable reason for so much volume on his biceps (although what you described is quite a lot). although it doesnt sound like this is the case, his bis might be his lagging part and he's trying to bring it up. but you'll get quite a debate on the volume one should apply to areas which are lagging. Also a note, i doubt this guy is doing 40+ sets with maximum intensity. If this dude is going ballz to wall, he aint moving his arm for a month
Sage

 

[RaulJimenez]

No he isn't sage, he's practically looking for the pump image... ohhh how wrong he is.

 

[Nigel]

I could see someone utilizing that routine if there was some reason for not lifting heavy- medical condition, shock routine as has been suggested, or a light day, working on speed and endurance. At a weight of 50% of his max, he's still moving a lot of weight without the stress of lifting heavy.

 

[Bean]

you guys that did the volume drop; did you work your biceps on back day too?

 

[lifted]

you guys that did the volume drop; did you work your biceps on back day too?

Yeah, I did. I do this:

Chest, delts, tri's-
BB flat, decline, or incline
presses
close grips

Legs, lower back-
Leg presses
regular deads

Back, bi's, forearms-
BB rows
straight BB curls
reverse curls

Thats it....Seriously, and I've been getting descent gains still; besides the occasional layoffs. When I plateau at a certain exc. and after upping cals and it still doesn't go up for awhile, I'll switch either exc., add-in some rest pause, increase reps(lower weight), lower reps(increase weight), or cut back on sets for a bit. Sorry for the length, but some people have been asking whatg my split has been recently. Keeping it simple is the way to go bro.

 

[Bean]

yup i know; my workout is very similar; though i also have a seperate exercise for my shoulders on chest day and i work my calves on leg day

 

[lvtrojan]

thanks for the reply's

I agree that 40 is too high, and i may not have thought that through before i posted it. Like I said it was a solid hour that he trained them, so probably like 6-7 exercises and about 3-4 sets of each , so probably 21-24 sets.

Anyway, his form was text-book, slow and controlled, squeezing the contraction at the top.

His biceps were his best part imo, not lagging. I would say he dedicated most of his time to them. Thats why it was so noticable even before he started. Hard to tell him he is doing something wrong because of the results he was getting, even though i wanted to.

 

[ironviking]

The reason his arms looked good at that point is they were probably pumped to holy hell. Two days after he probably lost an inch from the pump dropping out.

I work bi's on back day and I only do ONE direct set on biceps and my arms are bigger now than they have been in a long time.

 

[jminis]

The reason his arms looked good at that point is they were probably pumped to holy hell. Two days after he probably lost an inch from the pump dropping out.

I work bi's on back day and I only do ONE direct set on biceps and my arms are bigger now than they have been in a long time.

Amen to that. I experienced the same exact thing. One direct set and that's it along with my back, and arms are responding very well.

 

[Big AJ]

i train bi's along w/ back the same day. ususally, i train bi's second, since i've already somewhat fatigued my bicep muscles from the back workout. i start w/ something like preachers or BB curls, followed by alternate DB curls or hammers. the bi portion of my workout ususally takes about 30-35 minutes. a whole hr. on just bi's is a little long, especially if he's very focus and resting minimally during his training.

 

[Future]

I would say that an injury might occur but you never know depending on the weights etc he is using. If he did biceps in an hour I would say his rest was pretty quick etc. So who knows. Either way, his method was working for him.

 

[ryan060287]

does anyone have a good bicep workout routine? i know some say biceps are easy to get results with but i have had minimal growth, when i work them i usually do 3 sets on a seated preacher curl, than 3 sets of straight bar curl than 3 sets of alternate dumbbell curls. Am i overtraining? perhaps someone can give me a good bicep routine thanks !

 

[getjacked63]

does anyone have a good bicep workout routine? i know some say biceps are easy to get results with but i have had minimal growth, when i work them i usually do 3 sets on a seated preacher curl, than 3 sets of straight bar curl than 3 sets of alternate dumbbell curls. Am i overtraining? perhaps someone can give me a good bicep routine thanks !

thats what I have been doing as well, i would say my biceps look better than any other body part except maybe my quads. i do think after reading this thread i could improve my workout though with less sets and high weight....

 

[xtraflossy]

I want to add, that I CAN spend about an hour training bicepts. It just seems to take a lot of volume to get them sore (even though soreness isn't a perfect indicator of progress).
I go 7 sets. LAtely, they have all been alternate seated curls.
My reps don't go above 8. Actually, all my sets I try to get to 8 reps. If I can only get 5 reps, I'll try to get 3 hammer curls to make 8 (I mark that down also,.. 5 reps +3).. I use higher weights.
Of course, I do a 5 lb progression, starting 30/35's warm up. 40,45, 50, 55, 55, 50.
When I do it right (that feeling of accomplishment) , they are fried the next day. I know I pushed myself.

This guy, if he can spend an hour do all these sets, then his bicepts are eventually going to adapt to that volume..
I had this happen to me, and I litterally just couldnt ever get my guns sore..
Not until I forced myself to go heavy, and make damn sure I was progressing.

I say, he isn't doing anything wrong, you can do the same thing. And Im sure you'll get some great results for a while. There will just be a point that it becomes hard to gauge your progression with all thise sets and reps, (especially when you dont write it down), and you'll end up all over the place with your training, and never even know if you did anything more then you did the last time.

 

[CRUNCH]

That's a lot of biceps! I'm at one heavy set of DB hammers per week, with a couple cheaters on the last reps. That's it.

 

[xtraflossy]

That's a lot of biceps! I'm at one heavy set of DB hammers per week, with a couple cheaters on the last reps. That's it.

lol- seriously,.. I have the hardest time beleiveing I can can get by on just 1 set...
I mean,what about slight warm up? I wouldnt jump into a heavy set without dipping my toes in first.

..of course, knowing that less can be more and beleiving less is more are two different beasts.

 

[CRUNCH]

lol- seriously,.. I have the hardest time beleiveing I can can get by on just 1 set...
I mean,what about slight warm up? I wouldnt jump into a heavy set without dipping my toes in first.

..of course, knowing that less can be more and beleiving less is more are two different beasts.

There is a couple warm-ups. My bicep wo looks like this (DB hammer curls):

40 lbs x 6 reps
65 lbs x 3 reps
80 lbs x 10-12 reps

My biceps are already a little warm as I would have recently trained upper back.

 

[Kristofer68SS]

So, some of you guys are only doing 1-2 sets of direct bicep excercises........

I can understand why though.........

Tues last week i did deads until almost collapsing.......thursday, my biceps were hurting, i actually cut my arm day short........I am thinking i should have did zero bicep work and only tricep work....

less is more............. thats kind of my motto, maybe i should actually practice it..........

I am happy with all my gains, except bicep.........legs, back, tris, traps, all of it.......buy my damn bi's............

I am going to do 2 sets heavy direct biceps for 3 months and see what happens. starting first week of august.