finally got my biceps sore

[UnrealMachine]

i have a few years of training under my belt and my biceps grew explosively at first and then the size quickly slowed down and in the last year they about stopped growing and never get sore (slowly got stronger though).

But yesterday i had an arm day and today I am going HOLY **** i did something right, I can't remember the last time my biceps have been this sore.

it was a bicep/tricep workout, this was the bicep portion:
preacher curls w/ ez curl bar: 125*8, 135*8, 145*8, 155*5
dumbell curls seated on incline: 55*10, 60*10
spider curls: 75*10-15 reps or so *3 sets

Now I always start biceps off lifting super heavy and that works for strength but the spider curls are what did it. Spider curls are an awesome exercise for biceps with a huge ROM and I never ever (EVER) see anyone doing them. Certainly helped me out. They feel really good moving across that big range of motion too.

I just thought i'd share. I've trained my biceps hard for a while and never gotten them this sore. Definitely keeping the spider curls in my routine.

 

[farrellzach]

I've never tried spider curls, but it looks like I might have to add those in. My biceps refuse to get sore.

 

[UnrealMachine]

give them a try for sure. i tried to do 10 reps as an absolute minimum so not very heavy, also I had a spotter and usually had help on the last couple reps because the top part of the ROM starts getting ridiculously hard at the end

 

[ryansm]

I do spider curls all the time, and they are an incredible exercise. Not enough people do them or know about them.

 

[Ms9]

AKA scott curl

 

[Flaw]

It's not what you do it's how you do it. Your weight is ridiculously high on all exercises. There's no way your not using your body for mementum to get through the lifts. I use low weights and do extremely slow/high reps keeping my muscles as flexed as possible. Of all the years of training this works the best. The biceps are such a small muscle group. People train them way too hard for the joint. Also if your gaining strength don't worry about getting sore.

 

[UnrealMachine]

It's not what you do it's how you do it. Your weight is ridiculously high on all exercises. There's no way your not using your body for mementum to get through the lifts. I use low weights and do extremely slow/high reps keeping my muscles as flexed as possible. Of all the years of training this works the best. The biceps are such a small muscle group. People train them way too hard for the joint. Also if your gaining strength don't worry about getting sore.

The weight is high but increasing strength doesn't necessarily mean I'll get the size along with it. For me soreness usually indicates the type of damage that'll cause growth. In some of my exercises like standing bb curls and standing db curls I do swing a bit. But incline curls... preacher curls... no swinging on that stuff. You can't use momentum on preacher curls lol.

I have worked with low weights and isolation exercises and they never seemed to work well, not as well as the spider curls, I just think it's the big range of motion helping me out.

The squeeze you get, the peak contraction, at the very top of that big range of motion, feels super good.

 

[SouthernCharm]

Unreal do you know what zottman curls are??

 

[UnrealMachine]

Unreal do you know what zottman curls are??

looking them up big man

ah i have never done those with the wrist movement, they look like they would be good for forearms as well

 

[SouthernCharm]

looking them up big man

do those at the end of your back days and at the end of your arm days and youll be sore i promise


i do the standing zottman. You bring up the DBs like normal curls, you turn them in about 40 degrees and bring em down from the hammer position. brutal.

 

[UnrealMachine]

Looks good! I'll add them in as a "finisher"

thanks for the suggestion

 

[Lightweight1]

i have a few years of training under my belt and my biceps grew explosively at first and then the size quickly slowed down and in the last year they about stopped growing and never get sore (slowly got stronger though).

But yesterday i had an arm day and today I am going HOLY **** i did something right, I can't remember the last time my biceps have been this sore.

it was a bicep/tricep workout, this was the bicep portion:
preacher curls w/ ez curl bar: 125*8, 135*8, 145*8, 155*5
dumbell curls seated on incline: 55*10, 60*10
spider curls: 75*10-15 reps or so *3 sets

Now I always start biceps off lifting super heavy and that works for strength but the spider curls are what did it. Spider curls are an awesome exercise for biceps with a huge ROM and I never ever (EVER) see anyone doing them. Certainly helped me out. They feel really good moving across that big range of motion too.

I just thought i'd share. I've trained my biceps hard for a while and never gotten them this sore. Definitely keeping the spider curls in my routine.

Nice post. I will add in spider curls at the end of my bicep workout and see if it works for me. Im on the same boat as you, ill blast my biceps but there never sore afterwards like how my legs are after heavy squats.

 

[Lightweight1]

Unreal do you know what zottman curls are??

Those look solid as well, ill be throwing those in the mix too. Thx bro

 

[Flaw]

You can't use momentum on preacher curls lol.

I have worked with low weights and isolation exercises and they never seemed to work well, not as well as the spider curls, I just think it's the big range of motion helping me out.

The squeeze you get, the peak contraction, at the very top of that big range of motion, feels super good.

Regular preacher curls you cannot but a lot of guys do standing preacher curls with bar or one arm and they move their whole body.

It's true everyones muscles respond to different exercises. That's usually why you can't just give someone a routine and tell them it will work. Certain techniques however work for all. A lot of people forget about the squeeze and just go for speed. I like to train the biceps for endurance and not focus on size. Size ultimately comes down to genetics in the end. My bi's are about 16" but my triceps are huge with little work. We can't forget that big shoulders give the illusion that the arms are much bigger then they are. How are your joints feeling?

 

[UnrealMachine]

Regular preacher curls you cannot but a lot of guys do standing preacher curls with bar or one arm and they move their whole body.

It's true everyones muscles respond to different exercises. That's usually why you can't just give someone a routine and tell them it will work. Certain techniques however work for all. A lot of people forget about the squeeze and just go for speed. I like to train the biceps for endurance and not focus on size. Size ultimately comes down to genetics in the end. My bi's are about 16" but my triceps are huge with little work. We can't forget that big shoulders give the illusion that the arms are much bigger then they are. How are your joints feeling?

Ya it is all about genetics... my arms are pretty big i'm close to 18" and it's probably my genetic limit because they basically haven't grown much in the last 2 years, just gotten stronger and denser. They exploded when i started training, I was approaching 17" arms when i was 16.

My joints hold up good through arm workouts. The only thing I can't do is heavy skullcrushers. I used to do skulls all the time, was my favorite tricep exercise, but like 3 years ago i was working with 125 and developed tendonitis on my left elbow and it took a while to go away but ever since, my elbows have felt really bad when doing skulls

As for as curls go through, my joints hold up just fine. I have curled 80 pound dumbells. Yes there is a little momentum going on but I've been lifting so heavy for so long that my joints are pretty used to it.

 

[Flaw]

My joints hold up good through arm workouts. The only thing I can't do is heavy skullcrushers. I used to do skulls all the time, was my favorite tricep exercise, but like 3 years ago i was working with 125 and developed tendonitis on my left elbow and it took a while to go away but ever since, my elbows have felt really bad when doing skulls

As for as curls go through, my joints hold up just fine. I have curled 80 pound dumbells. Yes there is a little momentum going on but I've been lifting so heavy for so long that my joints are pretty used to it.

I had a typo, my bi's are not 16", my arms are. LOL.. I think you got it though. With the skully's I eventually hit pain at some point with a easy curl bar. I can only do them with low weight. Instead I like to do hammer hold dumbell crushers. A lot better ROM and also pain free. If you haven't done them give em a try. Very impressive curls even if you swing a bit.