Lagging Biceps

[LunaHotel]

10 years training, 5'10¾" 205 lbs, and my arms are a puny 17¼" - OK maybe 17½ pumped. I have very large triceps, so you can just imagine how underdevelopped my biceps are. I mean, I can do 10 perfect 2-1-3 reps of kick-backs with 40s but I can barely curl 60s.

WTF!?!?????

I think I tried everything. What's a man supposed to do?

Looking for input here, ANY ideas are welcomed.

Oh, here's my split :
1. Back and calves
2. Chest and biceps or vice-versa
3. Legs and calves
4. Shoulders, triceps and abs.

These days it is 1on/1off, but sometimes 2on/1off, or 2on/1off + 1on/1off, etc. etc.

[MaDmaN]

This may sound crazy but it just might work,I was in the same boat massive tricep overshadowed my lagging bicep.I always bought into that the Bicep was a small muscle group and 4 or 6 sets was enough...I read an article about Lee Priest and his Bicep routine,get this 20 sets.I said what the fug have I got to loose I do5 sets standing barbell curl 6-8 reps,5 sets of preacher curl 6-8 reps,5 sets of hammer curls 6-8 reps and finish off with 5 sets of cable curls or dumbell curls w/supine the wrist for 6-8 reps..It has been three weeks my Biceps never looked so good and I do this twice a week....

[ryansm]

Wow all that twice a week? I guess you just have to find what works. Maybe I should give this a try.

[bioman]

I like splitting my bicep routines into 1/2 HIT-ish style and 1/2 higher volume. I usually go heavy with preacher curls, then go higher reps for standing curls then lower reps/heavier(relatively speaking) for seated hammer curls to finish them off. I'll reverse this every few weeks.

Also I use a Back/Bicep day and do all the bicept work after the back work(chins, pulldowns, dumbell rows). So realistically the bi's are getting hit with some pretty high volume. Works well for me (too well, gotta play catch up with my get-away sticks).

[stryder]

Works well for me (too well, gotta play catch up with my get-away sticks).

!!!

[DieTrying]

Mine suck as well. Interested to see what Mr. I Hate Low Carb Diets has to say about this.

[DmitryWI]

This may sound crazy but it just might work,I was in the same boat massive tricep overshadowed my lagging bicep.I always bought into that the Bicep was a small muscle group and 4 or 6 sets was enough...I read an article about Lee Priest and his Bicep routine,get this 20 sets.I said what the fug have I got to loose I do5 sets standing barbell curl 6-8 reps,5 sets of preacher curl 6-8 reps,5 sets of hammer curls 6-8 reps and finish off with 5 sets of cable curls or dumbell curls w/supine the wrist for 6-8 reps..It has been three weeks my Biceps never looked so good and I do this twice a week....

I have other idea. Don't train your bi's for 4 weeks and see how it goes.

[Dwight Schrute]

Vary your eccentric and concentric times.

[LunaHotel]

MaDmaN, Imma try your thing, well ONCE a week for starters. All the professional advice I've heard about has always been "be wary of overtraining your biceps, it is a SMALL muscle group" Very small, yeah. Sometimes I wonder if the pros don't just say the reverse of what works to keep the rest of the guys smaller... . !?

OTOH, since biceps are a small muscle group, then they must be able to recuperate easily. Right? Huh? Wrong? Whatever... I'll update this thread in a couple months with findings. Thanks guys for the suggestions.

[MaDmaN]

MaDmaN, Imma try your thing, well ONCE a week for starters. All the professional advice I've heard about has always been "be wary of overtraining your biceps, it is a SMALL muscle group" Very small, yeah. Sometimes I wonder if the pros don't just say the reverse of what works to keep the rest of the guys smaller... . !?

OTOH, since biceps are a small muscle group, then they must be able to recuperate easily. Right? Huh? Wrong? Whatever... I'll update this thread in a couple months with findings. Thanks guys for the suggestions.

Good choice Luna not because it's mine idea,well yes it is LOL..Biceps IMO are like calves they need volume and do recoup very quickly.I do squats 10 sets it takes a full week to recover,but Biceps 2 to 3 days..Give it 6 weeks and I think you will be surprised..

[stryder]

Vary your eccentric and concentric times.

...AMEN!

[MikeBU]

Supersets worked wonders for me. I start off with 4 sets of barbell curls. Then I do supersets with seated dumbbell curls and hammer curls. I do this with 25lb's STRICT form and it hurts like a biotch. This really filled out my bi's nicely. Just keep trying things until you find what works, but make sure when you try something you stick to it for at least a month. Any less than that I don't think you'll notice too much.

[LakeMountD]

yeah i have the same big tricep, lil bicep problem. im curious, though, how in gods name are you guys training things like biceps twice a week without making your workouts over an hour?

[PC1]

ONE of my 5 training days is committed 100% to biceps/forearms because I'm also at the point where I'm struggling to get continued natural growth also. For awhile I had also bought into the idea that less could be more with biceps being a smaller muscle group but I found I was moving in the wrong direction also. I train back 3 days earlier, and overall this seems to be pretty good.

On the biceps day right now I do:


Standing barbell curls
5 warmup sets, light low reps
135 x 6 (great form, slow strict negatives)
115 x 8 (same)
95 x 10 (same)

Preacher Curls
85 x 10 (great form, slow strict negatives, pause @ bottom)
85 x 9 (same)
85 x 8 (same)

And as part of my forearm routine, I'm doing Reverse Dumbell concentrated curls

35 x 10 (strict, slow)
35 x 9 (same)
35 x 8 (same)
35 x 7 (same)
35 x 6 (same)

While these are all strict, the negatives get slower with each set as reps come down

Still, I'm intrigued by Madman's post that maybe volume is the way to go with biceps on that 1 day a week. The above has been working better for me, but I think he's right, and I'm going to throw in 3-4 more direct biceps sets of another exercise, maybe concentrated dumbbell curls..........

[LakeMountD]

ONE of my 5 training days is committed 100% to biceps/forearms because I'm also at the point where I'm struggling to get continued natural growth also. For awhile I had also bought into the idea that less could be more with biceps being a smaller muscle group but I found I was moving in the wrong direction also. I train back 3 days earlier, and overall this seems to be pretty good.

On the biceps day right now I do:


Standing barbell curls
5 warmup sets, light low reps
135 x 6 (great form, slow strict negatives)
115 x 8 (same)
95 x 10 (same)

Preacher Curls
85 x 10 (great form, slow strict negatives, pause @ bottom)
85 x 9 (same)
85 x 8 (same)

And as part of my forearm routine, I'm doing Reverse Dumbell concentrated curls

35 x 10 (strict, slow)
35 x 9 (same)
35 x 8 (same)
35 x 7 (same)
35 x 6 (same)

While these are all strict, the negatives get slower with each set as reps come down

Still, I'm intrigued by Madman's post that maybe volume is the way to go with biceps on that 1 day a week. The above has been working better for me, but I think he's right, and I'm going to throw in 3-4 more direct biceps sets of another exercise, maybe concentrated dumbbell curls..........

Yeah you can't really look past the fact EVERYONE is having better luck with higher volume on biceps. In Arnold's encyclopedia, he states that the biceps are one of the fastest recovering muscles, despite their size, and that volume work is best for them. Never thought I would believe it.

[Bean]

Yeah you can't really look past the fact EVERYONE is having better luck with higher volume on biceps. In Arnold's encyclopedia, he states that the biceps are one of the fastest recovering muscles, despite their size, and that volume work is best for them. Never thought I would believe it.

Amen to that... I guess we all have to keep our eyes open to the glorious truth Thats what this board was founded upon

[5111]

Well I tried your workout on Sunday and I am still a little sore. I think that I may try it again today.

[Rjr3412]

I know for myself that I had ben using fairly high volume 12-15 sets for a few months and definetly saw a drop off in the results i was getting, and switching to a low volume 5-6 sets has seemed better for the past month.(both situations once a month) Perhaps it is important that overtime you switch between high and low volume for time lengths. Have to spur that new growth reactions. any ideas?

[Dwight Schrute]

I have an idea.


There is no ONE way. Never will be. Its constantly switching it up that will spur results. So people should focus on switching exercises, rep ranges, TUT and so forth.

Although its nice when your plan already incorporates these principles

[anadrol75]

Do chins on a pullup bar with a reverse grip. Do 4 sets of as many reps as you can squeeze out. Be sure to go all the way down and all the way up and get full range of motion. Then get on an incline bench and lie face down on it. Do dumbell curls with a weight you can get 12-15out of. Do 4 sets. Lastly, use the same bench and do one arm preacher curls for the same sets and reps as above. As your strength progresses on the chins add some weight. I tried this for my bi's and I am starting to see alot of mass and separation. Especially during the incline curls squeeze bicep hard at the top. Hope this helps.