Back home from my vacation, and it was lit. Boston is a great city, if you get a chance, do visit (not sponsored by the Americans)!
Before I get started, on behalf of Mobeen and Aftab, we would like to thank you for the continued support on this new initiative. I have gotten some great feedback from some of you and really appreciate the questions and topic inquiries. This success would not be possible without the readers and listeners and we just wanted to say thank you once again for taking the time out of your busy lives to support us! Much love and respect.
After receiving a few messages regarding exercises for specific muscle groups, I have decided to launch a GETBIG series. Each week moving forward I will be focusing on a specific muscle and will provide you with some tips/exercises to implement into your training program to stimulate growth. Just want to put a disclaimer out there, that these tips and exercises are what have worked for me. They may not necessarily work for you but more knowledge the better right?
For this week, I’ll start off with the muscle that everyone loves – BICEPS.
No, we don't need the "rapper" LilPump, we need PUMP to get those Arnold Schwarzenegger biceps.
Before I go into tips and exercises, its important to understand the basic physical anatomy of the bicep to understand which exercises are best for certain muscles within the bicep.
As shown in this diagram, there are two “heads” which make up the bicep. The short and long head. The bicep is attached to the arm bones via tendons. In addition, there is a key muscle called the brachialis which is sits in the upper arm. It lies even deeper than the biceps brachii and is a muscle which is extremely underrated. Doing specific exercises targeting the brachialis will help push your bicep out and increase the peak and help shape the “ball” of your biceps. Train your brachialis more and your shirts will start ripping in no time!
So, there you have it; within the bicep we have the long head, short head and an accompanying muscle in the brachialis. Below are a list of exercises and tips on how to hit all three and go those biceps looking swole.
Before I get into specific exercises I want to make it clear, you do not have to focus on isolation exercises only for biceps (meaning you do not have to devote a whole day to biceps). The exercises below are to help you with immediate development or underdevelopment if you lack strength on compound lifts or in general. I made the mistake of concentrating on isolation exercises only for biceps and it only got me so far. Instead, do a mix of both but try focusing more on compound lifts and less on isolation exercises and you’ll notice a much bigger difference. My biceps have grown from mainly indirect compound lifting (bench press, deadlifts, pullups, rows etc) with minimal focus on isolation exercises (curls, cables etc). However, if you need to develop your biceps more because they are to weak to support your heavier lifts, try the following:
Long Head
The long head is the outer head of the biceps and when worked on, provides the “peak” which so many bodybuilders – men and women – desire. Here are a few exercises to try which I found the most beneficial:
Incline Dumbbell Curls: Follow the steps below and trust me, that peak will be on its way. This is probably my favourite bicep exercise because there is no cheating this. The bench stops all momentum and isolates your biceps. This is a test of true curling strength as you are not able to use your back to swing back and forth as so many people tend to do.
Concentration Curls: The exercise legit requires concentration. All exercises do but this one the most because you need be focused on your elbow placement and contractions during the entirety of the exercises otherwise you will not be working your biceps properly. Your elbow needs to be tight against the inside part of your thigh, not too high or not too low. This sounds easy but when you are performing the exercise it can get difficult as the weight will shift your elbow, so you need to CONCENTRATE and keep your elbow tight against your body.
Short Head
The short head is located on the inner portion of your arm and helps create thickness to appear larger from the front. Here are my favourite exercises for the short head:
Wide Grip Preacher Curls: Here is a rule of thumb. The wider you go; the more emphasis will be placed on the inside portion of your arms. The narrower you go; the more emphasis will be placed on the outer portion of your arms. To target the inside portion of your arms, use a wide grip on preacher curls as shown on the below diagram on the right.
Standing Wide Grip Barbell Curl: Drop the ego on this one. Because you are standing and need full range of motion on this exercise, you need to try and limit your back as much as possible. If you need to swing and use momentum to get the weight up, you are lifting too heavy. Make sure your elbows are tight against your body and your back remains straight.
Brachialis
The brachialis as mentioned before lies deeper than the biceps and helps flexes the elbow joint. If you want the appearance of bigger arms and a bigger bicep peak, TRAIN YOUR BRACHIALIS. This muscle is often overlooked as it technically is not a part of the biceps, but it sits within the arm nonetheless.
To get Hrithik Roshan biceps, see below:
Cross Body Hammer Curls: Any hammer or reverse/pronated grip will target the brachialis. This unnatural grip places stress on the brachialis and forearms but most importantly, it improves grip strength which helps you lift more on compound lifts. Make sure you arm is close to your body the whole time and you squeeze at the top.
Reverse Grip EZ Bar Curl: When doing this exercise, I like to imagine that I am trying to bring my elbows inwards which helps me develop the mind to muscle connect and really get the squeeze at the top.
Those are my favourite exercises for each of the major muscles that contribute to bicep development. Give some of the exercises a try and let me know how you like them! Before I end off, one very important note I have to point out is tempo. Please do not rush these exercises. Slow down and focus on the eccentric portion of the lift. Eccentric muscle action if you are not aware is the lengthening of the muscle under load and tension. So for biceps, the eccentric portion of the lift is not the curl but rather bringing the weight back down. Bringing the weight back down slowly is what stimulates muscle tears as you have holding a weight and fighting against the speed of gravity. Make sure you control the tempo, it is not a race! I like to bring the weight up for a 1 second count, and then lower the weight slowly for a 3-4 second count. Give it a try; I promise you will feel it more in your bicep rather than quickly raising and lowering the weight. Lastly, remember that all this is work will be wasted if you do not eat properly and are not getting enough rest! So eat properly, let those biceps heal and you’ll need larger shirts in no time!
Always remember that the pain you feel today, will be the strength you feel tomorrow!
Enjoy the rest of your week my friends!
Hussain
Continue to DM me your questions/opinions!
@huuusss_p and follow @_theElore on instagram.
Biceps are my Fav!!! Thank you :)