A Tip For Big Biceps

By Coach Rishabh · December 24, 2016 · 2 min read

Stop heaving on bicep exercises. It does more harm than good. When you use extra momentum to curl weight, it shifts tension from biceps to elsewhere. Taking the example of Barbell Curl – the most abused biceps exercise, the lower back gets the weight moving at the start and the shoulders let you finish it. On the eccentric gravity does its job, biceps are just floating along.

No wonder plenty of guys possess pathetic biceps development in spite of curling pretty damn heavy. But aren’t heavy weights necessary to build mass, you may ask.

Well, heavy work is effective when it targets the muscle group in focus, not when other muscle groups come into play. It’s one thing to utilize momentum on last couple reps of bar curls to overload your biceps, but it’s utterly non-sense to start swaying from rep 1. Get your form cleaned up and focus on your biceps to do all the work. Here’s a method to help you get your biceps fully involved from rep 1 of the set 1.

• Grasp a moderately heavy weight.
• Before you start curling upwards, tense your biceps as hard as you can without flexing arm.
• Now slowly initiate curling while keeping biceps under maximum tension. Pause for a second at the top while squeezing hard.
• Initiate the eccentric along with flexing your triceps, like you are doing a triceps pull-down movement. The contraction of triceps will make it harder for the biceps to lower the weight.

Both upward and downward movement should be slow and controlled. If you’re habitual of performing curls in fast and erratic manner, it will be extra tough for you as well as your ego.

This technique will refine the quality of your movement. As you progress, you’ll find it easier to keep focus on biceps even with heavier weights. It also reduces the chances of muscle strain and provides your biceps necessary stimulation to kick start growth.