Exercises to Build Your Biceps!
Exercises to Build Your Biceps!
In a previous blog, I shared with you three exercises to build your biceps. However, it doesn’t end with just those three exercises. Following the same conventional exercises forever doesn’t just get monotonous, it can also lead to stagnated growth of the muscles. To make the changes you’re looking for and improve your physique, some out-of-the-box thinking may be required. Like every muscle, the biceps need new stimuli to evolve. This means getting creative with your workouts. Being a competitive bodybuilder and personal trainer has forced me to incorporate many tricks to help my biceps grow. And those same tricks have helped me avoid plateaus. Here are three bicep exercises I like to incorporate into my routine that I also share with my personal training clients.
1. Drag Curl:
This is one of the best exercises to build the biceps. This exercise can be performed with either a barbell or dumbbells and either seated or standing. Start by angling your upper body slightly forward, keeping your back flat. With your arms extended downward you’ll bend your elbows a little so they are behind your body instead of keeping your elbows in line or slightly in front of your body like a traditional bicep curl. Then you “drag” the weight up your body allowing your elbows to travel behind your body until your biceps are fully contracted. Then lower and repeat. A good rep range for this exercise would be 6 – 12 reps. You’ll find the drag curl to be easier than standard bicep curls, allowing you to use more weight(thus increasing muscle fiber recruitment).
2. The Preacher Curl:
This is a great biceps exercise due to the fact it stabilizes your elbow against a preacher bench, isolating your biceps ensuring they are the muscles doing all of the work. Grab a dumbbell or barbell and place the upper arms on top of the preacher bench or the incline bench. Slowly lower the weight until your upper arm is extended and the biceps is fully stretched, then tense the biceps to curl the weight up until your biceps is fully contracted. Lower and repeat. A good rep range for this exercise would be 8 – 15 reps. I would recommend to perform this exercise toward the middle to the end of your workout to ensure the muscle is thoroughly warmed up, due to the intense stretch it places on the biceps
3. Standing Cable Curls:
This is a great movement t0 provide constant tension to the biceps. Standing up with your torso upright, grab the bar with a either a wide or narrow grip. Keeping your elbows close to your sides and either parallel with your body or slightly in front of your body, curl the weight up while contracting the biceps. Do not swing it up as you will be taking tension off of the bicep. Lower and repeat. A good rep range for this exercise would be 10 – 20 reps.
With all the hype on building bigger biceps, it’s easy to forget that they are a small muscle group. So if you try to use too much weight when training them, bigger muscles can easily take over. This is often the root cause of slow progress with biceps development. The other problem is having a poor mind-muscle connection with the biceps, and failing to immerse this specific area with enough blood and trauma to force growth. For more information on exercises to build your biceps, trimming the fat off your waistline, improving your physique, or if you’re frustrated with your current level of fitness and looking to hire a personal trainer, contact us.
