3 Biceps Exercises For Skinny Guys / HARDGAINERS!

This next installment for the STRETCH, FLEX, OVERLOAD SERIES will be focusing on building bigger BICEPS!  Remember guys, this advanced technique was specifically designed to help YOU hardgainers build muscle by creating a stronger mind-muscle connection, but anyone can take advantage of this technique to bust through a muscle building plateau. In fact, biceps have been a weak point for me and I have just started implementing these exercises into my weekly routine because while my arms look big when I flex, I really want that “softball look” when my arms are straight down.

The way this works is that you’re going to be performing a triset of 3 different exercises. The first exercise will place the majority of the resistance during the negative, when the biceps are a fully stretched. The second exercise will place the most resistance on the biceps when fully flexed.  Then, after the biceps have been pre-exhausted with those two specific movements, the third exercise will place the maximum load possible on the on the entire biceps, when we know that they’ll be at their weakest point and required to do the majority of the work, rather than other muscles taking over the movement.

In a nutshell, the first two exercises will help establish a stronger mind-muscle connection and the third one will destroy the biceps using as much weight as possible. As for the routine itself, you’re going perform 8 – 10 reps per exercise and complete 4 rounds of all three movements, ONLY resting 60 – 90 seconds after you complete 1 round of all three exercises. Remember it’s a TRISET, so there is no rest between exercises and you are going to complete 4 TOTAL ROUNDS.

Warm-Up

Before you get started with this routine, I recommend you do some sort of shoulder stretch. You’re not going to be putting your shoulders in a compromised position, but you are going to be sitting them back pretty far in the first exercise. Two warm-ups that I like to do that are super quick are…

Shoulder Breakers: Get a bungee, stretch it out so it’s tight, then go back and forth over your head, all the way down to your butt and thighs (one touch of the butt and one touch of the thighs counts as 1 REP). Keep your arms straight while using your shoulders to move your arms, and aim for 2 sets of 12-15 reps.

Dumbbell Shoulder Rotation: Grab a light dumbbell (5lbs or less), then lay on the floor on your back. Keep your knees bent as if you were about to perform a crunch, but always keep your back flat on the floor. Exercising one shoulder at a time, hold the dumbbell in your hand, and put your arm flat on the ground at a 90 degree angle, with the dumbbell also on the floor by your head. While keeping your upper arm flat on the floor, using only your shoulder twist your arm so that the dumbbell and your forearm move towards your waist. Only twist as far as your mobility will allow you – DO NOT force the movement. Again, aim for 2 sets of 12-15 reps per arm.

Stretch: Incline Dumbbell Biceps Curl

If you’ve never done this exercise before, it might be very beneficial for you to start at a 30 percent incline because you’ll be pulling your arms back quite a bit. However, if you’ve got the flexibility or have done this exercise before, I’d drop it down to 45 percent, as that’s going to give you a deeper stretch throughout the movement.

To perform the exercise, you’re going to hold each dumbbell in your hands, then lean back on the bench. You’re going to keep your elbows back, so that they are basically vertical when in the stretched position. Make sure your palms are facing forward the entire time. If you have the dumbbells twisted IN, then you are doing it wrong. Come all the way up as far as you can, keeping your elbows back and flexing your biceps hard at the top, then return to the starting position.

Go as heavy as you can while maintaining proper form. If you can’t do all the reps, it means you are going too heavy. Remember, you’re not too worried about how much weight you’re lifting here. The aim is volume, and focusing on that mind-muscle connection. Make sure you always control the movement.

Flex: Dumbbell Spider Curl

What’s great about this is that you can keep the bench in the same position as you had it for the incline curl. Now you can do this exercise with a barbell or dumbbells, and if you’ve never done it before I recommend using a barbell to start, then once your mind-muscle connection improves with the flex at the top, try switching to dumbbells to make the movement more intense.

For this exercise, you’re going to lie on the bench facing forward (so your chest is on the bench). Again, your arms should be pretty much vertical from the start, and they should also be supinated throughout the entire movement. Bring both dumbbells up, squeeze and flex as hard as you can for a second at the top of the movement, then return to the starting position. One thing you have to keep in mind for this exercise is that your elbows need to stay in one position. Don’t let them move back when you lower the dumbbells. Keep them in one fixed position for every single repetition.

Also, this is a more intense exercise than just a standard dumbbell curl, so you’re more than likely going to have to use less weight than you normally would. There’s no point lifting with your ego if you’re not actually doing the movement properly and maximizing the benefits of it.

Overload: Barbell Curl

The goal here is to lift as much weight as you possibly can for 8-10 repetitions. However, if you don’t have access to barbells and you only want to use dumbbells for the entire workout, that’s fine. Just make sure that you keep your palms facing forward the entire time even if you are using dumbbells. A barbell will be better though, as you will be able to lift a lot more weight.

For this exercise, stand up straight, keep your glutes tight and flex your core. Bring the barbell up to just below your chin, and make sure your elbows stay in front of your hips. From the top position, you have to make sure you don’t let the barbell drop straight in front of you. This will mean you skip out on the most important part of the exercise for building muscle – the negative. Instead, control the weight on the way down and imagine you’re letting it down AWAY from your body.

Now if you want to utilize some cheat reps while doing this, you can. After-all this is the OVERLOAD exercise, where the aim is to simply lift as much weight as possible, while still having mostly good form. If you want to pick a weight where you can do 4 clean reps, but then start to get tired, it’s OK to then move onto cheat reps to finish the set. This simply means you use momentum to thrust the barbell up, and then do your best to control the negative. I don’t want you to be using cheat reps for all of the reps for this exercise, and at least half of your reps for each set should be clean with proper form.

Conclusion

Remember, the idea behind this series is to get you in and out of the gym as fast as possible while dealing maximum muscle damage for regrowth because as a hardgainer you don’t want to be burning too many calories with long workouts. You need those calories to build MUSCLE!

Also, make sure you’re challenging yourselves with heavy weights. I get asked a lot, “how much weight should I be using?” The answer is that on every set you should use the maximum weight you can handle for 8 – 10 reps. So, if you can go heavier on round 2, then increase the weight.  But if your form is breaking down, then go a little lighter. It’s that simple.

Lastly, if you’re not a hardgainer and still want to add this workout to your current biceps training, try adding 2 rounds as a FINISHER after your current bicep workout!