What's up everybody, 2 years passed since i started working out and i haven't managed to find a good way for gaining nice amount of mass at my biceps. By telling "way" i mean workout routines, tension, working out frequency etc. I 've tryed doing biceps once per week with heavy weights but not full range of motion, once per week with lighter weights but strict form, twice per week (one day heavy weights and the other, at least 48 hours after, light weights) but none of these programmes helped me gain good ammount of mass at mybiceps. Tryed also supersets, dropsets and burnsets, saw some good work using those 2 last techniques.. Tryed 2-2-2, 1-1-3, 1-1-3. Pretty good job, nice pump bu tbiceps still pretty small.. The exercises i do for biceps are those:

• BB, EZ BB and DB Curls
• Hammer Curls
• Incline Bench DB Curls
• BB Drag Curls
• Chin Ups
• Sitted DB Curls
• DB Preacher and Concentrate Curls

Any suggestions/advice or programmes to Bring Out those Biceps?

(My nutricion programme is good, i am seing good difference at all other muscles)
Thank you for your time.

That is generally WAYYYY to much for biceps. It is a very small muscle group brotha and 2-3 exercises is enough. It is not weird that your biceps are not growing because this routine overloads the biceps and you will not be able to achive growth. Therefore I would suggest something along these lines: Dumbell curls,4 sets with 15-20 reps. Preacher curls with 3 sets of 15-20 reps. Seated dumbell curls with 5 sets of 15-20 reps. Chin ups or pull ups is something I would rather do on a back day not an arm day. This rep scheme is impossible to follow if you do not leave your ego behind. Lift light to moderate weights, it is not about how much you are lifting it is about how you are lifting it. It sounds like you already know this so I will not talk more about that.
Moreover I do belive that once a week for biceps is optimal. Like I said it is a small muscle group, so rest is important.

I agree with William abpit the high volume. There is stimulation and then there is destruction. By destroying a muscle you arent going to make it bigger or stronger for that matter. It basically says f*** you, I m not going to grow. Your body is your friend, not your enemy so treat it like that. Even if you could recover from this volume, then you would have to do 4 times more volume for the legs, back and chest which gets crazy.

Best way to get any muscle group to grow fast, is to stimulate it frequently with heavy enough weights. For biceps, I would do strictly chinups and barbell curls 3 sets each and not to failure. I would do it often. 3 times a week is probably optimal. That way you have 2 days to recover for each workout which is plenty enough if you only do 6 sets. Hammer curls and stuff like that are not considered bicep work in my book. I consider them forearm work so thats a different story.

Even if you did something like this 3 times a week, it doesnt mean you are going to grow though. You have to progress with the exercises you choose. Thats why we choose exercises strategically. The 2 I provided are easy to progress with, especially the chinups. By doing the chinups 3 times a week, your nervous system should adapt very fast and you should make strength gains very fast as well. If you can do 8 chinups now and 15 chinups in 2 months you got stronger so you got bigger. Or if you can do 8 chinups now with bodyweight and 8 chinups+25lbs in 2 months..same story. Its all about progressing. And that is why high volume workouts like the one you provided are not optimal. You cant possibly recover from them, and obviously you cant progress with them. I have seen people actually lose muscle mass from super high volume like that.

Kostas

Growing your arms is directly correlated with gaining size in general. It's not going to benefit you or cause growth beyond basic hypertrophy of your current arm musculature by slamming direct training at high volumes on a 'biceps' day. You really only need to be concerned generating any kind of training stimulus for the biceps (see: Kostas' suggestion), and improve your full body mass and strength. The arms will grow.

Stimulate, don't obliterate.

Very informative answers and a good question as well, thanks a lot. This helped me as well! I'll try using some of your tips when I hit arms on friday!

Haha, by saying "those are the exercises i do for biceps" i did NOT mean that i do ALL of them every time!!! Hahahaa lol i am not crazy!!!! I do 3exercises of 4 sets per exercise at my routine!!!

I train ALL my myscles of my body of course! Not my fault if you thought that i train only biceps. I am not that kind of people. Lol

Also, i train my biceps after chest, so there is NOT "Bicep Day".

Ok then, that is much better ! So what exactly is your routine at the current moment for biceps and how often do you do it ?

Well, today for example it's my Chest Day. I will hot chest and then i am going to hit some biceps.

For biceps i will do:

3x 10-8 DB Curls

4X 12-10-8-8 Hammer Curls

3x 10-8 EZ BB Curls (Burn set at last set, 3 drops of 20-25% of the weigth loaded at the start)

After 4 days is my Arm Day in which i am hitting Triceps (mainly) and biceps. For biceps i will do:

4x 12-10 Hammer Curls (Heavy Weight)

3x10 Incline Bench DB Curls (Pretty light weight, focusing on contraction)

Well since it is not working to well for you I would suggest a higher rep scheme like the routine I listed above. 15-20 reps for the exercises and sets I listed in my previous post will put a high amount of time under tension on your biceps. Additionally, since it is ok to hit your arms twice a week the workouts should be fine. In other words, if that is not enough to make you grow then we will have to take a look at your mealplan. Do you know your macros ?

In my non-professional but expert opinion, I think that you are doing too much. The vast majority of people will actually see more gains if they do less and if they take more rest days. How many days are you lifting in a week? If its more than 3 or 4, I d recommend you reconsider your program. More is not always better. In most cases 5x5 chinups 3 times a week will provide more results than doing 12+ sets in a given day. More is better when you are able to recover from it. If not, what is the point of doing more? So tell us something. You must have been doing the routine you provided for some time now. Have you progressed with the weights you are using or with the reps? Or maybe have you been able to lessen the breaks inbetween sets? If no, your recovery is not there, you need to cut back on the volume meaning less reps and less sets. If yes, then your biceps must have grown and you havent been noticing it because they grow slower than other body parts.

And there is always the possibility that your bicep genetics are crappy. It happens..

I think you are doing the right thing as of the routine. I personally use a somewhat lower volume. But you shouldn't give up full range of motion and focussing on contraction for heavier weight. Go as heavy as you can for 6-12 reps, but keep your form and full ROM, and try to progressively overload.

ive seen this mistake a few times before, you're either going too light, doing too much, not enough rest, not enough calories, not enough protein or my personal favourite... form is too strict.. thats right, 100% perfect form isnt key to growing, its key for function yes but if you can use about 80-90% form with a little more weight than usual... spend the first 4-5 sets doing heavy isolation curls with a light sway it should fatigue and give a really full all round pump into the bicep, from their take a barbell... put on a few small ass plates i like to get a bunch of 4's and throw them on, then do them to failure, put it down take a plate off wait 30 seconds then go again, do this till there are no plates left then do the bar, but use really good strict form on this, a little sway towards the end is fine, but in all seriousness make sure you have a rest day after... constantly keep your muscles filled with glycogen, but not too much, up the protein for that day and the day after, may sound silly but it will either push you through a mental or physical barrier that you're stuck at... only do arms once a week and never do them the day after shoulders or the day of shoulders :P just avoid doing delts when youve done or are going to do arms....

William, Kostas, Kevin, and Jake (Wilkinson207) all offer great advice here. We all know the importance of rest and proper nutrition regardless of which bicep workout approach you take. I think what you need to do is determine which type of stimulus works best for you. Some people grow from the standard heavy weight/low rep approach. Some people grow from higher volume/higher rep approach and some grow from a combination. Either way, the bicep is a small muscle group so don't overdo it. Case in point, even with German Volume Training (GVT) which is doing 10 sets of 10 (100 reps total) for a muscle group recommends only 5-6 sets of 10 for biceps, triceps, and shoulders due to their size.

You have the proper exercises. The best bicep exercises for mass are straight barbell curl and chin-ups for full fiber activation of both heads (short and long). EZ curl bar, preacher curls, dumbells, hammer curls, and drag curls are all excellent for targeting specific heads and focusing on bicep peak and separation. 5x5s are great for mass and strength. As Jake (Wilkinson207) mentioned, "cheat" curls - where you use a bit of body swing to handle heavier weights - are great for overloading the biceps and forcing growth. The key is not to swing too much and to use a weight that is challenging for proper form but not too heavy to require a lot of swing. The bottom line is you need to find the right routine that works for you and your arms thru trial and error.

John

yes i would like to expand on johns point about the cheat curls although you may be cheating them by adding in a slight swing it is very easy to fall into the trap of adding too much weight, when i do them the first rep i do i can do it with no swing, 2nd 3rd 4th rep ahh have a little swing and depending on the set the 5th rep will require a little push, between each set id say take 60-90 seconds rest, we here on the forum have many different views and training styles, all work yet all only work for us, you are welcome to visit anyones page to find a routine, once you've found a routine you like message the individual about the tempo, weight and type of diet they're following to improve their training, like me personally i train an hour after being home from work, this gets tiring and sometimes my muscles feel flat, i fixed that by eating 4 mini naan breads a day with a couple spoons of peanut butter... at my age my metabolism is still really REALLY high, so between meals whenever i would feel light as if id passed down atleast half my last meal i eat the naan bread and the peanut butter, make sure they're mini naan breads not huge things otherwise your glycogen levels are just going to shoot up and you'll get fat, but a constant control over glycogen levels into your muscles should help them grow and if like me money is tight... you can get 4 mini naan breads for £1 and 1kg of peanut butter (all natural only ingredient is peanuts) for i think i spent £4 on it? if you like the idea go for it, announce it then record your results, but make sure to have your rest days, before i forget i like to follow the rule of your bicep only having 2 heads so only do 3 exercises for it, 1st being heavy the second 2 targeting the 2 heads, so a barbell curl then a reverse curl or an alternating curl then hammer curls, stuff like that but make sure you're actually hitting the right heads