It’s time to design a program that helps you develop sleeve busting arms!
To start, lets take a look at the muscles of the upper arm. The upper arm contains four muscles – three in the anterior compartment (biceps brachii, brachialis, coracobrachialis), -and one in the posterior compartment, (triceps brachii)
Today we are going to focus on the bicep. Exploration into the triceps can be found here.
The function of the Bicep is Supination of the forearm. It also flexes the arm at the elbow and at the shoulder.
Knowing this, there are some key exercises that must be included in every bicep routine. The two most important exercises for your bicep are:
- Incline Dumbbell Curls
- Standing Barbell Curls
The incline dumbbell curl gives you the most bang for your buck. When sitting on an incline bench with your arms down at your side, your elbows are actually positioned behind you. This creates a maximal stretch of the bicep muscles. Compare that to a normal standing curl, in which your arms are just placed at your side and the muscular stretch is limited. The more you stretch, the more you grow!
Now let’s get to the standing barbell curl. The barbell doesn’t give you the greatest stretch for the bicep, but it does allow you the ability to add more weight to the exercise. This, in turn, allows you to overload the muscle. It’s ok to go a little heavy on standing curls. Since using a heavier weight brings your shoulders into the movement, it can be thought of as more of a multi joint movement. Even though it might be “cheating” a little bit by allowing the shoulder to come into play, still pick a weight you can handle. Do not let your body create momentum by swinging, knee jerking or leaning back. Keep 100% focus on your bicep.
Always end your bicep routine with movements that give you a great pump. You want to drive as much blood into the muscle as possible. The more blood, the more nutrients get delivered to help the muscle grow. Utilize single joint movements like preacher curls, machine curls, cable curls, or high cable curls. Choose a light weight that you can handle for high reps. Even throw some drop sets or negative reps in there to finish off if you feel the need. Just do whatever you can do to as much pump as possible.
Sample Workout:
Incline Dumbbell Curls 4 sets 20/15/12/10 reps
Barbell Cheat Curls 4 sets 10/10/8/6 reps
Over head Cable Curls 4 sets 12 reps
Preacher curls super set with smith machine curls as many reps as possible
Watch the video – :50
