Bicep Workouts | Build Bigger Biceps | Weight Training Advice

Bicep Workouts

Weight Training Advice

Increasing the size of the upper arm muscles, and the biceps in perticular, is a high priority for most weight trainers. People will notice if you have large biceps since they're easy to show off. When you do a biceps weight training workout you'll pump them up and get a nice swollen feeling in them. Biceps workouts are also easier to get through than intense workouts for larger muscle groups like the legs and back.

Before you do your biceps workouts you want to be sure that they are completely recovered from their last workout and that there's no muscle soreness in them. You will hit the biceps on a secondary level when you train your upper back muscles, especially on pull-up, pulldown, and row exercises. The biceps assist on all of these exercises and if you aren't using proper form to focus most of the resistence on the upper back, they may work harder than needed. Because of this you may be best off training your biceps after you train the upper back as part of a push-pull style weight training routine. This will allow your biceps to get warmed up before you train them, which will also save you some time.

This sample biceps workout is a solid guideline to follow if you train the biceps once every 4 or 5 days with a light, medium, and heavy workout.

Light biceps workout (16-20+ reps per set)

1-2 sets of barbell curls

1-2 sets of dumbbell curls

1-2 sets of hammer curls

2-3 sets of various other biceps exercise (preacher curls, cable curls, reverse barbell curls, incline curls, etc.)

1-2 drop sets of biceps exercise of your choice

Medium biceps workout (12-15 reps per set)

2-3 sets of barbell curls

2-3 sets of dumbbell curls

2-3 sets of hammer curls

1-2 sets of various biceps exercises

1-2 drop sets

Heavy biceps workout (8-12 reps per set)

3-4 sets of barbell curls

2-3 sets of dumbbell curls

2-3 sets of hammer curls

2-3 sets of various biceps exercises

2-3 drop sets.

This biceps workout will allow you hit the biceps hard and work the brachialis muscle between the biceps and triceps as well. You can do your dumbbell and hammer curls standing, seated, or on an incline bench to add some variety if your workouts get boring.

On your sets of barbell curls don't be afraid to cheat a bit. If you get 12 reps with good form on your barbell curls during your light biceps workout, cheat to get 5-8 more. After you do your cheat curls do the rest of your biceps exercises with proper form and just cheat on the last rep or 2.

There's no real need to do biceps exercises for less than 8 reps or so. Lifting super heavy weights shouldn't be a priority when training the biceps, a nice pump should be. That being said you still want to train with as much intensity as possible to spark muscle growth in the biceps. Go all out until you can't possibly do any another rep to get that intensity. Some drop sets at the end of your biceps workouts will allow you to finsh off with that nice pumped feeling.

Experiment with which exercises and amount of sets you do to see what works best for you and you'll be on your way to bigger biceps.