lumbur, it’s definitely popular to tell people not to do any bicep work, but unfortunately not everyone reacts the same way to direct bicep work. Many of these same people pound the living hell out of their triceps.
Some people will see growth without it, others need some of it. It’s an individual thing, so you have to start with no direct arm work and slowly add it in to see how you’re affected by it.
Going back to the original question, GFH and then chisel away what you need to.
I think it’s a misconception that isolation exercises aren’t sufficient to build size of a particular muscle group…you know, the do chin-ups rather than concentration curls.
If one wanted to develop a particular muscle group, i.e. biceps, and cared about nothing else, why not simply do isolation exercises at the expense of having chicken legs?
All the compund movement advice is geared to those who want whole body development, but go have historically gone about it pursuing “show muscles” because of bad instruction.
I have not really had that much of an increase in bicep size or strength in 9 years. I’m still trying to find something that works. I have noticed that they do get smaller if I don’t include isolation work.
Thank God I have big triceps, or I’d have some pretty small arms!