My Biceps Are Never Sore

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

Ok, I’ve visiting this site for a while now and think it’s pretty wicked. Infact, I’m on this site more often then I should be as far as work is concerend. Regardless, here is the question. I’ve been trainning 6 years now with the last 2 being done right, partial thanks to T-Nation.

Despite, supplimenting and not, or what ever I may do, my biceps are never sore after a workout. I’d do the standard 3 sets of 12 to 15, 5 sets of 6, 4 sets of 8. Isolation, compound, anything from ez curls, weighted close grip chin, hammers, cables, heavy, not heavy, barbell, dumbell and anything else in the middle.

I am with out a doubt, a hard gainer, and I’m fine with that…really. I will never be a huge body builder, and despite the fact that I wanted to be huge when I was a kid, now as an adult, my goal is to simply be really fit. A goal I feel isn’t too far away.

For some reason, after a workout, my biceps never feel sore and the only way I can come close is to kill em with a whole lot of set. So many that well, over training comes to mind. Any suggestions? I’m a 5 day a week worker outer starting with legs, shoulders, lats, chest, ending with arms. I have the luxury of a gym at work, so going so often is easy and well, I like it. But what can I do to kill my biceps? I want to hurt the next day.

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Why are you trying to get your biceps sore?

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[quote]Web Slinger wrote:
Ok, I’ve visiting this site for a while now and think it’s pretty wicked. Infact, I’m on this site more often then I should be as far as work is concerend. Regardless, here is the question. I’ve been trainning 6 years now with the last 2 being done right, partial thanks to T-Nation.

Despite, supplimenting and not, or what ever I may do, my biceps are never sore after a workout. I’d do the standard 3 sets of 12 to 15, 5 sets of 6, 4 sets of 8. Isolation, compound, anything from ez curls, weighted close grip chin, hammers, cables, heavy, not heavy, barbell, dumbell and anything else in the middle.

I am with out a doubt, a hard gainer, and I’m fine with that…really. I will never be a huge body builder, and despite the fact that I wanted to be huge when I was a kid, now as an adult, my goal is to simply be really fit. A goal I feel isn’t too far away.

For some reason, after a workout, my biceps never feel sore and the only way I can come close is to kill em with a whole lot of set. So many that well, over training comes to mind. Any suggestions? I’m a 5 day a week worker outer starting with legs, shoulders, lats, chest, ending with arms. I have the luxury of a gym at work, so going so often is easy and well, I like it. But what can I do to kill my biceps? I want to hurt the next day.
[/quote]

You should just kill the 5 day plan totally. That’s my first recommendation. You should have something like leg day, back day/biceps, Chest day/triceps, and a shoulder/abs day.

You shouldn’t be doing 129123 bicep or even arm exercises. On my back day I do 6 sets of bicep related lifts at the end and that’s it. If you’re doing your back workout like you should be, you wont really need to do to much bicep work.

Or you could stick with your program, lower the reps to 6 and up the weight. That would make sense now wouldn’t it.

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It just doesn’t seem like I’m getting a good workout. Everyhitng else always feels a least a little stiff the next day, but not my biceps.

5

21`s ?

If you have never done them, that should do the trick.

7 reps in the upper half of ROM, 7 in the lower, and then 7 full bizepscurls with a barbell

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129123 bicep??

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I WISH I had your “problem” as my biceps get so sore that they almost cramp up after I train them. Which is probably why I don’t hit them very often and my arms suck…

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The biggest concern would not be soreness, but are your biceps getting bigger and stronger? If they are, then who cares if they get sore.

I have found in the past that when I train a muscle hard and too frequently I get less sore and experience less growth than when I get some rest between workouts. With the rest also comes soreness. Only a theory, but if the muscle does not get rest it never begins to break down and repair. There are some theories that DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) has to do with the breakdown and rebuilding of the muscle, which aggrevates the nerve endings to the muscle. Anyhow, I have found when I am not experiencing soreness I am not resting the muscle enough. I get better results when I give the muscles proper rest.

Another thing would be to be careful about your form. I have seen guys heaving the bar with their back and shoulders and calling it a bicep curl. Try doing some curls while laying on a 45 degree bench, on your knees, or leaning up against a wall. These things will eliminate the “sway” of the body. You may have to lower weights, but may find your biceps get a better workout. Another exercise to try is negative chinups. Using more weight than you can possibly chin either jump or use a bench to get into the upper position of a chin. Slowly lower yourself down. If you do this for about 8-10 reps you will really feel it in your biceps (as well as your back, hands, and forearms).

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[quote]BigDaddyT wrote:
The biggest concern would not be soreness, but are your biceps getting bigger and stronger? If they are, then who cares if they get sore.

I have found in the past that when I train a muscle hard and too frequently I get less sore and experience less growth than when I get some rest between workouts. With the rest also comes soreness. Only a theory, but if the muscle does not get rest it never begins to break down and repair. There are some theories that DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) has to do with the breakdown and rebuilding of the muscle, which aggrevates the nerve endings to the muscle. Anyhow, I have found when I am not experiencing soreness I am not resting the muscle enough. I get better results when I give the muscles proper rest.

Another thing would be to be careful about your form. I have seen guys heaving the bar with their back and shoulders and calling it a bicep curl. Try doing some curls while laying on a 45 degree bench, on your knees, or leaning up against a wall. These things will eliminate the “sway” of the body. You may have to lower weights, but may find your biceps get a better workout. Another exercise to try is negative chinups. Using more weight than you can possibly chin either jump or use a bench to get into the upper position of a chin. Slowly lower yourself down. If you do this for about 8-10 reps you will really feel it in your biceps (as well as your back, hands, and forearms).[/quote]

Thanks so much for the imput. To answer the question, I am getting stronger, but as for size, not so much. Infact, I may have grown 5 pounds in a year. Like I said, I am very much a hardgainer with a rocket of a metabolism. And after trying what seems like everything, I’ve simply came to the goal of general fitness and not massive size, although it would be a nice bonus, of course. In the end I guess I’m repeating myself. What I think I’ll try is working my biceps with my back. Maybe that will tear em enough. Thanks alot.

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Read this:

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1363422

See what you think. I’ve never tried it, but it sounds brutal.

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go do some mma training, thatll get them plenty sore

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Eat more. The “hardgainer” thing is bullshit. If youre eating enough, you wont have trouble gaining. Consider it a blessing to be able to eat a ton of calories per day and not gain much fat.

As for your bicep problem, go heavier on your chins and rows. Go heavier on your curls too, but make sure that youre not pussying your way through the big ones for the sake of curls.

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The best thing for bi’s for me is to do many strict sets of just 2-4 reps. I can up the weight 50-60% for 3 reps versus 10, and on most lifts I would only be able to increase about 20% which to me means that the bi’s just aren’t getting the strict but heavy load that they need.

I think Poloquin recommends doing 5 sets of 2 strict curls, and then trying to move to 5 x 4 over a period of several workouts.

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Do a set of heavy deads and imediately follow them up with curls at 50-60% of 1rm. 3 reps fast as hell.

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I agree with “who cares if they’re sore as long as they get bigger and stronger.”

Also, as a “hardgainer” myself, I’ve found that it is a mainly BS classification. The only reason I was a hardgainer is because I didn’t eat enough. As soon as you start eating enough, it doesn’t matter how fast your metabolism is, you will gain weight.

I recommend fitday.com to track your caloric intake. It is somewhat of a pain to setup, but after you enter in a bunch of custom foods, you will be good to go. I found that without that site I would often fool myself into believing I had eaten enough calories that day. The only way to know is if you enter in what you normally eat for 3 days that produces no results for you, and then to keep adding to that.

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Soreness is not a good indicator of progress

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What does your diet look like?

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I’m with ya bro - mine never get sore, never keep a pump for more than 5 minutes, and while they are slightly stronger, they’re no bigger now than they’ve ever been. All that in spite of the fact that I do all the things you’re supposed to do - good form, solid basics like chin-ups, and all the rest.

Some of us just have to make do with what we’ve got I guess.

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Mine never get sore either, only occasionally after doing heavy pulldowns. I’ve stopped caring.

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I’m guessing that you’re not specifically after soreness but rather an improvement in size and performance from your biceps.

Read these two articles by Don Alessi:

http://www.T-Nation.com/findArticle.do?article=177bicep2
http://www.T-Nation.com/findArticle.do?article=178bicep2

I have found that the wave loading parameters, that he recommends in the second article, have been of immense use to me.

Also try performing jettison curls as described by Thibs in this article:

http://www.T-Nation.com/findArticle.do?article=06-062-training

They will leave you unable to scratch your head for a couple of days, whilst also providing a great stimulus for hypertrophy.

Good luck.

p.s. you’re not allowed to call yourself a ‘hardgainer’ unless you post your regular, daily diet first. You probably eat nowhere near as much as you think you do.