I am hoping some of you more experienced guys can help me out. I have been training for almost 5 years, and over the last year at least, I haven’t gotten a good biceps workout. No matter which exercises and techniques I use, only my forearms get fatigued and sore. My forearms are better developed than my biceps, and I honestly feel like they aren’t much smaller! I would appreciate any advice on how to try to keep my forearms from taking over during my workouts.
What I am doing at the moment are heavy top-half ROM curls, and barbell/cable curls with my hands closer together. I also recently added unilateral cable curls where i take a few steps away from the pin stack before I start the movement (Sort of like incline DB curls but more pronounced). These are the only moves where I actually feel my bicep, but still no DOMS.
Have you ever tried doing dumbbell curls with your wrists in extension? Maybe that might help you feel your biceps more by taking your forearms out of the movement then once you develop sufficient mind muscle connection/activation to your biceps you might feel regular bicep movements more. Just a hunch.
The next time you train biceps do 25 sets. Vary the rep ranges. Throw in some super sets. Pick 4 exercises you think work for you and hammer out 5 sets of each. (Im not good at math)
If you dont feel that in your arms the next few days then give up.
If you arent getting a good workout you probably arent doing enough. Doesnt mean you need super high volume for the rest of your life but every now and then you need to make a drastic change to spark some new growth.
[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:
The next time you train biceps do 25 sets. Vary the rep ranges. Throw in some super sets. Pick 4 exercises you think work for you and hammer out 5 sets of each. (Im not good at math)
If you dont feel that in your arms the next few days then give up.
If you arent getting a good workout you probably arent doing enough. Doesnt mean you need super high volume for the rest of your life but every now and then you need to make a drastic change to spark some new growth.[/quote]
This will be my next biceps routine, I’ve definitely never gone that high with the sets so I am sure this will give me some serious DOMS.
Usually if i experience any soreness in the arm at all it is either in the forearm itself or right on the crease of the arm along the tendon just below where the bicep inserts.
Try what kingbeef suggested, doing curls with your wrist cocked back and squeeze the fuck out of your biceps at the top of the movement. Not flexing your arm, but just squeezing the biceps itself. Sounds like you don’t have a very good MMC and you’re focusing on the forearm instead.
You’ve been training for five years so you’re probably aware of this, but lightening the weight for the first few sets and going for a burn usually helps. Then feel free to go heavier on your later exercises.
[quote]hungry4more wrote:
Try one armed (at a time) DB preacher curls, with a hammer grip. It’s hard for me to get my biceps sore, but for some reason these do the trick. [/quote]
Props. I’ve never had a great mind-muscle in the biceps, but I did these this morning and they gave me the best pump in the bis that I have ever had. Thanks.
the best way to isolate the bicep is to elevate your arm on a pad…Not like a preacher pad…a pad that is angled upward…since it’s angled upward you need to use a machine obviously…
you can kind of replicate the motion by curling torwards your face with cable…
[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:
The next time you train biceps do 25 sets. Vary the rep ranges. Throw in some super sets. Pick 4 exercises you think work for you and hammer out 5 sets of each. (Im not good at math)
If you dont feel that in your arms the next few days then give up.
If you arent getting a good workout you probably arent doing enough. Doesnt mean you need super high volume for the rest of your life but every now and then you need to make a drastic change to spark some new growth.[/quote]
This will be my next biceps routine, I’ve definitely never gone that high with the sets so I am sure this will give me some serious DOMS.
Usually if i experience any soreness in the arm at all it is either in the forearm itself or right on the crease of the arm along the tendon just below where the bicep inserts.
Appreciate it.[/quote]
That last bit of info is pretty valuable.
Im going to guess that you dont squeeze your arm hard enough when curling the weight.
Fix that by doing this: Do it now or later or tomrorow, just before the next time you train biceps. With no weight in your hand flex your bicep and hold it and squeeze as hard as you can for 30s-1min. Then relax and do it again. Keep doing this until you get a pump in your bicep. Then when you go to the gym do that for a minute or two. Then warm up your arms a bit. Then start the biceps workout. Use weight you can handle and focus on getting the same contraction you got without a weight in your hand.
This is one of the better ways (ive found) to improve mind muscle connection. You can still try the day of very high volume but the mind muscle connection is a more important thing to fix.
[quote]Rainclouds wrote:
Train forearms with wrist curls (both ways) first.
Then do what ever kind of curls you want.
(You may have to cheat a bit but its ok your bi’s should be getting most of the load)
Also if that doesn’t work and your desperate tape the weight to your hand and don’t grip it at all.[/quote]
I dont think this is a good idea at all. If someone can feel their biceps working and the biceps are the weak link in the chain your approach would work. But he said he feels his forearms doing the work. Training them first would serve to activate the forearms even more. I dont think thats going to work out well.
[quote]Rainclouds wrote:
Train forearms with wrist curls (both ways) first.
Then do what ever kind of curls you want.
(You may have to cheat a bit but its ok your bi’s should be getting most of the load)
Also if that doesn’t work and your desperate tape the weight to your hand and don’t grip it at all.[/quote]
I dont think this is a good idea at all. If someone can feel their biceps working and the biceps are the weak link in the chain your approach would work. But he said he feels his forearms doing the work. Training them first would serve to activate the forearms even more. I dont think thats going to work out well. [/quote]
He said that his biceps were underdeveloped compared to his forearms so i assumed that this would work.
I figured that since dave tate trains his back by taking his grip out of the movement that this would also work rather well for biceps.
Ever tried using straps? I’m usually against using them, but you seem to have a particular problem. FWIW pull ups (palms facing towards you) and really heavy barbell curls (where you have to cheat-slow negatives) do it for me.
