Belly Fat Loser

Almost every teenager, bodybuilder, and weekend athlete wants to build bigger biceps. For many people it remains a dream, although there are a lucky few that seem to have been blessed with giant guns from the get go. Why can’t you seem to build larger biceps, even though you’ve tried and tried?

For many people it’s genetic. You’re preprogrammed not to have those bigger arms you crave. For others there is hope, although genetics certainly plays a part, both for those with scrawny arms, and those naturally endowed. Even if you’re among the former, there is hope, although you may never be walking around with 19 inchers, chances are you can build a nice peak that will at least look good at the beach.

Technically called the biceps brachii, the biceps are some of the most difficult muscles to build, and some of the first to go away once you stop training. The ironic thing is that for many people, big biceps symbolize power and fitness, even though they contribute relatively little to a person’s overall fitness or athletic ability.

How can you build nice sized arms, even if you’ve tried and failed in the past? First of all, a little side note. Your triceps actually make up the majority of the muscle mass found in your upper arm. Don’t forget to spend some time working on them too, or you’ll be forever doomed to medocrity.

As with many other things fitness related, intensity is the key. You have to blast your biceps like you hate them, and then they’ll start to grow for you. Don’t stick to one standard exercise either. Variety is essential if you have a hard gaining biceps problem. Use both dumbbells and a bar in your routine if you can.

One thing about biceps is that they typically require more stimulus than some other muscles in order to get satisfactory results. You have to train them very hard, but not necessarily often. They are relatively small muscles, even when fully developed, and need plenty of time to recover from the brutal workouts that make them grow their best. Give yourself at least 4 days between biceps workouts to ensure adequate recovery time, and up to 7 days if you’re older, or aren’t getting enough sleep.

It is all too easy to cheat when training your biceps. For one thing, they are just plain not very strong when compared to most other muscle groups in the body. It’s easy to let some other muscles help out when you’re trying to lift heavy iron. Don’t let your ego take over. You need to use a light enough weight that you can concentrate on feeling your biceps contract and do the work. There is nothing wrong with cheating to get an extra rep or two after failure, but you’re only cheating yourself if you let other muscles help out before the point of absolute failure has been reached.

The name of the game here is isolation. You’re working your biceps, not your back and shoulders. Too many lifters really drop the ball here. Use gym equipment that will help you reach the isolation goal.

Here is a great biceps routine that will make your biceps scream in pain, but almost guarantee growth.
Stay away from your basic barbell curls most of the time. While they can make your biceps grow, your time is better spent on other exercises, although it is good to throw in some barbell curls on occasion to shake things up a bit.

Your biceps is composed of two distinct muscles, or heads. This is where the “bi” in biceps comes from. Amazingly enough, the triceps has 3 such muscles. Coincidence? In order to fuly develop your biceps, you’ll need to involve both heads of them. A study performed in Brazil in the mid to late 1970′s used Electromyography to determine what movements involved the two heads of the muscle group. They discovered that when doing a standard curl, performed against resistance and with extended elbow, both the long and the short heads of the biceps were active in all test subjects. It was the only arm movement that always involved both heads of the muscle. In contrast, other elbow joint and upper arm movement movements involved either one or none of the biceps heads. Translation? Stick to some form of curls for biceps development. Here are some that will blast your biceps into submission.

Preacher curls, like these can really blast your biceps. You can change the angle of your upper arm to be more vertical. That will help your guns get more peaky.

Vertical preacher curls. Preacher curls are fantastic, and you can do them with your upper arm angled in many different ways to stress your biceps differently. Doing them with your upper arm vertical really blasts the biceps when it’s maximally contracted, helping you get that peak you’re looking for. Use a spotter to help you boost intensity by getting a few extra reps after failure.

Incline dumbbell curls. These are great because they let you rotate your arm to get maximum biceps contraction. As you rotate your forearm from half pronated to supinated, your biceps contracts and that helps that peak develop even further.
Cable curls. Cable curls are a good bicep developer because they allow so many variations of angle. They also allow you to rapidly change the weight, as when quickly dropping 5 or 10 pounds to get in a few more reps to boost intensity. Alternate arms with each repetition, or use both arms together. Alternating lets you concentrate your efforts more fully on the arm being used, so you can really feel the biceps contracting and raising the weight.

Do 3 – 4 sets of each of these exercises – after you’ve thoroughly warmed up your arms. Do sets of 6 – 10 reps. After you’ve done the routine for about 6 – 8 weeks, confuse your muscles a bit by changing the exercises you’re using. That will keep your growth from stagnating. For example, change the angle of the preacher curls from vertical to about 60 degrees, and throw in a few sets of chin ups. Never let your body get too used to the status quo. Hypertrophy (muscles getting larger) is an adaptive change to stimulus. That stimulus needs to change to keep the body adapting and growing. One way to completely confuse your muscles and make sure they are constantly growing is to do two different exercises back to back. You don’t have to do this every workout, but using this technique about every 3rd or 4th workout is intense and will really make your bis call out for help. Do a heavy, compound movement first, then immediately go into a biceps isolation movement. For example, do a set of chin ups to failure, then immediately do a set of preacher curls to failure. Keep the reps in the 6 – 8 range for the compound movement. Add weight if you have to to stay in that range.

You can also use :

Concentration curls – Concentration curls are sort of the poor man’s preacher curls. Instead of having a preacher bench to immobilize your upper arm, you use your knee. Sit on a bench and place your elbow against your the inside of your knee. By bracing your elbow against the knee, you can really isolate the biceps muscle. Concentration curls are a great biceps exercise.

Remember, work your arms until they’re completely used up. That’s the how behind bigger biceps.

Tags: build muscle, weight training, Weight Training Routines, workouts