The "Guns." The "Pythons." "Thunder" and "Lighting."
The "Rockweillers." There is no other muscle group that has earned more
nicknames than when describing a bulging and huge set of bicep! Bulging biceps -
every guy wants them. Count me in this group.
The days are far from gone when you walk into the gym and see 9 out of 10 guys doing
bicep curls all at the same time with the same determination to add even ¼
inch to their biceps. Training biceps has become almost an 'obsessive addiction'
in the gym. I have seen guys do bicep curls in between sets just so they can 'see'
a little bit of a pump in their arms. I have seen guys spend an entire hour bent
over doing concentration curls while starring in the mirror. I have seen guys take
weights on vacation so that they can do some bicep curls at their hotel before they
go into the club! I have seen guys spend longer amounts of times shopping for t-shirts
than girls shopping for a blouse with the hope that one of these shirts will make
his arms look 'good.'
Someone disagree with me that bicep training has become an unhealthy 'obsessive
addiction.' for many. In the "Skinny Arms" defense, the allure of peaked,
mountainous biceps will never go away. Why should it? The 'guns' are of a man's
most prized possession and one of many women's most desired body parts on a man
(of course)!
My question is if 9 out 10 guys are obsessed with seeing their biceps grow and dedicate
so much of their workout volume to isolating their biceps and using every technique
from forced reps, drop sets, and 21's which are 'promised' to be the most effective
methods confirmed by pro bodybuilders, why do they still have little to show for
their efforts?
Let's examine five of the most common problems with bicep training before I offer
a step-by-step program to take your bicep peak to new heights.
Problem #1 with bicep training - More is not always better
If doing 4 sets is better than 3 sets, why don't you just do 10 sets? Even better,
why don't you just train them all day? It has been said before, but it obviously
needs to be said again: "Less is often more." Especially if you are
not gifted with "muscle-friendly" genes.
Your goal of each weight training workout should be to simply 'out do' your last
workout. Once you achieve this with an extra pound or a few extra reps, then it
is time to move to the next exercise. Not to Nazi-torture the muscle for another
hour.
I have found this a hard concept for many skinny guys to grasp because they are
fixated on the instant gratification of making their biceps 'look' big during the
workout and not what they look like when they leave the gym, which leads us to our
next problem.
Problem #2 with bicep training - Being more obsessed with how they look
while you train rather than when you are not training!
Problem #2 ties in with problem #1. The truth is that the longer you train your
biceps, even if the weights are not extremely heavy, you can achieve a fairly decent
pump that can turn a few heads while in the gym. This attention and perception that
you are doing something beneficial is deceiving. Yes, there is something to say
about keeping blood in the muscle as long as possible, but if the workout is done
with weights that do not
overload your muscles and emphasize an increase
in strength, your biceps will quickly deflate back to normal with no true muscle
growth.