This is one of the favourite muscle groups to train of all gym goers. The training can be effective quickly and the exercises are not boring. However, there is always room for improvement ...
What is worth knowing about the biceps?
The biceps muscle is in the front of the shoulder, just below the skin, so it is often clearly visible and seen particularly by men, as one of the most aesthetically important muscles to train. Its task is to bend and raise the forearm and turn it around. It also helps raise and lower the arms, making it an important supporting muscle for the shoulder joint. It consists of two heads (longer and shorter), so it is worth using different exercises to activate both parts and work out a harmoniously built and strong muscle. The most important thing is that the biceps work well with the shoulder muscle, located a bit deeper and invisible during contraction. Though this muscle isn’t as visible, it strongly influences the appearance of the biceps, because when it is extended, it "pushes" it upwards. So, let's be sure activate the shoulder muscle during training.
Three rules for biceps training:
- According to plan
- Exactly
- Variety
When planning your biceps training, remember that this is a muscle group that you use heavily during other exercises. Pull-ups, rowing with a barbell or using a pulley are just some exercises that tire the biceps. It's a good idea to do these exercises in the first part of your training so that your biceps are warmed up before a series of more isolated exercises, such as curling your forearms. The training will be shorter, but no less effective.
Biceps like precision. Most of the exercises dedicated to them are single-joint and isolated. And although bending the forearm seems very easy, full control of each repetition, a sufficiently slow pace and maintaining the correct posture are of great importance here.
Vary your exercises to activate both parts of your biceps. Use dumbbells (you can choose from three possible hand positions – underhand grip, hammer grip and overhand grip), straight and broken barbells, cords, and poles at the pulley. Observe the effects of specific exercises and equipment and built them into your plan accordingly.
Proven exercises for biceps
- Proven exercises for biceps
- Performing the exercise with a barbell will allow a variety of grip positions, this is important with a greater load.
- Changing the distance between your hands on the bar has a different effect on the biceps. For example, with a grip a few centimetres wider than the shoulders you target the inner part of the biceps, while a grip narrower than the shoulders activates of the outer part of the biceps.
- Bicep Curls with a Preacher stand
- One-handed bicep curl in a sitting position
- This is a great exercise that allows you to properly fatigue your muscles. We suggest you perform these as drop-sets. This means using lighter dumbbells incrementally as your muscles get more fatigued.
- Turning the arm as you raise it into a hammer grip (dumbbell perpendicular to the floor) engages the shoulder muscle, great for helping train the shoulder as well and improving the appearance of your biceps as discussed earlier.
Bending the forearms with the barbell held in an underhand the grip in a standing position, otherwise known as a bicep curl, is one of the basic exercises that even experienced gym-goers do. Starting position: the torso is held straight and stabilized by activating the muscles of the abdomen and the back with your elbows held tight against the body. The barbell should be resting on the thighs. We raise the barbell with a slow, precise movement until the hands are up to shoulder height. Return to the starting position is just as important. Try to lower the dumbbell as slowly as you can control it. Make sure your arms come to a dead stop before starting the next rep. We need to avoid ‘swinging’ the weight here to gather momentum. Proper pace, well-chosen weight, and precision in each repetition are vital to make this training work.
Attention!
The advantage of using a preacher stand is the complete isolation of the biceps, which does not allow the weight to be transferred to the torso or "thrown", which quite often happens when in a standing position if you are using a dumbbell that is too heavy. Remember to adjust the height of the seat and make sure you are comfortably supported by the preacher pad. When exercising with dumbbells or a barbell take care, in this exercise it is easy to overload the wrists and cause injury.
This is a very popular exercise, great for isolating the biceps. Perfect for home training, it does not require any specialized equipment. The most comfortable way to do them is on a bench placed horizontally. Sit sideways, keep your legs apart quite wide, bend down and rest your outstretched arm on the inside of your knee. The leg will help lock your arm and prevent you from swinging it. Raise the dumbbell until the biceps muscle is fully tense, hold it, then slowly return to the starting position.
Attention!