Strengthen your biceps with these 3 trainer-approved exercises!
As a coach, I'm often asked, "Patrick, you have a lot of experience, give us your best biceps workout!" Or: “What should I do to strengthen my arms?” It's often not the type of exercise you choose that matters, but how you do it. In this article, I will explain to you
how to achieve good results in training by paying attention to this important point. Don't panic, we'll avoid the boring theory lesson. Before I show you my favorite exercises for biceps, I want to draw your attention to one important factor:
Intense muscle stimulation!
Well, I'm going to have to be obsessed for a while. Too boring for you? So skip this part to go straight to the exercises. To all others: we continue!
Many people decide to leave their sofa to exercise or go to the gym. Problem: After weeks of training, they haven't gotten any results or very poor results. Their motivation wanes.
To avoid losing your motivation, especially in bodybuilding, you need to remember one thing: your body is always trying to be easier. As long as he can do the job with the muscles at hand, that's what he will do. He always tries to use the existing muscles as much as
possible in order to save energy. It is effective. But it also means that when you perform an exercise, such as the biceps exercise, your body will not develop new muscles as long as it can handle the load without much effort. If you train at moderate intensity, your body will not need to adapt. In short: muscle does not grow.
Now that you know that, what does that mean for your training? In fact, it is very simple, while sometimes complicated. If you want stronger or larger muscles, it is important to find the right load
intensity and to expose the muscles to that load regularly. There's not much point in doing a hard session once and then expecting something to happen to your muscles. In order for the muscles to adapt, you have to constantly stimulate them for a fairly long time.
You have to go through it, but you don't have to complicate things too much either. It is easy to identify one of the clearest indicators of muscle adaptation. If the last few reps have been really tough, you're on the right track. To paraphrase Muhammad Ali’s saying: “When I feel pain, that is when I begin to pay attention, because when it really matters.”
How often do you need to get the best results?
Here's a rule of thumb: to build muscle and build muscle, you need fewer repetitions as you gain weight. To improve muscle endurance, it is necessary, on the contrary, to prefer several repetitions with a
lighter weight. Both types of training will result in muscle building after a while. Classical hypertrophy training will allow you to build more muscle mass faster. In the end, it all depends on your training goal.
3 favorite exercises for biceps
Enough theory. Let's find out why you are reading this article. My favorite exercises to strengthen the biceps!
1 - Split curls
Sections: Extended arms brought to a 90 degree bend, a 90 degree bend fully crimped, and finished with a full extension curl
to implement :
4 sets: 6 to 8 repetitions per syllable
Equipment: 1 dumbbell
The sections are performed one after another without dropping the dumbbells.
90 degree flexion, arms extended
Begin in a sitting or standing position with two dumbbells in your hands. Extending the arms (arms at the sides, palms facing forward), bring the dumbbells toward you at a 90-degree angle and then return to the starting position.
90 degrees for full curl
Right Next: Starting in a 90-degree position, bring the dumbbells all the way up to the final curl position. In the final position, the hands are turned so that the palms are facing each other.
Full curly hair
you're almost done ! Finally, you perform a full biceps exercise. Here, too, the hands are rotated to the final position.
Note: Start with a lighter load and then select the correct load. You will burn!
2 - Eccentric Curls
In general, muscles can perform three tasks. (1) isometric grasping tasks, (2) concentric tasks (biceps flexion: arm extension into a bent position) and (3) eccentric tasks (effort required when tensing a muscle).
This is where eccentric curls come in.
to implement :
3-4 sets: 2-3 reps per arm.
Equipment: 1 dumbbell
Note: The weight used may be slightly heavier than the weight you normally use for curling hair. Bring your arm into the final bent position before slowly lowering the weight until your arm is fully extended. This phase should last from 5 to 10 seconds. Then use the other arm to move the weight up to start the second repetition.
3- Training with blood flow restriction, also called occlusion training
Have you ever heard of bite training? A detailed explanation would be beyond the scope of this article. Still I'd like to give you a little idea.
During bite training, the muscles are "tightened" with a ligature. This technique briefly cuts off the blood supply, and thus the muscle's supply of oxygen. At first, the muscle will use up the oxygen in the blood as the muscle fibers slowly contract.
Explanation: Your muscles are made up of muscle fibers of different types. Type 1 muscle fibers are strong and contract slowly, and type 2 muscle fibers are strong and contract quickly. To learn more about this topic, click here.
My recommendation for your training program:
For some, occlusal training can be intimidating at first, mainly because it leads to a stronger burning sensation in the muscles. That's why I recommend the following training program to anyone who wants to reduce this feeling:
Day 1 with 4 sets of exercises 1 and 3 sets of exercises 2
Day 2 with 3 sets of exercises 1 plus 4 sets of exercises 2
Day 3 will be the hardest with 4-5 sets of both exercises
You wrote it down? So you can go ahead and use these top 3 biceps exercises in one if you really have a lot of experience. But if this is not the case, I advise you to perform the exercises alternately at first in order to accustom your muscles to this new training stimulus. For example:
Exercise 1 and 2 on the first day
Only 3 workouts on the second day. Make sure to perform the exercise correctly.
Exercise 2 and 3 on the third day