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Attempting to build biceps, need instructions and advice.

Schadenfroh

Schadenfroh

Elite Member
Im a jogger and i do well at keeping my weight down, i weigh 165 and 6' tall. im in pretty good shape as far as jogging goes, but i need to work on my upper body muscles. I am a "twig boy" with very little muscle mass, save in my legs, and i would like to engage in a little body building. I have a set of 30lbs hand weights and im interested in building some biceps. I have a few questions about this:

1. Doing curls, is the lifting still effective if i rest my elbow on a soft surface or do i need to have my elbow suspended in the air while lifting the weights.
2. At what field of angle should i lift the weights? i currently lift going in the 45 degree range when raising my arm/weight from being parrellel to the floor to being perpendicular to the floor and let gravity return it to its original position.
3. What is a good workout when doing curls? IE how many on each arm before swapping arms with the weight.
4. How many times should i repeat the lifts/switching in step 3
5. Any viatemin/herbal supplements to help in body building? i already have a very high protien diet and take multiviatamin, calcium, potasion, cod liver oil, omega 3 fatty acids, garlic, viatamen E, viatamen B6, viatamen b12, and viatamin C.
6. any other upper body workouts that could be easliy done with the hand weights while im at it that can visually improve my apperiance?

pardon poor english, its late here
thanks
 
Underwater bicep curls with weights. Just exercise and eat right...you won't be Ahnold but you'll be somewhat cut in a while.
 
Originally posted by: Josh
Underwater bicep curls with weights. Just exercise and eat right...you won't be Ahnold but you'll be somewhat cut in a while.
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That means, keep eating and don't stop! I gained about 5lbs last month and then I lost more than that because I was too lazy to prepare food. 🙁
 
If you want to build up your arms and look bigger, working your biceps alone won't do it. You need to work the back of your arm, triceps as well. For biceps I do...you're gonna have to look all this up yourself cause i'm not describing each exercise

1. preacher curls
2. Concentration curls
3. hammer curls (this builds a little tiny muscle on the side of your arm that makes your bicep have a better peak to it (very important)

Triceps
over head extension is pretty much all you can do with just a dumbell, but you could go buy a stretch cord and do tricep pull downs and tricep extensions.
 
dont worry about shaping it yet. just do dips and curls(they're gonna be your bread and butter anyways) until you've put on some real weight. then you can do concentration and hammer curls.
 
When you can work up to dipping with a 100lb dumbell tied around your waist, your triceps should be plenty big. For biceps, heavy barbell curls is about the best there is.
 
You can do all the curls in the world, but you'll only go so far.

To really build your biceps you need to build the muscles that use and support them; your back.

I have found that real arm development comes from compound upper body exercises. Pressing exercises for the triceps (chest and shoulder workouts), and pulling exercises for the biceps (back and lat workouts).

Also, the majority of mass in your upper arm is the triceps. The bicep is a very small muscle and easily over worked. Anything more than 2-4 direct exercises a week for your biceps would be counter productive

Let me put it another way. When flexed, my upper arms are 18.5 inches around. And I have never done more than four exercices a week for biceps and triceps. Nearly all of the growth has come from working my chest and back.
 
Originally posted by: Amused
You can do all the curls in the world, but you'll only go so far.

To really build your biceps you need to build the muscles that use and support them; your back.

I have found that real arm development comes from compound upper body exercises. Pressing exercises for the triceps (chest and shoulder workouts), and pulling exercises for the biceps (back and lat workouts).

Also, the majority of mass in your upper arm is the triceps. The bicep is a very small muscle and easily over worked. Anything more than 2-4 direct exercises a week for your biceps would be counter productive

Let me put it another way. When flexed, my upper arms are 18.5 inches around. And I have never done more than four exercices a week for biceps and triceps. Nearly all of the growth has come from working my chest and back.
Click to expand...
Do you mean 4 excercises with, let's say, two sets per excercise, or are you saying 4 total sets?

Anyway, Amused is right - don't ignore the rest of your upper body and just do biceps. An upper arm with good bicep development and little tricep development is not worth having!
 
Originally posted by: SkoorbDo you mean 4 excercises with, let's say, two sets per excercise, or are you saying 4 total sets?
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Yes. On shoulder day I do my biceps. I do two sets of seated dumbell curls and two sets of either preacher curls or sideways horizontal cable curls.

I also do two sets of reverse curls but that's not really a bicep exercise.

On chest day I do two sets of skull crushers and two sets of dips or cable pushdowns with the rope attachment over my head.

I switch around a lot too.

Sometimes, even that is too much and I feel my arms getting over worked. So I'll do just two sets total or none at all.

The point the OP needs to understand, is that direct exercises should be treated as an afterthought. The key is the focus should ALWAYS be on compound exercises.
 
The point the OP needs to understand, is that direct exercises should be treated as an afterthought. The key is the focus should ALWAYS be on compound exercises.
Click to expand...
I think that's true. I've been trying to pull my left side up to my right (my left try and bi is smaller than my right) for about 18 months now. My arm workouts consist of two excercises and three sets per excercise, so 6 sets for bis each, and 6 for tris each. But, for the past 18 months I've cut my right tri and my right bi halfway through the workout, so they get only 3 sets. The damn left side still isn't catching up 😉
 
Originally posted by: Skoorb
Originally posted by: Amused
You can do all the curls in the world, but you'll only go so far.

To really build your biceps you need to build the muscles that use and support them; your back.

I have found that real arm development comes from compound upper body exercises. Pressing exercises for the triceps (chest and shoulder workouts), and pulling exercises for the biceps (back and lat workouts).

Also, the majority of mass in your upper arm is the triceps. The bicep is a very small muscle and easily over worked. Anything more than 2-4 direct exercises a week for your biceps would be counter productive

Let me put it another way. When flexed, my upper arms are 18.5 inches around. And I have never done more than four exercices a week for biceps and triceps. Nearly all of the growth has come from working my chest and back.
Click to expand...
Do you mean 4 excercises with, let's say, two sets per excercise, or are you saying 4 total sets?

Anyway, Amused is right - don't ignore the rest of your upper body and just do biceps. An upper arm with good bicep development and little tricep development is not worth having!
Click to expand...
True, without well developed triceps and shoulders to go along with your biceps your arms won't look that impressive. Also most of the strength in your Arms comes from your tricpes because, as Amused pointed out, they are a larger muscle group than your biceps.

I do have to disagree with Amused though about upper body compound exercises doing more to build those muscles. My bi's and tri's are always more pumped up when I do isolated exercises on them than when I do the upper body compound exercises. Obviously the compound exercises help a lot but you don't hit the smaller muscle groups as hard as you do when you isolate them.
 
Originally posted by: Skoorb
The point the OP needs to understand, is that direct exercises should be treated as an afterthought. The key is the focus should ALWAYS be on compound exercises.
Click to expand...
I think that's true. I've been trying to pull my left side up to my right (my left try and bi is smaller than my right) for about 18 months now. My arm workouts consist of two excercises and three sets per excercise, so 6 sets for bis each, and 6 for tris each. But, for the past 18 months I've cut my right tri and my right bi halfway through the workout, so they get only 3 sets. The damn left side still isn't catching up 😉
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's a hard thing to do once you've reached maturity.

One thing that helps is to start using your left arm for ALL heavy and light lifting. When you rack your weights, use you left arm for lifting and your right for stabilizing.

Open doors with your left. Hell, spank the primate with the left. 😉

Also, when flexing in the mirror (we all do it), focus on the left rather than the right.

The point is, all those daily activities add up to a LOT of work. It wont fix the problem, but it will help even you out.

Oh, and the obvious: Start doing isolateral exercises with your arms and never do more weight or reps with your right than you do with your left... and begin all sets with the left.
 
Originally posted by: Red Dawn


I do have to disagree with Amused though about upper body compound exercises doing more to build those muscles. My bi's and tri's are always more pumped up when I do isolated exercises on them than when I do the upper body compound exercises. Obviously the compound exercises help a lot but you don't hit the smaller muscle groups as hard as you do when you isolate them.
Click to expand...

While a pump isn't everything, I'll go ahead and agree with you. But I have to maintain that direct exercises for the biceps should be kept to a minimum because they are very easy to overwork.

If this poor kid that is the OP starts doing 5 sets of curls daily, he'll never get anything but sore.
 
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: Red Dawn


I do have to disagree with Amused though about upper body compound exercises doing more to build those muscles. My bi's and tri's are always more pumped up when I do isolated exercises on them than when I do the upper body compound exercises. Obviously the compound exercises help a lot but you don't hit the smaller muscle groups as hard as you do when you isolate them.
Click to expand...

While a pump isn't everything, I'll go ahead and agree with you. But I have to maintain that direct exercises for the biceps should be kept to a minimum because they are very easy to overwork.

If this poor kid that is the OP starts doing 5 sets of curls daily, he'll never get anything but sore.
Click to expand...
I totally agree. FYI I only do 3 biceps exercises and 4 triceps exercises. Unlike you though I don't combine them with my back and chest exercises which I do two days after the associated smaller muscle group exercises. That's just my personal preference.
 
Originally posted by: Red Dawn
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: Red Dawn


I do have to disagree with Amused though about upper body compound exercises doing more to build those muscles. My bi's and tri's are always more pumped up when I do isolated exercises on them than when I do the upper body compound exercises. Obviously the compound exercises help a lot but you don't hit the smaller muscle groups as hard as you do when you isolate them.
Click to expand...

While a pump isn't everything, I'll go ahead and agree with you. But I have to maintain that direct exercises for the biceps should be kept to a minimum because they are very easy to overwork.

If this poor kid that is the OP starts doing 5 sets of curls daily, he'll never get anything but sore.
Click to expand...
I totally agree. FYI I only do 3 biceps exercises and 4 triceps exercises. Unlike you though I don't combine them with my back and chest exercises which I do two days after the associated smaller muscle group exercises. That's just my personal preference.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's why I don't do biceps on back days anymore. I switched them to shoulder day and I can get a much better work out of them.

But I still do triceps on chest day because, well... I'm a freak and my triceps are huge for the rest of my body. Plus, they have a LOT more endurance than biceps and can handle the work after I do my presses.
 
Originally posted by: Amused
[
But I still do triceps on chest day because, well... I'm a freak and my triceps are huge for the rest of my body. Plus, they have a LOT more endurance than biceps and can handle the work after I do my presses.
Click to expand...
Me too but I like giving triceps their own day because I then I can really hit them hard plus they are absolutley my favorite exercises. I save my chest and shoulder for another day.

To the OP, when you see someone walking around with strong looking arms it's usually the triceps you notice as most people don't usually go around flexing their biceps.
 
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