this a good bicep routine?

[panamega]

3 sets of barbell curls + 3 sets of preacher curl on day 1
3 sets of dumbell curl + 3 sets of hammer curl + 3 sets of conc curls on day 2
? Kindly advise on this

 

[KoolDrew]

Any reason you're isolating your biceps?

 

[presidentender]

Don't just do biceps. What else are you doing with it, and where are you in your development? If this is the first time you've been to the gym, and it's all you're doing, it's terrible. If this is in concert with a larger program and you're a fairly advanced lifter, it's still not great, but it's marginally better.

Assuming that you're a noob, I'd advise you to do ordinary dumbbell curls as part of a larger routine.

I had a big response typed out for the alternative case (that you're trying to shape your already-incredible biceps) but I think that's unlikely. If I'm wrong, please respond, sharing that information.

 

[TheVrolok]

Originally posted by: KoolDrew
Any reason you're isolating your biceps?

Curls for the girls man, curls for the girls.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: TheVrolok

Originally posted by: KoolDrew
Any reason you're isolating your biceps?

Curls for the girls man, curls for the girls.

You think that one up all by yourself, chief?

 

[Net]

day 1 and day 2. i hope you don't mean your literally doing biceps one day then the very next day doing biceps again. i'm going to assume your not.

what is your plan. do you do mon, wed, fri. or are you doing one major muscle group a week this like http://bodybuilding.about.com/.../qt/onemusclesplit.htm

i do a 3 day workout:

for my bi/tri day:

bi's (30 min):

preacher curls:
1 warm up set
3 sets

Alternate Hammer Curl
1 warm up set
3 sets

Alternate Curl
1 warm up set
3 sets

Curl
1 warm up set
3 sets

I switch out one of those with a Reverse Curl. 1 warm, 3 sets.

tri's (30 min)




Here is a long list of different exercises with an animation to show you what they are:

http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html

 

[Eric62]

IMO you should start with EZ curl bar curls. First set (light weight) 5 easy reps strict. Second set (add weight) 5 hard strict reps. Third set (add weight) cheat as much as needed to get 5 reps. Fourth set (add weight) cheat like a mofo to get 1 or 2 reps - lowering the weight as slowly as possible. Fifth set (reduce weight) and try for 10 to 15 reps fairly slow and strict - you should be feeling like puking just from this last back off set.
Then do a few sets of very strict isolation work, such as preacher curls from the vertical side of the bench - I recommend supinating DB's (start with the DB parallel, and twist it horizontally as you curl it) one arm at a time.
Learn to differentiate between good pain and bad. Pain in the back of your shoulder with cheat reps = bad. Burning pain in the belly of your bicep so it brings tears to your eyes, and makes you hyperventilate and feel faint = good.
This of course is in addition to a balanced physique training routine. Nothing stranger than a 22" arm with a 18" leg.
Don't forget that your nutritional and lifestyle choices will effect your results greatly.
And yes this will work for newbies - I was one once

 

[JzL]

PULL UPS - NUFF Said.

 

[TheVrolok]

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged

Originally posted by: TheVrolok

Originally posted by: KoolDrew
Any reason you're isolating your biceps?

Curls for the girls man, curls for the girls.

You think that one up all by yourself, chief?

Spent all night thinking it up!

 

[panamega]

Just a background to my first post:
I have been going to a gym since the past 5 months and had no fixed routine until just week or so back. Just used to do a couple of sets of bi, chests and back and it seems to have brought absolutely no gain for me. So of course now I have decided to follow a routine of 5 days with each day focusing on a different area (chest, back, etc.) and thought I would spread out my bi workouts over 2 days as doing it all in a single day is a stretch for me. Any advice on the other areas also would be most welcome

 

[presidentender]

A 5 day split is probably a little extreme. Get yourself a program, from someone other than you.

 

[Eric62]

5 days on 2 days off will burn most people out - especially if your not making visible progress.
I've never tried the following routine - but it might be a reasonably good starting point:
http://www.criticalbench.com/b...er_workout_routine.htm

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: panamega
Just a background to my first post:
I have been going to a gym since the past 5 months and had no fixed routine until just week or so back. Just used to do a couple of sets of bi, chests and back and it seems to have brought absolutely no gain for me. So of course now I have decided to follow a routine of 5 days with each day focusing on a different area (chest, back, etc.) and thought I would spread out my bi workouts over 2 days as doing it all in a single day is a stretch for me. Any advice on the other areas also would be most welcome

It seems pretty clear that you are a beginner with very little weight lifting experience. Based on this info, you are in no way qualified to come up with a routine for yourself, which has already been confirmed by no gains you saw from the past 5 months. Instead of trying to guess yourself to a proper routine, use something designed by professionals for beginners.

The most commonly recommended and, IMO, most effective routine for beginners is the one outlined in Starting Strength. It is widely endorsed by experts and has been used by MANY people with great success (including a number of folks on this forum). The book is well worth the $30 as it not only outlines the routine, but also contains in-depth instructions on how to do all the lifts (including tons of great photos and illustrations), explains why you do the lifts prescribed (namely, compound exercises with barbells) and is an excellent resource for weightlifters doing any routine.

The Stronglifts 5x5 routine is a program based largely off Starting Strength and is also a great option. The Stronglifts website, in general, has tons of great resources that will get you on the right track.

You'll learn a lot from reading the two resources above, not the least of which is that, as a beginner, you should be focusing on total-body workouts using free weights and not worrying about individual body parts. Dedicating an entire day - or even two, as you seem to indicate above - to just your biceps is absurd. Compared to the rest of the body, biceps are relatively small muscles and doing 5 different exercises for them is MASSIVE overkill. Three sets of pull-ups once a week, as part of a full body strength routine, is all the stimulation your biceps will need to start growing.

 

[Net]

... it seems to have brought absolutely no gain for me. ...

after you get your workout routine down look into:

over training (what cortisol does)
nutrition (start with a bulking diet)

... I have decided to follow a routine of 5 days... and thought I would spread out my bi workouts over 2 days as doing it all in a single day is a stretch for me.

don't spread out your bicep workout to two days.


Link below. I'm not saying use this routine but I am saying read through it and gain some more knowledge from what it has to offer.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/krisgethin_guide8.htm

 

[Net]

i want to say one more thing.

5 months with no gains is insanely bad. i can't even imagine. you would benifit A LOT from reading more.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Originally posted by: panamega
Just a background to my first post:
I have been going to a gym since the past 5 months and had no fixed routine until just week or so back. Just used to do a couple of sets of bi, chests and back and it seems to have brought absolutely no gain for me. So of course now I have decided to follow a routine of 5 days with each day focusing on a different area (chest, back, etc.) and thought I would spread out my bi workouts over 2 days as doing it all in a single day is a stretch for me. Any advice on the other areas also would be most welcome

Coming up with your own routine from scratch is probably not the fastest road to results, and working out 5 days a week will burn you out quickly to boot. You really don't need more than 3 days per week for a start to get fantastic results. The main thing you have to do is be consistent. Week in and week out don't miss your workouts. I mention this because when you say you've been going to the gym for 5 months with no fixed routine I take that to mean that you might go one day one week, two days the next, none the 2 weeks after that, and call that a month at the gym. That kind of routine will NEVER get you results. Try for 5 a week and working out will quickly become something you dread and have to force yourself to do. You'll never get results if you quit either.

To address your actual question, I really don't think you should be doing biceps twice a week. If you want to do some kind of split, group muscles that work together into a single day's workout and call them all done for that week. That way it's easy to break your week into 3 workouts (legs, back/biceps, chest/shoulders/triceps are common). I think Starting Strength or Stronglifts 5x5 would also work well for you and are especially designed with people like you in mind, but unlike some here I don't consider them the only games in town.

I like to do EZ curls, incline curls, dumbbell concentration curls, EZ curl concentration curls, and drag curls. I don't do them all at once though. I usually pick only 2-3 bicep exercises to do after I do my back work, and mix them up somewhat from week to week.

 

[panamega]

Originally posted by: net
i want to say one more thing.

5 months with no gains is insanely bad. i can't even imagine. you would benifit A LOT from reading more.

Yep and not to mention, embarrassing Reading through the linked sites I think I should go for a 3 day workout with 2 muscle group each day and 3 sets for each group. But I have no qualms in going more than 3 days (since I have been a regular 5 dayer all these months), so if going more number of days and doing 1 muscle group each day will bring me quicker results, that's what I would like to do. And also I would like to know whether the order of the exercises matter? Like doing dips before flyes?
And honestly, thanks a lot for all of the above posts.

 

[presidentender]

Originally posted by: panamega
So if going more number of days and doing 1 muscle group each day will bring me quicker results, that's what I would like to do.

It won't. Give yourself time to rebuild between workouts, man.

 

[Net]

And also I would like to know whether the order of the exercises matter? Like doing dips before flyes?

i like to do chest before tri's because i'm more interested in increasing my pecks then tri's.

if you start with tri's and then when you get to bench you won't be able to bench as much that day. It's good to start with the larger muscle then do the smaller muscle after.

its good practice to rotate the order in which you do bench. This week I started with decline, then incline then flat. Next week I'll start with incline, decline, then flat bench. personally i've noticed i need more muscle in my upper and lower peck area's so those are the areas i will be starting with.

and you'll want to change your routine every so often. i change when i see a decrease in gains or sometimes after a month.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: presidentender

Originally posted by: panamega
So if going more number of days and doing 1 muscle group each day will bring me quicker results, that's what I would like to do.

It won't. Give yourself time to rebuild between workouts, man.

This is the truth. Only going in 3 days will prevent over-training and central nervous system fatigue. If you wanna train the other two days, do cardio. That's really all there is to it. Good luck, man.

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: net
i want to say one more thing.

5 months with no gains is insanely bad. i can't even imagine. you would benifit A LOT from reading more.

How long have you been lifting? You think if you've been weight training for over 5 or 10 years you'll still be gaining muscle mass without using horse supplements?

 

[presidentender]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn
You think if you've been weight training for over 5 or 10 years you'll still be gaining muscle mass without using horse supplements?

Hey, think outside the box. There are cow supplements, chicken supplements, dog supplements....

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: presidentender

Originally posted by: Red Dawn
You think if you've been weight training for over 5 or 10 years you'll still be gaining muscle mass without using horse supplements?

Hey, think outside the box. There are cow supplements, chicken supplements, dog supplements....

Sounds like a bunch of Bull Supplement to me:shocked::laugh:

 

[Net]

How long have you been lifting? You think if you've been weight training for over 5 or 10 years you'll still be gaining muscle mass without using horse supplements?

since high school volleyball 1998.

why would you even bring that up, lol. its not relevant to the thread. and your taking it out of context, he hasn't been lifting for 5-10 years.

quote from: panamega
I have been going to a gym since the past 5 months

 

[gramboh]

To the OP, a split routine is fine (focusing on diff. body parts) but honestly as a total novice the most efficient way to build muscle mass and strength is going to be.... Starting Strength 3x5/Stronglifts.com 5x5. You don't have biceps as a novice so why spend a ton of time on isolation on them? Doing Starting Strength for 3-6 months to build up some base mass/strength and learn the technique on the compound lifts which will always form the basis of any legit lifting program, then branch out into the isolation stuff if that is what you want. You will save time and see results faster doing this way, and avoid overtraining. It's a proven program.