TRAINING BICEPS

My goal/focus of these is to breakdown each bodypart and cover multiple aspects as it comes to training it. Specifically function, considerations, my favorite exercises, general tips and tricks.

Today I’m going to talk about your biceps, was going to do arms, but that’s a lot and want to make sure I cover it all in depth. Education is important but big biceps is importanter (lol).

Here are some things I see often.

One, biceps get overtrained either directly or indirectly. They are susceptible to injury.

Two, as you’ll see, there are a lot of ROM that don’t get considered.

Third, it’s easy to cheat on this bodypart.

FUNCTION:

There are two functions of the bicep. Flexion of the elbow. There are three (but really four) muscles of the bicep. The bicep brachii and the brachioradialis and the brachialis. The biceps has a long head (outer bicep) and short head (inner bicep). The outer head is the peak, the inner head is the mass. Note that the long head runs right into the shoulder (AC) joint and can be a contributing cause to shoulder pain (show image)

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Different angles, along with offsetting gravity. From a leverage standpoint, biceps are unique as there is little resistance at the beginning of the lift, then increases substantially. Additionally, the brachioradialis contracts best when the arm is slightly protanted.

FAVORITE EXERCISES:

Short head (inner): preacher curl, cable curl, wide barbell curls, concentration curls.

Long head (outer): Incline DB curls, EZ curls, close grip chins/reverse pulldowns.

Brachioradialis: Cable hammer curl w/rope, reverse curls, DB hammer curls.

TIPS AND TRICKS:

Utilize all the angles. Back, neutral, up. Because of leverage, like cables and machines esp. Be aware of when you are training back. There is a ton of stimulus from back to biceps so want to be aware of recovery. Peak contraction (bands/chains) can mimic the benefit of cables and machines if not available.

Biceps are a fun bodypart to train and usually one of the first we get experience on. Train it smart and keep the gains coming and injuries away.