There's no denying a set of big arms looks impressive. And there isn't a guy around who doesn't
want bulging biceps. When someone asks you to flex you immediately roll up your sleeves to
show off your guns. Big bicep peaks are quite possibly the ultimate beach muscle. Everyone loves
them.
Most people love to train biceps, flexing their arms with pride at the end of every set, yet not
always seeing the kind of results they expect after putting in all the hard work.
This article will help you get the results you want from your biceps training. Discover how to build
bigger arms with various bicep workout programs designed for mass building.
Anatomy of the Biceps
 Before you can jump into the training and the best bicep workout exercises some background
information is necessary.
A quick anatomy lesson is in store.
The biceps brachii, or biceps for short is a two headed muscle:
long head or outer head
short head or inner head
Both heads share the same insertion point near your elbow on your radius. A bone in your
forearm. On the other end the two heads each have their own origins on the scapula. The short
head attaches to the coracoid process. The long head travels further and attaches to the
scapula at the supraglenoid tubercle.
Basically your biceps run down the front of your arm and make up about 1/3 of the muscle mass of
your upper arm.
There are 2 additional parts of the bicep are called brachialis and brachioradialis. These are little
muscles on the outside of the bicep that help with elbow flexion. Generally they get enough work
that there is no need to isolate them, unless you are a competitive bodybuilder.
Any arm flexion will work the entire biceps muscle but certain lifts will focus and hit one part more
than the others.Â
Functions of the Biceps
In order to correctly train the biceps is necessary to understand their function and movement
patterns. The biceps is tri-articulate, working across three joints. The main duty of the bicep
muscle is to flex the elbow...moving the forearm towards the shoulder.Â
There is a second function of the biceps. Supinate the forearm, turning the hand from a palms-
down position to a palms-up position. Knowing these two functions makes designing a bicep
workout plan a little easier. The biceps also helps stabilize your rotator cuff. But as a bodybuilder
or someone looking to get bigger arms we are primarily concerned with the first 2 functions.
Training Your Biceps
Now that you have a basic understanding of the biceps muscle and function we can get into the
good stuff...building big biceps!
You will be happy to know that planning your biceps workout program is fairly straightforward.
They really only have two major jobs as described earlier. Just make sure you include these
movements in your program and you will be on the right track.
Key bicep workout programing tips: pull heavy weight, include lots of chin ups and rows
movements with your hands more than shoulder width apart, hits the outer head, to hit the inner
head hands are placed closer than shoulder width, to get more Brachialis involvement curl with
your palm facing your body.Â
Best Biceps Exercises
You can not beat compound movements for adding massive amounts of mass to your your frame.
And the same thing goes for getting big arms. Chin up variations, and different rows are a great
way to add size to your biceps. You will never see someone who can move lots of weight in these
lifts without big arms. So be sure to include lots of pulls in your program. That will be discussed
in another article. For now we will focus on the biceps.
Barbell Curls
If you are looking to focus on just the biceps, barbell curls are the best biceps isolation movement
you can do. This is the most basic biceps exercise and the foundation of your workout program.
Most guys know how to do a barbell curl so I will not go into much detail. Just remember to keep
the elbows in tight to the body and to go heavy.
This exercise would be the first exercise done in the bicep portion of your workout. Start with a
warm up set of 12 reps add weight drop to 10 reps add more weight now perform 8 reps. This set
should be tough. Do one more set with even more weight and again drop the reps from 6-8. This
set is tough.
Other variations include:
ez bar curls
straight bar cable curls
different grips, wide or close
Hammer Curls
Hammer curls are able to work the inner head of the biceps more than other curling variations. To
perform this movement you are going to do a basic curl but this time have your palms facing in.
This is done with dumbbells or a bar that has a neutral grip handle on it.
You can do this exercise one arm at a time, together or you could alternate.Â
Incline Curls
The best movement for the outer head is doing curls while seated on an incline bench. This
exercise isolates and stretches the biceps more then standing dumbbell curls so you will have to
use less weight.
Similar to the standing dumbbell curl. Grab a pair of dumbbells. Sit back on an incline bench
dumbbells hang at arms length on each side of the bench behind your body. From here do your
regular curling motion.
Preacher Curls
The best movement for the Inner Head is the preacher curl. For this exercise sit on a bench with a
preacher stand. Hold a bar elbows rested on the preacher stand and palms facing towards the
ceiling. keeping your arms on the pad do a curling motion.
How Often Should You Train Your Biceps?
Your biceps are small compared to other muscle groups thus do not need the the same volume
and do not get the sam kind of stress.Â
you can perform bicep exercises up to three non-consecutive days a week. Two days a week is a
better option. Be sure to have at least one full day of rest between exercises and take two if you
can get it.
Bicep Workout Program for Building Big Bi's
After your pulling exercises like chin ups and rows:
Biceps Workout 1
Maybe today you did chin ups and close grip pull downs
Barbell Curls -Â 4 sets 12, 10, 8, 6
Hammer Curls - 2 x 15
Biceps Workout 2
Again this is to be done after your pulling exercises. Something like inverted rows and seated rows
with a close grip.
Preacher Curls -Â 4 sets 12, 10, 8, 8
Incline Curls - 2 sets of 15
Be sure to get lots of rest and eat well. Your arms will be sure to grow and before you know it you
will have the best biceps of your weight training career.
Train hard.
Looking to transform your body, build bigger muscles. Discover what to do to build maximum
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