Tips: Biceps
1. Use Wide and Narrow Grips
A wide grip means places more stress on the short head of your biceps, while a narrow grip focuses on the long head. Therefore it is best to mix it up and work out with both grips.
With a barbell curl, the greatest force is produced between 80 and 100 degrees, therefore keep your arms slightly bent at the start of each rep.
3. Keep Your Elbows by Your Sides
To make sure maximum force is exerted on the biceps be sure to keep your elbows still, not allowing them to rise or let you shoulders assist in your curls.
4. Retract
Keep your shoulder blades pinched together and back to restrict the amount of tension placed on the AC joint in your shoulders.
5. Do Not Swing
To optimize growth and strength be sure to lift with proper form, raising and lowering the weights in a controlled manner. Do not allow your body to swing and cheat your biceps out of a good workout.
6. Change Your Rep Amounts
Make sure to change your rep count from low to high to medium reps through different workouts to shock your biceps.
7. Don't Cheat Too Early
Cheating with biceps is very easy and tempting. Be it swinging your body, shrugging your shoulders or not extended your arms enough, you will be making hard reps easier.
Cheating can be used to get through your last few reps without a spotter, but will all in all reduce the stress on your biceps.
Solutions
• Perform strict reps until you failure.
• Stand with your back against a wall during and press your elbows against your sides.
• Do seated curls to prevent leg or hip movements.
8. Don't Work Them Out Too Often
Compared to other muscle groups your biceps are tiny. Therefore working them out more often than larger muscle groups will leave them susceptible to overtraining, which could actually have negative effects on your training.
Solutions
• Start with 8 sets on biceps, and gradually start to increase them.
• At maximum, use techniques like cheating, forced reps, negatives and drop sets on final sets of exercises.
9. Don't Miss The Target
Focus on the two heads of your biceps, short and long, and maintain good form.
Solutions
• Perform biceps curls with palms ups (supinated grip) to better recruit the biceps brachii short head. Alternatively use wide grip.
• Perform curls with neutral grip to better target the biceps brachii long head. Alternatively use narrow grip.
10. Change Routines
Although the biceps are simple, you still need to perform various types of curls to maximize your training.
Solutions
• Vary with EZ-bar or barbell curl exercises, dumbbell exercises, and machine or cable exercises each workout.
• Do one of the exercises standing, one seated and one with the working arm(s) restricted against your body or a bench.
• Do a unique exercise occasionally, such as underhand chin-ups and rope hammer curls, to hit your bi’s from different angles.
11. Fully Contract
A lot of people train their biceps too quick and too heavy, never allowing their biceps to contract fully. The contraction is a crucial moment of a curl, so be sure to make sure you complete your reps.
Solutions
• Use a weight you can manage for eight to 12 strict, full reps.
• Curl slowly to maintain food form.
• Make every curl a “concentration curl” by flexing your biceps at each contraction.
12. Try Open Palm
When performing biceps it's easy to recruit other muscles to help you out (cheat).
By opening your palms slightly you will relax your forearms and thus help isolate your biceps more.
13. Dedicate a Day To Arms
Biceps, like triceps, aren't the biggest of muscles and so it doesn't take too much to target them.
Performing biceps on an arms day as opposed to with other muscles (back, chest, shoulders) will allow you to fully work them without them being tired from other muscle group exercises.
14. Remember Hammers
As described here, the brachioradialis is also associated to the bicep area. That being said make sure to include a couple hammer style (neutral grip) exercises each workout to ensure a full bicep workout.
If you previously didn't focus on this area then it is a potential for strength and mass gains.
