Building Bulging Biceps

So I'm enjoying the streak of uncharacteristically beautiful weather here in New York sipping down a delicious homemade whey-protein packed smoothie and with every sip I take I feel a little something in my right bicep. It's that perfect tinge of tightness and soreness that follows a great bout of hitting the weights. I love that feeling.

So why did I hit the biceps so hard yesterday? I guess it had something to do with Saturday night. After a party uptown I headed down to Barracuda with a friend from school, we'll call her Takie, and her gay boyfriend from L.A., let's call him Sonander. It was the usual packed to the max (which I like) scene of regular chill guys peppered with more than a few twinky types and the occasional freak show or two.

Soon after we arrived, a rather plain looking blond guy decides to put the moves on a beefy Canadian standing near the three of us. The conversation between the two guys was hysterical because the Canadian clearly had no interest in blondie. After the Canadian brought up the War of 1812 as an example of moments when the Canadians (then British) kicked Americans ass by burning down Washington D.C., the blond guy left. So much for friendly US/Canada relations, eh?

With the new vacancy, Sonander got excited. He was really into this guy's arms. He had a sort of lumberjack build but really wasn't packing nicely defined arms in my opinion. He did make good wardrobe choices, his shirt sleeves extra snug and extra short. Regardless, my competitive side kicked in and I couldn't believe that Mr. Mapleleaf's undefined mass of thickness (um, his arms people - get your mind out of the gutter) was getting top billing in the nice arms department.

That led me to thinking about arms and the different things people want from their own arms and the arms of the people who will be hugging them at night. Therefore, today the focus is on biceps and somewhere down the road I'll get to triceps and forearms. Here goes.

First and foremost - technique matters. Poor form during bicep exercises is one of the most frequent things I see at the gym, in fact you're more likely to see a dude doing bad bicep curls than you are to see guys cruising. Too many guys stack on weight they can't control and end up using their lower back and shoulders to heave up weight. DO NOT sacrifice technique ever - but DO push yourself. Your bicep controls movement that brings your forearm toward your shoulder; so, unless you're doing compound exercises to target larger muscles in addition to your biceps, your elbow will be stationary because it serves as the grounding point for movement. The best illustration of this point is optimum performance on the preacher curl (pictured).

The bottom line: Your form matters much much more than your ego.

Second, isolation training is not the only answer for building bigger biceps. A lot of guys come from the school of thought that concentrated, bicep-isolating exercises are the best approach. While they do target the muscle - oftentimes compound exercises actually produce better results. A compound exercise is anything that includes an additional joint motion with that of a traditional curl, such as a close grip pull down (which works the lats and the biceps) or even a row (which works the rhomboids, mid-traps, rear delts, and biceps). The reason compound exercises work are because they cause your body to send out a distress signal that then allows for anabolic hormones such as testosterone and growth hormone to be called into action.

The bottom line: Combine isolation/concentrated bicep exercises with compound exercises.

Secondly, using supersets will also stimulate growth. A superset is just a combination of back-to-back exercises with no rest in between. You can do any method of supersets (same muscle group, opposing muscles, upper body/lower body, etc.) but the one I suggest for your biceps are same muscle group supersets. For example you will go from a standing barbell curl (12 reps) directly to dumbbell hammer curls (12 reps) without resting. Follow that up with 60 seconds of rest and increase the weight slightly and repeat this time with 10 reps, and the 3rd set with slightly heavier with 8 reps. The fourth and final set should be your starting weight and back to 12 reps. This alone should give you a good tingle. Mix in a compound set at the beginning and end of the superset and you have a kick ass bicep workout that will cause all tickets to your gun show to be sold out.

The bottom line: Supersets make you feel the burn.

Finally, as with any muscle development, what you eat matters. When you eat is just as important as what you eat. If you're looking for bigger biceps, you need to feed those puppies as soon as you walk about the gym door. Load up on lean protein or a nice whey protein smoothie. No muscle, and certainly no sexy arms, can be gained through the MaryKate and Ashley Diet so grab that chicken breast and start eating.

The Bigger Bulging Bicep Builder
Try this workout as part of your normal routine (1 time through) or as a stand alone bicep building session (2 - 3 times through).
1. close-grip pull up (with assisted pull up machine if needed) 6 - 8 reps
rest up to 1 minute
2. Superset: standing barbell curl 10-12 reps, dumbbell hammer curl 10-12 reps. Complete 3 supersets - rest 1 minute between each set.
3. Close-grip lat pull down (use this handle) 10-12 reps.
rest up to 1 minute
4. Concentrated (one arm at a time) cable bicep curl 10-12 reps.
repeat, rest, then eat