20 year old youtubers on Tren are like "I struggled for ALL 18 months of my lengthy training career to build biceps until I used these 5 simple NEEDLE TIPS then my arms blew up, my meat head face, my nipples and even my Bacne even BLEW UP!" Compared to Alex, a QUALITY source for advice: Alex is a lifetime natty whose arms were a weak point he struggled to overcome
Love this 😂😂😂 You know it OG, I've been in the trenches and everything is documented since 2013. I've shown what works, what doesn't, and never stopped learning. For my areas of struggle (here being arms), you know the advice will feature tons of nuance.
@N7 Andy i purposely didn’t name drop lol. But if you are talking about them. BRO srsly I read multiple multiple comments talking about how they are natural they used one of their transformations as a reference lmao 🤣. I bet every one of their videos has a people arguing about it. People are very gullible and believe what they want
Arm Training tips are always especially helpful when the message comes from a fella that struggled to grow them for so long. You’ve tried a lot in that regard
I appreciate that Paris and that too goes for your videos on disadvantages leverages, I take lifters very seriously who overcame serious weaknesses. You just know the advice is uniquely specific.
and from a lifetime natty who struggled for years like Alex. This is a quality source for advice. Vs some youtubers like 20 year olds on Tren: "I struggled for 18 months of my lengthy training career to build biceps until I did these 5 SIMPLE TIPS!" LOL
Brazilian here, your kind of content is really unique. The youtube fitness/bodybuilding community here in Brazil is Huge, but there's still very few drug free oriented channels, your content is really valluable, keep it lit!
My arms have always been my strongpoint but I'm glad I still watched it, there are always some training gems in every video you put out, whether it be about exercises or programming in general. The antagonist pairing you mentioned earlier on in the video almost flicked a switch in my head, I'm definitely incorporating that into my routine. Love the content man, keep up the good work
The first time I took any of your advice was back in 2020 during quarantine with the bodyweight psychotic workout. The thing about you is that everything you recommend, you've done. And your methods are proven. You are very articulated and take this seriously. Also, no one asked you to do what you do, which is helping thousands of people like me in their training journey. You have impacted many lives. We are grateful to you.
Thank you so much, Mr. Garcia!! I'm grateful for real ones like you. You're right that I take this very seriously and welcome those who are on the same page 💯
@@AlexLeonidas what I admire a lot about you is that you dare to become who you want to be. You got that warrior in you and you put in a lot of work. You are one of the Greats!
Great points Alex. Spot on about prioritizing biceps in the program. I saw the most growth when I placed them as my first exercise. No excuses at that point 💪
More dedicated arm days and really dialing in on the staples really helped me. Just focusing on improving my strength on straight bar curls and db curls and doing them for 5-6 hard sets with a couple to failure instead of bouncing around machines and doing a bunch of different movements
personally, as a calisthenics guy, I like to dedicate cycles focused on my weaknesses. If I would put loads of emphasis on my biceps, I would do something like supinated back lever pull-ups with bands (or curl, idk how you would call it), then an overhead focused pressing exercise, then something like a back focus exercise (front lever type stuff, not one arm pull-up, since there would be a lot of tork applied on the elbow), and then doing barbell ez bar strict curl, and finally, some concentration curls. of course, i would do some "impossible" dips, skullcrushers in a pike position... and of course a finisher with superslow reps.
Great video. I watched one of your old videos about heavy bicep and i agree. For a period of time i got caught up on this elbow positions and i neglected basic barbell and dumbbell curl for months. I saw some definition from my long head because i was doing alot of long head exercises or maybe because i was on a cut anyways i had no mass and recently i started doing barbell and dumbbell curls and i started to get some mass. My advice to anyone will be never neglect the bread and butter of the bicep and that is standard curls with barbell or dumbbells
Great video & agree with what you said. The most effective ways I’ve found to build huge & strong biceps are: 💪 1. Do dedicated arm days (supersetting biceps & triceps exercises) 2. Include a good amount of isolation exercises 3. Stick to the 4-5 safest & most effective biceps movements & with proper form that keeps constant tension on the biceps 4. Push hard enough in all working sets to drive strength & size gains 5. Occasionally include some forced negatives on things like the preacher curl with a spotter assisting by helping to lift it up and providing extra resistance on the way down. 6. Progressive Overload intelligently with no ego lifting.
@@GrandVoyager92 2 exercises can work well, but 3-4 can be better. My reference to 4-5 exercises was actually about sticking to selecting 3-4 exercises from the best and most effective 4-5 exercises for biceps. Sorry for not being more clear about that. And generally speaking, doing between 8-14 working sets per week for biceps (or pretty much any other muscle group for that matter) depending on your experience level will be the best range to stick with for the best results. There’s more to it than that, but that’s the short version of it for a TH-cam comment response.
@@FitLabb Thanks man. I've got no problem figuring out volume, but how you should spread that volume across exercises is damn confusing. It's often recommended that you do shortened before midranged/ lenghtened curls and pushdowns before overhead extensions, using variations, twice per week. That would be a minimum of 4 exercises per week. Now wouldn't the results be the same if you're doing 8 sets with 2 different exercises, say ez bar curls on the one day and dumbbell hammer curls on the other, as opposed to with 4? Sure you can bias certain areas of the biceps and triceps more, but does that really matter that much?
@@GrandVoyager92 I’ll be honest with you, it sounds like wherever or whoever you’re getting your advice from about this is making it totally unnecessarily complicated, and may also not really understand how to program things properly. For a quick explanation, assuming muscle hypertrophy is your main goal, you should always be doing all exercises with a full ROM, or at very least including movements that include full extension while under tension, as that fully extended position under tension is one of the most important keys to building larger muscles (among several other factors). Just select 3-4 exercises for any given workout per muscle group you’re hitting, and perform 2-4 sets for each one that has you going to within 1-3 reps from hitting failure (even going to muscle failure on a couple sets if you’re able to safely do that), after doing an appropriate warmup, and stick to that general program for a good period of time, possibly swapping one or two exercises out for one or two others periodically if you choose to. Use progressive overload in your program over time to increase the reps and/or resistance in each subsequent workout by about 5% or so, and record everything you do in some sort of training log. Thats the best advice I have for you which has worked incredibly well for me as well as the hundreds of clients I’ve trained over the years. It really doesn’t need to be overly complicated and shouldn’t be, as many people who push overly complicated plans like that are usually preying on beginners who don’t know any better. Anyway, hope that helps you, and let me know if you have any other questions.
Dont worry about 17" arms looking small, im a touch taller than you and have 14" arms. I have advenced pull ups, intermediate presses and i weigh 210+lbs. Guess i should start taking arm training seriosly to combat that.
I love training biceps. My biggest tip is to pretend you don't have hands or forearms. Just scoop the weight up with your upper arms. This helped me use my biceps more.
I fucking love the arm videos man - these are very very helpful! I have noticed gains particularly in my tricep longhead thanks to your advice! We can never stop learning!
Great video as always. One thing that's helped me recently is pre-exhausting the forearms before bicep curls so they don't take over during my direct bicep work.
How would that help? I never understood that concept. Surely if it affects your set then you would have to use less weight this way because your forearms fatigue first which wouldnt help your issue with bicep growth but make it even worse?
@@ciarfah No, it will make it more brachioradialis as its already fatigued, that means it has less output and will limit your biceps performance becasue it reaches failure before the biceps. Always do first what you prioritise, if you dont other limitors come into play. Only thing this can help with is you are forced to lower the weight and use better form but you can do that from the get go and not set any limitors for bicep performance.
Unique exercise for biceps peak. Combine forearm supination and elbow flexion into a single movement by performing bicep curls with an asymmetrically loaded dumbbell. Use adjustable dumbbell with at least 50% more weight on the pinky side.
In my case it was biceps nerve squized under front delt. Brahialis muscles was spazmed and not allowing biceps to work. Also trigger point in biceps. Biceps was spazmed also. Also some problem in shoulder blade instability. Now after everything is fixed I am getting newbie gains in my biceps after 12 years of training.
my goal at a bodyweight of 143lbs is to be able to hit strict EZ bar curls, and dumbbell curls, and follow that up with 15KG weighted chinups for 3x10. I think this should bring incredible gains at my current strength level
First tip is priceless and probably why they're so stubborn. I literally am watching this as I'm chucking in some curls after a heavy bench sesh 😅🤦🏼♂️
This entire time I've been doing curls with my arms tucked straight out in front of me because I thought that was just *the* correct form, and always wondered why my biceps seemed thick but never super tall or peaked, I'm definitely going to try training with my arms angled from now on
I built most of my biceps size on good ol' preacher curls, dumbbell concentration curls and a TON of dumbbell hammer curls. I don't program barbell curls or even ez bar curls these days, but I'm fairly strong at them without really training them (1rm BB strict curl is about 125-130#). Not super impressive (still got work to do as always 👍), but it took quite a while to get there. Patience was key. I think the slow, consistent progression is a key message. Biceps are a small muscle, to be strong you have to spend a lot of time with good, basic hypertrophy principles and just keep at it. There will always be guys that let their egos drive their arm training. It just doesn't go anywhere other than tendinitis. Being fairly strict, good eccentric control, and listening to your body is key. Paying attention to your forearm imbalances can really help you avoid tendinitis. My pronator teres tends to get fairly tight and working on that helps a ton.
Chin-Ups almost isolate the short head of the biceps from the long head due to the simultaneous elbow flexion and shoulder extension (the long head also contributes to shoulder flexion, so having the shoulders extend at the same time as the elbows causes the muscle’s length to remain about the same, so the body only uses this head for stabilization).
I do them frequently, and am even good at doing them (can do about 16-18 per set if that's the first exercise I do). My biceps are literally nonexistent unless I flex, and not particularly appealing when I flex either.
I have a 4 day upper lower split, i think I'm gonna integrate arms as starter for lower days and calves for upper. I would still feel weird to pre exhaust these muscles for my main lift. Let's get those gains ✌️🤘
The only compound movements I can think of that actually hit biceps significantly are gymnastic ones, and even if you're doing those, you can isolate, like how you can isolate triceps after doing push ups
Alex, Jeff Cavaliere at Athlean X says the same thing U say about hitting the short and long head of the bicep in reference to where the elbow is at the start of the movement, meaning to hit the long head start with the elbow behind the body and for the short head start with elbow in front of the body, however he says the opposite of what U say about hitting the short and long heads of the biceps in terms of converging and diverging movements. He says to hit the long head U need to converge the arms on the way up (Concentric part of the movement), U say to hit the long head we should diverge on the way up and the opposite ways for the short head. He says we are hitting the head that is the most visible during the rep, meaning if we use a close grip we are hitting the long head as it is the most visible and if we take a wide grip we are hitting the short head as it is the most visible during the rep.. I'm just trying to make sure of the correct way to hit each head. My long head is stubborn so I want to maximize it's growth!!! I am confused, is this simply a case where two guys differ in their beliefs or do U think Jeff is just wrong on this topic? Thnkx, looking forward to your response
This is very similar to Dante Trudell's advice. His base program has you train pecs, delts, back and triceps on day one, then biceps, calves, hamstrings and quads on day two*. Days one and two are alternated on an every other day schedule, such that each muscle is worked directly three times in a two week period. *The exception is hamstrings are done last IF your hammy move of the day is SLDL or Romanians. On leg day, he saves the hardest exercise for last. He also recommends alternating between a pool of three different exercises per bodypart over that two week period, which isn't too far from your double conjugate method. For example, day one A might be weighted dips, press behind neck, skull crushers, pulldowns and barbell rows. All of those would be done to warm-ups to failure set with two brief rests followed by rest pause mini-sets; e.g., dips to failure, stop to take 15 deep breaths, have another go at it to failure, take 15 more deep breaths, then give it one last shot, generally just eeking out a rep or two, then pecs are cooked, finished. On day one B, you might do Smith inclines in a similar fashion. And so on. The only exercises not rest-paused are done for two straight sets (pulls, rack pulls, any free weight row, hammy deads) OR quad exercises which are done for a heavy set of 6-8ish and a "widowmaker" set of breathing style squat variant or leg press wherein you take your usual 10-12 RM and take just enough breaths between reps to push out 20. It's a brutal way to train but, as I said, your ideas and his mirror one another. However, I will say his methods are geared toward the enhanced lifter (no pun intended). When I was "on," training to failure in DC type workouts was a boon...but as I get older, I think I would've done better as a natty if I didn't utterly destroy myself with the insane intensity crap.
Just do arms on another day or on an off day. If you hit arms on a lower body or leg day or on an off day you’ll have no interference with the big lifts for back, shoulders, and chest
My dude is ripped again and big as fuck, youre getting the hang of it well, been watching you since forever and youve been constantly growing. Keep up the work And i just saw these rear delts, because i posted the comment in the beginning of the video, would be curious to see how you hit these bad boys to be so big and popping
Why did you state concentric are more important in the cheat curls section? Is this true in the context of biceps? Matt wenning has said eccentrics are more important for muscle growth. Thanks Alex
I do bicep work at the end of my push day and tricep work at the end of my pull day. Give it a try. My bicep exercises are machine preacher curl (short head), face-away standing cable curl (long head), and reverse grip BB curl (brachialis). It’s working great.
I built my biceps on ring curls and pelican curls on bars and getting stronger on the ring curls till able to do elevated ring curls was a game changer.
I've found really heavy 90 degree static holds has really helped. A weight too difficult to curl, but can hold at 90 degrees for say 10 seconds. Same with a 90 degree hold from a pull up bar.
All I want to add to this is that even though I had a very rough first one year in my fitness/calisthenics journey (had some moderate rotatorcuff/shoulder problems, due to me being STUPID and training without preparation in dangerous settings), and I often switched between pushups and bench press, while progressing moderately, I have to say that the pushup numbers DROPPED the moment I started taking them seriously. Which means SLOW tempo, controlled descent, proper form, pause at bottom, etc. I always get frustrated when I remember how I could crank up 25+ sets of pushups when I was in "worse" shape. But then I must remind myself: nope, those were NOT proper pushups. I am also the guy who does 5-6 chinups currently, but one of those chinups are more proper than complete sets that I see strangers do. I might progress slow nowadays, but I enjoy it. I also ignored isolation work until this november. I finally faced the fact that low rep chinups will NEVER grow my biceps enough, and then I discovered that my biceps were not being worked by the curls because of other weak links/overcompensations. Since then, I started lowering the weight, added forearm-curls and hammer curls to the mix, and wrist extension work as well -and voile, suddenly I can feel bicep curls in my...BICEPS :D Doing a slower movement is always going to be preferrable compared to the alternatives, imho. I'm glad I stuck around. (Great channel btw, somehow your style is addictive :D)
Having a good should always bring up your arms. Develop shoulder makes your arm look better and it becomes more define. Alex is prime example since his shoulder developed his arms look bigger and more defined bicep and tricep both. Alot of people don't know that.
I personally love doing concentration curls supinated and hammer grip style. But the ultimate way to train arms is with arm wrestling training methods with added triceps work. Arm wrestlers have the strongest, biggest biceps and forearms pound 4 pound.
Alex could you please tell that in your "dumbell pressing secrets" video you told that training one arm at a time for flat bench and shoulder pressing overcome the biological law of accommodation can i do single arm for floor presses too? And can i do neutral grip dumbell for shoulders,flat bench , incline, unilateral neutral grip bench, unilateral neutral grip floor press etc. to overcome biological law of accommodation as u told that by doing a bring elbows close to the body and doing neutral grip joing angles are being manipulated? I hope you got the question
You may have covered this in the video and I may have missed it, but what rep/set ranges do you recommend for the long head and short head exercises respectively?
Hey quick question about cutting: Should I decrease Volume on a cut and train high intensity to maintain strength? What about lifting to failure on a cut, recommended or not?
excelent! Biceps first is S tier advice, specially on a full body split, you can truly take advantage of the high frecuency without suffering from the loss of focus and performance from the cardiovascular demand, this allowed me to keep volume the same, but now I actually like my arms!
Just like how Leroy Colbert and Steeve Reeves did it, combined with muscle priority! Oh yeah, I too used to hate training arms. Now I love it, all about finding a style that genuinely works for you.
I've been lifting since 1985 nonstop. I wish I figured out 1/4 of what you have in the time you have been training. As always awesome info. It will be nice to see when you hit a million subs. As for cheat curls they never did anything for size for me either. I was curling 135 for 10 then 185 for 10 and 225 for 8-10 225 was more like hurling.
The brachialis and using hammer curls are worth mentioning because they falsely push the biceps up giving the illusion of a higher peak. One of my favorites for biceps is sitting down on the ground with my elbows on a flat bench and legs underneath and using cable preacher curls. Lean back to make it harder and target the long head. Seems more beneficial than a standard dumbell curl, whereas at the top of the movement, it becomes much easier and tension is gone
you look ridiculous at 7:14, wow, well done bro. All that training over the years has paid off. I've started recording and uploading daily youtube videos following your 2017 advice from "How to Become a Better Speaker". Im on a quest to have articulation and delivery as smooth as you!
I'm a beginner, and I've been progressing on preacher curls for the year I've gone to the gym. I feel like they help me not cheat, and I dislike doing alternate curls. I do 75 lbs on the preacher curl currently (6-8 reps.) Should I ditch it and switch to barbell curls?
The keep it simple method is still relevant in 2023. Targeting the short head is what I lack more but let’s be real I’m watching this video so yeah overall my biceps lack 😅
what im asking myself (currently curling 20kg dumbells) is wether to do 3 sets of spider curls (short head) + 3 sets of face-away cable curls or 3 sets of normal standing curls + spider curls/ face-away cable curls (or maybe even 2 sets of each of those!?), tough choice
Interesting what you say about the current scientific consensus having reversed position on the emphasis of internal or external rotation on the bicep heads. Googling still suggests the 'old' consensus prevails and my own empirical experience says external rotation hits the inner (short head) bicep. Can you link to studies which suggest otherwise please?
Yeah my mind muscle connection favors the short head. So I have thick biceps but no peak. It has taken a long time to feel that outer head and work it. I've done the simple things you said but given my mind muscle connection, I'd do it with the inner head anyway. I finally figured out some things to help that connection to make it grow but I lose that connection easily.
2x10 followed by 2 AMRAPS with the same weight on barbell curls and overhead barbell extension brought my arms from 15.5 to 17.25 in less than a year. Once you hit 20 reps on the last AMRAP set increase the weight slightly. I’d do this on intensity upper days and do pushdowns and hammers on my volume
20 year old youtubers on Tren are like "I struggled for ALL 18 months of my lengthy training career to build biceps until I used these 5 simple NEEDLE TIPS then my arms blew up, my meat head face, my nipples and even my Bacne even BLEW UP!" Compared to Alex, a QUALITY source for advice: Alex is a lifetime natty whose arms were a weak point he struggled to overcome
Love this 😂😂😂
You know it OG, I've been in the trenches and everything is documented since 2013. I've shown what works, what doesn't, and never stopped learning. For my areas of struggle (here being arms), you know the advice will feature tons of nuance.
@@AlexLeonidas its a shame people are so easily fooled by faux experts like tren tweens, d bol dbags etc.
@N7 Andy i purposely didn’t name drop lol. But if you are talking about them. BRO srsly I read multiple multiple comments talking about how they are natural they used one of their transformations as a reference lmao 🤣. I bet every one of their videos has a people arguing about it. People are very gullible and believe what they want
@N7 Andy I know of him. These boys simp to these guys JUST like basement dwellers do to female twitch streamers or OF girls . It’s pathetic.
@N7 AndyThe dude's just hating cause they're stronger than him. Lmao give me a break man.
Arm Training tips are always especially helpful when the message comes from a fella that struggled to grow them for so long. You’ve tried a lot in that regard
I appreciate that Paris and that too goes for your videos on disadvantages leverages, I take lifters very seriously who overcame serious weaknesses. You just know the advice is uniquely specific.
This interaction is wholesome af
I’m thankful to have such abundant sources of experience to learn from.
@CAPTAIN BICEPS cheat reps don't count
and from a lifetime natty who struggled for years like Alex. This is a quality source for advice. Vs some youtubers like 20 year olds on Tren: "I struggled for 18 months of my lengthy training career to build biceps until I did these 5 SIMPLE TIPS!" LOL
Dude just noticed how HUGE your shoulders got over the last months. Mad respect 🙏🏻🙏🏻
Brazilian here, your kind of content is really unique.
The youtube fitness/bodybuilding community here in Brazil is Huge, but there's still very few drug free oriented channels, your content is really valluable, keep it lit!
Verdade, sempre pego dica de canal gringo
I'm determined to get 18 inch arms naturally. This information is gold!
That first shot in the video displays how crazy good your physique is.
My arms have always been my strongpoint but I'm glad I still watched it, there are always some training gems in every video you put out, whether it be about exercises or programming in general. The antagonist pairing you mentioned earlier on in the video almost flicked a switch in my head, I'm definitely incorporating that into my routine. Love the content man, keep up the good work
There's always something that's applicable! Cheers Mustafa
The first time I took any of your advice was back in 2020 during quarantine with the bodyweight psychotic workout. The thing about you is that everything you recommend, you've done. And your methods are proven. You are very articulated and take this seriously. Also, no one asked you to do what you do, which is helping thousands of people like me in their training journey. You have impacted many lives. We are grateful to you.
Thank you so much, Mr. Garcia!! I'm grateful for real ones like you. You're right that I take this very seriously and welcome those who are on the same page 💯
@@AlexLeonidas what I admire a lot about you is that you dare to become who you want to be. You got that warrior in you and you put in a lot of work. You are one of the Greats!
Great points Alex. Spot on about prioritizing biceps in the program. I saw the most growth when I placed them as my first exercise. No excuses at that point 💪
The simplest fix ever, great that this worked for you John 💪
I’ll try that now! Will report back in some months!
@@D3RHiRO would love to hear how it went 😁
More dedicated arm days and really dialing in on the staples really helped me. Just focusing on improving my strength on straight bar curls and db curls and doing them for 5-6 hard sets with a couple to failure instead of bouncing around machines and doing a bunch of different movements
@@D3RHiRO hey Daniel how did it go for your biceps!
personally, as a calisthenics guy, I like to dedicate cycles focused on my weaknesses. If I would put loads of emphasis on my biceps, I would do something like supinated back lever pull-ups with bands (or curl, idk how you would call it), then an overhead focused pressing exercise, then something like a back focus exercise (front lever type stuff, not one arm pull-up, since there would be a lot of tork applied on the elbow), and then doing barbell ez bar strict curl, and finally, some concentration curls. of course, i would do some "impossible" dips, skullcrushers in a pike position... and of course a finisher with superslow reps.
This is awesome. Arm training videos from NH, BOH and AL all within a few days. Now we have no excuse not to make inspiring gains this year!
Chest expanders and bands taught me so much on how to feel the muscle and proper rep control.
Underrated truth, same here!
Definitely need a part 2!! Awesome video as always mate
Great video. I watched one of your old videos about heavy bicep and i agree. For a period of time i got caught up on this elbow positions and i neglected basic barbell and dumbbell curl for months. I saw some definition from my long head because i was doing alot of long head exercises or maybe because i was on a cut anyways i had no mass and recently i started doing barbell and dumbbell curls and i started to get some mass. My advice to anyone will be never neglect the bread and butter of the bicep and that is standard curls with barbell or dumbbells
Great video & agree with what you said. The most effective ways I’ve found to build huge & strong biceps are: 💪
1. Do dedicated arm days (supersetting biceps & triceps exercises)
2. Include a good amount of isolation exercises
3. Stick to the 4-5 safest & most effective biceps movements & with proper form that keeps constant tension on the biceps
4. Push hard enough in all working sets to drive strength & size gains
5. Occasionally include some forced negatives on things like the preacher curl with a spotter assisting by helping to lift it up and providing extra resistance on the way down.
6. Progressive Overload intelligently with no ego lifting.
All S Tier tips my man! 💪💪
Saw this comment just now but aren't 4-5 exercises a bit much for biceps? Wouldn't 2 exercises per week be just as effective, if not more?
@@GrandVoyager92 2 exercises can work well, but 3-4 can be better. My reference to 4-5 exercises was actually about sticking to selecting 3-4 exercises from the best and most effective 4-5 exercises for biceps. Sorry for not being more clear about that. And generally speaking, doing between 8-14 working sets per week for biceps (or pretty much any other muscle group for that matter) depending on your experience level will be the best range to stick with for the best results. There’s more to it than that, but that’s the short version of it for a TH-cam comment response.
@@FitLabb Thanks man. I've got no problem figuring out volume, but how you should spread that volume across exercises is damn confusing. It's often recommended that you do shortened before midranged/ lenghtened curls and pushdowns before overhead extensions, using variations, twice per week. That would be a minimum of 4 exercises per week. Now wouldn't the results be the same if you're doing 8 sets with 2 different exercises, say ez bar curls on the one day and dumbbell hammer curls on the other, as opposed to with 4? Sure you can bias certain areas of the biceps and triceps more, but does that really matter that much?
@@GrandVoyager92 I’ll be honest with you, it sounds like wherever or whoever you’re getting your advice from about this is making it totally unnecessarily complicated, and may also not really understand how to program things properly. For a quick explanation, assuming muscle hypertrophy is your main goal, you should always be doing all exercises with a full ROM, or at very least including movements that include full extension while under tension, as that fully extended position under tension is one of the most important keys to building larger muscles (among several other factors). Just select 3-4 exercises for any given workout per muscle group you’re hitting, and perform 2-4 sets for each one that has you going to within 1-3 reps from hitting failure (even going to muscle failure on a couple sets if you’re able to safely do that), after doing an appropriate warmup, and stick to that general program for a good period of time, possibly swapping one or two exercises out for one or two others periodically if you choose to. Use progressive overload in your program over time to increase the reps and/or resistance in each subsequent workout by about 5% or so, and record everything you do in some sort of training log. Thats the best advice I have for you which has worked incredibly well for me as well as the hundreds of clients I’ve trained over the years. It really doesn’t need to be overly complicated and shouldn’t be, as many people who push overly complicated plans like that are usually preying on beginners who don’t know any better. Anyway, hope that helps you, and let me know if you have any other questions.
Dude the quality of every new content...💪
Great video. I definitely focused mainly on compounds and arms/delts have always lagged because of this.
I’ll keep saying it, the realest on this platform😎👑
Great video man, Im currently trying to grow past 17" arms that look a little small on my 6'4 frame. Gonna be using some of this in my workout today
Dont worry about 17" arms looking small, im a touch taller than you and have 14" arms. I have advenced pull ups, intermediate presses and i weigh 210+lbs. Guess i should start taking arm training seriosly to combat that.
Believe me dude, 17" arms don't look small even on your height.
Most guys have like 14" arms ffs
I will definitely try this out on my next legs day thanks Alex!
Thanks Alex, your videos are inspirational, not just from a muscle building perspective.
I love training biceps. My biggest tip is to pretend you don't have hands or forearms. Just scoop the weight up with your upper arms. This helped me use my biceps more.
I fucking love the arm videos man - these are very very helpful! I have noticed gains particularly in my tricep longhead thanks to your advice! We can never stop learning!
we NEED a part 2 there's never enough content about biceps
Looking forward to the forearm guide. Keep up the good work
Just get an arm day fellas
I remember I coded a robotic pair of arms that could curl more than me. That was a big wakeup call.
Pretty dope lol
You’re my spirit animal Alex 🙏🏻
For anyone, look up Leroy Colbert. Natual with 21 inch arms. Says the same thing. Train arms first for bigger arms
Yes! A part 2 would be appreciated.
Great video as always. One thing that's helped me recently is pre-exhausting the forearms before bicep curls so they don't take over during my direct bicep work.
Interesting, didn't consider pre-exhaust in that way!
@@AlexLeonidas You actually recommended this strategy back then in your video : Good Way To Build Bigger Biceps
How would that help? I never understood that concept. Surely if it affects your set then you would have to use less weight this way because your forearms fatigue first which wouldnt help your issue with bicep growth but make it even worse?
@@joojotin One of the functions of the brachioradialis in the forearm is elbow flexion. I suppose pre-fatiguing this will bias the biceps more
@@ciarfah No, it will make it more brachioradialis as its already fatigued, that means it has less output and will limit your biceps performance becasue it reaches failure before the biceps.
Always do first what you prioritise, if you dont other limitors come into play.
Only thing this can help with is you are forced to lower the weight and use better form but you can do that from the get go and not set any limitors for bicep performance.
I am enjoying your videos, you explain things so much better for me, I am 66 years old. thanks
Really glad I found this channel - great advices - thank you Alex.
Leroy Colbert was the man... I used to binge watch his content, was so great! May his soul rest in peace
Likewise brother, Leroy changed my life! RIP to a legend
Unique exercise for biceps peak. Combine forearm supination and elbow flexion into a single movement by performing bicep curls with an asymmetrically loaded dumbbell. Use adjustable dumbbell with at least 50% more weight on the pinky side.
In my case it was biceps nerve squized under front delt.
Brahialis muscles was spazmed and not allowing biceps to work.
Also trigger point in biceps.
Biceps was spazmed also.
Also some problem in shoulder blade instability.
Now after everything is fixed I am getting newbie gains in my biceps after 12 years of training.
medial/median nerve?
my goal at a bodyweight of 143lbs is to be able to hit strict EZ bar curls, and dumbbell curls, and follow that up with 15KG weighted chinups for 3x10. I think this should bring incredible gains at my current strength level
Dude your a legend! Thanks for all this great knowledge! I'm going to definitely apply all of this to my training!!!
Your biceps are looking great bro.
Definitely need a part 2 dude
First tip is priceless and probably why they're so stubborn. I literally am watching this as I'm chucking in some curls after a heavy bench sesh 😅🤦🏼♂️
This entire time I've been doing curls with my arms tucked straight out in front of me because I thought that was just *the* correct form, and always wondered why my biceps seemed thick but never super tall or peaked, I'm definitely going to try training with my arms angled from now on
It's mostly about insertion
Same here and whats worse is this way feels the WORST to me
I built most of my biceps size on good ol' preacher curls, dumbbell concentration curls and a TON of dumbbell hammer curls. I don't program barbell curls or even ez bar curls these days, but I'm fairly strong at them without really training them (1rm BB strict curl is about 125-130#). Not super impressive (still got work to do as always 👍), but it took quite a while to get there. Patience was key.
I think the slow, consistent progression is a key message. Biceps are a small muscle, to be strong you have to spend a lot of time with good, basic hypertrophy principles and just keep at it. There will always be guys that let their egos drive their arm training. It just doesn't go anywhere other than tendinitis. Being fairly strict, good eccentric control, and listening to your body is key. Paying attention to your forearm imbalances can really help you avoid tendinitis. My pronator teres tends to get fairly tight and working on that helps a ton.
Chin-Ups almost isolate the short head of the biceps from the long head due to the simultaneous elbow flexion and shoulder extension (the long head also contributes to shoulder flexion, so having the shoulders extend at the same time as the elbows causes the muscle’s length to remain about the same, so the body only uses this head for stabilization).
I do them frequently, and am even good at doing them (can do about 16-18 per set if that's the first exercise I do). My biceps are literally nonexistent unless I flex, and not particularly appealing when I flex either.
Alex you are the best on here after dr mike
bro i swear this was much needed for me ...i use all the tips and suggestions from my next workout and update you after 4 weeks
Dude has the best channel ever🙈🙊
Your heavy 5x5 advice and throwing them in the middle of my session have blown my arms up.
I have a 4 day upper lower split, i think I'm gonna integrate arms as starter for lower days and calves for upper. I would still feel weird to pre exhaust these muscles for my main lift. Let's get those gains ✌️🤘
Same as well im on a lower upper split 4 days a week, so idk how integrate this, i already do shoulders on lower days
@@mikexcanxjerka little late but base the upper lower split as a 9 day split, so on each day, prioritize a body part more than the others
The only compound movements I can think of that actually hit biceps significantly are gymnastic ones, and even if you're doing those, you can isolate, like how you can isolate triceps after doing push ups
Alex, Jeff Cavaliere at Athlean X says the same thing U say about hitting the short and long head of the bicep in reference to where the elbow is at the start of the movement, meaning to hit the long head start with the elbow behind the body and for the short head start with elbow in front of the body, however he says the opposite of what U say about hitting the short and long heads of the biceps in terms of converging and diverging movements. He says to hit the long head U need to converge the arms on the way up (Concentric part of the movement), U say to hit the long head we should diverge on the way up and the opposite ways for the short head.
He says we are hitting the head that is the most visible during the rep, meaning if we use a close grip we are hitting the long head as it is the most visible and if we take a wide grip we are hitting the short head as it is the most visible during the rep..
I'm just trying to make sure of the correct way to hit each head.
My long head is stubborn so I want to maximize it's growth!!!
I am confused, is this simply a case where two guys differ in their beliefs or do U think Jeff is just wrong on this topic?
Thnkx, looking forward to your response
This is very similar to Dante Trudell's advice. His base program has you train pecs, delts, back and triceps on day one, then biceps, calves, hamstrings and quads on day two*. Days one and two are alternated on an every other day schedule, such that each muscle is worked directly three times in a two week period.
*The exception is hamstrings are done last IF your hammy move of the day is SLDL or Romanians. On leg day, he saves the hardest exercise for last.
He also recommends alternating between a pool of three different exercises per bodypart over that two week period, which isn't too far from your double conjugate method. For example, day one A might be weighted dips, press behind neck, skull crushers, pulldowns and barbell rows. All of those would be done to warm-ups to failure set with two brief rests followed by rest pause mini-sets; e.g., dips to failure, stop to take 15 deep breaths, have another go at it to failure, take 15 more deep breaths, then give it one last shot, generally just eeking out a rep or two, then pecs are cooked, finished.
On day one B, you might do Smith inclines in a similar fashion. And so on.
The only exercises not rest-paused are done for two straight sets (pulls, rack pulls, any free weight row, hammy deads) OR quad exercises which are done for a heavy set of 6-8ish and a "widowmaker" set of breathing style squat variant or leg press wherein you take your usual 10-12 RM and take just enough breaths between reps to push out 20.
It's a brutal way to train but, as I said, your ideas and his mirror one another. However, I will say his methods are geared toward the enhanced lifter (no pun intended). When I was "on," training to failure in DC type workouts was a boon...but as I get older, I think I would've done better as a natty if I didn't utterly destroy myself with the insane intensity crap.
Just do arms on another day or on an off day. If you hit arms on a lower body or leg day or on an off day you’ll have no interference with the big lifts for back, shoulders, and chest
Honestly, antagonist pairings could receive a video of its own!
You’ve got the same bicep insertion as me, it’s horrible looks like we’ve been working out for 1 month rip
Charles Glass recommendeds "Swoop curls" - where during a curl u bring ur elbows up, then bring the barbell to ur forehead. Seems to work!
Thank you. Very good point
My dude is ripped again and big as fuck, youre getting the hang of it well, been watching you since forever and youve been constantly growing. Keep up the work
And i just saw these rear delts, because i posted the comment in the beginning of the video, would be curious to see how you hit these bad boys to be so big and popping
Hell yeah Mike!!
Why did you state concentric are more important in the cheat curls section? Is this true in the context of biceps? Matt wenning has said eccentrics are more important for muscle growth. Thanks Alex
jesus, that delt looks absolutely nutty at 2:20
It kinda makes sense to train biceps first on a pull day that way when you do pull ups/Rows the back has to do more work. Great vid!
I’d think the back does less work, as the biceps give out first. I simply add more sets of pull-ups…. :)
im a powerlifter but i go hard with isolation as well
You're looking great Alex
I do bicep work at the end of my push day and tricep work at the end of my pull day. Give it a try. My bicep exercises are machine preacher curl (short head), face-away standing cable curl (long head), and reverse grip BB curl (brachialis). It’s working great.
I think you meant to say the long head is worked when the arms are in ..and the short head when the arms are angled out..
Good job Alex
I built my biceps on ring curls and pelican curls on bars and getting stronger on the ring curls till able to do elevated ring curls was a game changer.
I've found really heavy 90 degree static holds has really helped. A weight too difficult to curl, but can hold at 90 degrees for say 10 seconds. Same with a 90 degree hold from a pull up bar.
What about gymnast rings isolation exercises for biceps or straight arm exercises on rings
All I want to add to this is that even though I had a very rough first one year in my fitness/calisthenics journey (had some moderate rotatorcuff/shoulder problems, due to me being STUPID and training without preparation in dangerous settings), and I often switched between pushups and bench press, while progressing moderately, I have to say that the pushup numbers DROPPED the moment I started taking them seriously. Which means SLOW tempo, controlled descent, proper form, pause at bottom, etc.
I always get frustrated when I remember how I could crank up 25+ sets of pushups when I was in "worse" shape. But then I must remind myself: nope, those were NOT proper pushups.
I am also the guy who does 5-6 chinups currently, but one of those chinups are more proper than complete sets that I see strangers do. I might progress slow nowadays, but I enjoy it.
I also ignored isolation work until this november. I finally faced the fact that low rep chinups will NEVER grow my biceps enough, and then I discovered that my biceps were not being worked by the curls because of other weak links/overcompensations. Since then, I started lowering the weight, added forearm-curls and hammer curls to the mix, and wrist extension work as well -and voile, suddenly I can feel bicep curls in my...BICEPS :D
Doing a slower movement is always going to be preferrable compared to the alternatives, imho. I'm glad I stuck around. (Great channel btw, somehow your style is addictive :D)
natural hypertrophy does narrow grip preacher curls, and the guys biceps are enormous, take Alex's word for it
If you can't afford an arm blaster (or don't want to use one), resting the triceps again the front of the lats will do the trick.
I would really like a similar video on calves!
Having a good should always bring up your arms. Develop shoulder makes your arm look better and it becomes more define. Alex is prime example since his shoulder developed his arms look bigger and more defined bicep and tricep both. Alot of people don't know that.
I personally love doing concentration curls supinated and hammer grip style. But the ultimate way to train arms is with arm wrestling training methods with added triceps work. Arm wrestlers have the strongest, biggest biceps and forearms pound 4 pound.
I dont know if recommanding Wide grip bar curl is a great admise since mathew zlat teared his biceps with Wide grip .. What do you think ?
Alex could you please tell that in your "dumbell pressing secrets" video you told that training one arm at a time for flat bench and shoulder pressing overcome the biological law of accommodation can i do single arm for floor presses too? And can i do neutral grip dumbell for shoulders,flat bench , incline, unilateral neutral grip bench, unilateral neutral grip floor press etc.
to overcome biological law of accommodation as u told that by doing a bring elbows close to the body and doing neutral grip joing angles are being manipulated?
I hope you got the question
You may have covered this in the video and I may have missed it, but what rep/set ranges do you recommend for the long head and short head exercises respectively?
Alex do you think the easy curl bar hits the biceps differently
Hey quick question about cutting: Should I decrease Volume on a cut and train high intensity to maintain strength? What about lifting to failure on a cut, recommended or not?
excelent! Biceps first is S tier advice, specially on a full body split, you can truly take advantage of the high frecuency without suffering from the loss of focus and performance from the cardiovascular demand, this allowed me to keep volume the same, but now I actually like my arms!
Just like how Leroy Colbert and Steeve Reeves did it, combined with muscle priority! Oh yeah, I too used to hate training arms. Now I love it, all about finding a style that genuinely works for you.
I've been lifting since 1985 nonstop. I wish I figured out 1/4 of what you have in the time you have been training. As always awesome info. It will be nice to see when you hit a million subs. As for cheat curls they never did anything for size for me either. I was curling 135 for 10 then 185 for 10 and 225 for 8-10 225 was more like hurling.
Much love Cain, I'm happy my videos are relatable to a seasoned lifting vet like you! Cheers to more success
The brachialis and using hammer curls are worth mentioning because they falsely push the biceps up giving the illusion of a higher peak.
One of my favorites for biceps is sitting down on the ground with my elbows on a flat bench and legs underneath and using cable preacher curls. Lean back to make it harder and target the long head. Seems more beneficial than a standard dumbell curl, whereas at the top of the movement, it becomes much easier and tension is gone
Pls do for calves 🙏 excellent vids btw 🔥
Do you think specializing in the close grip bench would result in bigger triceps?
you look ridiculous at 7:14, wow, well done bro. All that training over the years has paid off. I've started recording and uploading daily youtube videos following your 2017 advice from "How to Become a Better Speaker". Im on a quest to have articulation and delivery as smooth as you!
Much love OG, hard work always pays off when you never give up. Keep grinding on that quest, I know you got what it takes 💯
hey man would these bicep curls hurt the elbows for people over 60 years old or would it bulletproof them?
I'm a beginner, and I've been progressing on preacher curls for the year I've gone to the gym. I feel like they help me not cheat, and I dislike doing alternate curls. I do 75 lbs on the preacher curl currently (6-8 reps.) Should I ditch it and switch to barbell curls?
The keep it simple method is still relevant in 2023. Targeting the short head is what I lack more but let’s be real I’m watching this video so yeah overall my biceps lack 😅
There's more detail in Alex's Video breakdowns than in my arms...I don't know who that says more about :D Great video man!
Preciate that man, it's all about the nuances!
what im asking myself (currently curling 20kg dumbells) is wether to do 3 sets of spider curls (short head) + 3 sets of face-away cable curls or 3 sets of normal standing curls + spider curls/ face-away cable curls (or maybe even 2 sets of each of those!?), tough choice
Needed this video right now. Just tried pre-exhausting my arms before an upper body day and it was was great. Can confirm its a good idea.
Curl. Got it. Thanks.👍
Interesting what you say about the current scientific consensus having reversed position on the emphasis of internal or external rotation on the bicep heads. Googling still suggests the 'old' consensus prevails and my own empirical experience says external rotation hits the inner (short head) bicep. Can you link to studies which suggest otherwise please?
I like chins super set with eZ curls rest pause. One all out set, usually get light headed after.
Yeah my mind muscle connection favors the short head. So I have thick biceps but no peak. It has taken a long time to feel that outer head and work it. I've done the simple things you said but given my mind muscle connection, I'd do it with the inner head anyway. I finally figured out some things to help that connection to make it grow but I lose that connection easily.
2x10 followed by 2 AMRAPS with the same weight on barbell curls and overhead barbell extension brought my arms from 15.5 to 17.25 in less than a year. Once you hit 20 reps on the last AMRAP set increase the weight slightly. I’d do this on intensity upper days and do pushdowns and hammers on my volume
U r 100% right all ur videos
It's all about that stretch
Incredible. Currently I’ve implemented and Shoulder and Arm day. I feel great. But I’m knackered.
yo how many times a week u workout en how many meals a day u eat thx