There’s nothing like feeling your biceps against your t-shirt, knowing you’re packing heat.
Even before you entered the gym, you probably wanted big biceps as a kid. Being able to show mountains when you tense your arms and filling your t-shirts are always great things, brah.
But people aren’t born with huge biceps. You have to work for them, and eat the right foods.
For this reason, we’ve put together a quick guide and workout for you; we’ll explain everything you need to know, to give you the best chance of sculpting Mount Everest on your arms.
Check it out:
What Are Your Biceps?
You’re probably laughing at us, pointing to your arms after seeing this question. But do you really know how your biceps function, and the best way to work them?
In case you don’t, we’ll give you a quick physiology lesson; this will ensure you know exactly what you’re doing, next time you’re bicep curling – and it should help you focus more on your form too…
Short head and long head
You might not have known that you have 2 different sections to your bicep – the short head and the long head.
They both function differently, so you have to hit them through different exercises in order to develop well-rounded mountains with snow-on-top.
If this is new to you, then you just realized why biceps are actually called ‘BI’-ceps.
Anyway, the short head is the one that everyone focuses on; it’s the visible part of your bicep that you want to show-off.
As the long-head is underneath the peak of the mountain, many don’t bother to train it – but this is a huge mistake.
The long head helps stabilize your shoulder
Overworking certain parts of your body while forgetting about others can be a very bad decision.
Why? Well, not only will you look unproportioned and weird-as-fuark, you’ll also be more susceptible to injuries too.
Basically, the shoulder is mainly held together by muscle, with the long head playing a key role in stabilizing it.
In fact, while the short-head is the more ‘aesthetic’ part of the bicep, it’s actually your long-head that’ll take most of the load during every-day lifting.
So next time you think about neglecting your long-head, you might want to think again bro…
Eat Right
You can work like a beast in the gym, but if you don’t get your nutrition correct, you’re not going to look like one.
Basically, eat right, and the small speed-bump on your arm will grow into a mountain.
Protein Intake
This is one of the most important things when planning your diet.
Protein is essential for promoting muscle protein synthesis, and without enough, you won’t make any gains.
But you don’t need as much as many believe…aim for around 1.5g per kg of bodyweight (which is about 120g protein for an 80kg person).
Considering 100g chicken breast contains 31g protein, it’s not as difficult as you think to achieve.
Calories
When aiming to build muscle mass, you’ll need to be in a calorie surplus (eating more calories than you burn off naturally).
Why? Because your body needs the extra calories to actually increase muscle mass.
But don’t eat too much, or you’ll simply add body fat as well as muscle; for a good starting point, we recommend around 300-500kcal over your BMR.
Everyone is different though, so it’s important that you keep track of your progress. If you feel like you’re packing on body fat, then cut down the calories slightly.
Best Workout For Biceps
Warm-Up
It’s a rookie mistake to skip the warm-up. You need to activate your muscles before you go heavy, so you don’t pull any muscles or snap your sh*t up!
But don’t spend hours warming up either. Instead, grab some resistance bands and perform a few sets of 10-20 reps of bicep curls.
After that you’ll be primed and ready to fire on all cylinders brah.
Standing Wide Grip Bicep Curls
Even when you don’t know much about training, this is the trusty exercise that most people start with for their biceps.
It’s simple and effective, but don’t go too heavy or your form will take a hit. Instead, go for a sensible weight and work up from there.
As you’re going for a wide grip here, you’ll work your short head more with this movement.
- 4 x 8-10 reps
- 1 minute rest between sets
Pulldown Bicep Curls (Narrow Grip)
You’ve probably only used the lat machine to work your lats – makes sense right?
Well, you can actually hit the long-head of your biceps using it to curl.
Just so you know, this workout involves you swapping back-and-forth from short head orientated exercises, to long head exercises; this will keep you from burning out too quickly and ensure you hit your full bicep effectively.
If you’re unsure about this movement, then check out the picture we’ve added above.
- 4 sets of 8-10 reps
- 1 minute rest between sets
Preacher Curl
Take note that we didn’t write ‘sitting’ here; you hit your bicep more while standing up, with the pad placed just below your pecs.
More specifically, you’ll be targeting your short head here. So you should feel pretty pumped and there should be a few snowflakes on your mountains by this point, bro!
If not, then stop being a b*tch and raise your intensity…
- 4 sets of 8-10 reps
- 1 minute rest between sets
Alternating Incline Dumbbell Curl
The last exercise of this workout, you’ll be finishing off with a long-head isolator here.
By this point, you should be pretty f*cked up bro, so you’ll struggle with this one. The good news is that it’s nothing too complicated.
Basically, sit on an incline bench (like you would doing a bench press), then begin curling with your back kept on the bench.
Don’t be the guy that does half reps here; let your arm go all-the-way to the bottom before curling back up again.
Just think, after this, you can go check out hot booty on SpotMeBro’s Facebook page. So put the effort in here!
- 4 sets of 8-10 reps
Conclusion: Workout For Biceps
We’ve thrown a lot of information your way in this article…Catch it, digest it and go make some gains bro.
One key thing you should have taken away is that both the short and long head of your biceps need attention; if you only focus on the peak of your bicep, your arm won’t realize its full potential.
Ultimately, if you’ve been mindlessly bicep curling without really knowing the physiology behind it, then you’ll make all-kinds-of-gains with this new information.
Follow this workout plan, and you’ll hit your biceps effectively and achieve those stacked, mountain biceps you’ve always trained towards!
