Why Aren’t Your Biceps Growing?

The ever elusive bicep. The literal peak of the world’s physique aspirations, but why doesn’t everyone have huge biceps?

Walking into a gym one is almost expected to see people curling, so much that the term “Curl Bro” was coined for the gym goer who only trains biceps. The odd thing about this person is that normally they don’t have big biceps. This is usually due to a mixture of bad form and a lack of understanding of the muscular structure of the bicep.

Just like any other muscle, bicep exercises must use full range of motion to be effective. Most bad form on these exercises happens when a person doesn’t let the bicep fully lengthen. This means letting the weight fully stretch the muscle on the eccentric movement of the exercise. Also, a focus on keeping your elbows stationary while curling is commonly overlooked by these “Curl Bros.” If the elbows are moving, chances are you are not lifting with your biceps, but rather a mixture of momentum and your back. Granted, cheat curls are acceptable and necessary in order to really blast your biceps, but they should be done at the end of your rep range and not as a start to a set.

Another problem that arises in the pursuit of the pumped peaks is the fact that most don’t understand how the muscles are structured in the biceps.

Most will tend to perform exercises with a focus on the biceps brachii, this consists of your dumbbell curls and wide-grip preacher curls. There is nothing wrong with these exercises, but in order to complete a big bicep one must train the brachialis as well. This can be done by performing hammer curls or close-grip curl exercises.

Next time you step into the gym on arm day, a high holy day of iron, make sure you have a plan to hit your entire bicep for ultimate growth and shirt splitting biceps!

Listed below is an example of a well-rounded bicep routine.

E-Z Curl Bar Close-Grip Curls (Standing)