Peak Biceps Training Tip

Use to be when ever any one asked me how to get a better peak on their bicep I would say “find a new mother” because … I believed the shape of your bicep was determined at birth and there wasn’t much you could do about it. You just had to live with it and make the best of what you had. Later on I learned that wasn’t true.

When I first started training at Vince’s Gym, someone told me I had a pretty good bicep. It surprised me because I wasn’t even interested in biceps at the time. Triceps were my first love. But I figured what the heck maybe I should focus a little more energy on my biceps.

So I asked Vince what he thought was the best exercise for biceps. He directed me to his Preacher bench and I began a life long love affair with that funny little bench. The only problem with the preacher bench is … it is so darn tough on elbows. Sooner or later you are going to get injured and I have injured myself many times on it. In fact it was one of those injuries that helped me discover something I never knew before. My elbows just wouldn’t put up with one more set of preacher curls so I was trying to find something I could do.

I switched to the Spider bench and started playing around with different angles to see if I could come up with something that made it more effective … wasn’t expecting anything spectacular … just trying to heal so I could get back to the preacher.

Started changing the angle and testing … Kept bumping it up by 5 degrees until I seemed to hit a cross over threshold … The movement sprang to life …. I forgot all about “injury healing” … got that serious “don’t bother me look” and dug in for some new found growth. What a pump I was getting … and the peak … I had never felt anything like it before … went over in front of the mirror … stuck my arm straight out and still there was a peak on my bicep … couldn’t tear my eyes off what was happening right before my eyes. I had found a new friend.

It wasn’t long before I couldn’t even get to the Spider bench because everyone else was on it. I want you to feel the same thing so you can enjoy the thrill of seeing your arms take on this kind of beauty.

Barbell Technique

Visualize this if you can. You’re lying face down on the bench. Your arms are hanging over the top of the cross and the back of the arms are supported by the arm rests. Your hands are about 8 inches apart with the thumbs on the same side of the bar as the fingers. You curl the bar all the way up to the chin and down again until you can’t do any more full reps. Then do 4 or 5 half reps at the top. Lower the bar and do 5 or 6 1/4 reps at the bottom. Then bounce out 10 or 12 reps right down low until your arms are roasted.

Believe me … this system is almost magic when it comes to building peak biceps. We never failed to finish off our arms with “burnouts on the Spider” till we couldn’t stand the pain. Then we ran over to the tape measure to see how much we could get. Makes my mouth water just to think about it.

Advanced Dumbbell Version

Your hands are holding the dumbbells with the “butt” of the palms up against the plates and the thumbs on the same side of the bar as the fingers. Curl the dumbbells all the way to the top, totally supinating the palms right at the top. The more you supinate (turn the palms out) the more you chisel a peak on the bicep.

Do 6 reps all the way to the top and down again until you can’t do any more full reps. Then do 5 half reps at the top. Lower the dbs and do 5 reps at the bottom. Then bounce out 12 reps right down low until your arms are roasted. Makes my mouth water just to think about it. Especially when I remember the more you compound the intensity, the more Growth Hormone you get and Growth Hormone builds size and burns fat.