Thursday, October 1, 2009

Kick Your Bicep Workout into Overdrive

If your biceps are less than you would like them to be, you're not alone. A lot of guys like those bulging biceps and work on them almost religiously. Just take a stroll into any gym at any given time, and you should see a number of truly "bulging" biceps working harder to get even bigger. But sometimes, you can do more harm than good if you don't do things right. Make the most of your bicep workout by following a few simple tips.
First things first
If your biceps are the area of your body you want to target most, do some bicep exercises first, at the start of your workout when you have the most energy. This is called "prioritizing," and it's something that can make exercising most effective for particular area of your body that you want to improve, such as your abs or your biceps. That doesn't mean that you can ignore the rest of your muscle groups to work on your biceps, but by starting on them first, you're going to make sure that they get the full attention they need.
Go easy
When it comes to your bicep workout, work out smarter and harder, but not necessarily "more." That is, you want to challenge yourself with every workout to do just a little more, but not a lot more. If you try to overextend yourself, you're going to get hurt so that you won't be able to work out. See how that can set you back? So instead of trying to be all gung ho about getting bulging biceps, push yourself just a little, little bit farther, with every workout. For example, you could increase your reps by just one or two every workout, building as you go.
Watch yourself for form, not vanity
Taking a look at yourself in the mirror every now and again to check on your form is a good idea, so that you get maximum results and don't risk injury. However, if you obsessively do bicep curls or something similar in front of the mirror just to watch yourself work out, stop. Chances are, if you're checking your stuff out in the mirror obsessively, you're not concentrating enough on how you're feeling or on how the bicep workout itself is really going -- meaning that you should be challenging yourself and isolating your biceps so to really make progress. So nix the mirror except for the purposes of checking your form every now and again.
Focus on a whole body workout as much as you do your bicep workout
We know you want bulging biceps, but you're not going to be doing yourself any favors if you work on your biceps and skimp on the rest of your workout. The fact is, those biceps have to perform double duty during the workout, meaning that they're going to be essential to other parts of your workout as well, like back exercises. So if you tire them out too much, you're not going to be as effective during the rest of your workout.
The other thing is, when you focus on whole body workouts, your biceps are going to be getting plenty of a workout, too. Have you ever noticed that some of the biggest guys with the biggest biceps often don't pay that much special attention to their biceps in particular? That's because they work out hard with everything. So if you're doing rowing exercises, chin-ups, pull-ups, and that sort of thing, your biceps are getting a workout, too. That's not to say you can't do bicep isolation exercises -- of course you can. Just don't focus on them to the exclusion of the rest of your workout, because not only will you be shorting your biceps, but you'll also be wimping out on other muscle groups that need attention.
Change positions
With your bicep workout, you're probably used to holding the dumbbell in a certain way. However, if you change your position ever so slightly, you're going to be working different parts of the bicep so that it's fully getting taxed. So for example, elbows out, close grip on the dumbbell works your biceps' outer area, while placing your elbows close to your side and adopting a wide grip on the bar is going to work the inner area of your biceps.
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