10 Tips To Get You Bigger Biceps
May 24th, 2007 by Mehdi Tags: Build Muscle, Strength Training
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A big pair of biceps. That’s what we all want, isn’t it?
Getting a pair of biceps like Larry Scott, isn’t easy for many of us. This article will give you 10 tips to get you bigger biceps.
1. Eat More. The more you eat, the bigger your biceps will be. Don’t think you’ll increase the size of your biceps, if you don’t get enough calories in the first place.
What does your diet look like? Do you eat enough? Are you sure? If not: start eating more, otherwise your biceps will never grow.
2. Use Strict Form. Your technique must be top-notch in order to work your biceps maximally. When doing curls:
- Don’t sway your back
- Don’t bend at the knees
- Don’t let your elbows drift forward
- Don’t let your elbows drift back neither
- Let the weight go down until your arms are straight
Bad technique will not only keep you from achieving bigger biceps, it can also lead to injury. If your lower back hurts when doing biceps curls, watch your form: are you leaning back?
3. Train Your Biceps Less. Two reasons:
- The biceps are small muscles, you can easily exhaust them
- Muscles need rest to grow
If you train your back & arms 2 times a week on separate days, your biceps get actually worked 4 times. The question is thus: when do you give your biceps time to grow?
4. Do more Chin-ups. The Chin-up is the single best exercise for the biceps. Not only will it pack muscle size on your arms, but also on the rest of your upper body.
Chin-ups & pull-ups make you work with your own bodyweight. This means that they’ll always hit the biceps harder than any other biceps exercise. Chin-ups also involve more muscles than classic biceps exercises like curls. This leads to more testosterone & growth hormone released into your blood.
5. Do More Barbell Rows. The Bent-Over Barbell Row is another exercise that will pack muscle mass on your biceps. Just like the chin-ups, it’s a compound exercise, involving several muscles & allowing heavy weight to be handled.
6. Squat More. Look at a tree. The bigger the trunk is, the bigger the branches are. Full body exercises like the Squat will build muscles on your entire body, including your biceps. The Squat will trigger the release of testosterone & growth hormone in your body. If you don’t squat: start doing so.
7. Train Your Arms Heavy. Use the maximal weight you can handle with perfect technique. Change sets & reps every 3 weeks:
- 6 sets of 3 reps for strength
- 5 sets of 5 reps for power
- 3 sets of 10 reps for muscle growth
8. …But Watch Your Ego. Going heavy should never be a reason to train with incorrect technique. If you can’t handle perfect technique, drop the weight. There’s a difference between going heavy & turning curls into cleans.
The only exceptions would be cheat curls or powercurls. But leave that for later. Start with correct technique, as heavy as you can, before going advanced.
9. Choose The Best Isolation Exercises. Ok you’re doing chin-ups, rows & squats, but still want something more. These are my 3 favorite biceps exercises:
- Barbell Curls: allows you to move heavy weights.
- Hammer Dumbbell Curls: work also the forearm.
- Incline Dumbbell Curls: stretch the biceps.
10. Work Your Triceps. Don’t forget to work your whole arm. Biceps & triceps.
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I’m not a body builder, so I don’t waste time with isolated bicep training. I find it incomprehensible when dudes sport “yoked up” biceps and chests and scrawny backs and legs.
Thanks for the comments Steve.
I did bodybuilding in my first training years. Will never do it again. Going after strength/speed/power is more fun.
Live & let live.
Hey dude… I don’t agree with the strict form part, but the rest of the article is very good !
Thanks for the comment Chewie.
Powercurls & cheat curls are in point 8. It’s important that beginners first learn to curl correctly, before trying to cheat curl/power curl.
Hey Mehdi,
nice post brother! I agree with a lot of points, but I also want to make a comment for point 2 and 4.
point 2: strict form is okay, especially important for beginners. But advanced athletes need some cheating to keep those guns growing bigger! I think cheat barbell curls are an excellent exercise for this.
point 4: I agree with you that Chin-ups are great for back and biceps development, but to gain more inches on those guns you need some direct stimulation. You just need some isolation stuff to work your biceps for a 100 procent. Barbell curls, dumbbell curls and hammer curls are great as an isolation movement.
Okay, that’s all!! Furthermore, this is a great article!!
Ruben
Great comment Ruben.
I agree with what you everything you write.
The main reasons beginners can’t increase the size of their biceps is:
1) training the biceps too much
2) not eating enough
3) not doing compound exercises like squat & chin-ups
4) neglecting other muscles (legs/triceps/…)
A good program would be:
1) Heavy squat & heavy chin-ups as core exercises
2) assistance: biceps curls/db curls/hammer curls/cheated curls/preacher curls 2x a week, total volume of 15reps, alternating sets & reps every workout, going for both strength & hypertrophy
3) lots of rest, good nutrition
You’re experienced Ruben, you know how to use cheated curls to your advantage. Beginners do not. That’s why I only included the cheated curls in point 8.
Great comment, you add value to the article.
Hey Mehdi,
I have read endless anticles and have found that to get big you have to do the 3, deadlift, squat and benchpress. and doing like you say chinups for biceps.
I have just started weight lifting and find your advice great. I only weigh 175lbs and worried that if i eat to much then i will just get fat as im not sure how much I burn at the gym.
Eddie,
You’re totally right. The big 3 + chinups will add good size on your biceps. Those who really want to go for an extra inch or 2 can use isolation exercises. But for the majority just training for strength, chinups will do their job.
If you eat clean & train hard, eating more will pack on muscle size. They can be a little gain of fat initially. But the fact that you train, will add muscle rather than fat. The trick is to eat clean food the majority of the time & train hard.
I’ll be writing about bulking in the future. Thanks for giving me the idea Eddie.
So if you change from a high carb to a high fat then like me, if you only go to the gym 3 times a day, what sort of foods should you be eating on an “off day” from the gym, should you be consuming the same protein and calories? Wont it just store all the fat?
Eddie,
I eat the same amount of calories on off days than on training days. I’ve got one day in the week (usually sunday) where I eat a lot more than normal days.
To simplify things: you’ll start adding fat when the calories you’re consuming are much much larger than the calories you actually need. But again: the fact that you train promotes muscle gain & fat loss.
Hope that helps.
Hi,
thanx for the suggestion ,
i hav been doing the same mistakes frm beggning thats y ,
wat i want to suggest to begginers is , guyz u shud eat & eat & eat
thats it and dont ever take any supplement with taking advise from ur gym coach , which i did wasted my 3000 bugs nothing happened just 1/2 inch in my thy thats it . so just do more chinups , bench presses
gud luk.
I recently read some where that you need to add 4 inches on thigh to add 1 inch on biceps..so for big biceps squat more….