This is a routine I worked out by reading various article on building your biceps and by talking and watching the guys with the really big biceps in the gym.    I’ve found that it really works very well.

The first thing I like to do is to start off with a lot of warm-up sets before lifting heavy.  I think this is very important, it’s easy to hurt the tendons at the elbow joint with heavy curling if you aren’t warmed up right.

I start all the way at down at a pair of five pound dumbbells and work my way up to about 80% of my max for a single dumbbell with single arm.  The warm-ups I do standing. 

Even with the light weights do them slowly and with perfect form.  You want to work the muscles, not fling the weight around.  Flinging weights around will only hurt you.

So, for me with the warm-up I’ve done standing dumbbells with weights of 5, 10, 20, 25, 35, 45.   45 if as heavy as I can do standing with really good form.

Now that I’m good and warmed up, and maybe even have a little bit of pump I go to seated monkey curls.

Sit at the back end of a bench and let one arm dangle palm up across the inside of one of your thighs.  Your elbow should not move from the inside of your thigh.  Make sure not to help with your back.  This is sort of like preacher curls, but with one arm.  I myself don’t like preacher curls.  I don’t like the pad in my gut. 

I also feel you get better results from working the arms singly rather than paired for this exercise.

If you are following my cycling workout schedule then you would be varying the amount of sets and reps.   

But, this exercise is supposed to be heavy.  So, whatever number of reps you are going for you should be failing within it.   If your number of reps is 4-7, you should be failing by 7 and it should be getting difficult by 4 at least.

So, if I was doing a 4-7 rep range I would curl 65 pounds with one arm, then switch to the other arm.  Depending on what week I was on I’d do 3 to 5 sets.

The next exercise I do is seated hammer curls.  The angle of the hands is as if you were holding a coffee cup.

This is a very important exercise for over all arm size.  Most lifters work directly on the bicep overlooking the muscle underneath it.  The bicep is the muscle you see.  But, for actual measurable size in the arm you need to work the muscle underneath it as well.

To perform this exercise you will set up an adjustable bench so that when you sit in it your back has an angle of about 45 degrees.  Sitting back, let your arms hang straight down to the ground.

Pick a pair of dumbbells that are your heavy weight and alternate curling them.  Again make sure that your palms are NOT facing up.    The palms should be pointing to your sides.  

Make sure you do not help with your back.   Also, after the lift DO NOT relax so much that the weight drops down quickly to the neutral position, you will hurt your elbows if you do that.

Also, DO NOT move at the shoulder.  I recommend watching yourself in a mirror from the side.     As you lift you the motion should only come from the elbow joint. In other words the arm should be straight to the ground and then the weight curled while the upper arm remains in position.  

Your elbows should not be moving forward.

It helps with form if you arch your chest out.  With this exercise you probably won’t be able to go as heavy as the last one.

The last exercise I do is 21’s.  This is my favorite as it never fails to pump up my arms. This a variation on standing bicep curls with a bar.  With this one it’s important that you use only 80% of your max weight, otherwise you won’t be able to finish.

With 21’s instead of doing a full curl right away, you do a half curl from the bottom to the middle of the range 7 times, then a half curl from the middle to the top of the range 7 times, and finally 7 full range curls.     If the final full range curls are easily finished, then the weight it not heavy enough.   You should be struggling to get the last couple of reps out.

Do not jerk the weight with your back and cheat.  If you are in your failure reps a little bit of cheating with your back is alright.   But, it’s best if you can finish without any cheating. 

I find for standing curls with a bar, it helps form a lot if you stick your chest out, bend at the knees a bit and look at the ceiling while you curl.   Keeping your head up keeps you from leaning forward and helps to isolate the biceps, and keep the back straight at the same time.

I’m usually done after two sets of 21’s with a 90 or 100 pound dumbbell.

Again, do not throw or jerk the weight around.  Throwing weight around will cause joint and tendon damage.  If you jerk weight around you are not really lifting it anyway momentum is doing part of the work.

Lifting should be steady and controlled.

After the 21’s all the heavy lifting is done. 

I then warm-down, the same way I warmed up, but in reverse.  45, 35,25,10, 5.   When I get to the tens and fives I do a few more sets very slow. 

I find this keeps my arms from getting sore the next day, and reinforces good form. And gets just a little more pump in at the end of the workout.

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