Craving to sprout bodybuilder biceps without endless hours in the gym? Want the toned arms that a UCLA study found will make you more attractive to her? Well, you’ve come to the right place. We spoke to expert personal trainers Phil Sims and Ollie Frost to give you the complete lowdown of how to get big biceps. Prepare to fire.
1. Take a weight off
You have to load the barbell until it bends and then grunts like Sharapova with a megaphone to forge bigger biceps, right? Absolutely not. Rather than trying to reach your personal best with each rep, load the bar with weights you can comfortably lift 12 to 15 times, says Frost. Why? Each massive rep actually uses up testosterone, so push your body too hard and you’ll actually deplete your body’s best muscle-building chemical. Take a leaf out of Jason Statham’s training tips and don’t overdo it
If you want to build your mirror muscles before a big night out then try 12-15 reps of bicep curls, before taking a 45-second break and starting over. Complete three rounds and you’re arms will be pumped for tearing up the town.
Dumbbell Bicep Curls
- Hold two dumbbells by your thigh, palms facing outwards.
- Use your biceps to lift the dumbbells until they are at shoulder height, then lower back down and repeat.
2. Trainless
When it comes to boosting your biceps, playing hard to get is your best strategy. In fact, you should only give your mirror muscles full attention 20-30 mins per week for best results, according to Sims. Any more will overload your cannons, tearing down the recovering muscle fibres you worked to build up.
But don’t worry, some occasions bicep flirting will keep them onside, even though you’re not spending every evening with them. Why? If you are keeping correct form with all your other workouts then your show muscles will get a secondary hit. That’s because every major pushing and pulling motion will work your biceps and triceps in a way that won’t push them too close to the edge, but still provide enough of a stimulus to deliver your tickets to the gun show.
3. Go hard or go home
If you want to come equipped with a couple of sleeve-rippers then you have to work for them – but not for very long. Short 20-minute bursts of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) are the best way to blow up your bis as they target your larger muscle fibers.
Confused? Let us explain. Your body has two types of muscle fibers: fast and slow twitch. Small slow-twitch muscle fibers are great for endurance, but they’re unlikely to fill out your t-shirt anytime soon– unless you’ve accidentally shrunk it in the wash. Fast-twitch, on the other hand, is larger and used for power movements. And not only will HIIT target your fast-twitch show muscles, but researchers at the Department of Clinical Physiology in Stockholm found intense training is an effective way of transforming fibers from slow to fast.
But wait, it gets even better. Thanks to our HIIT home workouts using dumbbells, kettlebells, or your own body weight, you don’t even need to fork out for a gym membership to fast-track the growth in your guns. Don’t say we don’t do anything for you.
4. Use your brothers in arms
The worst tactic to deploy in the arms race? Focusing on the biceps alone, says Frost. The muscles you love the most only make up a third of your arm; your triceps are twice as big and your forearms too large to ignore. The answer: compound exercises that hit all your arm at once. The simple reason: the more muscles you hit then the harder you work, the more calories you burn and the more toned you look.
Remember, parents have got their favorites (you, obviously), but like any good father, you’ve got to love equally for the best results. But how? Here are three of the best compound moves that will treat all your arm muscles equally.
Military Press
- Get down into a press-up position with your hands placed shoulder-width apart and your elbows tucked in close to your body.
- Lower your torso, keeping your elbows close to your sides throughout, until your chest is an inch from the ground.
- Explosively drive up by fully extending your arms.
Expert tip
Keep your core locked and glutes squeezed to ensure your back stays straight with no hip sag.
Dips
- Grab the bars of a dip station with your palms facing inward and your arms straight.
- Slowly lower until your elbows are at right angles, ensuring they stay tucked against your body and don't flare out.
- Drive yourself back up to the top and repeat.
Expert tip
You may want to know how to get big biceps, but a larger tricep is just as important and will accentuate the guns. To hit the triceps, keep upright with your elbows tucked in.
Close grip bench press
- Lie back on a flat bench holding a barbell with a narrow, overhand grip.
- From the starting position, breathe in and lower the bar slowly until it skims the middle of your chest.
- Push the bar back to the starting position explosively as you breathe out. Focus on pushing the bar using your chest muscles.
Expert tip
Use a fat barbell to push your forearms further.
5. Don’t neglect the little guys
No, not those. If you want to max your biceps and keep your arms in one piece then boost your stabilizing muscles. You’ll unlikely to hear a girl wooing over your rotator cuffs any time soon, but these tendons are vital in getting your arms from scrawny to brawny without injury from major muscle imbalances. Target them and keep your arm-pumping program in full swing by introducing the reverse grip bicep curl after the main event.
Reverse Grip Bicep Curl
- Raise your forearms, keeping your upper arms close to your body, so that your palms face forward and the dumbbells are shoulder height.
- Slowly return the dumbbells and repeat.
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