Ok, I could be wrong about this because it may be in 2nd place right after chest exercises but one things you can count on always seeing being done in the gym is bicep exercises. I know that there are days when I go to the gym that I work on ONLY biceps and triceps as we all (well at least men) want to have those chiseled biceps that it seems only the hardest workers at the gym ever actually achieve.
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First off, I am never going to look like whoever that is in the pic above and there is a very good chance that you aren't going to either because chances are you have a job and that job is not bodybuilding professionally. So let's just stick to being as good as we can be instead of aspiring to something impossible like that, ok?
There are a number of exercises that you can do that can increase the efficiency of your workout on your biceps but the main thing that you need to remember this one thing:
Your form is much more important than how much you are lifting
I say it over and over again because I see guys in the gym all the time when they are lifting with their ego when they reach for the 15's and really cheat a lot to completely exercise and therefore aren't really even benefitting their biceps so much as they are transferring the work to their shoulders and back. If you aren't isolating the muscle group, you may as well just do core exercises because there is far less chance of injury doing those.
The preacher seat /bench
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The preacher seat enforces isolation and this can be a real eye opener to someone that is cheating on their curls while standing since it isn't possible to cheat at these. They allow for a wider range of motion as well so that you can target the lower bicep muscles that most people, including me, have a difficult time targeting using other exercises.
You need to select a very small weight on this in order to feel out how much you can actually do and it may surprise you how little that number actually is if you do the full motion. DO NOT do half moves. Complete the full motion of the curl to a certain number of reps and then record what you have done. Try to improve the weight slightly each time you return to the gym but if you can't, don't sweat it, the gains will come in time.
If you find yourself being compelled to only do half motions because the lower part of the curl is "too hard" then you are missing the entire point of using this machine. It is supposed to be hard and that is why you should step the weight down. You should aim for a certain number of reps where the last 1 or 2 are barely possible. Don't try to be a hero.... start small and work your way up.
Your own body as a stabilizer
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There are a variety of ways of accomplishing this but the most common way is sitting down and using your own knees for stability. For reasons I do not understand, me and most other people are able to curl significantly greater weights in this position than on the "preacher seat." This is probably because you are not going to go through a fully extended arm position. The idea here is to isolate just your biceps and by sitting down and using your leg as a "stabilizer" you eliminate the ability to cheat. Once again you should be aiming for a certain number of reps where the last 1 or 2 are very difficult.
The benefit of being in this position is that if you get stuck, it is much easier to drop the weight into a grounded position than on the preacher seat, which sometimes has a hilariously small rack at the end of it and i find this to be a design flaw, actually.
use a "bicep blaster"
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Unfortunately, most of the gyms that I go to don't even have these things and that is a shame because they are extremely effective in enforcing proper form. It must be a hygiene issue... I have no idea. However, if you are lucky enough to have a gym that contains one of these I highly suggest that you use one. Most of them you have to do 2-handed curls because otherwise the weight would simply force the strap behind you now, wouldn't it?
All of these methods have the same general principal behind them and that is the enforce proper form. If you are the guy that is throwing up weights in the mirror because you want to pretend that you are the strongest person in the gym you are actually doing the exercise completely wrong and aren't really benefitting yourself very much in the bicep department. Focus on proper form, not the amount of weight you are lifting. I promise you will "feel the burn" more if you do it this way. Do it not, and you end up exercising your shoulders more than anything else and also opening yourself up to much higher chances of injury.
You can do it! PS: I am not nearly as big as any of the guys in the above pictures because I am a normie and there are certain parts of my diet that I refuse to eliminate. The number one thing being beer of course. I often wonder how much better shape i could be in if I changed that aspect of my life but since it is my primary method of having fun, we are unlikely to ever find out!
Concentration curls are my favorite for building height in biceps. I thought the pics were of you, false advertising!
Lol at the last part. Yea beer kills physique!
@tipu curate
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yeah sorry about the false advertising. I'm afraid I always scoff at people that take selfies at the gym so I refrain from doing so. Perhaps one day if I get lucky and am the only person there :P
Good tips. Another thing I've been told is that your biceps will look bigger when you train your triceps and brachialis, which will push the biceps up when they grow.
absolutely true. Tricep exercises are actually some of my favorite ones to do as well and there are so many variations of them. For me, my triceps are actually a bit stronger than my biceps are, which i find surprising.
Nice! I do all of them but standing barbell curls are my favorite :) Cool blog btw, I think I will be a regular visitor ;)
awesome man! Thanks for commenting, I do appreciate the engagement.