5 Easy Ways to Start Building Bigger Biceps

 5 Easy Ways to Start Building Bigger Biceps 

Arm yourself with these top techniques to build biceps that have height, width and detail.

 6 of 6 Join the Band 

Although they look wimpy, bands provide a unique type of resistance called linear variable resistance. This means that as the range of motion increases throughout the exercise, so does the resistance. Take the biceps curl for example. In the bottom position there is little tension from the bands. As you curl up the band is stretched. The higher you curl, the greater the stretch, the greater the stretch the more resistance it provides. The advantage to this is that as the resistance is getting greater throughout the curl you have to recruit more and more biceps muscle fibers. This can help to increase muscle power and muscle strength beyond that possible with just standard free weights such as barbells and dumbbells.

In addition, it can enhance muscle growth. Biceps are only maximally involved in the curl during the latter half of the range of motion (ROM). At the start of the curl, when the arm is fairly straight (180° angle at the elbow), the brachialis (deep muscle underneath the biceps) and brachioradialis (large forearm muscle on thumb side of arm) do most of the work lifting the weight up until the halfway point of the exercise, when the elbow angle is about 90°. The biceps do not do much of the lifting until just before this point and throughout the rest of the range of motion. When you load a bar with free weights you are limited to what the brachialis and brachioradialis can lift through the first half of the curl, which is often a lot less than what the biceps can lift from the halfway point and higher. This is why you can curl more on seated barbell curls, as discussed above. Using bands, however, allows you to start off with a lighter weight that gradually gets heavier the higher you curl it. This allows for maximal tension on the biceps when it counts and for maximal growth. You will feel this in the aching and burning of the biceps when doing curls with chains.



>> Tip: Finish off your biceps workout with three sets of 10-15 reps on band curls taken to failure.

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