biceps lagging, help!

[pgsam]

i recently started madcows variation of 5x5. before i started, my biceps were already lagging pretty bad. im aware that some of the lifts in the 5x5 will hit them a little, but if im benching twice a week, rowing twice a week etc, they are only bound to fall further behind.

Ive been putting some extra bicep work on wednesday with the chins, but i dont think hitting them once a week will catch them up. does anyone have any ideas to work bi's in twice a week, or some variation of an exercise i could be doing to hit them more? thanks!

-sam

 

[Sub-Zero]

"benching twice a week rowing twice a week"

i dont see how rowing twice a week is gunna contribute to them lagging...

i dont even believe you that your doing madcows 5x5!

 

[pgsam]

"benching twice a week rowing twice a week"

i dont see how rowing twice a week is gunna contribute to them lagging...

i dont even believe you that your doing madcows 5x5!

i guess i worded that wrong, but what i mean is, if im making alot of gains in my upperbody, but not really hitting my biceps, not only will they stay the same, they will be even more out of proportion with the rest of my upperbody.

 

[Sub-Zero]

i thought ur biceps were still supposed to grow on that routine.

lets see what madcow has to say about this!

 

[pgsam]

i thought ur biceps were still supposed to grow on that routine.

lets see what madcow has to say about this!

agreed

 

[rao740]

u r still working out ur tri's on mon, bi's wed , and friday u can hit tri's agian that is the biggest part of ur arm. I have been using madcows 5x5 for 4 weeks now and i have seen greta gains in strength. so u r still hitting them u just feel becasue u do not deticate one day to it u feel laggin if u do ur low volume acce. on the days u work out u will be fine. trust me. my squats went from 155 - 165 for 8 to 305 last fri for 5 but u have to wnat to do it. hope this helps u.

rao740

 

[Madcow2]

Post 5 and 13 in this thread were typed in the last 1-2 days so I hope no one is disappointed if I just provide a link and don't rehash all this: http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showthread.php?t=391623

You don't need to isolate a muscle to prevent it from atrophying and the best exercises to stimulate growth are compound lifts that load the entire system. Even squatting alone can increase arm size very effectively over time as the entire body will grow (you won't just wind up with spindly little arms and a massive body). The rows directly involve the bicepts - if they atrophy, how are you going to row? Now if your bicepts are so massive and overly strong compared to all other muscles in the row, I can see them getting deconditioned from the out of balance state but when most people say lagging bicepts - I don't associate that with superior relative bicept strength. Take the deadlift, it doesn't isolate the traps or even involve any shrugging motion yet almost every single person finds their traps growing nicely as their dead progresses.

Between that and the other thread that's pretty comprehensive.

If you absolutely feel that you must hit arms use 3 sets of 8-10 reps of some type of curl - barbell is the general choice. If you are compelled to do this twice per week don't double it but do 2 sets each day or 2 sets of 5x5 day and 3 sets on 1x5 day. Do not go crazy with this, if your bicepts get overloaded (and they are already lagging) they will weaken your chins and rows - the net result of this will absolutely be smaller bicepts.

 

[Mithrandir]

I like how you can net gain negatively...silly muscles (say with lithsp)!!

w00t! Me LoVe WeIgHtS!

 

[blut wump]

Look at it another way: the classic charicature of an ill-proportioned bodybuilder is a guy with a massive body and spindly legs. When did you ever see anyone with a well-developed lower body and an under-developed upper body?

You'd have to make an effort for that to happen since working lower body typically uses the big, compound movements and they stimulate whole-body growth.

Edit: No, I don't want to hear about Tom Platz. He had an incredible upper body to go with his legs but just had some super-incredible genetics for his legs.