Chinups instead of curls?

[mrzap]

Can I replace bicep curls with chinups and still see nice growth with my bi's?

My biceps just do not grow, and I was making some progress doing standing ez curl's, but then I got that horrible tendonitis thing from doing them so my progress is in the toilet.

My routine was
EZ curl bar 5x5
Reverse EZ curls 2x10

I'm experimenting with the hammer machine preacher curls or standing straight bar curls, but I noticed I got a good pump after doing some chins the other day.

My body seems to respond better to compound exercises instead of isolation movements. What do you all think?

 

[Peckz]

You could do weighted pullups but i dont know how good they are for growth.

 

[The Red Dragon]

Pullups/Chins recruit more fiber and thusly causes an endocrine shift. Using chinups for biceps is like using bench press for triceps...almost (you're working a small muscle in a huge compound move). If your body does respond better to compounds, stick with compounds . I personally think isolation movements are a waste of time (I consider bicep curls as semi-compound as my abs, deltoids, traps, pecs and lats are involved)

 

[SofaGeorge]

If you want big arms... isolate the bi's.

 

[Debaser]

Chinups hit the biceps extremely hard. You really do not need to isolate them afterwards, but if so just do 1 or 2 sets of barbell curls. That's all you need. I don't even isolate my triceps, they get hit hard enough during pressing movements.

Slobberknocker has huge arms and doesn't isolate his arms whatsoever.

 

[GodOfThunder]

I'm not with sofa on this one. for me, I've always seen the best growth in my bi's doing pullups.

 

[MT375]

If you want big arms... isolate the bi's.

I would disagree with this, you really need to find out what works for you individually. For me and a few of my friends our arm size increased once we stopped training bi's and just hitting them with other compound movements. Before that they were always "stuck"

 

[PancakeFiend]

i think the more you use a muscle w/out going to failure, the faster it grows, rather than working it out once a week and going to failure. And it seems like compound movements make the muscle grow as well. so in your case you have biceps that have a tough time growing, well try doing 5-6 pullups after each of your working sets. At the end of the workout you'll have done a high volume of work, but given your muscle adequate rest as well. Try it w/ your chest or leg routine.

 

[erowana]

Close grip chin ups are great for the biceps. To feel it more, try doing it by putting you elbows against a bar underneath the chin up bar to keep your fore arm stationary and perpendicular to the floor. Do the chin up and feel the burn.

 

[punch]

curling the 70lb dbls seem to grow my bis just fine!