How do I get the peak on my bicep?

[NorgePrecision]

I have fairly thick arms, which are comparative to the rest of my body. They are between 14.5-15 in. cold. There is absolutely no fat on my arms at all, but they still don't have that defined look. I do between 6-12 reps with them and about 12 sets of various exercises. Some of them include incline dumbell curl, standing dumbell curl, barbell curl, preacher curl, and individual cable curl. What other lift should I focus on and what of the lifts I mentioned should I concentrate more on to get the peak?

 

[6_pak]

concentration curls

 

[InTraining]

Supposedly building up the brachialis should result in some added peak to the bicep. A couple exercises that do this are reverse curls and hammer curls.

IMHO most of it is genetics, but as someone with no peak I can say these exercises improved it.

 

[NorgePrecision]

Supposedly building up the brachialis should result in some added peak to the bicep. A couple exercises that do this are reverse curls and hammer curls.

IMHO most of it is genetics, but as someone with no peak I can say these exercises improved it.

I actually do quite a lot of reverse curls. That works the outside muscle between the tricep and bicep but doesn't seem to do much for height. I could try concentration curls and hammer curls though. I don't do much of those. I think I'm going to shock the bicep heavily in a couple days. Hammer curls, concentrations curls, and two handed cable curls(under the legs) should help a bit. Thanks for the replies.

 

[InTraining]

I actually do quite a lot of reverse curls. That works the outside muscle between the tricep and bicep but doesn't seem to do much for height. I could try concentration curls and hammer curls though. I don't do much of those. I think I'm going to shock the bicep heavily in a couple days. Hammer curls, concentrations curls, and two handed cable curls(under the legs) should help a bit. Thanks for the replies.

Good idea. I'm all for variety when it comes to biceps, seems like it's one of those "problem muscles" many people have that could be in the same category as calves.

Also give some close grip supinated chinups a try. They are a good compound mass builder that will hit the biceps heavily.

 

[Lee]

concentration curls

any curls + genetics. some people just simply cant get a bicep peak due to genetics. others get it from doing any type of curl.

 

[Tom Treutlein]

It has to do with genetics. The shape of the muscle can't be changed. It can only get bigger from resistance training.

 

[Madcow2]

It has to do with genetics. The shape of the muscle can't be changed. It can only get bigger from resistance training.

No secret exercise - no superset recipe. You are born with your muscle structure. You can grow it or not but you won't be altering how it is attached to you. Do not waste your time trying - get bigger and stronger instead.

EDIT: In case anyone missed it. I am in 100% absolute unequivocal support of the post I quoted. This is the only right answer to the question. You cannot reshape a muscle.

 

[musclebosun]

I'm one of the many with no peak, however i've heard that focusing on squeezing and contracting the bicep at the top of each rep could help. Just hearsay though.

 

[Lee]

exactly musclebosun. some people say that they went from no peak to forming a peak by squeezing and contracting the bicep like that. but thats cuz they just started lifting or they never trained their biceps properly before, most likely over trained them in fact.

 

[super_rice]

yeah, just do a couple of sets of preachers or regular curls with a barbell after chins or deadlifts. why all the fuss and worry? they will take care of themselves when you deadlift heavy. plus, i agree on the overtraining of biceps. my high school gym (of which i thankfully do not go to anymore) used to have guys that would train biceps supersetted with bench 3x a week.

 

[araiber]

I personally find spider curls to be extremely effective. Thats when you sit on an upright bench, usually 45 degrees inclines or somewhere around there, and do curls with dumbbells in each hand. Go all the way up, and then all the way back. Sitting on the inclined bench forces your arm to bend all the way, making you do the full motion of a curl, and because your sitting, you cant really "swing your body". You can always swing your arm, but your still using your bicept, shoulders, and forearms to "cheat" in this situation. Try it out, I personally always feel a great burn after it.

 

[Lee]

I personally find spider curls to be extremely effective. Thats when you sit on an upright bench, usually 45 degrees inclines or somewhere around there, and do curls with dumbbells in each hand. Go all the way up, and then all the way back. Sitting on the inclined bench forces your arm to bend all the way, making you do the full motion of a curl, and because your sitting, you cant really "swing your body". You can always swing your arm, but your still using your bicept, shoulders, and forearms to "cheat" in this situation. Try it out, I personally always feel a great burn after it.

this is a good example of what not to do. horrible for your rotator cuffs.

 

[NorgePrecision]

I personally find spider curls to be extremely effective. Thats when you sit on an upright bench, usually 45 degrees inclines or somewhere around there, and do curls with dumbbells in each hand. Go all the way up, and then all the way back. Sitting on the inclined bench forces your arm to bend all the way, making you do the full motion of a curl, and because your sitting, you cant really "swing your body". You can always swing your arm, but your still using your bicept, shoulders, and forearms to "cheat" in this situation. Try it out, I personally always feel a great burn after it.

Is this the same as incline dumbell curls? It sounds the same with the 45 degree bench. How is that bad for your rotator cuff? Arnold has this exercise clearly stated in his encyclopedia. As long as you do it maybe every other arm workout, I don't see the harm in it.

 

[psychedout]

It has to do with genetics. The shape of the muscle can't be changed. It can only get bigger from resistance training.

True, but you can emphasize which part of the muscle you would like to grow to an extent.

For example, if all you did was flat and decline press, you would have some pretty saggy man boobs.

 

[BOOEY]

True, but you can emphasize which part of the muscle you would like to grow to an extent.

For example, if all you did was flat and decline press, you would have some pretty saggy man boobs.

I agree, when I first started lifting I never did preacher curls, and lacked that "cut" at the bottom of the bicep. Well, when someone suggested I do preacher curls, I got more meat on my lower bicep.

 

[Tom Treutlein]

Psychedout - if you did flat and decline presses, you'd be developing the sternal head of the pectoral muscle. What "part" are you emphasizing? It's a muscle. You're making it grow. Go grow your "inner boobs" and then let me see you emphasize a different part. The chest is made up of two muscles. Incline bench will take emphasis off the sternal head, allowing the clavicular to develop at a similar rate, so you don't get bitch tits.

 

[Madcow2]

I think the key that people miss is that there are muscle groups in the body. Obviously one can develop a single muscle within a group (because it's a muscle). What can't be done is select a part of an individual muscle.

A classic reference for free: http://education.yahoo.com/reference/gray/

 

[sixpackhack1]

Steal Arnolds DNA

 

[MrMuscle]

genetics, you cant shape your biceps any better than you can shape your chest.
working the brachialis might help a little. but not enough to get you the peak you want.

 

[eat big]

My biceps used to have little peak. They looked like a football as opposed to a tennis ball. Exercises like Spider Curls, Reverse Curls, Preacher Hammer curls and Concentration Curls have helped. I also train mine twice per week.