Working the guns

[anthrax]

Is working the biceps with specific movement (dedicated to the guns) really more efficient that more complete exercises that will indirectly have your bis work ?

More complete movements being supposed to induce a larger GH/T response....

[Not sure if I was clear....]

For example are curls that better than pull-ups ?

 

[Tom Treutlein]

I only find chin-ups, and then isolation work, to really affect my biceps. I'd say, use isolation movements if your priority is your arms.

 

[WalkingBeast]

Id reccomend direct work for arms with heavy sets to failure, and even giving arms a day by themselves for the best results. The indirect work just isnt the same as tearing up the arms individually IMO.

 

[BigBadBootyDaddy29]

Id reccomend direct work for arms with heavy sets to failure, and even giving arms a day by themselves for the best results. The indirect work just isnt the same as tearing up the arms individually IMO.

As much as I am a compound, heavy basics kind of guy, I have to agree with this post 100%. I train primarily for strength, a lot of cleans, snatches, deadlifts, chins, overhead presses, flat and incline presses, close-grip presses, no machines, cables or shit like that, and I feel this gives me the most overall power, explosion, and size in my body, and releases the most hormones, however, arms, particularly bis need to be isolated and strengthened too....so I do always manage to either to fit biceps work in when I am done with a session for assistance, or I will come in on an off-day, typically Saturday, and isolate biceps and triceps and calves with heavy, heavy, free-weight work. I've got 20"+ arms and you'll never see me ask a question about arm training, and a lot of that is genetic, but I have been training the way I do for over 11 years doing a lot of basic and olympic movements, and I just don't think my arms would be as big as they are if I didn't isolate them, and I don't mean cable curls and concentration curls, I do hammer curls, alternate d-bell curls, barbell curls, and preacher curls typically, heavy and all free weight.

 

[chewyxrage]

^whats wrong with concentration curls?

 

[needsize]

I've tried it both ways, and the only way my arms grow is when I give them their own day and smoke them hard!

 

[BigBadBootyDaddy29]

^whats wrong with concentration curls?

I guess it sounded like I was bashing concentration curls, I see nothing wrong with them, it is just that people misuse them. Concentration curls are good auxillary work at th end of a biceps routine and they are good for bodybuilders to put the finishing touches on their biceps, but they do not build slabs of size and muscle like heavy barbell or hammer curls. If used at the end of a biceps routine they can serve a purpose depending on an individual's goals, if you are a strength athlete who only plans on 3 or so sets a week of biceps work, they are a poor choice, since they are not as effective at building size and strength as say a barbell curl. They do serve a purpose though, and that is to finish off an already developed biceps muscle.

 

[Dorian'sDisciple]

some damn fine advice from bbbd et al. I'm not a mentzer HIT man but i agree with Mike about bi's..he rated close grip pulldowns as THE bi exercise, he also used heavy bb curls and was a big fan of the concentration curl