Your biceps and their peaks!

[freak daddy]

I've notice some of you fine ladies on the board complaining about your bicep peaks. Two movements that made a huge difference in my peaks and alot of my clients peaks are first, STANDING CABLE CROSSOVER CURLS. Stand in the middle of the cable crossover, grab a pulley in each hand and proceed to curl behind your head. Keep your elbow heighth up slightly above your shoulders. Curl to the side/back of your head,and hold and squeeze, and then then stretch arms completly. These will kick your butts! Next.
LYING BICEP CABLE CURLS. Add a curl bar to upper part of the cable crossover. Next take a flat bench and put it long ways under the bar.( pointing toward the other weight stack on C.C.) Now grab the bar and proceed to lay on the bench. Now that you're set , have you're arms completly straight. Proceed to curl the bar toward your forehead, with really tight squeezes. Do not move your arms from the elbow to the shoulder. Keep them dead straight to the ceiling. These are awesome, and should really add to your peaks. Have fun!

 

[ann]

I do both of those....and I am still not peakin

The triceps are so easy to build up.....wish it was a switcheroo for me, and my biceps were the easy ones.

I am stuck at 13 1/2 inchers......definetly need some peak work

 

[freak daddy]

Damn Ann, you have some BIG arms. Unfortunatly, the peak is in the genetics. Usually you will have a peak or you won't! How much stretching are you doing between each set. Stretch the hell out of your bis!

 

[ann]

Damn Ann, you have some BIG arms.

I believe, not sure, that Sassy69 has 15 inchers....thats my goal

I think genetics plays a part in it also , but I am constantly trying to alter that theory

 

[Kaizen]

I have really long bi's and peaking is a prblem for me too..

I do both those and concentration curls ... one thing I found helped a bit was not actually doing a full range for some reps but staying in a tight contraction for a short range.... burn like a mofo

 

[Sassy69]

I hope I can post this pic (again ... sorry!) The left pic is my rear bi from my first comp last august. I started peaking a little. The right pic is from this spring -- obviously a little beefy / watery / however you want to refer to "off season"... but I definitely retained the peaks I developed for my second comp last Nov. (Still looking for better pix of that). The night before that show my trainer & I measured 15". That was the result of 3 months of ungodly drop sets of dumbbell curls to failure and then him making me push out 5 more. I did as Kaizen said -- almost a full extension but keep the elbows in tight. I did these in a sort of reclined (as if on an incline bench, except on a flat bench) position. Cocking my wrists for massive contraction at the top. Keeping my elbows in tight and pointing my wrists out at sort of a 30 degree angle to the left & right instead of directly in front of me. And then just pound out the reps.

It exposes your wrists to a really unsupported angle and is very stressful on your elbows -- I've got some nice tendonitis problems as a result, but holy crap, did I get peaks!

The fact that they popped out at for my first competition tells me I've got a little bit of genetics to start with, but just LOTS of blood, sweat and tears. (OK... no blood, but lots of sweat & swearing.... ) I would also add that I've been lifting for close to 15 years so its not like it just happened....

 

[ann]

Now Sassy has the peak thingy going on.....yowza

 

[NubianBeauty]

You definitely have the peaks

 

[OTCbooty]

Hmm, my back looks fairly similar to the 'after' but my arms and shoulders still look like the 'before'....
More curling, fewer pullups, more curling, fewer pullups....
Nice job Sassy, I appreciate those arms so much more now that I realize how badly I lack them....

 

[MS]

Reverse grip chins. If you can't do even ONE of these then get a training partner or bungy cord to assist you. Everything else you do is accessory and the results will depend on genetics.

 

[OTCbooty]

MS, what do you mean by 'reverse' grip when it comes to chins? There's a lot of variation in terms when it comes to pull ups/chin ups and I'm never sure what anyone means until I ask....Since we're talking biceps here, I assume you mean palms facing toward you?

 

[OTCbooty]

Okay, cool, just checking. Round these parts, chin up = underhand/supinated grip, pull up = overhand/pronated grip. So when MS said 'reverse grip chins' my brain pictures a standard, overhand pull up...
It's almost too much for my brain to handle

 

[Belial]

Notice that the "peak" is actually in the same place in the before and after, the arms just got a whole lot bigger.

(As freak daddy said, you really CAN'T force your biceps to peak. The thickest part of the muscle belly is where the "peak" will form; there is NOTHING you can do to change this. )

Something that's always worked well: Heavy BB curl negatives. Get the bar up with a hip swing, and try to hang on as it pulls your arms down. This should be used sparingly, as it's tremendously stressful to your muscles and tendons, but it's great for growth.

 

[MS]

Yup OTC. Round these parts anytime your chin goes over the bar it's a chin-up. If you pull to the back of your neck, that's a pull-up. But whatever the terminolgy, you've got the picture.

And I agree with belial to BE CAREFUL with heavy negative curls. I trashed my tendons with those Ouch.

 

[MrMuscle]

seated incline db curls did the job for me..both for mass and peak..dont ask me why and shit...im just a dumb norwegian

 

[sysopt]

This is just my opinion, but saying that a certain exercise gives a peak is misleading because the shape, or mass, has nothing to do with the actual movement itself. When a muscle grows, it's just with an exaggerated shape. You're either working the muscle or you're not, and therefore no "shaping" or "mass" exercises. Best thing you can do it make it bigger.



"flys are for shape, bench is for size"

"barbell for size, cable curls for peak"

This is all crap.

 

[tripleV]

i am peaking and its awesome......i find doing incline curls makes a big diff for me Just make sure to do correctly, lean back...out on an angle....full extension.....burn baby burn. These things are killer

 

[OTCbooty]

Yup OTC. Round these parts anytime your chin goes over the bar it's a chin-up. If you pull to the back of your neck, that's a pull-up.

Somehow your way seems more logical than our woodchuck mentality up here...

 

[Belial]

*shrug*

pull-up vs. chin-up is about grip. Pronated and supinated, respectively. But I'll acquiesce and leave quietly....

(I used acquiesce in a sentence. Go me)

 

[OTCbooty]

Well Belial, that must mean you're a woodchuck too...

 

[Belial]

*makes woodchuck noise*

 

[thin]

Please don't hate me for having no clue about this, but am I right in thinking that a 'peak' is the little bit of the bicep that sticks out and moves up and down when you touch you shoulder and straighten your arm?

I have those no matter what I do. I think people who have them also tend to have gams that stick out too.

 

[freak daddy]

Holy crap...someone used the search engine!

 

[ann]

Holy crap...someone used the search engine!

Yes they did, and I enjoyed rereading it all .

 

[NubianBeauty]

annie mae... how about posting your bicep peak

 

[ann]

annie mae... how about posting your bicep peak

Hardee har har...its not genetically there NB....but that damn synthol keeps ringing in my ears

 

[NubianBeauty]

What did I tell you about that shit

 

[thin]

I still don't get this whole peak thing. Should it be like *sharp* ?!?

 

[Sassy69]

not sharp -- just getting the muscle to come out -- you know like on guys -- that cannon ball when they do a double bi pose!

 

[NubianBeauty]

LOL!! cannon ball

 

[Robboe]

Is that actually you Spatterson?

You're very pretty. You remind me of Andie McDowell.

 

[ann]

Mine do too Spatts....kind of got to tilt my arm back a way....sticking out the underside a bit... and then I have a small peak

 

[freak daddy]

Damn Spatts, very impressive!