3 Mistakes to avoid and get bigger biceps
When you need to tell someone that you lift, the first thing you do is flex your biceps. The majority of the gym rats relate bicep size to the ability of a lifter in the weight room. To some extent, it's true. But, we can't argue over the fact that it is the most visible muscle group of the body and fetches the maximum number of eyeballs. However, despite being one of the most trained muscle groups of the body, a lot of dudes don't witness the growth they expect. The reason is wrong form, posture and technique
Listed below are some of the most common mistakes people make while training their biceps and how you can correct them
Too Much Swinging
Bicep curl swingers' are not uncommon. They slap on massive weights and then swing their arms like a see-saw. That's exactly how you don't train biceps. The more the swing, the more you'll mess things up. The activation of the biceps depends on the rate of lowering and lifting the weight. The thumb rule is to contract as best on top and stretch while lowering. Keep it strict. Cut down on heavier weights, drop your ego and keep it strict
Correction: Decrease some weight, keep your body firm and just concentrate on performing bicep curls without swinging your body and arm. If nothing works, stand against a wall- it will restrict your elbow movement
Bringing The Elbows Forward
While curling up, you will notice that people tend to bring their elbows forward in order to squeeze their biceps. What this movement does is it activates your anterior deltoid muscles (front shoulder) and the resistance is divided between the bicep muscle and the anterior deltoid muscle. That's against the principle of muscle isolation
Correction: As per precision training protocol, perform your bicep curls while keeping your elbows fixed. This activates the bicep brachi muscle more effectively and the contracting action on the top if it's too rigid
Training Too Frequently
Biceps all day. Every day. Alright, you need to calm down with that. Too much work and no rest is a perfect combo for no bicep growth. Even though smaller muscle groups recover faster, overtraining them will still halt progress. If you are training biceps over 3 times a week, you need to cut back immediately. Understand the fact that your bicep muscles actively work in almost every exercise and especially during back (pull) workouts. Therefore, training your biceps twice or thrice a week can be considered over-training
Correction: Plan one dedicated arm day per week and kill your biceps that particular day
The Take Away
Arnold did cheat reps. Yes, he did but you are not Arnold and probably will never be. Focus on the squeeze and stretch and not on the weights, while training for bicep hypertrophy. Only increase the weight when you feel you can curl more load with strict form, not because you saw a bodybuilder curling 40 kilos