Building a Better Bicep: 4 Moves for Sleeve Busting Pipes

Popeye didn’t build those pythons overnight but there’s a chance you could if you applied some science with a little hard work.

The quest for the ultimate bicep peak should never come at the expense of improper training or poor anatomy knowledge.

Before you set out to develop your arm arsenal, you can’t ignore the basic functioning of this complex set of flexors, extensors and levers. The fundamentals of the arm's anatomy disclose all of the secrets to achieving complete arm development.

Anatomy First, Gains Second

The Bicep Brachii is essentially made up of two heads, typically classified as the ‘long’ and the ‘short’ head. These muscles emanate from the scapula, cross over at both the shoulder and elbow joint, stretching along the humerus, with insertion into the radius on the forearm. They are essentially in charge of both flexing the elbow and supinating the forearm.

The main purpose of the Biceps Brachii is to flex the elbow towards the shoulder, which is why a bicep curl is used to strengthen the arms musculature. Elbow flexion results in the long head of the bicep getting activated as a priority.

Due to this and the fact that when the forearm is supinated (palm turned up) more of the motor units in the long head become active. This is why some dumbbell curls involve a rotational twist in the forearm, stretching the muscle and increasing the stress on the muscle.

The long head (outer head) of the bicep is what creates the ‘peak’, whereas the short head helps to create the mass and thickness in the flexed muscle. Fundamentally the long head overlaps the short head with the short head sitting underneath and creating the overall appearance of size and volume.

In order to develop a bicep with both a ‘peak’ and significant mass, each of these muscles will need to be challenged with a focus on increased time-under-tension.

Here’s an added bonus as well: the Brachialis is positioned underneath the Biceps Brachii. This muscle is stimulated well with isometric elbow flexion meaning that your program should make this a priority in order to maximize development of the Brachialis.

Suns Out, Guns Out

An arm workout should start by targeting the smaller muscle groups first as this stimulates the elbow flexors and increases total muscle recruitment, preventing muscle efficiency (or laziness/low muscle fiber recruitment) and diminishing returns in the short run.

By fatiguing the smaller muscle groups early on, the larger muscles groups need to recruit more fibers and work harder towards the end of each session, leading to an increase in strength and size in the long run.

For a complete program, three primary functions need to be considered. First, there is a need to activate an array of muscle fiber types over the duration of the training session. Second, it’s important to determine your responsiveness to the workout, and lastly you need to determine your level of ability.

I prefer a methodical approach to training, primarily activating the smaller muscle groups to ensure an increase in motor unit activation in the bigger musculature later on. I would always start with a supinated grip curl variation and then go heavier on the remainder of the sets to attempt to increase muscle activation.

1. Supinated Grip Curl Variation

• Low Rep Range (Following warm up) 3-8 Reps.
• Tempo is a controlled eccentric with explosive concentric 3-1-X-1.
• Rest Period 90-120 seconds.
• Watch the supinated curl video guide.

Your goal here should be to target the long head and aim to bring up the peak or to hit the short head primarily to target thickness.

If you aim to hit the peak first, you must extend the shoulder or pull your elbow behind the body. This is most easily accomplished by positioning yourself on an incline bench but it usually results in a lighter weight being lifted.

2. Incline Lying Single Arm DB Curl

• Moderate Rep Range looking at sarcoplasmic (size) hypertrophy. 10-12 Reps.
• Tempo is aiming at a total time under tension of 60+ seconds. 2-1-4-1.
• Rest Period 60-90 seconds.
• Watch the incline curl video guide.

Working on muscle thickness is something that will set you apart from your competitor. Moving the elbow position in front of the body is going to put further stress on the short head due to the lever change.

With this curl I always place my little finger against the inner plate of the dumbbell, working on a half-rep, full-rep cycle (which is classified as 1 full rep).

Aim to fully extend the bicep in the eccentric part of the contraction to ensure that you don’t cheat. You’re aiming for 4 second negative repetition and your biceps will be under immense pressure early on.

3. Preacher Cable Curl

• Moderate Rep Range (10-12) focusing on sarcoplasmic hypertrophy.
• Tempo 2-1-3-1.
• Rest Period 60-90 seconds.
• Watch the preacher cable curl video guide.

Turn the palm down to pronate the forearm and place the emphasis on the Brachialis. Anything that also uses a hammer grip would be splitting the respective load between both the brachialis and bicep muscle. Much like the previous workout, you’re aiming for increased time-under-tension.

4. Reverse Grip Curl

• Moderate to High Rep Range (15-20) focusing on sarcoplasmic hypertrophy.
• Tempo 2-1-1-1 or 1-1-1-1.
• Rest Period 60-90 seconds.
• Watch the reverse grip curl video guide.

Often underused and underrated, the reverse grip curl helps to develop the Brachialis muscle. This pushes the peak of the bicep muscle up higher, making for a more dramatic flex and an overall bigger arm.

Monitor and Maximize

Monitor your rate of response to each training session to better understand what spurs growth best on an individual level. Your potential to grow is determines by your muscle fiber types, and whether you favour high intensity, explosive activity, or time-under-tension training.