Articles by Our Professional Staff

Booming Biceps

2007-01-19 19:12:38

By Derek Alessi, Ph.D -

Building big biceps is easy, right?  Just pick up some weights and start curling.  Well, that's partically true.  You'll add some size to your arms that way but you may never build a truly impressive pair of guns.  That's because there are other factors involved, such as balance and stability, that can limit the size potential of your biceps if you don't take care of them.  In this article, I'll show you how to idenify and fix some of these things that might be hampering your bicep development.

Jellyfish-like stability Serveral years ago, I ran into a athlete that had contracted a strange neurological virus.  This virus preferentially deteriorated the left axilary nerve that supplies the shoulder stabilizers with sensation.

The disease impaired his ability to fire his left trap and lavator scapula in most planes of motion. Consequently, the left trap was flat as a pancake.  It wasn't so strange that his trap was flat. That was to be expected.  What was really unexpected was that his left bicep muscle was also atrophied.  It looked like it belonged on one of those Olsen twins from TV. 

In fact, his left arm was 5" smaller than his right!  This was my first lesson in the shoulder - arm connection.  What I learned was tht you can't build "mountainous" biceps peaks with "flat" traps.  Apparently, your nervous system senes the lack of strength in the shoulder stabilizers (e.g. trapezius) and shuts down all primary movers (e.g. biceps). 

Bottom line:  optimal function and stability around the scapula improves strength production and reduces wear and tear on the rotator cuff during arm training.  Because functional loss of these muscles makes the scapula unable to counterbalance the weight of the arm during weight training, weakness and scapular "winging" results (a condition where the scapula flares out).  An easy way to detect this imbalance is to simply look at the scapula. 

The right winger We're not talking about hockey here, but shoulder problems!  The test for scapular winging is this:  if you can see and feel the medial angle of the shoulder blade you've got winging.  Alternately, your scapula is also probably winging if you get stuck in the bottom position on the bench press, in which  case you need to fix the winging and get additional serratus work.  The latter can be accomplished with additional military press work and incline front raisies.

Here are some exercises to correct scapular winging:

Push press, barbells; L-lateral raise, dumbbells; and Incline front raise dumbbell, semi-supinated.

Best supporting role For you non-wingers, it'll then be a question of your shoulders being strong enough to support your arm mass.  If you suffer from stiff necks or stressfully  tight traps you need to stop pounding the prime movers - the biceps and re-focus on the stabilizing muscles.

The lower trapezius, levator scapula and serratus anterior make up the sub shoulder blade muscules.  Because these are the primary support muscles for the arms and are often neglected by using the basic "Joe Weider" approach, they represent a natural weak link for the average iron freak to target.  A secret weapon I use to save months of wasted training is to figure out whether the traps are strong enough to support the additional  arm mass.

Here's how you can test yourself: First, test your ACTUAL 1 RM standing biceps curl using a barbell with a 303 tempo and your back flat against a wall.  Your buttacks and shoulders must contact the wall at all times.  Warm up with several sets progressively.  Please don't cheat!  As your first-grade teacher used to say, "You'll only be cheating yourself!' Carve this number into your forehead or, better write it down somewhere.  Now we'll use some math to figure out what your predicted 1 RM should be.

Predicted 1RM Based on Muscle Size

Since  maximal force is proportional to the cross- sectional  area or volume of the biceps, the following equation will- based on bicep size - estimate your biceps strength.

Example Case: a lifter with a 16.5 circumference (42cm) arm. Note: To convert to cenimeters, multiply your arm measurement by 2.545

So our example person should have a 122 lb (give or take 10 lbs.) standing bicep curl based on their cross sectionalarea.  If the actual 1RM is greater then predicated, I'd delay addtional strength training and develop more arm cross sectional area (work on hypertrophy).  The best routine I've discovered for this is wave-like loading using sets of 5, 7, 3, 5, 7, and 3 where you increase the weight 5% on each wave (each set of 5, 7, and 3 is one wave.)

Step 1:  Subtract your contracted arm circumference in cm by 2.4 [42cm - 2.4] = 39.6

Step 2:  Square it {Multiply it by itself} [39.6x39.6] = 1568.2

Step 3:  Divid that by 12.56 [1568.2/12.56] = 124.9

Step 4:  Multiply that by 4.7 [4.7x124.9] = 568.8

Step 5:  Divide that by 9.8 [568.8/9.8] = 61.1

Step 6:  This is your predicted 1RM strength in kg.  To convert to pounds, muliply by 2.2. [61.1 x 2.2] = 122.2

If, however, your actual 1RM is at or below the predicted value, then your traps can't even support a caffeine habits, let alone larger arms.  The following 3-week specialization progression will produce Herculean upper back, shoulder and arm development by re-balancing the muscle and strengthening the scapula:  Seated Rope Row to Neck - Bent-Over EZ-Bar Rows - Prone postion trap raises - Shoulder Scaption.

The Need to Unwind After establishing or ensuring upper extremity strength, the next link in our relay is the rotator cuff.  Rotator cuff activation follows scapular muscle activation.  With that in mind, shoulder joint stability and strength will increase by:

 - Increasing trapezius and pectoralis minor flexibilty.

 - Improving external rotation strength.

There are various massage and stretching techniques that will handle the first point.  Active Release Texhniques and P.N.F. stretching work well.

The second point is more problematical.  Let me put it to you this way, what bodybuilding lifts are overdone more than an Italian wedding?  Presses and chin or pull downs, of course, which involve the chest (pectoralis major & minor, the middle-back lattissimus dorsi) and to a lesser degree, the lower neck muscles (upper-trapezius).

Undoubtedly, these are important, visually satifying muscles that look great in a skintight tank.  However, focusing primarily on these muscles leads to rounded, sloped shoulders, and a turtle like reflex.  The reason for this is simple.  Their function is in internal rotation. There is little priority placed on the opposing muscles, the external rotators.

This is likely due to the faulty belief that the pull-up or chin is the opposite motion of a bench press. Not so.  Related to the rotator cuff, the flat bench press and chin-up develop the internal rotators-the lats and the pecs.  Therefore, it's easy to see that most trainees quickly develop a lack of external rotation strength.

In order to properly decelerate and stabilize arm movements required to pack on size. you'll need a ratio of [3:2] internal  to external rotational torque.  In other words, your external strength should be 66% of your internal strength.

To test your internal/external strength ratio, simply test your 10-rep max, on the internal cable rotation [description below] using a 303 tempo.  Multiply it by 66%  and test that weight for 10 reps of external calbe rotation cable rotation [description below] at a 303 tempo

Please don't actually perform a 1 RM as this is potentially dangerous.

Note:  Functional exercises that activate the entire kinetic chain are the best choices.  Isolation exercises, i.e. single movement exercises [eg. external dumbbell rotations] can be used after the functional exercises.

Did you have trouble doing 10 strict reps of external rotation?  Then the following 3-week, external rotator microcycle will be effective.  Perform it 2 times per week for three weeks.  If your external strength is really poor and your posture is affected [slumped over], then you should perform this routine and stretch  your chest in place of  your current chest routine.  Don't worry about your bench.  I guarantee it'll go up after 3 weeks.

Here are the following exercises:  Muscle Snatch, External Cable Rotation, Side Lying Abduction.

Big Bi and Little Bi We're finally at  the distal target muscle of our chain - the biceps.

Proper biceps muscle strength consists of balance between the arm flexors and extensors [biceps and triceps] as well as the two primary biceps muscles, the biceps brachii and the branchialis.  Since this article deals with biceps development and quite frankly, most bodybuilders have optimal tri to bi's ratio 1.6 to 1, I'll just focus on the elbow flexor dynamic.

Both elbow flexors fucntion to bend the elbow and help stabilize the shoulder.  I, along with other coaches have discovered, that most trainees have very weak bracialis muscles compared to the biceps brachii.  The brachalis should be roughly 70% of your bicep strength.

To test this, simply multiply your actual standing curl max [from the previous exercise] by 70% or .7. Then, try to reverse curl that weight with strict form.  If you fall short, you need to do the following 3-week sycle to restore brachalis balance.

Do it just for one week, replacing your current biceps routine.  Feel free to add your current triceps routine, but make sure not to exceed 18-22 total sets for arms.

Get the Girl  I'v exposed the key link in the performance chain that, unfortunately, are weak for most bodybuilders and strength athletes.  The next move is to step up and custimize this to your our needs.  take one trainning day and perform the entire battery of tests.  Learn where in the chain you're the weakest and strongest.  For instance, one of my trianers just discoverd  that his stabilizer strength was 25% more then predicted!

Since he has average tendon insertions and average fiber make-up, I know that this is no genetic fluke.  In fact, this is THE DEAL SET-UP FOR MASSIVE GAINS!  Better yet, up until now he was training for relative strength, so this test not only answers his size wet dreams, it tells him that it's time to witch modes by training differently.

All he needs is more time under this heightened level of tension.  A workout based on volume, for instance, work capacity progression incorporating sets of 12,10,8,8,10,25 with lower rest intervals, will easily lay down another 1 1/2" of arm growth in no time flat.

It's clear that I'm expecting a certain amount of mathematic ability and work on your part, but biceps development requires effort.  Just think, though, how good they'll look when drapped around another guys' girlfriend.