dumbbell curls - I feel nothing in my biceps - dont want to look like popeye, help!

[NormanNormal]

OK I know this sounds strange.. I did dumbbell curls yesterday and the whole time I really felt nothing in my biceps, no squeeze or anything. It felt like everything was coming from my forearms. So the next day I woke up and wow were my forearms sore, but just as I expected my biceps felt like they hadn't done a thing. Not even the least bit sore. My biceps feel more sore after doing bench presses.

What's going on here? Also I noitced that the largest part of my forearms is actually bigger than my biceps by .5-1"! I have really tiny biceps.

The way I'm doing it now is seated curls, two DB's in each hand down compeltely parallel to the floor then I bring each one all the way up until 90 degrees seperetely.

What can I do to hit my biceps? I am some sort of freak destined to look like popeye? Thanks


(note: my traps (around neck) are really sore too, I think this is because of the bent over rows I was doing but I thought id add it in anyways)

[Doobs]

Your form is probably bad so do them on the preacher bench.

[NormanNormal]

Your form is probably bad so do them on the preacher bench.

Dont have one, I'm working out at home.

[Geeper]

Try this, it NAILS my bi's....

Put you bench on a 45% incline or less, then sit on your bench with your face down (arms should hang down on either side) barbell or EZ curl from that position. I find it makes it REALLY hard to cheat in any way.

Kinda like this picture, but I find it better to have the bench on an slight incline

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/2002...rbellcurl2.jpg

[Doobs]

If your bench can incline then you can do a 1-arm curl that is just like curling with a preacher bench. Stand behind the bench and a little to the left. Put your right arm on the bench and curl.

[vkefi]

Switch upto, standing flat bar curls for a while. See how you progress with that.
My friend who started 3 months ago with me, does 3 sets of flatbar, 2 sets of hammers a week, with his diet in check now, he has managed a clean 3/4" gain the last 7 weeks .

[DNL]

were you doing hammercurl, because that put more emphasis on the forearm. Try doing standing barbell curl. Stand against a wall or a pole and really concentrate on squeezing your bis.

[Built]

My favourite bicep combination (and how I made these):



Magical three step formula:

1. Seated dumbbell curls, 5 sets of 5; tempo: up for one, down for two. Pause for one, curl hard at the top. Go as heavy as you can with good form. At least a minute rest between sets.

2 and 3 are supersets.

3 supersets of
*incline dumbbell curls (eccentric - stretches out the muscle and arguably the fascia)
*close grip pulldowns on lat cable (concentric, pumps the now-stretched out and warm muscle full of blood. Also hits brachialis. You'll notice a KILLER pump)

When you do the incline curls, go SLOW, and considerably lighter than you would with the seated dumbbell curls. And kinda "open them up" as you go down - leave your palms up the whole way, unlike with the seated dumbbell curls, where your palm faces your hip at the bottom of the movement.

This is a STRETCHING exercise more than anything else. You CAN tear a bicep off the bone. None of us uses weights that are likely to accomplish this, but it IS possible. Scared? Good. Now go slow for these. I'm not kidding.



For the close-grip pulldowns, pull down for a count of one, and go up for a count of two or three. Full stretch up, hold it and pause at the maximum contraction. Unlike a lat-pull-down, you want your back UP STRAIGHT. As an added perk, you'll feel your abs for DAYS after this one.

Relative weights for these exercises are roughly as follows:

If you curl 10 lbs an arm for the seated dumbbell curls, do the 5s for the inclines, and set the pin at 40 lbs for the close-grips.

If you curl 20 lbs an arm for the seated dumbbell curls, do the 10s for the inclines, and set the pin at 80 lbs for the close-grips.

I curl 30 lbs an arm, so I use the 15s for the inclines, and set the pin at 120 lbs for the close-grips.

You will likely deviate from this a bit as you work up the increments, but you’ll probably be fairly close: half as much for the inclines as the upright, and double what both arms curl for the close-grips.

[jakobi]

SHOWOFF...lol....you're 41? No way.....You look great.........

My favourite bicep combination (and how I made these):



Magical three step formula:

1. Seated dumbbell curls, 5 sets of 5; tempo: up for one, down for two. Pause for one, curl hard at the top. Go as heavy as you can with good form. At least a minute rest between sets.

2 and 3 are supersets.

3 supersets of
*incline dumbbell curls (eccentric - stretches out the muscle and arguably the fascia)
*close grip pulldowns on lat cable (concentric, pumps the now-stretched out and warm muscle full of blood. Also hits brachialis. You'll notice a KILLER pump)

When you do the incline curls, go SLOW, and considerably lighter than you would with the seated dumbbell curls. And kinda "open them up" as you go down - leave your palms up the whole way, unlike with the seated dumbbell curls, where your palm faces your hip at the bottom of the movement.

This is a STRETCHING exercise more than anything else. You CAN tear a bicep off the bone. None of us uses weights that are likely to accomplish this, but it IS possible. Scared? Good. Now go slow for these. I'm not kidding.



For the close-grip pulldowns, pull down for a count of one, and go up for a count of two or three. Full stretch up, hold it and pause at the maximum contraction. Unlike a lat-pull-down, you want your back UP STRAIGHT. As an added perk, you'll feel your abs for DAYS after this one.

Relative weights for these exercises are roughly as follows:

If you curl 10 lbs an arm for the seated dumbbell curls, do the 5s for the inclines, and set the pin at 40 lbs for the close-grips.

If you curl 20 lbs an arm for the seated dumbbell curls, do the 10s for the inclines, and set the pin at 80 lbs for the close-grips.

I curl 30 lbs an arm, so I use the 15s for the inclines, and set the pin at 120 lbs for the close-grips.

You will likely deviate from this a bit as you work up the increments, but you’ll probably be fairly close: half as much for the inclines as the upright, and double what both arms curl for the close-grips.

[Built]

SHOWOFF...lol....you're 41? No way.....You look great.........

Oh, stop! <DON'T!>

Hehehe...

*kiss*

[SDS]

Gorgeous

[NormanNormal]

thanks for the tips guys.. one more question.. someone posted you only feel the soreness right at the bottom of the bicep near where it meets the forearm, I am feeling this. is this normal?

[GEOFF361]

i too have forearms larger than biceps..i just started doing ridiculous amounts of curls, i dont really know if its werkin yet though.

[DNL]

Normally people judge how strong you are by looking at the forearms, then the biceps because they are most visible. You people with bigger forearms should be proud of them.. you lucky basttarddddsss hahaha really though, i am jealous.

[BigE54]

Also Norm, when you first start working out, you get sore in weird places. The Bi's will catch up... trust me. What you were doing to begin with was fine, just curl all the way up and sqeeze at the top.

[NormanNormal]

Also Norm, when you first start working out, you get sore in weird places. The Bi's will catch up... trust me. What you were doing to begin with was fine, just curl all the way up and sqeeze at the top.

Makes sense, thank you.

[CiteCollegiale]

no offense but at 103lbs your main bicep exercice should be chin ups ^^

[fen2zla]

no offense but at 103lbs your main bicep exercice should be chin ups ^^

And deadlifts, and squats

Seriously, if you want bigger biceps you will need to get bigger over all. Don't worry about your bicep's at the moment. Worry about the big compound movement's. And I wouldn't worry about super-setting curl's to get huge arm's at this stage.

[Titanium_Jim]

And deadlifts, and squats

Seriously, if you want bigger biceps you will need to get bigger over all. Don't worry about your bicep's at the moment. Worry about the big compound movement's. And I wouldn't worry about super-setting curl's to get huge arm's at this stage.

I'm so glad somebody said this. I hope you're not ONLY doing curls in your workout. If you're working your whole body out correctly, fen2zla is right, just focus on getting the form right on the big compound movements and make your WHOLE body bigger. Do you really want a twig body with big useless biceps that will cause an imbalance injury? Also Daniel was right on track. For most people, triceps DWARF biceps, they're naturally a bigger muscle, having three heads.
Make sure you're not neglecting any body parts, ESPECIALLY your legs.

[SDhick]

Two things for arm size remember that triceps are a 2/3 of the arm so build them back arms, and try standing with your back to a wall and keep your arms to your sides when doing curls go a little lighter if you have too this might help out.
And Built you have great guns.

[Built]

And Built you have great guns.

Muah! *kiss*

[homunculus]

I feel BB curls more in my forearm muscles that move my hands around, and when I do DB curls, my hands themselves become fatigued. I still think regular standing BB curls with decent form will work your bi's the best. If you are just starting out, give those a try and see what you think. For me, they are the toughest bicep exercise to do.

[jake6864]

kinda on topic here. can someone help me out on preacher curl as far as position? whenever i do preacher curl i seem to feel it more in my deltoids. i know your deltiods are not your prime mover in a curl movement but every time my delts tighten up when i use preacher curl. the only thing i can think of is the preacher bench is to narrow causing me to round my shoulders forward.

[Titanium_Jim]

Don't worry about what you FEEL in a movement. You cannot possibly cheat that much on a movement as simple as preacher curls without noticing it. Your delts can not curl weight for you, only your biceps and forearms can bend your arm that way, your delts only lift your arms. If it bothers you all that much, have someone hold your biceps down against the preacher bench while you do them.

[Altephor]

I noticed I was cheating on preachers.. when I would go down my ass would raise a bit off the seat and I was using my body to leverage the weight. Quickly squashed that.