How to get big biceps

Today, I�d like to provide you with some much needed information about how to get big biceps. Now, I�m sure if your reading this page, your looking to add some size to your biceps. I�m sure that you�ve also done some initial research on the internet looking for some guidance about programs and techniques. I�ve also done some research on how to get big biceps and there is some conflicting information about what programs to follow, what exercises to do and so forth.

With that in mind, I�m going to give you, what I think are the best techniques to building big biceps. The way I look at it, is if you want to get big biceps, your going to have to train them in a very specific way that is conducive to building muscle. I�ve broken down the main steps and they are as follows:

1) Know Where Your Going
2) Specialization
3) Exercise Periods
4) Exercise Selection - Direct Exercises
5) Exercise Selection - Indirect Exercises
6) Muscle Building Exercises
7) Diet
8) Rest
9) Supplements

What I�d like to do is go over each and discuss the important of each in terms of how to get big biceps.

Simply showing up to the gym and doing 10 sets of barbell curls will do nothing for your biceps growth. The first thing you need to do is get a starting point. The only way to do this is take out a measuring tape and weight scale.

What you want to do is get an accurate measurement of your arm when it�s relaxed and when it�s in a flexed position. Once you do both, write them down in a log of some sort and get the date down. Go to the following web page:

And save this log to your desktop. Once you�ve done this, print it out. Write down your measurements in this log. The next thing your going to do is hop on a weight scale and take down your weight. Write this number down in the log. Remember, date the log.

What you�re doing here is getting a starting point, which is very, very important in weight training. Once you know what your starting point is, you can decide what your goals are. Realistically, you can probably expect to gain anywhere from � � to 1 � � to your biceps in a 12 week training cycle. That is, of course if you do everything right. So, if your arms are 15", you can realistically expect an increase to 15 � inches to 16 � inches. This all depends on how dedicated you are with your training and diet. Setting a goal for 20 inch arms is unrealistic. Only a small percentage of the population can attain a 20 inch arm. Of course, this all depends on your genetics and this will determine how big your biceps can get - Over a period of time (usually years). However, 18" and 19" arms are realistic (Over the course of a few years) and believe me, these are pretty big arms.

Take small steps in terms of periodic training cycles, and you�ll reach your goals. Ok, write down your goal and in 12 weeks your going to see that you�ve reached this measurement.

Now, your going to be taking your arm measurements every week as well as your body weight. Each should be increasing with each measurement.

Alright, now that you know where your starting, you can get onto attaining your goals.

This probably the most important aspect to improving any body part. However, it�s one that is not really discussed in the muscle magazines or the internet. If you really, really want to build some serious muscle mass and get some big biceps, you have to concentrate all your efforts to improving your biceps.

Building a set of large, powerful biceps requires special attention and like anything else in building muscle, it requires specialization. Specialization is a term used in building muscle to refer to improving a certain body part or exercise by concentrating solely on that particular muscle or body part through exercise and diet.

What you want to do is pay special attention to the body part or exercise you want to improve, in this case biceps. Your main focus is on biceps. Your sole aim is to build your upper arms with effective upper arm exercises that stimulates growth and builds muscle.

I hope you understand that to truly build big biceps, you need to specialize and train them first and foremost. Here�s what I suggest. Train your biceps and triceps on the first day of you training program. You will have to re-structure your current weight training program but believe me, if you want big biceps, your going to have to. Here�s a sample training schedule:

This is just a sample and you will have to come up with a weight training plan that is suitable for you.

Alright, now that you know that specialization is needed to build big biceps, let�s move on to the third point.

The thing you have to remember about biceps is that they are a small muscle group.

It doesn�t take much work in order to stimulate growth but there is a very fine line when it comes to doing too much for the biceps.

Biceps overtraining is a common thing and what people fail to understand is that any pulling motion involves the biceps. This is probably one of the main reasons why hard working weight trainers can�t seem to get their biceps to grow.

Your biceps are constantly being worked from other exercises and really, they only need brief, intense workout sessions to cause growth. For this reason, I would say to train them once per week. Yep, only once per week. Trust me, if your doing everything right, once per week is all you need and you will see the results your looking for.

When you structure your training program, just make sure that you give your biceps enough rest periods to cause muscle growth. Training back a day after you�ve trained biceps is not a smart thing to do. If you�re doing it now, stop immediately. What you want to do is give your biceps at least two to three days rest in between each training session. See the above sample weight training routine.

I�m going to tell you right now, that compound movements such as barbell bent over rows, and chin ups provide just as much muscle stimulation, if not more, than regular biceps exercises. I�m going to discuss this shortly but just remember, indirect exercises are the main biceps builders in your training program.

Alright, now that you know about exercise timing, let�s move onto the next point about how to get big biceps.

I�m going to tell you right now that you don�t need 25 sets for biceps. Doing 5 exercises for 5 sets is not a smart way to train. Drop the Arnold workouts and cut down on the amount of sets and exercises your doing for biceps.

Really, your only need 3 exercises for the biceps and that�s plenty. Here is a sample biceps workout to do:

Warm up: 1 x 20 repetitions
Set one: 1 x 8 repetitions with 50% of your maximum
Set two: 1 x 8 repetitions with 60% of your maximum
Set three: 1 x 8 repetitions with 70% of your maximum
Set four: 1 x 8 repetitions with 80% of your maximum

Set one: 1 x 10 repetitions with 60% of your maximum
Set two: 1 x 10 repetitions with 70% of your maximum
Set three: 1 x 8 repetitions with 80% of your maximum
Set four: 1 x 8 repetitions with 80% of your maximum

Your should be using moderate weight for this exercise since you really want to do this exercise nice and slow.

This is all you need to really stimulate your biceps. Anymore is overkill and you might be doing more harm than good. Remember, less is more!

Now that you have an idea of what you should be doing for your biceps workouts, let�s move on to the next point about how to get big biceps.

Alright, this is very important so you may want to listen up. You absolutely must have compound pulling movements in your weight training program. If you want to build big biceps, your going to have to start doing these exercises. What I�m talking about are bent over barbell rowing, T bar rows, seated pulley�s, single arm dumbbell rows, dead lifts and chin ups. What you want to do is incorporate these exercises into your back routine and not your biceps routine.

Let�s take the above noted sample training schedule. On day 4, you will train back and shoulders. I want you to train back first and really concentrate on moving some heavy weight. The exercises you should be doing, should be mostly compound movements.

Why are these exercise so important? Your back is a very strong muscle. It can handle much more weight than your biceps can. This is a huge benefit and can greatly add to your biceps development.

Compound movements build muscle. There is no question about it. Compound movements such as barbell bent over rows not only builds a large back but it builds big biceps. The same could be said about heavy bench presses and shoulder presses. Ever see a big bench presser with small triceps?

Your weight lifting routines will be structured in a way that provides optimal rest and recovery not only to build big arms but to support hard and heavy training using compound movements. What you want to do with your biceps exercises is to pump the biceps up with effective upper arm exercises.

Whenever I need to add some size to my arms, I add in core compound movements. Believe me, your biceps will receive much more muscle stimulation doing a heavy set of reverse grip barbell bent rows than they will with concentration curls.

Nothing fancy about this back routine but it is very effective for building a big back and especially effective for building big biceps.

Now, you should be spacing your back workout about 3 days apart from doing your main biceps workout. See the above noted sample workout routine.

Ok, now that you know the importance of core, back movements, let�s move onto the next point about building big biceps.

These exercise are not directly involved in your biceps routine but they are pure muscle builders. The two main exercise you may want to incorporate into your training routine are squats and dead lifts. Your probably thinking, what does squats have to do with biceps training? Well, everything. Doing heavy squats has a magical way of making your whole body grow. The reason is that they require so much effort and intensity to do them that it causes a huge surge of growth hormone and testosterone release in your body. As you may or may not know, these hormones are responsible for muscle growth. The more natural production of these hormones you have in your body, the better.

Your diet should promote growth. That means, you should be eating the optimal amounts of calories, protein, carbohydrates, and fat that supports hard and heavy training. It doesn't matter what you're doing in the gym, without a proper diet your gains will be non-existent. If you want to build big biceps, you're gonna have to eat smart and clean. I suggest you structure your diet in the following manner:

Remember that you might have to play around with the above figures to find out what percentage of calories, protein, carbohydrates, and fat you will need to support hard and heavy training.

I suggest you add another 500 calories to your daily diet. By adding more quality calories to your diet, you will ensure that you are supporting hard and heavy workouts.

You will want to eat roughly six times a day spaced roughly 2 to 3 hours apart. Each meal should contain the same amount of calories, protein, carbohydrates, and fat. I�ll be very honest here, you want to actually add body weight here in order to start building big biceps. If you want to get big and strong, you have to start eating to get big.

To structure your optimal weight lifting diet, please visit Building muscle101's weight lifting diet page. Check out the following page the get an idea of how to add muscle mass:

For an even more detailed look at putting together a targeted nutritional plan, try using Will Brink's Muscle Building Nutrition.. This book will cover every detail of putting together your nutritional plan, step by step. Will is a world renowned author on sports nutrition and his book will definitely help you put together a true muscle building nutritional plan. Check out his book here.

Ok, now that you understand that you need to gain lean body weight to build big biceps, let�s move onto our next point.

I�ll keep this nice and simple. Get at least 8 hours of sleep each and every night. Late nights and parties will kill your progress and should be avoided at all costs if you want to build big biceps.

It is very important that you get into the habit of getting quality rest every night. What you have to remember is that your body actually grows and builds muscle while you are sleeping, not while your weight training. If you can get the necessary rest, your body will use that time to repair and build muscle tissue, which is what you want.

I�m not going to say that supplements are necessary because they�re not. Supplements should only be used once you've built your nutritional foundation and have your muscle building diet down to a science. Once you have your diet plan down, you can add supplements to enhance your muscle building program.

Supplements have they�re place in weight training and can be useful once you know how to use them. If you are interested in using supplements to help with your weight training program, please see the following page:

Alright, there you have it, a formula that shows you how to get big biceps. If you can implement the above mentioned points, I�m sure you�ll build the kind of biceps your looking for.

Now, I can go on about muscle building programs and techniques but it would be just too long. However, If your looking for quality information about building muscle, I suggest you take a look at Sean Nalewanyj�s program called �Muscle Gain Truth�. It�s a great program designed to take you through the entire muscle building process. This comes from a guy who weighted a measly 120 pounds when he first started and built his body to a 200 pound powerhouse. Check his program out here.

Now, for those of you who want to attain a sleek and sexy six pack, you might want to check out Mike Geary�s program called �The Truth About 6 Pack Abs�. This is a great program that will show you exactly how to get that 6 pack of abs for summer. Check out the program here.

�How To Get Big Biceps�