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You can attach this biceps program onto any training protocol that you are currently doing. It trains your biceps 3x per week which IMO is optimal when specializing.

If you want to learn more about why the program is designed this way with the specific exercises and biomechanics read on! As always all of these blog posts are accompanied by the YouTube video which I would also encourage you to watch before reading this!  

Advanced Exercise Selection

Just doing a few sets of barbell & cable curls twice per week ain’t going to cut it for those who aren’t blessed with genetically large arms. Instead, we have to define our exercise selection by science. Specifically bio-mechanics.

Isolating The Different Heads of The Biceps

Let’s keep this REAL simple. There are two heads to the biceps (hence the name) and by changing your shoulder position you can transmit more tension to one or the other. You cannot completely isolate tension solely into one head however it is enough to illicit more growth from fibers left otherwise untouched. The way to view this isn’t thinking you can completely change the shape and look of your biceps but rather get more overall girth from training more total fibers.

Bicep Short Head

The short head of the bicep is located on the inside medial aspect of the two heads. Promoting growth here MAY give you more of a full girth to the biceps a tad. However more importantly targeting this area will lead to fibers being tensioned that otherwise would be more dormant. To target the bicep short head we want to

1. Have the shoulders flexed like in a preacher curl. The elbows being in front of the body will flex the shoulder and allow the biceps short head to illicit more of the tension.
2. Use a wider grip. Some studies show a wider grip will preferentially tension the short head more however I am not completely sold on this one.

Bicep Long Head

The long head of the bicep is located on the outside lateral aspect of the two heads. Promoting growth here MAY give you more of a peak to the biceps a tad. However more importantly targeting this area will lead to fibers being tensioned that otherwise would be more dormant. To target the bicep long head we want to

1. Have the shoulders extended like in a dumbbell incline curl. The elbows being behind the body will extend the shoulder and allow the biceps long head to illicit more of the tension.
2. Use a narrower grip. Some studies show a narrow grip will preferentially tension the long head more however I am not completely sold on this one either.

Understanding The HUGE Importance of The Brachialis & Brachioradialis

Truthfully more than anything I think targeting your Brachialis & Brachioradialis muscles will help achieve the look you are wanting. Technically these are not bicep muscles but they are located in an area that will give the illusion of larger biceps. Most people with high attaching bicep muscles have a gap between the end of the forearm and the start of the bicep. Because of this, it gives an illusion of smaller bicep muscles. To remedy this train both of these guys by

1. Using neutral grip curl variations. This will target both the brachialis and brachioradialis however the brachialis is the big mover here. This muscle is directly between the lower region of the bicep and tricep and gaining size there will expand your lower arm out.
2. You can also throw in reverse curls if you are super dedicated to growing the B.R. more. However, in my experience, this isn’t necessary in most cases. Just hammer curl like crazy.

So in a quick recap, we need

1. Shoulder flexed (elbows in front of body) curl variations
2. Shoulder extended (elbows behind body) curl variations
3. Neutral grip curl variations

Resistance & Strength Curve Alterations

Resistance curves: The force production ability of a muscle at its various lengths (stretch or contracted)

Strength curves: The force requirement of an exercise at various joint angles (in the squat the force requirement is hardest at bottom and easiest at top, this is what we call an ascending strength curve).

It is worth mentioning briefly that muscles are strongest in the mid contraction state. They are weakest equally at their fully lengthened state as well as fully contracted. Think of a curl. At the top is full contraction and bottom is full lengthen. This means the mid portion of a curl is where the bicep is strongest.

Once we understand these definitions we can see why altering the resistance or strength curves can be beneficial. For one it makes sense to challenge different points of a joint angle (aka the muscle we’re trying to target) to illicit either more tension demand in the muscles elongated or shortened positions. Two it makes sense to think about which exercises strength curve matches the resistance curve well to overload a muscle better. Thirdly we can understand from the previous section that with the shoulder flexed the bicep exercise is starting with the bicep in a more shortened position. Likewise with the shoulder extended the bicep is starting in a more lengthened position. This means if we do not alter the strength curve to help match this we may miss out on some tension in the targeted bicep head work.

To keep this REAL simple I like to think of exercises in three paradigms for bicep hypertrophy.

Overload Exercises: These are the curl variants where the strength curve matches the resistance curve well like barbell or DB curls. Because the bicep is strongest in the mid-range and the resistance peaks in the mid-range during a barbell curl this is a great match for overload and heavy weights!

Peak Contraction Exercises: Curl variations where the bicep is either starting in a shortened position like in a preacher curl or when the tension peaks near full contraction.

Peak Stretch Exercises: Curl variations where the bicep is either starting in a lengthened position like in an incline curl or when the tension peaks near full elongation.

If we use exercises emphasizing these three paradigms we will maximally recruit all bicep heads as well as specify tension in the various phases of the biceps active range of motion.

Lastly, we want to throw in curls using a hammer or neutral grip position. This again gives us the more complete bicep look we want!

The Program

The program I wrote out utilizes variations of bicep exercises that include EVERYTHING mentioned here. I take the planning out from you. I also use a lot of smart periodization in this 4-week program. We have an introduction week, acclimation week, peak volume week, and a deload week. Each of these weeks has a purpose.

Intro week: This is more important than you think. Going super hard week 1 just leads to bad joints and desensitization quickly. AKA less gains. Remember EFFECTIVE dose not MOST dose. You wouldn’t take as much of a medication as you can, only what you need.

Acclimation week: As you acclimate after the first week we crank the volume higher and intro another exercise.

Peak volume week: This is where you do the most volume. About 30 sets in the training week… Yeah, your arms might fall off. If they do at least the limb will have a fat juicy bicep on it.

Deload week: This is VERY important for re-sensitization to volume. You can’t do high volume forever otherwise your arms will get hurt and you will eventually go stale with the stress response.

I also include some exercise tactics like myo reps as well as prescribed RPEs/rep undulation throughout the training block. It’s a CRAZY bicep program! Use good form and stay true as hell to the RPEs prescribed. Most people I know undershoot their accessory work and THINK they’re working hard, you probably aren’t. Keep in mind this is NOT a normal bicep program and rather a specialization program. This is not something I would include often as it is time-consuming and costly on recovery. I definitely would not be doing this in a meet prep of mine LOL so use it wisely.

There are also videos I filmed for the program which are located with links in the spreadsheet itself. I know I’m fucking badass huh? Thank me by posting about this program on social media and tag #PrimeStrength