Build a better biceps peak: take your arms to new heights with three simple yet unique exercises

Men's Fitness, Oct, 2003 by Michael Berg

King-sized biceps. Arms so big and defined that you're often accused of smuggling baseballs in 'em. Mountainous peaks that kiss your forearms when you flex.

Oh, wait. You don't have those, do you? Despite the way you toil away religiously on barbell curls, you're left wondering why your arms, while a bit larger than when you started training, just don't have that sleeve-splitting size you long for.

Is genetics to blame? Probably. But that doesn't mean you have to settle for less. Instead, jump on the fast track to bigger arms with this innovative biceps routine, built specifically for guys who don't have heredity on their side.

REACHING YOUR PEAK

Overcoming the lousy genes your parents saddled you with takes some innovation. But it can be done, according to Steve Zim, fitness expert for NBC's Weekend Today show and author of Hot Point Fitness. "When you're born with a natural peak, it's easier to develop it," he says. "But it's like the turtle and the hare. The guy that keeps pushing is going to be able to develop it just as well. The key to bringing out the peak is to work the entire biceps, and then make sure you're hitting 100% of the muscle's capability at the top of the rep."

This routine, designed by Zim, is built around three moves that accentuate that key point in the repetition: the dumbbell curl with twist, the cable ski sweep and the seated one-arm cable curl. You'll do the workout once a week and change up two variables: the exercise sequence and the rep count.

"Think of the exercises in this workout like a deck of cards, and continually shuffle them," Zim says. "Never do the same order twice in a row."

As for reps, alternate week to week between a lighter-weight, higher-rep day (10 to 12 reps) and a heavier-weight, lower-rep day (six to eight reps).

1. DUMBBELL CURL WITH TWIST (biceps) Stand upright with a dumbbell in each hand, palms facing forward (1a). Curl both dumbbells up simultaneously until they are three-quarters of the way toward your shoulders. At that point, drive your elbows deeper into your sides and twist your wrists out slightly at the same time, angling your thumbs toward the floor (1b). "Think of it like you're holding pitchers of water and you're trying to pour them out--the twist is almost less than an inch," Zim explains. Hold that position and squeeze hard for a count of one, then turn your wrists back so your palms are facing straight up and lower the dumbbells through a full one-two-three count until your elbows are straight. (As an option, you can do alternating reps instead.)

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2. CABLE SKI SWEEP (biceps) Attach D-shaped handles to the bottom pulleys of a cable station and grasp one in each hand, standing in the center of the apparatus. Step forward and let your arms trail behind you, elbows straight. Now squat down with your body angled forward, rear up--you should resemble a downhill skier (2a). Keeping your shoulders stationary and head neutral, bend your elbows and curl the handles back up toward your nose. Stop at the top for a count and squeeze (2b); slowly return to the starting position and repeat.

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3. SEATED ONE-ARM CABLE CURL (biceps) Take a D-shaped handle and attach it to a seated-row station. Sit with your torso upright, legs straight (knees unlocked), as you would at the start of a seated row, and grasp the handle in your right hand. Place your left hand under your right elbow (3a). From there, curl the handle all the way up toward your right shoulder as far as you can (3b). "Unlike the dumbbell curl, where you stop three-quarters of the way up, you'll want to take this as far as you can go," Zim says. "On a dumbbell exercise, if you go all the way up, it's a rest point for the arm, but with cables, the tension remains." Hold at the top, squeeze and slowly lower. Complete your reps for the right arm, then repeat for the left.

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MEN'S FITNESS TIP #1

"You can do this workout in place of your current routine," Zim says. "If you rotate the order every time, you can continue with this for at least eight weeks without replacing or adding an exercise." If you feet you aren't getting results, check you from and be honest with yourself in your weight selection--going too light is as serious a mistake as going too heavy, and either way, you're only cheating yourself out of bigger bis.

MEN'S FITNESS TIP #2

"In every biceps exercise you do, you should stop at the top and really squeeze," Zim says. "If you squeeze that biceps and you feel a burn right in the peak, you're doing it right. A lot of people swing through a curl. Don't swing it, bring it. To hit the peak, you can't be using a weight so heavy you can't control it--you have to maintain control."

To ask Steve Zim questions, check out the Audio Trainer (an interactive CD that serves as a portable personal trainer), or order the book Hot Point Fitness from www.hotpointfitness.com.

GENETICS BUSTER

EXERCISE          SETS   REPS

Dumbbell curl
  with twist      3-4    6-12
Cable ski sweep   3-4    6-12
Seated one-arm
  cable curl      3-4    6-12