There’s something about the biceps. Something about having thick, ripped muscles on the front of your arm that has a special appeal. When its time to show off our gains in the gym to other people, the first thing we do is peel back our sleeves. Maybe that’s because our arms are the easiest thing to show off in public, maybe its because our biceps are the most directly visible muscles when we wear regular clothes, or maybe there’s just something more to it. But without question, we all want to have biceps that bring together size, height, and definition.
This all makes perfect sense in our minds. Strong men should have strong biceps. But the truth is that the biceps are a relatively small muscle group when compared with the other muscle groups in our bodies. They make up only a little more than a third of the overall mass in your upper arms. In contrast, the triceps are much larger than the biceps and make up a larger portion of your upper arms. The fact that the biceps are smaller means that it will take less exercise sets to bring them to exhaustion than other muscle groups.
This fact, combined with the fact that many of us put a lot of focus on the biceps leads to a powerful combination. Our focus on the biceps leads us to often train them first when we have the greatest amount of energy, focus, and intensity. This means that we often train our relatively smaller biceps as a priority and quickly bring them up to the same level as some of the other muscle groups.
Of course, your genetic makeup will have its say on how your biceps turn out. It’s just a fact of life that some people naturally have larger and fuller biceps than others. Some individuals have biceps that are naturally longer while others have biceps that are shorter. Some people tend to have a higher peak in their biceps while others do not. Then there are those who have narrower bicep muscles while others have biceps that are naturally thicker.
Regardless of the genetics that heaven may or may not have given you, it’s going to be hard work to build a set of well developed biceps. And regardless of your natural size or frame, you’ll be able to make incredible gains with the proper training and knowledge. If you happen to be one of those guys who wasn’t blessed with naturally large arms (and most of us weren’t), you’ll need to have a plan to make up for your genetic weaknesses.
Your plan will require that you first understand your body and how to properly train your biceps for maximum gains. So let’s jump into the physiology of the biceps and how they function. There are actually two muscle groups on your upper arm that make up the biceps muscle group: the actual biceps themselves and the brachialis muscles.
The brachialis is a thin strip of muscle that only runs about half way up your arm. It’s not as visible as the biceps, but it is located between your biceps and triceps just above your elbow on the side of your arm, and it only goes about half way up your arm. The brachialis is worked through many of the basic back exercises such as rows and pull-downs.
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