Q and A with Brad (Biceps Size)
Question:Brad I have been Bodybuilding since I was 13. I have been a Master fitness trainer in the military. I have been a MMA fighter. Now I am in a RUTT I do my work out as usual I am 5′6 190 pounds doing 50 pound one arm dumbell curls fixing to move up. My strength is increasing but my size isnt. so my ? is. Without steroids what more can I do to increase my size on my bicipes and tris’?
Answer:Thank you for writing in. I feel honored that an athlete of your caliber is asking ME for advice.
The one aspect of body building is that day by day, even month by month, it is a thankless endeavor. You can bust your butt in the gym drilling yourself into the floor to put size on. You can eat perfectly, taking in lots of raw fruits and vegetables, and supplement your protein intake with Whey. Then you can deprive yourself of lifes’ pleasures like Pizza, Krispy Kreme, and those awesome Ultimate Cheese Burgers and all for what, your arms measure the same size as always. DAMN THOSE BODY BUILDING GODS!
Regardless of any mental limitations you may be putting on yourself, your workout, your nutrition, your very life style as a body builder is working. It just takes its’ time for you to see the results, and it may not be the type of results you are expecting to see. I will use myself as an example. In 2003 I competed in my first Natural Body Building Competition. I was curling 65 - 70lb dumbbells, admittedly with a little body english, and my arms were 16 inches. Now in 2007 I can curl 75 pounds with the same amount of body english and my arms still measure the same 16 inches. However, my arm looks nothing like it did in 2003. There are lines and separation on my inner biceps that I have never had. I can clearly delineate both attachments in my lower biceps, and my triceps is developing a "split" between the medial and lateral heads. So even though my arms measure the same size, they look much bigger, harder, and as I get leaner, even more "freaky." God just made my arm to be 16 inches and no bigger, but that does not mean that it has to look the same.
So with that in mind, the million dollar question is how do you make the most of your time in the gym? As you probably know, nothing beats progressive overload.(5) The weight on my curl may have only gone up 5 or 10 pounds in 4 years, but that is about 1.1 - 2.2 pounds a year. On a one limb, isolation movement like the curl, that is huge. Additionally, that strength equals about a 50 pound increase in my bench press and bent over barbell rows. You don’t have to make huge jumps in weight, you just have to go up.
Lastly is nutrition. If it is one thing I have learned in the last year, it is that good clean fuel going into your body is even more critical for building muscle than for losing fat. When losing fat, you have to limit the amount of good clean food you are eating. When building muscle, you have to stuff yourself with good clean fuel. I always try to keep in mind that food is our fuel like gas for a car. You don’t put water in the gas tank of your car, it won’t run. So don’t feed your body bad fuel, it won’t run right either, much less build good quality muscle. I try to find way to get as many raw vegetables I can stomach in. I make my own low calorie dressing using salsa and butter spray, I pile it high with olives, mushrooms, shredded carrots and cabbage and I always top it with about 4 -5 ounces of chicken, shrimp or turkey. If I use salmon or other fatty fish, I use about half. Those EFA’s (Essential Fatty Acids) are very important for building muscle as well. Large doses of EFA’s have been shown to have a tremendous anti-catabolic effect which is super important when restricting calories.(2)(4) Additionally those same doses of EFA’s help insulin to transport nutrients into cells for those times when it seems you can’t get enough good clean fuel to build muscle.(1)(3)So if you can’t get enough fish, flax or other natural source of EFA’s for some reason, get a good supplement with a generous dose.
Sorry I got so long winded, I love to talk about body building and I tend to just go off. In any case I hope this helps. Thank you very much for allowing me to coach you and good luck with all your sports.
1. J. Nutrition 132: 3508S-3512S, 2002.
2. Nutr Cancer 40 (2):118-24, 2001.
3. J. Nutrition 17:751-755, 2001.
4. Cancer Res 61:3604-3609, 2001.
5. ACSM - Position Stand 2002.
May 16, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Curious to hear what you think about my thoughts…i think you could gained much more strength in your isolated bicep curl if you focused on strength training as opposed to body building…Everything in life has a trade off…if you want to focus on strength then you gotta give up body building training and vice versa…when you try to do both one takes away from the other so results will come but slower…my answer would to divide your training into phases…strength training to you reach a projected weight…followed by bodybuilding till you reach a particular body image goal…something like that…i would try to find the most efficient way of doing things first…for example you can read and comprehend a book in 2 mins i can do the same in an hour…i can do it but you do it much more efficiently than me…thanks for your time…