Here is his email:
When beginning a bicep workout routine; how do I determine the amount of weight
to use?
And here is my cogent and detailed answer:
Hi Rick,
The weight used is a function of how much you can properly lift.
When I say properly, I mean without swinging the weight, or moving any part of your body except your arms.
No cheating!
And no “arm-blasters” or similar.
Take a weight that you know will be ridiculously easy, say 20 pounds on an EZ Curl bar.
Do eight reps – with perfect form. That’s your warm up.
Now do another 6 with 30 pounds on the bar. Ok – based on how that felt, do you think you can get 8 reps with 50? Give it a shot. If it is still easy, jump to 70.
A little trial and error will give you what we call your “8 rep max”.
Now that you have that, you have a good starting point for your bicep workouts.
Let’s go ahead and put together a simple bicep workout, based on an 8 rep max of 50 pounds:
Rest for 1 minute after each set.
EZ Curls 40 x 8 x3 (40 pounds, for 3 sets of 8 reps each)
Concentration Curls 15 x 10 x 3
Rest for 3 minutes
Cable Rows 100 x 8 x 3 – Do these sets as quickly and as close together as you can without sacrificing form.
This is a bit of a departure from a lot of workouts – usually you might end a bodypart specific workout with an isolation exercise for that part.
I like this better. Your biceps are already pre-exhausted with the direct work, and you are finishing them off with a compound exercise, in effect slipping in a mini back workout on the sly.
The 3 sets with a light weight won’t be enough to throw you off if your have back scheduled the next day – and if it is set for the same day, so much the better.
Remember – To get big arms, you need to grow all over. – don’t neglect the rest of your physique!