If ever there was a bodybuilder who exemplified ‘bicep goals’ it was Phil Heath. Despite retiring from active competition, the seven-time Mr Olympia still appears to be forged from twisted steel and, fortunately, the icon is all about sharing his tried and tested methods. In a recent Instagram post, the legend shed some light on three “easy” ways to grow your biceps. Here’s how you can hang with Heath.
Tip One: Volume
“Train them twice per week!” explained Heath of his bicep building schedule. “This can be done once with your back or pull day, plus on your arm workout.”
This is great advice since your biceps are taxed during back workouts, but you should also focus on them directly for a well-rounded approach to growing your arms. Just try to leave a day or two between sessions to allow for recovery.
Tip Two: Hitting the Heads
”So many people train biceps and forget about the three heads which are within the bicep!” said the bodybuilding hero. “Train them all… Short head, long head, and brachialis.”
For the uninitiated, the short head is the inner bicep muscle. The long head is the outer bicep muscle, and the brachialis is not technically a bicep muscle, but is part of your arms’ muscular stricture and sits on the outside of your arm between the bicep and triceps. To target each muscle part, you’ll need to hit them with different types of movements. The short head is most efficiently worked with arms in front of the body. Think preacher curls or high cable curls. The long head is better worked with your arms on the side with exercises like incline dumbbell curls and hammer curls. Moving on to the brachialis, aim for a narrow grip and perform pullups or inverted rows.
Tip Three: Contraction
“Make sure you are holding your contractions for at least 1-3 seconds, actually (activating) the muscle,” said Heath. “Not just throwing it up and hardly activating anything!” To make quality contractions, the bodybuilder says you must work with a weight that you can control, so don’t go so heavy that you are sacrificing form.
Bonus Tip: Negatives
The gift that keeps on giving, Heath says; “Performing slow negatives allows the bicep to stretch and lengthen whilst keeping constant tension on the muscle,” So, don’t just concentrate on flexing those biceps, instead try and put just as much energy into returning to the starting position as you did with making the pump. If you take the time to include these three easy lessons into your future routine bicep routines, your shirt sleeves will surely tighten.
For more easy, and not so easy, muscle building tips from one of the greatest to ever do it, follow Phil Heath on Instagram.