Bicep Development

[Fredrico_Suave]

My arms started off at around 13 inches pumped, and now they are around 16 inches, but I have two major problems:
1. I still lack un-pumped size, and 2. I lack lower biceps, near my elbow...

any suggestions to help get past this?

[Fredrico_Suave]

turn the preacher curl bench the other way around and do curls and stretch all the way down to get that lower area stretched. It works for me.

so basically inclined curls?

[qccat]

building up lower biceps could be a genetic thing...try the preacher curls like diablo said, but be careful not to overtrain them too, sometimes less is more

[Fredrico_Suave]

so hang off the vertical side of the preacher is what you suggest, and what about hammer curls or anything simillar to fill in my lowers?

[Warrior]

Sometimes when your growth begins to slow - what you simply need is to back off a bit. In the constant pursuit of progression, we sometimes start to lose respect for strict form. If you are curling 80 for 10. Go back to 70 for 10... and then start to make slow additions the weight, reps or total time. Try and use the smallest increases your gym has available - and then just keep adding a bit each time... doing this is more likely to get you up to 90 for 10 over time then continueing on with what isn't working.

One way to keep strict form on a good overall biceps exercise, Standing Barbell Curls, is to place some nickle plates between your elbows and torsoe - if you let your elbows fling forward or away from your sides - your gonna get a busted toe!

Also - a common thing I see in regards to form is not getting a full stretch in the biceps muscle... many fail to bring the weight all the way down - I mean to a point where your arms are basically straight... with a very slight bend to them.

Another important biceps builder is doing Reverse Grip Curls... it will nail the forearm tie-in to the biceps and help fill it in...

EMG studies suggest the following as the most productive movements for the Biceps Brachii (long head):

Biceps Preacher Curls (Olympic Bar); 90
Incline Seated Dumbell Curls (Alternate); 88
Standing Biceps Curl (Olympic Bar/Narrow Grip); 86
Standing Dumbell Curls (Alternate); 84
Concentration Dumbell Curls; 80
Standing Biceps Curls (Olympic Bar/Wide Grip); 63
Standing E-Z Biceps Curls (Wide Grip); 61

My intital guess here is you need to make sure you are working in a full range and not neglecting reverse grip and/or hammer curls for the forearm tie-in... otherwise you may just have poor genetic predisposition for short bicep heads...

[Darkness]

Do hammer curls for that.

[BOUNCER]

As usual here, go with whatever Warrior says.

[Fredrico_Suave]

You were right about the neglect in hammers Warrior, thanks