“If you want to build big biceps you don't necessarily have to always focus on lifting heavy weight. In this video, I'm going to give you a complete biceps workout that you can do with lighter weights than you normally lift and still get massive growth in your biceps.
Yes. In fact it is necessary to use lighter weights alongside heavier weights to stimulate growth. If u are a beginner your muscles will grow no matter what. Even if u are intermediate or an advanced lifter you will definitely be able to increase muscle size using lighter weights, it's called metabolic training.
Biceps absolutely DO NOT need a heavy weight to grow. Biceps are a relatively small muscle group, they need no more than moderate to light weight. With that said you should train biceps with higher volume and little rest between sets.
Yes, you can build muscle with light weights, especially if you focus on higher reps and longer sets. The key to muscle growth is progressive overload, which means gradually increasing the challenge to your muscles. Light weights can still stimulate muscle growth if you work to fatigue and ensure proper form.
“You can lift lighter weights, and as long as you lift them with a high degree of effort, they're as good as heavier weights in making you bigger,” he says. Using a home gym machine or even just your own body weight, like with push-ups or lunges, works.
On the other hand, Sheridan says that beginners just looking to tone up might aim for a maximum of 20 reps per set. “If you can implement above 20 reps, there is a chance that you are practicing with light or easy weights, which will not help you improve or grow,” he warns.
These beginner arm toning exercises are easy to do at home with a pair of 3-pound dumbbells (or bodyweight alone). For best results, do each of the upper body exercises for the number of reps indicated one to three times per week.
Typically, it takes around 6-8 weeks for you to start noticing changes in the appearance of your arms. At around the 12 week mark, this is typically when you can expect to see more significant changes, especially if you didn't already have a large amount of muscle mass in the area!
Do Push Ups Work Biceps? Whilst the biceps help to stabilize the shoulder and elbow joints during the lowering phase of a push up, they don't directly work the biceps. If your goal is to build your biceps, you'd be better off focusing on bicep isolation exercises such as bicep curls, hammer curls, or chin ups.
There are two main training errors people make that keep their biceps from growing. These are overtraining the biceps (often unintentionally) and a lack of variation in training techniques. Adding additional biceps focused workouts and trying multiple biceps exercises doesn't work.
Strong biceps help with lifting, holding, and carrying heavy objects. The old-school curl is still the best exercise for building biceps. Use a pair of light dumbbells (about 10 pounds each). You also can use soup cans, full plastic water bottles, or any other easy-to-hold item that feels like an appropriate weight.
Don't Lift Too Heavy
Generally, research agrees that 8-12 repetitions with a moderate load is best for inducing a hypertrophic response. While you will still make strength gains with heavier loads and lower reps, you will be minimizing the potential for gains in muscle size.
While the difference was small, this study shows that you can absolutely build muscle even if you have lighter dumbbells. So, tell your 3lb dumbbells to cheer up, they can be just as useful as a 5lb dumbbell.
Not necessarily. Whether you choose to lift light weights or heavy weights is often a matter of personal preference. Both will achieve the goal of making your muscles stronger, assuming you work out to the point of muscle fatigue. Muscle fatigue means you can no longer do more reps in proper form.
Genetics certainly come into play, but far more people are capable of building a legitimate 20-inch arm than will ever know. In many cases, if they only did things differently, their arms would grow to their ultimate potential rather than be stalled out one to three inches shy.
For optimal results when starting out, consider training your biceps no more than twice a week. Two sessions a week gives your muscles enough post-workout recovery to perform at their maximum capacity during the next session.
Here's a secret: You don't need a full hour or even 30 minutes to get a good arm workout in. If you have 10 minutes, you can strengthen your biceps, triceps, and shoulders. This 10-minute dumbbell arm day workout proves it. It all comes down to smart moves and equipment.
If you prefer to track progression through weight or reps, try this: Start with 8 repetitions of 3-5 exercises using 3-pound weights. Perform three rounds of all of the exercises in the circuit. Then, after doing this every other day for 2-3 weeks, increase your repetitions to 10. Repeat for 2-3 weeks.
I recommend starting with 5-pound weights. Halfway through the month, do a check-in with your body to see if they feel too light. If so, you can move up to 7.5- or 8-pound weights. If you notice you are building muscle too quickly, or bulking instead of toning, I recommend staying lighter with your weights.
Sets & Reps: Rules To Follow To Get Ripped
Ideally, you would train each muscle group with both lower and high rep training: Performing 2-5 sets of 5-10 reps per muscle group with heavier loads, per week, may be enough to help retain strength during the diet phase.
Most of the guys we see at commercial gyms are doing sets of 5–15 reps. 86% of the guys who could bench 225 pounds believed they were stronger than the average man. They're correct. Not just that, they're also stronger than two-thirds of guys who've been lifting for over a decade.
This holds that regardless of whether you're trying to build muscle, strength, power, or endurance, performing three sets of 10 reps per exercise is a good place to start. The scheme mostly works, especially if you're just starting out with strength training—because everything works in the beginning.