I cant lift more than 10 kilos in bicep curls. It’s been like this for 8 months

[siphosethu]

@vincentleo Oh, I'm the same. I've just started lots more protein. Time will tell.

 

[ryaneda]

@vincentleo When i hit an arm plateu, i find a few rounds of 21's with an ez bar over a couple of weeks seems to get me past it.

 

[prayersneeded2276]

@ryaneda When I plateau I just go up anyway and do lower reps. Gotta get there somehow

 

[ryaneda]

@prayersneeded2276 It's not a bad idea, tbf. My routine is a little too guided at the mo.

 

[kadian]

@vincentleo Curls are a supplemental lift you do to help your other lifts and for aesthetic reasons. The weight doesn’t matter at all. Change exercises/reps if you have plateaued.

 

[kerrygoris]

@vincentleo Something that has helped me when I get stuck at a weight or want to move up a weight is on your last set start with the higher weight do as many as you can even if it is only one then finish the set with the original weight rinse and repeat trying to do more reps each time. Or you can do negatives use a heavier than you can lift weight lift it up using two hands but let it down with one hand in a slow controlled manner.

 

[antponetteoaks]

@vincentleo Can you do pull ups or chin ups?

 

[vincentleo]

@antponetteoaks Nah, I suck at it and I don’t have the time to try. My schedule is tight. I mean I could replace my bicep curls for pull ups and chin ups but it won’t help me grow much muscles when I can barely do one pull up or chin up

 

[antponetteoaks]

@vincentleo The point is that doing compound movements will give you the strength to do curls better.

There's no point doing curls if your pull ups and rows are shite.

They'll also grow your arms more.

 

[vincentleo]

@antponetteoaks Oh ok. Maybe I should focus on that then for the time being. I have always wanted to do pull ups but I haven’t learned yet and I have prioritized other exercise to grow my muscles but maybe I need to focus on that even though the reward comes long after

 

[antponetteoaks]

@vincentleo Curls are like the sprinkles on the cake

 

[ivans]

@vincentleo Gain some weight and patience. You can't grow muscle without gaining weight and biceps are small muscles. They are going to progress slowly.

 

[vincentleo]

@ivans Yeah I’m struggling getting over my anxiety of gaining weight.

 

[ivans]

@vincentleo That's the problem. You can't grow muscle without gaining weight.

I would urge you to bite the bullet, pick a challenging mass gaining program, train hard and eat to recover.

I'm going to be blunt, but I would guess growing your biceps is the least of your worries. I didn't notice significant physique changes until near the end of my second bulk. If you gain lean mass throughout your body I promise your arms will grow as well.

What program are you currently running?

 

[vincentleo]

@ivans A regular 4 days split.
Yeah I am trying. A lot of anxiety to deal with at first. After losing 28 kilos and treating any weight gain as an enemy for a year it’s difficult to switch mentality.

 

[ivans]

@vincentleo Yeah, I started out the same way you did. Now I bulk and cut cyclically. I still gain more fat than I want, but the trade off is worth it for the lean mass. I'm good at cutting, so that helps relieve the stress of weight gain.

Just do a slow bulk initially. Add something like 300 cals a day and see what happens. If you are gaining too much weight, ease back on the calories. Train hard. You might be shocked at the difference you see.

Also, a split isn't a program. Check out these for reference. I'm a particularly big proponent of 531.

 

[vincentleo]

@ivans I don’t know if cutting got me so traumatized that I never want to do it again because I am so afraid I will gain and have to cut. So I struggle to gain.

Hmm the whole program thing confuses me. I will check the link

 

[ivans]

@vincentleo I'm at the point now that by the end of my bulk I'm looking forward to cutting and vice versa.

Reading this should provide clarity.

 

[pjf]

@vincentleo Add more bicep-centric exercises. Example, if you have a "pull day" where you're working back and biceps, do several exercises that work biceps. I see one day you do lat pulldowns. After your sets of those, assuming you're doing cable pull-downs, turn your hands so palms face you, do close grip pulldowns, hands about shoulder width. This works your bicep in a slightly different way (a simplified description. Then add different variations of curls, EZ bar curls, concentration curls, seated hammer curls, all to failure.

Similarly you should be doing multiple variations of tricep extensions on your "push" days. Palms up, palms down, overhead, skull crushers, etc.... hit em from different "angles". (Again, an over-simplified description).

 

[leightonh]

@vincentleo Since no one has actually given you what to do in the gym:

You are stalling because you aren't employing progressive overload.

Increase the weight anyway and do fewer reps.

An example would look like:

• Week 1: 30 lb x 5-6 on set 1 (and 5-6 or to failure on all other sets, whichever comes first)
• Week 2: 35 lb x 3-4 on set 1 (and 3-4 or failure on all other sets, whichever comes first)
• Week 3: 40 lb x 1-2 (and failure on all other sets, if you can't do it then stop)
• Week 4: 25 lb x 10 for 3 sets

Also, reading through your posts you may want to do more than just 6 sets of bicep curls a week. If you're failing on subsequent sets then part of the issue is endurance.

No, you don't need to take a week off or drastically alter your diet for stalling at 25 lb dumbbell curls.