How'd your training go?

[KOTJ]

Chinning everyday for a month, biceps still the same. Thanks, I hate it.

SS and or lifting weights fucked up my body composition as well, I'm 170lbs but I look fucking FAT. Fuck having a physical body, I want to be a lifeless form

I'm not paying attention to this thread much, but why are you doing chinups only instead of curls, or curls and chinups?

If you don't have access to an assisted pull up/chinup machine, I'd prioritize curls.

And no, bands are not a great source for assisted chinups for hypertrophy because of where they reduce stress the most

Being able to scale the load for curls vs same weight all the time for chinups is an advantage

Significantly lighter loads, while also being able to isolate better (no worry about swinging or cheating), is probably significant in preventing grip fatigue from adverse effects of targeting biceps
easier to have controlled eccentrics (not tempo)

Given what we know about full ROM/muscle length and 30-80% effectiveness for hypertrophy, I'd honestly just swap them for Pendlay rows




But also, do curls if chinups aren't achieving your goal of bicep size increase


And also, are you measuring your biceps and tracking your nutrition?


And also also, 4 weeks isn't really a reasonable time to have noticeable muscle growth

[KOTJ]

I'm enjoying the shit out of training.

Primarily due to structured fucking around.

This goddamn leg press/hack combo can't arrive fast enough.

I'm going to absolutely slaughter my legs (semi intelligently)

[mgil]

@EggMcMuffin, @KOTJ is right. It’s like doing OHP and expecting your rear delts to get swole af.

The biceps mainly function to keep your forearms in place and support your grip in chin-ups and pull-ups. The upper back is doing most of the work.

And, honestly, Pendlay rows would be better for biceps…

[DCR]

Dudes - he was doing the daily chins per Hanley’s suggestion a few pages back, because curls weren’t getting him anywhere. Anecdotally (me included), lots of folks get really good biceps results from chins. That said, I suspect that neither the curls nor chins worked because my dude has body dysmorphia and isn’t eating anything.

[KOTJ]

@DCR chin ups without machine assistance (say no to bands for hypertrophy) are significantly less effective than curls for the reasons I stated earlier.

He definitely has some fuckery going on with programming and recovery, and probably technique.

I've been away from this site for a while, and it seems like fresh SS refugees are present.

I know some people respond well to chinups for bicep growth, but I'd still recommend using curls.

I should setup some rotating handles so I can do chinups and pull-ups again. I used to do a shit load back in the day. Never did much for bicep growth, but they're enjoyable.

[DCR]

@KOTJ, I was clarifying why he was doing what he was doing, in case the explanation from a few pages back had been missed.

I never was a poster at SS and never ran any of Mark’s stuff.

[ChasingCurls69]

Yeah, and EggMcMuffin has been here for years, too. Personally I like the combo of chin ups or rows and curls right after, instead of one or the other.

[mouse]

I suspect that neither the curls nor chins worked because my dude has body dysmorphia and isn’t eating anything.

Maybe I'm just not keeping up well but he's shifting goals every couple weeks it would seem as well.

He was chasing a DL number, then running a marathon, now he's doing chins every day...

[EggMcMuffin]

I'm trying to do all of those at the same time. If you believe it, you can achieve it.

[Culican]

Over a year ago I made a choice to not chase strength as the main goal but instead try to get more muscular. Have cut from ~200lb to 170lb and lost strength but look a lot more muscular.

For arms:
Chinups, neutral grip chinups, straight bar curls (biceps will be more contracted at the top than with an EZ curl bar), and dumbell curls. For triceps (in addition to the work from OHP and bench) I do dips. I get comments on my arms at the gym all the time (even at my advanced age of 67) as well as whispered questions asking me if I use steroids (I don't, not even TRT).

Edit: Also reverse curls with the straight bar.

[OverheadDeadlifts]

Have cut from ~200lb to 170lb and lost strength but look a lot more muscular

There’s definitely a level of leanness that makes you look way more jacked despite being smaller and weaker. You get a lot more comments about your arms when there’s thick veins and definition on them versus just having big ol’ fatceps, irony being that you had to lose 10-15% off your lifts to get the definition.

[Hanley]

@EggMcMuffin, @KOTJ is right. It’s like doing OHP and expecting your rear delts to get swole af.

Eh. Mean/Peak EMG for biceps is really fucking high on chinups. It's not a great proxy for hypertrophic potential (but I'm not sure there's any good proxy for hypertrophy [I maintain that "extreme burn in primary movers" is pretty good).

[dw]

There is no alternative that will work if curls don't. If curls aren't working you have a volume or energy surplus problem.

[mgil]

EggMcMuffin, @KOTJ is right. It’s like doing OHP and expecting your rear delts to get swole af.

Eh. Mean/Peak EMG for biceps is really fucking high on chinups. It's not a great proxy for hypertrophic potential (but I'm not sure there's any good proxy for hypertrophy [I maintain that "extreme burn in primary movers" is pretty good).

Does the integral over time matter?

[Hanley]

EggMcMuffin, @KOTJ is right. It’s like doing OHP and expecting your rear delts to get swole af.

Eh. Mean/Peak EMG for biceps is really fucking high on chinups. It's not a great proxy for hypertrophic potential (but I'm not sure there's any good proxy for hypertrophy [I maintain that "extreme burn in primary movers" is pretty good).

Does the integral over time matter?

Probably. But I'd guess that integral would still be superior for chinups than other stuff.

Cable curls would probably have an epic force curve and might actually be best.

[FredM]

EggMcMuffin, @KOTJ is right. It’s like doing OHP and expecting your rear delts to get swole af.

Eh. Mean/Peak EMG for biceps is really fucking high on chinups. It's not a great proxy for hypertrophic potential (but I'm not sure there's any good proxy for hypertrophy [I maintain that "extreme burn in primary movers" is pretty good).

Does the integral over time matter?

Probably. But I'd guess that integral would still be superior for chinups than other stuff.

Cable curls would probably have an epic force curve and might actually be best.

Can confirm. Weighted chins followed by cable curls is where it’s at. 1/2” growth in a few weeks and counting

[augeleven]

Switched to block pulls for my post-squat volume. And added 100 bodyweight lunges and 100 bodyweight squats in as few sets as possible.
I hurt. Not sure which change is causing it though.
People keep asking me if I’m ok, with looks of serious concern.
So I think things are going well.

[janoycresva]

There is no alternative that will work if curls don't. If curls aren't working you have a volume or energy surplus problem.

this tbh, if a shitload of curls isn’t growing your arms it’s not the stimulus that’s the problem

did RDLs for the first time in years yesterday, I’m crippled with soreness from 4 sets (and only the last two were hard), amazing what a difference the controlled eccentric, weighted stretch, and higher rep range makes

also i just realized the soreness pattern is really similar to what I get from highbar squats

[hector]

EggMcMuffin, @KOTJ is right. It’s like doing OHP and expecting your rear delts to get swole af.

Eh. Mean/Peak EMG for biceps is really fucking high on chinups. It's not a great proxy for hypertrophic potential (but I'm not sure there's any good proxy for hypertrophy [I maintain that "extreme burn in primary movers" is pretty good).

Does the integral over time matter?

Probably. But I'd guess that integral would still be superior for chinups than other stuff.

Cable curls would probably have an epic force curve and might actually be best.

I think so.

The arm wrestling and grip strength people I watch on YouTube are all about cable curls.

[CaptainAwesome]

Feel like ass. I tried doing this crazy leg press routine I saw in an article for squat assistance and it was a terrible idea. My lower body workout today was ruined by still-unrecovered muscles.