Biceps: The Stretch, the Peak, and the Brachialis

The biceps get all the attention on arm day, but most people still train them with the same standing curl over and over and wonder why they do not grow. The biceps respond to a few specific things, the stretch, the brachialis underneath, and supination, and once you train for those, they finally build. Here is how to actually grow your biceps.

Own the Stretch

The biggest key to biceps growth is training them in a stretched position. The biceps long head gets its deepest stretch when your elbows are behind your body, which is exactly what an incline curl does. Sitting back on an incline bench and letting the dumbbells hang lets the biceps stretch under load at the bottom of every rep, and that stretched position is where a lot of growth comes from. Make incline curls or another stretch curl a priority, not an afterthought.

The Truth About the Peak

Everyone wants a high biceps peak, and here is the honest truth: the shape of your biceps peak is mostly genetic. You cannot dramatically change the shape you were born with. What you can do is build the muscle bigger so whatever peak you have becomes more pronounced. So stop chasing magic peak exercises and focus on building the biceps and the muscle underneath them.

Build the Brachialis

Underneath your biceps sits the brachialis, and this is the muscle most people miss. When the brachialis grows, it pushes the biceps up from underneath, which makes your arm look bigger and your peak look higher. It is trained best with your palm neutral or facing down, like hammer curls and reverse curls. Adding a couple of sets of hammer curls is one of the most effective ways to add size to your arm, and it builds your forearm at the same time.

Don’t Forget to Supinate

One job of the biceps is to turn your palm up, which is called supination, and the biceps work harder when they do it. On dumbbell curls, start with your palm neutral at the bottom and turn your pinky up as you curl so your palm faces up at the top. That full supination squeezes more out of the biceps than curling with a fixed grip the whole way.

Train Them With Control

Biceps are small and easy to cheat. Swinging heavy barbells with your back builds momentum, not biceps. Use a weight you can curl with control, lower every rep slowly to feel the stretch, and squeeze at the top. Clean, controlled curls through a full range, weighted toward the stretch, build far more than heavy heaving.

The Gegns Gym Way

The Gegns Gym Arm Training Manual builds biceps the way they actually grow: through the stretch with incline curls, with the brachialis underneath from hammer curls, with full supination, and under control. Train for the stretch and the muscle underneath, and the biceps fill out.