Build killer biceps

Here’s a two-part quiz. One: Are you happy with the size of your biceps? And two: Why not?

If you’ve answered ‘yes’ to the first question, you’re either a female yoga instructor, a skinny male model headed to the fashion ramps of Milan, or a Shiamak Davar dancer! Most men want big biceps. Trouble is, most guys have been doing the same two or three arm movements since they first learned how to lift a dumbbell. If we were to apply the same theory to life, we’d still be wearing pants two inches above our belly button, and talking about Priyanka Chopra’s behind—not John Abraham’s!

Times change. So should your workout. In a special two-part series on How to Build Killer Biceps, Men’s Health expert Allen Cosgrove shows us how to Curl for Muscle and Curl for Fat Loss, and next fortnight, how to Curl for Strength and Curl for Power. A survey reveals that strong arms are the #1 muscle most admired by women and men alike. So, here’s looking forward towards ‘curling up’ eventually… Priyanka Chopra or John Abraham—you decide!

Curl for muscle
Do this workout as a triset, performing one set of each of the three exercises, with no rest in between, before beginning your second set of each move. Complete a total of three trisets.

1. Dumb-bell Incline Curl (6 reps)
Set an incline bench to a 45-degree angle. (More upright is easier; flatter is harder, but potentially tougher on your shoulders.) Grab a pair of dumb-bells and lie on your back on the bench. Let your arms hang straight down from your shoulders and turn your palms forward. Without allowing your upper arms to move forward, slowly curl the weights up as high as you can. Then, without pausing, take five seconds to lower the dumb-bells back to the starting position.

2. Dumb-bell Offset Curl (12 reps)
Grab a pair of dumb-bells with an offset, underhand grip, so that your little finger is pressed against the inside head of the dumb-bell and your palms are facing forward. Sit at the end of a bench and hold the dumb-bells at arm’s length at your sides. Without allowing your upper arms to move forward, take two seconds to curl the weights up as high as you can. Pause for one second, then take three seconds to lower the dumbbells back to the starting position.

3. Decline Hammer Curl (25 reps)
Set an incline bench to a 45-degree angle. (More upright is easier; flatter is harder.) Grab a pair of dumbbells and lie chest-down on the bench. Let your arms hang straight down from your shoulders and turn your palms to face each other. Without allowing your upper arms to move backward, slowly curl the weights up as high as you can. Pause for one second, then take one second to lower the dumb-bells back to the starting position.

Curl for fat loss
Who thought you could use bicep curls for fat loss? You can! Do three sets of this secret combo to ignite your body’s fat-burning furnace.

1. Dumb-bell Lunge, Curl and Press (8 to 10 reps)
Grab a pair of dumb-bells and hold them at your sides. Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Step forward with your left leg and lower your body down and forward until you can touch the dumb-bells to the floor next to your left foot. Your left lower leg should be perpendicular to the floor. In one move, curl the weights to shoulder level as you push yourself quickly back to a standing position. Then press the dumb-bells above your head until your arms are almost straight (not shown in image.) Lower the weights to the starting position and repeat, stepping forward with your right leg this time.

Jamal Shaikh is Editor, Men’s Health.