By: John Hansen Q: I notice you have a great peak on your biceps. What exercises did you do to develop that?

A: The shape of your biceps is pretty much determined by your genetics, just like the shape of all your muscles. There are, however, biceps exercises that will enhance your peak.

The most famous exercise is concentration curls, but many bodybuilders do them incorrectly. When you do concentration curls seated on a bench with your elbow pressed against your thigh, you can curl more weight, even using your upper body to help get the weight up. If your goal is to create a higher biceps peak, however, you should isolate the biceps.

First of all, stand up and bend over at the waist so your upper body is parallel to the floor. Keeping your upper arm perpendicular to the floor, grab the dumbbell and slowly curl the weight, keeping the arc of the movement in line with your deltoid and upper arm. You don’t want your lower arm to drift out of the groove.

It takes discipline to keep your upper arm stable while you slowly curl and flex the biceps at the top of the movement. The only part of your arm that should move is your forearm. Once you get the movement down, you’ll really notice a difference in the peak of your biceps. Watch the movie “Pumping Iron” and note how Arnold does concentration curls.

Even if you don’t naturally have a peak to your biceps, you can do a lot to create one. Franco Columbu, for example, had short biceps that showed little potential when he started training. After a few years in the gym he’d developed some size and a pretty good peak by working his biceps hard. As Arnold used to say, “Visualize your biceps as a mountain in order to develop a great peak.”

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