Peaking Exercises for Men

Big biceps and “peaked” biceps are two different things. While anyone can hit the gym for biceps exercises, few gym-goers have “hill-like” biceps. This is because you must focus on a specific region of the biceps, the long head, if you want to get that peak-like shape. A couple of especially effective exercises can help you achieve this goal.

  1. Clever Exercise Design

    • Working your biceps with general biceps exercises is not an effective way to get a biceps peak. This is because working the entire biceps makes the whole muscle area bigger, expanding the biceps both upward and outward instead of creating a peak. To get a biceps peak, you must focus on exercises that primarily target the long head of the biceps, as this head expands more upward than outward. This way you can push one head of the biceps up while the short head, which expands more outward than upward, stays relatively small, allowing for a “hill,” or peak, in your biceps.

    Guiding Your Long Head to Action

    • The concentration curl is one exercise that activates the long head significantly more than the short head. Perform concentration curls with a dumbbell and a bench. Sit on the bench with your legs apart. Holding a dumbbell in your right hand, rest your right elbow on your right inner thigh. Keeping your elbow fixed on your inner thigh, flex your bicep to bring the dumbbell up to your shoulder. Return to the starting position. Perform 10 reps and switch sides.

    The Competitor of the Concentration Curl

    • Like the concentration curl, the preacher curl activates the long head of your biceps while de-emphasizing the short head. Perform this exercise with a barbell and a preacher bench. Sit on the preacher bench. Rest your arms on the preacher pad and grip the barbell. Keeping your armpits pressed against the top of the preacher pad, flex your biceps to bring the barbell upward. Stop when your forearms are vertical. Return to the starting position and repeat for 10 reps.

    Taking It Week-by-Week

    • Since few exercises hit the long head of the biceps while de-emphasizing the short head, stick with the preacher curl and the concentration curl for your biceps-peaking workout. Perform three sets of each at 10 reps each. Rest for approximately three minutes between each set. When starting out, use a weight with which you can successfully perform the exercise for at least 10 reps. Perform this workout every other day, adding about 5 of weight to your curls every week.