Heavy Weights VS. Light Weights for Big Biceps (WHICH IS BEST?)

If you are trying to build big biceps, you need to figure out what role lifting heavy weights and light weights plays in your growth. I will tell you right now, you need to find a way to lift both heavy and light if you want to build your biggest biceps possible. Here’s why.

To start, it is important to define what we are talking about when we refer to lifting heavy or light. In general, the heavier lifts are the compound movements that incorporate multiple muscle groups into the performance of the exercise. In the case of the biceps this would be a weighted chin up as a perfect example, or even a heavy barbell cheat curl. In both, the biceps are certainly not the only muscles working to execute that lift. Your back, lower back, abs, and traps are contributing heavily to getting this done.

On the other side, doing exercises like spider curls and strict dumbbell curls with lighter weights are more isolated movements and involve a more focused attack on developing the mind muscle connection with the muscle you are working.

Now, it’s important to point out that research has strongly shown that even in a compound movement, it is possible for you to activate a component muscle of a lift by focusing more heavily on it when doing the exercise. For example, even though the weighted chin up is a compound movement for many muscles as just shown you can more heavily target the biceps if you focus hard on their contraction during the movement.

So where does this leave you specifically?

Well, you first want to determine if you are someone who does or does not have a good mind muscle connection with your biceps and then act accordingly. The two ways to quickly determine this is to assess how your biceps feel when you train them. If you never feel curls, chinups, or any other biceps exercise in your biceps but rather feel them in your forearms, shoulders and lower back then you likely do not have a good connection with that muscle.

Secondly, if you contract your biceps in their most shortened position (which is elbow flexion, shoulder flexion and a supinated forearm) and cannot do so with enough force to cause discomfort when you squeeze as hard as you can, then you very likely do not have a good mind muscle connection with your biceps.

So here, you would want to dial back the use of heavier biceps work in favor of the lighter more focused exercises. Of course, you wouldn’t want to abandon the weighted chin up all together since it has many other benefits for you as one of the best pulling exercises you can do. You simply wouldn’t rely on it as the biceps building exercise in your arsenal given how it is being undermined by your lack of biceps recruitment capabilities.

Build up your connection with the lighter weights and leave your ego at the door. As you improve this, your performance in the big lifts will not only improve but your ability to feel the muscle on these lifts will be greatly enhanced. If you already have this in place, then a reliance on the lighter exercises should diminish but not be abandoned completely since the reinforcement is important for maximizing both the athleticism and aesthetics of your arms.

If you are looking for a complete program that shows you how to master this step by step without any missed exercises, be sure to click on the link below and visit the ATHLEAN-X website for workouts that will guide you day by day.

For more videos on how to build bigger biceps and the best athleanx biceps workout videos, be sure to subscribe to our channel below and turn on your notifications so you never miss a new video when it’s published.

[athleanx]

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If you don’t win, no worries. Just be sure you have your notifications turned on so you can get to my next video quickly and try again. Good luck and thanks for being a loyal subscriber…

[saketgokhale]

i bet jeff swallows his food slowly to feel the stretch in his oesophegus

[coolmaan]

Lift heavy but make sure you scream LIGHT WEIGHT BABYYYY

[Newsonix]

I haven’t even watched this yet and can guarantee the answer is both.

[MSoloWacck]

I always worry about Jeff's BICEPSES when he does bceps curls i think they gonna BLOW 😆

[bradenpagenkopf]

I swear on all that is holy Jeff. If I don't win the give away I will internally rotate my shoulder. I'LL DO IT!

[SuperNoobProdigy]

Jeff literally has two rocks surgically implanted where his biceps should be

[aryankhannavlogs]

Once Jeff looks at you, he wont look away because of isometric contraction for his eyes

[Gobiglf]

who else was doing the finger demonstration along with him... lol

[SeanLunny]

It always be light weight if you scream it 😂

[oxrjbizzley]

those lighter weight sets at end of biceps workouts are so great for the pump and for improving biceps/forearm vascularity as well. jeff ur a living legend, thanx man!

[OfficialSwe]

Zero views, 255 likes and no dislikes. Everybody LOVES Jeff.

[davidstiffler]

Are we just going to ignore the fact that he’s wearing a shirt?

[FightingYo]

Dude the advice you've given the world is gold man ! Thank you sir !

[hunghillary]

Hey Jeff, I've been watching your videos since the begining of the year (2019) and I have to say that they have been an enormous help with helping me feel more confident going into the weight room. I'm a large, out of shape, 25 year old man who has been going to the gym and working my ass off and I've already stated to see results, largely in part by you and your videos. So, thank you, from the bottom of my pecs, thank you for your hard work in these videos.

[kadenlosee]

Do you have a license to own those guns

[BulldogMindsetArchive]

💯 Great advice. Exactly the way I built my biceps.

[arpitbhardwaj]

Heavy weights are mainly for compound movements✔️
I prefer lighter weights and better mind muscle on isolation movements 💪
Great video Jeff 💯

[ElFnz]

shoutout to jeff for not stretching the video to the 10 minute mark #respect

[urmenior]

Training over a decade, I never felt my biceps doing curls. Strict curls, cheat curls with controlled negatives, drop sets, etc., nothing seemed to work except for incline curls. In fact, the only time I had DOMS following a chinup or barbell curl day was in my first year of training. That is, until you uploaded that video on mind muscle connection for biceps. Of course I knew the concept, and my mind-muscle connection in all other bodyparts has always been good, I just hadn't thought of doing anything special for the biceps. But after you put that video I started working on it, that worked a lot. Now every time I train I feel sore in my biceps like a beginner, and with over a decade of training under my belt my arms grew an inch in a relatively short period, when I thought I had reached my size potential. I didn't even think I had the peak shape I now have in my biceps. Thanks a lot Jeff!