so i have a question on strength training

nilroctarp

i've asked several personal trainers over the years but no one has yet to give me a satisfying answer. i can work my biceps until they are spent and i am blue in the face; until i could not curl a pencil. and never any soreness afterwards. i can so much as look at a tricep lift and the next day, my triceps are howling dogs. most other muscles get sore from a work out too. anyone know why this would be? thanks

koosdel

More range of motion.

Try incline curls if you want them to hurt.

bzmom

More weight less reps

dannylives

that's weird.

hedogirl

make sure that you are not swinging the weights up. Also make sure that you are flexing at the top and letting the weight down slowly. Switch up your exercises making sure to hit both heads of the bicep. Lift with palms up and palms down on the bar. Do the lift with a straight bar, not an easy curl bar. Heres to the pain!

rileysowner

More weight less reps

This is what I would think as well. You need to overload the muscle more than just tire it out.

Lift_hard_eat_big

i've asked several personal trainers over the years but no one has yet to give me a satisfying answer. i can work my biceps until they are spent and i am blue in the face; until i could not curl a pencil. and never any soreness afterwards. i can so much as look at a tricep lift and the next day, my triceps are howling dogs. most other muscles get sore from a work out too. anyone know why this would be? thanks

It's because we use our biceps for daily activity more than we use our triceps. So it's harder to really fatique and shock them. Its like running forward, I can run forward several miles and not be sore the next morning. But if I run backwards several hundred yards I'll be sore the next morning because I'm using muscle I normally don't use.

Loko_Ino

More weight less reps

This is what I would think as well. You need to overload the muscle more than just tire it out.

this..

If you can curl for hours then you are not curling enough.

IronSmasher

Like fpac said, they're obviously used to it.

Try different weights, reps, increase sets, decrease rests, explosive lifts and slow lowering, drop sets...
There's a million tricks to try, get some new exercises too.

carolinarollergirl

Two words: pull-ups. Four more words: push-ups and dips.

On machines, it's very easy to use our delts / shoulders to muscle up some of the weight the biceps should be lifting. It's harder for other muscles to compensate on machines that work the triceps.

CoraGregoryCPA

Can you tell us what trainers tell you?

I'm no expert, but reading the others saying "add more weight" sounds reasonable.. but wouldn't that be what the trainers are saying too?

tross0924

Biceps, calves, and abs have a ridiculous recover time. It's very hard to get them sore the next day because they were designed for repetitive use. Plus more weight less reps :-)

nilroctarp

I really appreciate the feed back. i am inclined to think that Fpacudan is correct. i have utilized most of the other suggestions given in this thread for many years. more weight, less reps; incline benches; slow releases. i have mixed up my routine both back when i used a trainer and now on my own. i use machines some but concentrate on free weights. i probably did not give the right impression when i stated that i lifted until i was blue in the face. what i meant to convey is that i worked the bicepts as hard as i could. as hard as i do my other muscles that get sore. don't get me wrong, i have gotten good results on my biceps but i have NEVER felt the soreness (ever). so, i don't think i can change it (not that i am opposed to trying new or different tortures to apply to them).. it is more that i would like to understand it.

to answer the question asked about explainations given to me over the years, one trainer told me it was because biceps were relatively shorter muscles. i had trouble buying that answer. as i stated, however, i can appreciate Fpacudan's analysis.

thanks again