Biceps ---- Help paleez.

maybe you need to up the weight amount. You should have a tough time lifting the last few sets. I know i had to up my amount for biceps and i slowed down when doing them to make it tougher. You can probably work them out two to three times a week, not just once a week.

I'm new at this too, but everyone has told me that it's not really necessary to isolate muscle groups like that. Do exercises that involve multiple joints and muscles --- squats, deadlifts, assisted pullups and dips.

IMO, you'd do better to separate your upperbody work days. You show 2 days in a row, and you may need more recovery time. Try alternating upper/lower body focus days. and be sure to go heavy as you can. Instead of using the same weight, start out with a moderate weight for 12 reps, then increase the weight for 10 reps, increase again for 8 reps and again for 6 reps. You should barely be able to complete 6 with the final weight. Then immediately do 12 reps again with a slightly lower weight. You want to be pushing and grunting and sweating, so that you have to mentally find what it takes to finish those reps. You should see an increase in strength every time.

My 1st thought was that you're over-training, but you're not. If your goal is to gain muscle, giving them 2-3 days of rest is ideal. Are you taking in about 1gm of protein per lb of body weight? Protein is your muscle's best friend (as well as BCAA's).

I think you didn't mean to put "leg curls" as one of your bicep exercises, right? Here's my routine on the day I hit bi's:

Barbell/ez-curl bar curls: 3 sets/8-12 reps
Hammer curls: 3/8-12
Preacher curls: 3/10-12

Biceps are one of the easiest muscle groups to target... not much to it. Keep elbow at your side, curl. Simple.

Have you tried creatine??

If it's bigger arms you want you need to think tricep, bicep is 30% of your arm while the other 70% is triceps. Not saying don't work on the biceps off course you do but as far as getting that big sleeve ripping muscle it's tricep.

I suggest don't do same exercises every week, change it up. Add some variations, Arms is one of my week points (meaning they are not symmetrical with the rest of my body) so I use FST-7 (Fascial Stretch Training) and helps.
Use on your last exercise, say barbell curls or dumbbell curls,
7 sets, 10-15 reps between each rep either stretch the bicep or flex alternating between stretching and flexing. Forget everyone around you, don't do this for every exercise or you'll be over training.
Can do the same for tricep, close grip push downs or skull crushers, for both concentrate in squeezing that the contraction (bicep) extension point (tri) to get blood in that muscle. By doing this you are stretching the fascial layer beneath the skin and in theory allowing for more space for muscle growth.

But if you are looking for the huge arms think triceps. Close grip bench, skull crushers, overhead dumbbell extensions are my favorite. When I'm doing overhead dumbbell ext. I superset with weighted dips.

If you will do the FST7, should do 2 maybe 3 other exercises first go with 6 to 10 reps (for biceps only do two other exercises) then on last one do the FST technic. Hope this helps you.

You use your arms for just about every other workout so if they feel sore already arm day don't over train. Some people I know lift so hard for chest back shoulder ect that they do little arms and still grow big guns.

If you are 7 weeks into a gym routine, I'd suggest shifting your focus away from isolation/bodypart work in favor of a full body routine. Work hard/lift heavy 3 times a week using compound movements such as the squat, deadlift, press and row. I never do a curl, ever and my arms are solid.

cosigned.

Oh, and if you are doing curls, movements like preacher curls are primarily peaking movements (once you already have good size). You'll get way more bang for the buck doing standing barbell curls and mixing up your grip width.

Give it a little more time. The bicep is a small muscle and doesn't respond as fast as large muscles. A single body-part/day is good...here are my recommendation to grow larger:

1.) Go heavy: This is very important. I have different work-out routines depending what I want to accomplish. For example this winter I was in my "bulking" phase; however, I am now in my "slim-down" phase. In my bulking phase...I do 3-4 sets of 3-8 reps of heavy weights. In my "slim-down" phase...I do 5-6 sets of 15, 12, 10, 8 reps.

2.) No rest for the weary: Take as little time as possible between sets. For example...I try to limit my rest between sets to 20-30 seconds. Yeah...it's tough...but necessary.

3.) EAT: Be sure you are eating. In my bulking phase...I might eat 2700 calories/day; however, in my slimming phase...I usually only eat 1800 calories/day. Moreover...depending on your weight...make sure you're getting plenty of protein. For me...I shoot for 200g/day. Also...and very important...have a protein shake immediately after your work-out.

4.) Choose you weight: This is an easy one...choose a weight you can do 6-reps with...then do 12-reps. LOL All kidding aside...ideally...you want to absolutely STRUGGLE completing the last 2-3 reps of each set. For example...I sometime do squats until I'm sick of my stomach. I have actually nearly passed-out after 4 sets of squats.

5.) Finish off your Bicep work-out with as many chin-ups (underhand) as possible; your tricep work-out with as many dips as possible; your shoulder work-out with as many pull-ups (overhand) as possible. For example...I did my bicep work-out yesterday...I finished up with 8-sets of 10 chin-ups with 15 seconds of rest between sets.

Bottom line is this...focus more on big muscle groups right now and the other muscle groups will follow.

Good luck and plz let me know if I can help or answer any questions....also...if you so desire...check out my Facebook fitness page at:

http://www.facebook.com/fitwithfig

Here is an article for you:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/the-science-of-arm-training-arm-workouts.html

Give it a little more time. The bicep is a small muscle and doesn't respond as fast as large muscles. A single body-part/day is good...here are my recommendation to grow larger:

1.) Go heavy: This is very important. I have different work-out routines depending what I want to accomplish. For example this winter I was in my "bulking" phase; however, I am now in my "slim-down" phase. In my bulking phase...I do 3-4 sets of 3-8 reps of heavy weights. In my "slim-down" phase...I do 5-6 sets of 15, 12, 10, 8 reps.

2.) No rest for the weary: Take as little time as possible between sets. For example...I try to limit my rest between sets to 20-30 seconds. Yeah...it's tough...but necessary.

3.) EAT: Be sure you are eating. In my bulking phase...I might eat 2700 calories/day; however, in my slimming phase...I usually only eat 1800 calories/day. Moreover...depending on your weight...make sure you're getting plenty of protein. For me...I shoot for 200g/day. Also...and very important...have a protein shake immediately after your work-out.

4.) Choose you weight: This is an easy one...choose a weight you can do 6-reps with...then do 12-reps. LOL All kidding aside...ideally...you want to absolutely STRUGGLE completing the last 2-3 reps of each set. For example...I sometime do squats until I'm sick of my stomach. I have actually nearly passed-out after 4 sets of squats.

5.) Finish off your Bicep work-out with as many chin-ups (underhand) as possible; your tricep work-out with as many dips as possible; your shoulder work-out with as many pull-ups (overhand) as possible. For example...I did my bicep work-out yesterday...I finished up with 8-sets of 10 chin-ups with 15 seconds of rest between sets.

Bottom line is this...focus more on big muscle groups right now and the other muscle groups will follow.

Good luck and plz let me know if I can help or answer any questions....also...if you so desire...check out my Facebook fitness page at:

http://www.facebook.com/fitwithfig

i would suggest increasing the amount of weight you do, which will force you to do less reps. this is okay. also, in your last set, you could throw in a few negatives provided you have a workout partner. if not, on your last set, do as many reps as you can, drop the weight down a few pounds, and punch out as many more as you can do, then drop the weight again, and finish it out until you can't do any more.

Negative chin-ups and wide grip (and close grip) lat pulldowns helped me. For negative chin-ups, hang/descend SLOWLY for 60 seconds each set. Or work your way up to this if you can't achieve 60 seconds. If you're not familiar with them, here's a video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UFc7dlrSFI&feature=g-hist&context=G2c71188AHT1FV8QADAA

You didn't mention diet but make sure you're not in a calorie deficit. You can only gain mass in a calorie surplus (note: you can still improve strength in a deficit). If you're in a deficit, the gains you are seeing might just be fat loss uncovering muscle that was already that size, and as the fat covering the bicep area is generally pretty thin even in bigger people the "gain" doesn't appear as rapid there. If you actually want bigger muscles, you have to feed yourself. If there's weight to be lost, do a deficit to lose that first then concentrate on bulking afterwards.

Do compounds 3 days hard a week.
Eat! Nutrition is huge in making lean mass gains.
Rest to grow!

When you plateau in muscle growth, switch up your workout routine so your muscles don't get acclimated to the same redundant exercises.

I'd have to agree with all those saying to scrap doing all the isolation work and eat more.

For a new gym goer start with a either a full body using only compound lifts (squats, deads, rows, bench and OH press) or do something like push pull legs with compound lifts. Something like below would be a good starting point but remember genetics could be a factor. Keep your lifting heavy with progression at every chance you get, keep the workouts brief and intense and make sure you're eating enough to gain-simple

All 4x6 or 5x5

Push-
BB bench
Standing BB shoulder press
Close grip bench

Push-
Deadlifts
BB bent over rows
BB curls

Legs-
Squats
SLD's
Calf raises

hope this helps