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The Poll:
The Winners:
The best response will get $50 in credit to use in our online store! 
1st Place - AJbuilder
I voted other. It is ridiculous to assume that any rep range will work for a given individual all the time and for all lifters. It's in total contrast to the principle of individual differences. The principal states that the capacity for a given individual to adapt to exercise training is genetically determined on a degree of basis. Recovery abilities, response to the exercise stimulus, muscle-fiber makeup, and on a lesser scale, the tolerance of certain macro and micro nutrients all fit into the principle. One person might do well with 8-10 reps while another will grow best with 4-6 reps using higher tension methods and loads because that person is more able to recruit a large number of motor units synchronously and asychronously. But no one will ever do best by using just one single rep range. When we are doing bicep work, it's very often that a beginner will train with less intensity due to the fact that he/she is able to recruit a minimal number of motor units to stimulate growth. The person would obviously use higher repetitions( 10-12 reps) to do more work and in the case of using this higher density method, the lifter will be able to overload the muscles to grow. With proper nutrition, that person will experience dazzling newbie gains. But as the person gets more advanced, he/she will be able to recruit motor units at a higher threshold which mirrors maximal and anaerobic strength gains as well. Now the person will and should employ repetition ranges in the 4-6 bracket and will soon find that works best at that point in his/her training career. After a while of training with 4-6 reps while using various free-weight exercises like incline db curls and standing bb curls, the body will gradually get accustomed to the 4-6 range. And the reason for your body adapting to this rep range is due another principle: the principle of accomodation.
The routine of doing 4-6 reps will eventually be less and less challenging for your body because it has already become a habit. Habituation results in plateaus. When the habit kicks in, there is a gradual reduction of response coming from the body. The body stops responding. Of course the next step would be to do micro-loading and increase the weight on the bb curls every week so you can progressively overload. But then we have to come back to the principle of accomodation. Your body accomodates to the overload and soon you'll hit dead on into a plateau. The 4-6 rep range will not be effective anymore. And that's why we must jump back to a different rep range for your body to get out of the rut and grow again. This explains why growth isn't exactly a linear process all the time. It's got it's ups and downs for most of us.
It's much wiser to use different rep ranges for cycles of your training. On a hypothetical 8 week cycle of training you may employ an volumization phase in which you do high volume work with standing bb curls as in using more reps (10-12 or 12-15) with the load kept moderately in range of 60%-70% of 1RM or so. Then after the 8 weeks are up you may switch to an intensification phase in which you do loading sessions using higher intensity, intensity with respect to the loads 1RM. You may now do more sets of bb curls and lift with 80-90% of 1RM using the 3-6 rep range. The body actually responds quite well this way as it keeps the body from the accomodation and habituation trap. This is just one example of Periodization and there are many different ways to set up training cycles while employing different rep ranges. One way to really get the biceps to grow is actually through doing heavy compound back work. The biceps get worked very heavily on close grip chinups, pullups, lateral pulldowns, barbell bent over rows, db rows, seated rows, and all its variations. You do close grip chinups and you will definitely involve the biceps. Apply this to common sense and you'll start to think that if you can strap 135lbs. to a chinning waist belt and do chinups for 5 reps, you'll have a big back and also big biceps. You can't have just 12 inch arms and be able to do chinups with so much weight. And you don't see a guy that can chin 135lbs. having small puny flat biceps either. A big back usually comes with big biceps. Direct work on the biceps are not always needed. Most guys often do insane amounts of sets and reps for the bi's day in and out. Before they sleep, they've already overtrained big time, creating a deficit that needs to come back to a base level. But that's not to say that we should always eliminate bicep work completely. It's nice to have a delicate balance in which one would focus on the heavy compound back movements, especially the lifts that require the person to move through space (chinups), and supplement with some direct work using curls. The key area here is to watch out for excessive volume of the bb and db curls. Most folks will not benefit from the overload of too much volume in a given session, except for those of the genetically superior and gifted. In the past I've had periods where I do direct work for the biceps as well as no direct work at all, relying just on heavy back compound lifts. When I started lifting I would do lots of reps with bb and db curls and shortly my biceps grew but eventually I fell into the accomodation trap like all of us do and plateaued. I started using different rep ranges, rep speeds, and different exercises as well. The biceps grew little by little but didn't respond much at all in terms of measurable progress. With some message board advice I decided to drop direct bicep work for a while and focus on heavy back work. I'm still not working the bi's directly as of today and have seen almost a fourth of an inch growth already. The gains are coming in slow but at least that just proves that you don't really need direct work all the time for the biceps to grow. A lot of us may very well be overtraining our biceps anyway so by eliminating some direct work, you will be able to let the body catch up to prior training stimulus and overcompensate to recover and grow again. This is just one tactic to consider as well as the periodization technique I mentioned above.
Changing The Mechanics Of An Exercise Can Also Do Wonders For Bicep Growth:
Those are just some of the creative ways to get the most out of your exercises. It's fun. One great tip for the newbie is to learn proper form on all exercises. If you want your biceps to grow then you must learn the proper form to maximize tension through a sound muscle range of motion. The key to doing a proper bb curl is to monitor your elbow placement. When you lift the weight on the concentric phase, make sure your elbow does not travel more than 2 inches forward. If it does, you will be redirecting the stress onto your connective tissues and anterior deltoids rather than your biceps. The biceps brachi fibers are what you're trying to stimulate so watch that elbow and make sure they don't travel too far forward. The movement, from the bottom eccentric position to the top contraction position should be a slanted straight line rather than a half circle so take good note of this observation. When I started perfecting my bb curl form, I used a piece of equipment called the arm blaster. The arm blaster straps around your neck and chest and minimizes elbow placement to teach the newbie lifter proper form on execution of free-weight curls. It was a good investment for me since I work out at my own home gym. One bicep exercise that, in my opinion, is most effective is the incline db curl. When performed correctly, it will hit both the biceps brachii muscles and the underlying brachialis muscles to a great extent. Incline db curls also allows for a greater stretch. It gives an awesome pump as well and who doesn't love a pump? Most lifters don't do this exercise anyway so it's a nice change of pace for the body.
  If you haven't been using incline db curls and haved just switched to it, the biceps may grow again because the body just isn't used to the stress applied at the incline position. It's well worth a try. An effective school of thought to consider is to do exercises that you've never done before or do something unconventional for certain periods of time. That will get your biceps or any other body parts to grow again. Incline db curls are also fun. If one were to just stick to bb curls year round then the accomodation trap will kick in and that spells P-L-A-T-E-A-U.
Here is the workout routine that i have personally used that never fails to give me some progress. All movements are basic exercises, nothing fancy here. They are in four week cycles, and every four weeks I rotate them, I may sometimes combine them with back movements like rows and rack deadlifts.
Routine A:
(2 min. rest in between sets) 2 sets barbell curls - 10-12 reps (2 min. rest in between sets) 2 sets hammer curl - 10-12 reps (60-90s in between sets)
Routine B:
(3 min. between sets) 2 sets incline db curls - 4-6 reps (3 min. between sets) 1 set hammer curl - 6-8 reps
Thumbs down EZ bar curls Make sure to keep your elbows firmly locked into your side (this grip will help do this anyway). This is a MUCH better exercise then regular EZ curls. Great for overall mass.
High pulley double bicep cable curls
Low pulley double bicep cable curls This is a great exercise to bring out your bicep peak. My rep range is usually something like this:
Set 1 - 12 to 14 reps Set 2 - 8 to 10 reps Set 3 - 6 to 8 reps Set 4 - 4 to 6 reps
High pulley double bicep cable curls - 12-14, 8-10, 6-8, 4-6 (4 Sets) Low pulley double bicep cable curls - 12-14, 8-10, 6-8, 4-6 (4 Sets)
I voted 'Other' as I believe I've personally had the most benefit from a pyramid routine. Of course you cannot stick with this the whole time without plateau-ing, but running it three-weeks-on/three-weeks-off has helped me put on a little over two inches since I began. The idea is from a personal trainer friend of mine who has used it highly successfully with all his clients. Here's a rough outline of the routine, which may be altered slightly each time you run the cycle:
One Arm Cable Curls - 10, 15 reps (shown with two arms) Bar Cable Curls - 8, 8 ,4 reps Cable Crossover Curls - 8, 12 reps Preacher Curls - 12,l5 reps
The Only Drawback I Can See Is: However, for an intermediate to advanced bodybuilder looking for better biceps, I think it's a definite winner.
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