Have you made good resolutions and started weight training? Congratulations on this investment and you will soon see the results on your body. But maybe you've been working out for a while now? Well, read on, whether you're a beginner or a long-time exerciser, you'll know everything about short or long biceps.
The exercises you do to build muscle will be even more effective if you know the effects they will have on your muscles. To do this, get to know yourself. Do you know if you have short or long biceps? Here is a small exercise that will teach you to better understand your body and your training, from shoulder to wrist.
How do you know if you have short or long biceps?
Finding out if your biceps are short or long is very simple. You will be able to see it even if it is not yet very developed and you will quickly realize that it is easier to train knowing how your anatomy is made. Bend your forearm at 90 degrees to make the muscle protrude and contract your biceps to the maximum.
Then measure with your finger the length of your biceps tendon, between the end of the muscle and the forearm. If it measures more than two fingers, you have a short biceps, if it measures less than two fingers, your biceps is long, it's that simple! Both types of biceps have their advantages and disadvantages. Some athletes have a rather short bicep when they would like to have a longer one, and vice versa. But exercises adapted to your type of biceps will enable you to work them so that they quickly gain in volume.
The advantages and disadvantages of having a long biceps
Some people are delighted to have long biceps while others are rather disappointed when they realize it when they start working out. The long biceps have both advantages and disadvantages. If your ultimate goal when you start working out is to get big, muscular arms, even at rest, the long biceps is ideal. Even without contracting your muscles, your arms will indeed look full.
On the other hand, if you dream of getting a "ball" effect when you contract, it will be more difficult for you than with a short biceps. To train your long biceps properly, you can practice the stretch curl with the pulley as a strength training exercise. Curl desk bar and pull-ups supination. Also work your elbow joint by doing flexion and extension. This will also train your triceps!
Unlike the long one, the short biceps makes it easy to obtain this impressive ball effect when you contract the arm. On the other hand, when the muscles are slackened, the arm seems less filled. It is what one commonly calls the biceps peak.
To allow your muscle bundle to express its full potential, both long and short portions, you must work the anterior brachialis and the long supinator by practicing the hammer curl, the pupil curl and the reverse curl. Don't hesitate to use extensors to do a proper stretch. Don't worry, there is no danger in having a longer tendon! It is a purely aesthetic feature.
In this video, I show you how to know if your biceps is short or long but above all I give you the best exercises to do when you have a short biceps.
To conclude
Even though most bodybuilders want a short biceps most of the time, there are pros and cons to both. This parameter does not depend on you but on your genetics. It will thus be necessary to make with what mother nature gave you and to progress by taking into account the morphology of your biceps.
If you are looking to develop all the muscles of the arm
Other related articles:
Know your arm circumference: Are your biceps average?
Biceps stretching : The right gestures to adopt to stretch your arms
The muscles of the body and the different muscle groups
11 Comments
Thank you for this article ju
Super interesting article.
#teambicepscourt 😅
Julien, do you have to be really dry to run your two fingers over the tendon of your arm?
Hello julien
As a woman, I don't have this discrepancy at all. We did the test with several girlfriends from the gym and we all came to the same results.
Do our morphologies allow us to really have the peak of the biceps?
Yes of course it's just that women genetically have more fat than men and to be able to see that difference and that biceps peak you have to be really dry for a woman. Try to find a very athletic girlfriend with a body fat near 15% and you will see the difference 🙂
Hello,
Wouldn't it have been important to mention the valgus? Doesn't it suck to do supine pull-ups with a valgus?
Not necessarily, it is enough to modify the spacing of the hands, more especially as generally in the rooms of body-building there are bars of tractions with various grips and various angles.
Hello Mathilda
It's parity 😂😂
The drawing is not very clear. The work of the 2 types is the same but you have to make less complete movements on the short. The long one will have more potential but it will be more difficult to have a clear peak.