A way to train biceps with no equipment

[chaiwai]

This is good stuff, very innovative. Like the man said, if it's just you and the floor this is great.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeCMtzRIMEQ

[sanjuro_ronin]

The best body weight exercise for the biceps are chins, palms in.

[Drake]

Have to agree there. Between pull-ups and push-ups, you really don't NEED weights.

[Know Stile]

Have to agree there. Between pull-ups and push-ups, you really don't NEED weights.
Dips are preferable to push-ups in my opinion.

[Mr Punch]

Christmas puddings are preferable to coat racks.

[WinterPalm]

Something somethings are preferable to something somethings...if you catch my driftola.:cool:

[Mr Punch]

Driftola is preferable to shinola is preferable to ****. If you know what I'm saying... ;)

[chaiwai]

The best body weight exercise for the biceps are chins, palms in.


If you got the bar.

[WinterPalm]

I find it hard to believe that you can't find anything to hang from and pull yourself up on to. Be creative.

[CFT]

Find a playground with monkey bars or a climbing frame... but don't frighten the children away :D

[sanjuro_ronin]

Find a playground ... but don't frighten the children away :D

Yeah, none of that nude training stuff, its frowned upon in playgrounds, go figure these puritans !

[bodhitree]

If you got the bar.

or monkey bars, or a tree, or pipes in your basement that weren't meant to hold bodyweight and eventually burst causing a toxic gas leak that kills you


how do you like that:mad:

[BruceSteveRoy]

or go to a sporting goods store and drop 15 bucks on a chinup bar screw it into a door jamb and viola.

[doug maverick]

Find a playground with monkey bars or a climbing frame... but don't frighten the children away :D

thats what ex cons do when they get out. but yeah i've done that pullups use to be a big proplem for me now there a smaller proplem but i still can;t do alot gotta stop after ten and rest before i do another set, hopefully in five months i can do a hundred straight.

[Kemo Martin]

I find that maybe only 1 in 50
can
climb up a rope 15'-20'
don't drop off .........climb down
using the arms only
the more times the better

but this is a little more than isolating the biceps:D

[sanjuro_ronin]

I find that maybe only 1 in 50
can
climb up a rope 15'-20'
don't drop off .........climb down
using the arms only
the more times the better

but this is a little more than isolating the biceps:D

Yes, that is grip work.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

as soon as i saw that guy's neck i knew i had nothing to learn. i'm all about bodyweight exercises, but im not all about wasting my time. that was the dumbest thing ive seen this week, maybe this month.

if you want to work bi's with body weight do chins and grapple. play tug of war with someone or climb rope. just dont waste your time with that.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

.... didnt see that rope climbing was already mentioned. good lookin out.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

also ... biceps dont need direct work. your biceps will get plenty of work from any and all full body pulling motions. excluding an injury or a weird muscle imbalance, the only reason to directly hit bi's is to get dem pipes. theres nothing wrong with that ... i do curlz for teh gurlz at least once a week .... but you gotta be careful to keep your goals in mind. i want big arms for the sake of having them and act accordingly.

[Chosen-frozen]

as soon as i saw that guy's neck i knew i had nothing to learn. i'm all about bodyweight exercises, but im not all about wasting my time. that was the dumbest thing ive seen this week, maybe this month.

if you want to work bi's with body weight do chins and grapple. play tug of war with someone or climb rope. just dont waste your time with that.

The idea that you can look at someone and instantly decide they have nothing to teach you is pretty conceted. I`ll admit it looks goofy and I doubt if I`ll try it......but I`ve also seen that guy do more chins (and in more positions) and more fingertip pushups than any of the Jocks or Marines that train at our school can hope to pull off.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

The idea that you can look at someone and instantly decide they have nothing to teach you is pretty conceited. I`ll admit it looks goofy and I doubt if I`ll try it......but I`ve also seen that guy do more chins (and in more positions) and more fingertip pushups than any of the Jocks or Marines that train at our school can hope to pull off.

fair enough. i cant argue with the fact that the neck comment was conceited. i could have left personal insults out, but that's just not how i roll.

stacks of dimes aside, that is still one of the dumbest things i have ever seen. dude may be able to do 50 chins in good form, but all i have to judge him on is what ive seen so far, and what ive seen so far makes me want to laugh, cry, and sh!t on a midget baby all at the same time.

i guess if you had injured your bicep, and were also mentally challenged, that exercise might do you some good. otherwise it has no use. he even said so himself ... twice. "your not going to feel it on the first rep." you should feel every decent exercise on the first rep ... even if just a little. and im referring to general fitness here. if this guy is claiming that you should do any "strength" exercise you dont feel on the first rep he needs shot in the face with a big wad of bumcum. the second time he admitted the exercise was as useless as shoes on a paraplegic is when he said, "now its not a full range of motion." why would you waste your time with an exercise thats not full range of motion that you dont feel on the first rep? partial range of motion exercises have their place in a strength training or rehabilitation program, but they are generally done with relatively difficult resistance instead of no resistance.

i could get a better workout jerking off two llamas.

[cjurakpt]

ok, so it's basically a closed-kinetic-chain biceps drill, meaning that instead of the shoulder staying still and the hand moving when you flex the elbow, it's the other way around; it's pretty much the same thing as a pull-up, except it's only going to do work in the first 1/2 of the range or so, and the closer you get towards 90˚ of flexion, the less it's going to do work - so basically this trains biceps in the initial part of the range;

as for middle delts, the only time I felt those working was at the end of the motion: there seemed like there was some passive shoulder abduction, and I felt delts acting more as stabilizers than as prime movers (and I think lats and pecs were involved that way as well); so i don't know where he get this from

I guess that it's a nice thing for initial range of biceps; actually, it looks a lot like something you teach C5/6 paraplegics (I think that's the level - it's been ages since I worked with spinal cord injury) who don't have triceps but do have biceps, and need to learn to use them functionally in different ways than typically, such as getting up from supine; from an orthopedic perspective, personally I'd spend less time on those and more on lower traps, which are much more important overall for integrated dynamic postural function: basically, almost no one, in the absence of direct trauma, has weak biceps, and in fact most people have relatively excess biceps / pectoral / subscapularis tone in contrast to there antagonist muscles like lower traps, rhomboids and shoulder external rotators which are typically inhibited

also, I agree with GDA - you'd get more of a functional work out manually gratifying the alpacas - and you'd have two new friends afterwards to boot!

[Mr Punch]

... but all i have to judge him on is what ive seen so far, and what ive seen so far makes me want to laugh, cry, and sh!t on a midget baby all at the same time.

i guess if you had injured your bicep, and were also mentally challenged, that exercise might do you some good. ...

i could get a better workout jerking off two llamas.

LOL... :D It's that time of year again... When they let him out! Welcome back GDA.

[Chief Fox]

i could get a better workout jerking off two llamas.

I've tried it and you won't feel that on the first rep either. :eek::D

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

I agree with GDA - you'd get more of a functional work out manually gratifying the alpacas - and you'd have two new friends afterwards to boot!

you called? (http://www.rebelrockrunners.org/gallery/d/15453-2/dramacall.jpg)

[cjurakpt]

you called? (http://www.rebelrockrunners.org/gallery/d/15453-2/dramacall.jpg)

LOL! did someone get Photoshop recently?

the funny thing, the day after you posted that, when I dropped my son at daycare and we walked by the two llamas that we pass every morning (they have several different animals in a large pen on the campus where it's located), I almost died laughing

anyway, if you really want to learn about llamas, I suggest the following:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbwkkXGmFrI

[IronFist]

also ... biceps dont need direct work.

I'm gonna disagree with that. I think it's only true for some people. My biceps do need direct work. I've done long periods of time where the only work my biceps were getting were weighted pullups (wide grip) and I barely got any biceps development at all.

But then with like my shoulders, I never do direct shoulder work, ever, and my shoulders are proportionally my biggest and strongest body part. So I can say that I don't need direct shoulder work because I guess with the genetic makeup of my shoulder muscle fiber and however my CNS is wired, they get enough stimulation from just looking at weights to get big and strong. But I know a lot of people who need direct shoulder work, and just because I don't doesn't mean I can make that same generalization for everyone.

edit - this is why everyone should personalize their workout based on their own needs. Joe Schmoe might not need direct biceps work, but I sure do.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

I'm gonna disagree with that. I think it's only true for some people. My biceps do need direct work. I've done long periods of time where the only work my biceps were getting were weighted pullups (wide grip) and I barely got any biceps development at all.

But then with like my shoulders, I never do direct shoulder work, ever, and my shoulders are proportionally my biggest and strongest body part. So I can say that I don't need direct shoulder work because I guess with the genetic makeup of my shoulder muscle fiber and however my CNS is wired, they get enough stimulation from just looking at weights to get big and strong. But I know a lot of people who need direct shoulder work, and just because I don't doesn't mean I can make that same generalization for everyone.

edit - this is why everyone should personalize their workout based on their own needs. Joe Schmoe might not need direct biceps work, but I sure do.

i apologize for resurecting this thread, but i haven't had much time for the forums and wanted to respond to iron fist.

i hear what you're saying, but its all about goals. the word you used yourself was "development." like i mentioned initially, there's nothing wrong with gettin dem pipes, but they aren't required to be functional for most sports, even strength sports. there are lots of really great powerlifters out there with relatively unimpressive bis gettin big totals. also, think about football, hockey, rugby, etc. there are lots of football players with huge arms, but aside from flexing for the camera, i dont think it really helps them on the field. hell look at most quarter backs.

maybe i should have been more clear that i was referring to the general athlete. if you want big arms you should definately hit up bis directly. some people can get away with not doing direct bicep work, but i'm not one of them.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

LOL! did someone get Photoshop recently?

the funny thing, the day after you posted that, when I dropped my son at daycare and we walked by the two llamas that we pass every morning (they have several different animals in a large pen on the campus where it's located), I almost died laughing

anyway, if you really want to learn about llamas, I suggest the following:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbwkkXGmFrI

you know whats funny is that i didn't photoshop that, and i didnt even search for it directly. i just happened to stumble across it the same time we were initially discussing llama lovin.

[IronFist]

i apologize for resurecting this thread, but i haven't had much time for the forums and wanted to respond to iron fist.

i hear what you're saying, but its all about goals. the word you used yourself was "development." like i mentioned initially, there's nothing wrong with gettin dem pipes, but they aren't required to be functional for most sports, even strength sports. there are lots of really great powerlifters out there with relatively unimpressive bis gettin big totals. also, think about football, hockey, rugby, etc. there are lots of football players with huge arms, but aside from flexing for the camera, i dont think it really helps them on the field. hell look at most quarter backs.

maybe i should have been more clear that i was referring to the general athlete. if you want big arms you should definately hit up bis directly. some people can get away with not doing direct bicep work, but i'm not one of them.

Dude. Don't disagree with me :D

Kidding. How have you been, man?

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

ha .. doing well man ... a little stressed due to trying to balance school and work full time along with family and lifting, but good otherwise. i got my second meet coming up in march ... in the middle of a brutal sheiko cycle right now in prep for it.

how you been? you been able to train again?

[HtownShaolinBum]

Dips are preferable to push-ups in my opinion.

Both are preferable. I do both and it is better than doing one or the other.

And in response to the original post: that excercise works the biceps alright, but I live in America, it is easier to just go and buy some dumbells(which I have). If I was some poor farmer in Thailand, then I might do this excercise.

[冠木侍]

Greetings everyone. Interesting stuff.

In regards to biceps, I personally combine weight training, with pull-ups and push-ups. It seems to be yielding results (strength and muscle development) and functionality ( I have been able to maintain my striking speed..actually, seems like it improved a bit).

In response to the thread, I had read some time ago that one viable way to develop biceps without equipment was to do curls...but with no weights. So, you would have to do thousands of curls. I admit that I never actually tried this method (seems very time consuming) but it was an interesting concept. Has anyone read anything similar.

With pull-ups, I find that holding yourself up at certain points throughout reps gives the biceps good resistance. Bodyweight training is definitely valuable. I'm sure my workouts will evolve my fitness goals change later on in life. But for now, I'm good.

**These are my own personal routines (sans the thousand curls). Do what works for your own body type.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

you can do thousands of curls if you want, but you need to be holding at least 12oz of liquid bliss.

to get strong you need progressive overload. no amount of weightless curls will ever develop any strength whatsoever. even pushups and pullups ... as great of exercises as they are ... stop contributing to strength gains fairly quickly. after you're doing roughly 3 sets of 15 of any exercise strength gains have stopped, though you will obviously increase muscular endurance and possibly work capacity. if you want pushups and chinups to continue developing strength, you need to add weight or somehow increase the difficulty of the exercise. there is no way around this.

pavel tsatsoline has an entire book dedicated to two exercises for strength development - one armed pushups and pistols. very interesting read.

personally ... i like just adding plates to parts of me and going to town. plates on the back for pushups, plates behind my head for situps, plates dangling under my pleasure parts for dips, and ... well ... i dont really "need" weighted pullups yet, but i was close over the summer, and i should be there within the year.

[sanjuro_ronin]

AH dude, pistols are killers, BUT they are a skill based move, the better you get the "less" they work.
Progressive resistence training is still the key.
You can add weight to any BW exercise with either a dip belt ( dips and pull -ups) or a weight vest ( dips, pull ups, push ups, pretty much anything) or by holding a weight plate or having someone put on on you ( push -ups for example).

When you cross over that 12 rep zone, you are building muscular endurance and not strength, to work on strength, as we know, keep it under the 6 rep zone, to work on strength and "size" the 8-10 zone is best.

Add weight accordingly.

[冠木侍]

My answer was in response to the posted topic of training biceps with no equipment. Now, does "no equipment" mean anything that has to do with the gym? Are the parameters only limited to your own body weight? I am unclear as to what was intended by that phrase.

Doing curls without weight (thousands of times) is a concept that seems to make sense. Like I said before, it is something I have yet to try because I just don't have the time for that. From what I interpreted from the original premise, this seemed like a viable option for developing biceps and therefore a plausible suggestion.

Of course in lieu of gym weights (and anything resembling such equipment), resistance can be provided with things like books or bricks. Doing push-ups or pull-ups with a backpack full of heavy books can provide resistance and muscle development but does that count as "equipment?"

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

not to be a d!ck, but did you read either of our posts?

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

AH dude, pistols are killers, BUT they are a skill based move, the better you get the "less" they work.


right right .... but pavel being pavel had all kinds of ways to make them harder. i cant remember what he advised for pistols, but for one armed pushups you'd elevate your feet, change angles, and all kinds of neat stuff. none of it really appealed to me unless i happened to find myself with absolutely no access to any equipment for an extended period of time, but pavel is a badass so i gave it a read.

[冠木侍]

not to be a d!ck, but did you read either of our posts?

I was actually waiting for a response from the person who started this thread. Too many tangents in this thread from certain people.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

right ... because the person who started this thread obviously knows more about strength training than all of the people who actually train for strength.

[sanjuro_ronin]

right right .... but pavel being pavel had all kinds of ways to make them harder. i cant remember what he advised for pistols, but for one armed pushups you'd elevate your feet, change angles, and all kinds of neat stuff. none of it really appealed to me unless i happened to find myself with absolutely no access to any equipment for an extended period of time, but pavel is a badass so i gave it a read.

Pavel is a freak !
I love that guy !
In a total hetro non-spartan way of course.

[冠木侍]

Ok, barring any inconsequential tangents...back to the topic at hand.

Matt Furey advocates exercises using body weight. I've been subjected to Hindu Squats in my training but not the push ups...not yet anyway. Looks very odd to someone who does push-ups the standard way. Furey, who is one big due, claims that they simultaneously build strength, endurance and flexibility. Interesting. I read about him in the past but his name was recently brought up.

But as someone pointed out before, weights are definitely more convenient.