Dumbbell curl question

[kitchenguy]

Greetings,
My work out consists of push-ups( close hand approx.50-60 and regular shoulder spacing 50-60 reps.), one arm dumbbell curls 40lbs 15-17 reps each arm two sets. Also triceps reverse curls with 30lb.Dummbell 15-20 reps two sets and finally some lath exercises with 60 lb. dumbbells approx. 15-17 reps. two sets. This routine is performed every other day, with the off day for just stretching.
My concern is with the Dumbbell curls, I seem to be stuck to the amount of weight and the number of reps. that I am able to do. This is been going on for over a month . Could use some pointers from some one who has experienced a similar problem.
Thank you in advance

 

[1handpullups]

How long have you been working out? This makes a big difference. Do you only do 1 kind of curls?

Just from your exercise choice, number of reps+sets, it would make me thing there's a possibility your in your first couple years.

Do you do chins or pullups? Chins can be much better for bicep than dumbbell curl alone.

Anywho, heavy negatives.

You are not in the range of reps required for strength gains. Are you trying for 18, or what do you mean by not increasing. You should have upped the weight a long time ago. Also, make sure your form is good. A lot of people can cheat and do 40lb curls no matter where your at, not saying you are, but much less people in the gym do strict 40lb curls. Invest in a bicep blaster, which also helps with tricep pushdowns.

If you were curling strict with 40lbs, for up to 17 reps per set, and 30 lbs on the tricep reverse dealio, I would say you are getting out of balance a little bit, which is okay.

My workout was similar to you my first two years lifting, because I was young and no so knowledgable. I did chins and pullups though. Made it to my goal of 100 (half reps, but close enough at the time, and 100 pushups (probably 3/4 reps). These high number reps may have worked for a beginner.

So if you can do 17 reps with 40, why have you not tried 12 reps with 50, and 4 reps with 55lbs yet? You need to start training for strength, or at min 8-12 for mass. Do negatives a variety of ways to get your curl weight up. But, Chins and pullups are Bicep kings.

I've been working at everything I can to get my curls up as well. I am currently working on my peaks, getting my hammer curls up again, and getting my weighted chins up. I made a thickbar for bicep straight barbell curls, which allows me to do straight bar curls, which would otherwise aggrevate my wrist. EZ bar or straight barbell were causing wrist issues, as with wrist curls.

My concentration curls go beyond going all the way down, by actually rising my elbow up after all the way down, for hitting an area I really haven't hit well before. The beachballs should be showing up for the party soon.

 

[bigirck]

+1 on the chin ups. Build up on weight chin ups. I guarantee you if you can chin up 40kg for reps you won't have lacking biceps.

 

[JonSupps]

I'm also for the chinups, although one time I had great results with just curls. This was following advice from Stuart McRobert's book, where he suggested as an experiment that works well with some people, 6 sets of 6 reps with 1 minute rest. Go conservatively on your weight, quality is more important. Give it a try and let us know how it worked out for you.

 

[George Spellwin]

Great advice guys! In addition to adding chin-ups and increasing weight/decreasing reps, you should keep trying different bicep exercises to keep your routine from getting boring.

One thing I like to do when I can't get past a certain weight/rep range with a lift is to do variations of it/other exercises for the same muscle group, then come back to it later. While I don't always pick up where I left off, I normally blast through the old plateau that I had eventually.

Another thing, because the biceps are a small muscle group, there are a lot of sticking points along the way. It sounds like you should have no trouble blasting through this one, though, by following these guys' advice.