Grow Your Arms: Biceps Ladder

Break away from your normal arms day routine and try a brutal biceps workout created by Dr. Jim Stoppani. It’s arms day, and the first thing that comes to mind when you hit the gym floor is every form of dumbbell or barbell curls, right? What if I told you there’s a way to use only a Smith machine or a power rack to slaughter your arms? The biceps ladder is just that exercise. It was created by Stoppani, a renowned exercise physiologist, for people like you who want guns of steel.How does it work? Glad you asked! This exercise combines your body weight, differing elevations on a rack, negative repetitions, plus working your biceps to failure to force them to bulge. Nothing says “Iron Warrior” like massive guns.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mg97sRn8ExQ

How To Do The Biceps Ladder:

1. First off, you’ve got to use a power rack.
2. Set the safety bar on one side of a power rack to a height that is about your arm’s length from the floor.
3. Lie on your back under the safety bar of the power rack.
4. Grip the safety bar at shoulder-width with your palms facing your face or an underhand grip. Your chest should be directly under the bar.
5. Use your biceps to curl yourself up the safety bar brining your forehead as close to the bar as possible.
6. Lower yourself slowly. The negatives are the vital part of this exercise.
7. Continue to complete repetitions until failure.
8. Raise the safety bar up one notch.
9. Complete the next set to failure.
10. Raise the safety bar up one notch after each set until you run out of notches on the power rack. This is one full set of biceps ladders.

Trainer Tips:

One set of this exercise is going to be quite sufficient when you first start. However, it’s easy to add up to three full sets as you progressively get stronger.The first couple sets, when you body is closest to the floor, will be the hardest. The sets will become progressively easier as you move the bar up. You can cheat your reps for the first few difficult sets instead of raising the bar and starting off easier. This will help you to increase strength and achieve hypertrophy more quickly.

Sample Exercise Plan:

• Biceps ladder 1 set to failure
• Behind the back curls 3 sets of 10
• Triceps ladder 1 set to failure
• Wrist curls 3 sets of 10