Posted on: Saturday, March 27, 2004

Get those biceps rippling beautifully

By Nancy Cole
Knight Ridder News Service

No one wants limp, shapeless limbs or flabby arms.

Beautiful biceps are a badge of fitness. But they can be defiantly difficult to develop.

What we need is an arsenal of free-weighted exercises. Barbells and dumbbells are perfect. Concentration curls is the exercise.

Execution: Sit on the edge of a bench or chair with your feet wide apart. Hold an eight-pound dumbbell in your right hand. Chest out, bend forward and extend your right hand toward the floor with your upper arm resting and pressing against your inner thigh. Keeping your upper arm stationary, curl your hand three-quarters of the way up toward your shoulder, squeezing your bicep at the top of the movement. Then slowly lower your hand back to the starting position.

Do 12 to 15 repetitions for each arm.

To really boost your biceps, add an extra day of training. Go lighter one day and heavier the other.