Every now and then a bodybuilder comes along with an exceptional body part that gets everyone asking what the secret is to developing such amazing muscle shape. Larry Scott, for example, was known for the long muscle bellies and an impressive peak of his biceps. One of his favorite exercises for biceps was preacher curls, which started the belief that doing “Scott curls” would allow anyone to develop the same shape of their biceps. Is it really possible to grow specific areas of a muscle to change or improve its shape?
RESEARCH
Brazilian researchers performed an experiment to determine if doing curls would lead to muscle growth in specific areas of a biceps or if growth occurs evenly throughout the muscle. Subjects performed four sets of eight to 10 repetitions of one-arm biceps curls three times per week. Muscle thickness was then measured at the upper, middle, and lower portions of the muscle.
FINDINGS
After 12 weeks the researchers found that the biceps grew at the upper, middle, and lower portions of the biceps equally.
CONCLUSION
Contrary to popular belief, it does not appear possible to make the biceps grow nonuniformly along its length.
APPLICATION
The shape of your biceps is determined by genetics. The only thing you can control is their size. This study tells us that if an exercise will make your biceps grow, they will grow evenly and it won’t have an impact on their shape. That being the case, use exercises that you think work best to put size on your biceps. – FLEX
