# FITNESS and NUTRITION FORUM > WORKOUT AND TRAINING >  filling the "bicep gaps"

## yungfaceb3

I have decent biceps, but though they seem to be devloped enough, I still have a space (gap) between the muscle and the elbow. When I flex my biceps, with my palm facing my shoulders, my bicep rises up, but there is a gap about 1.5 inches from the bicep to where my forearm connects to my upper arm. When I flex the bicep with palms facing forward, away from the body, the bicep seems to fill the gap almost completely, and when doing a straight arm pose my biceps look like they run from the shoulder to the elbow joint as they should. I read about this problem in the Arnold Encyclopedia and Arnold recomended doing preacher curls and/or arm blaster curls to fill this area in. I have been doing them both, most often preacher curls, religiously for months and months now, and though this area has filled out a bit...I just don't understand why it seems to be stuck with a gap now. Is this genetic? I know most people have this gap a lil anyways but is there any way to elminate it better?

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## Papi93

Joe Defranco:

"Preacher curls work the lower biceps.

First of all, there's no such thing as a "lower" biceps. Its impossible to contract the lower portion of your biceps without recruiting any other portions. 

Still not convinced? Well, you might be thinking that whenever you complete a tough set of preacher curls, you get a pump in your biceps just above the bend in your elbow. After all, its your "lower" biceps which creates your biceps "peak," isnt it?

Okay, heres the deal. The prime movers in the preacher curl are your biceps brachii and the brachialis. The biceps brachii consists of a long and short head and it crosses over two joints (your shoulder and elbow). On the other hand, the brachialis only crosses over one joint (the elbow) and it lies underneath the biceps brachii. It originates on the middle of your humerus and inserts on the radius.

When performing a preacher curl, your upper arms are placed in front of your upper body (shoulder flexion). For a muscle to be fully activated, it must be stretched at both ends. Since the biceps brachii attaches to the shoulder, it cant be fully activated because the angle of the preacher bench places the shoulders in flexion. This places a large portion of the load on the short head of the biceps brachii and the brachialis. 

Remember that the brachialis lies underneath the biceps brachii and it originates lower on the upper arm. When the brachialis gets "pumped," it pushes the bottom of the biceps brachii forward, creating what appears to be a "lower biceps."

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## HardCharger

OK, so how do you decrease the space near the elbow?

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## Papi93

> OK, so how do you decrease the space near the elbow?


Hope that your parents gave you low insertion points.  :Wink/Grin:

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## K.Biz

i had this problem to, it just took time man, u dont grow over night.

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## graeme87

It’s genetics. There is nothing you can do about it.

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## raw12

[QUOTE=Papi93;3654758]Hope that your parents gave you low insertion points.  :Wink/Grin: [/
finally the correct answer

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## raw12

personally i would just try to get my arms as big as possible!

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## ironmike7000

I had the same problem when I first started lifting back in 1979. Luckly the bigger your arms get the less noticable the gap becomes. It takes time. Good luck.

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## barondumonde

> I had the same problem when I first started lifting back in 1979. Luckly the bigger your arms get the less noticable the gap becomes. It takes time. Good luck.


Good advice here. Concentrate on getting your arms as big as they can and that gap will look like it's closing. Also work your forearms. Make the muscles around the gap as big as possible and that gap will, in effect, go away.

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## TR'05

Hitting the "long-head" of the biceps will help mask the gap- low incline DB curls with a 40X0 tempo are a great isolation exercise targeting this portion of the bicep.

The advice with respect to the forearms (particularly, the brachialis/brachioradialis which is, more often than not, underdeveloped compared to the brachii) is very sound advice.

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## abbot138

Lot of genetics at work, I have the same issue. Make sure you use a full range of motion when doing any bicep exercise and just get that peak as big as you can.

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