Lift heavy weight and your muscles will grow. Sounds simple, but sometimes the results are not what you desire. So, if you have been doing preacher curls, hammer curls, and every other variation of curl to no avail, then it's time to think long and hard about what you are doing wrong. Don't simply repeat the same exercise over and over and expect change when no change has occurred. Here are four things to look into.

Overtraining

After you deadlift, you are probably wiped out. Likewise when you squat. That's because these are major lifts, also called compound lifts. They use many muscles. Your glutes, lats, forearm muscles, traps, and many other muscles get used. And you tend to do really heavy weight. This will wear you out. So, it's unlikely you will do too many reps or too many sets. However, with bicep curls, it's not uncommon to see guys and gals do way too many sets or reps. They might grab a dumbbell and just crank out set after set, even do sets in between other exercises. And they might not get a real burn or muscle fatigue. So, the next day when they are supposed to be working a different muscle group, they might throw in some more curls.

The problem here is that, even though you don't feel tired, your muscles need rest. Without proper rest, your muscles won't grow. You should never work the same muscle group on consecutive days. So, stick with a split routine where you only work out the muscle on alternating days.

Not Enough Weight

You need to lift heavy weight. If you are only using a small dumbbell, you're not going to get a workout. If you feel that you just can't do a second set with say, a twenty-pound dumbbell, then rack progress. This is a technique that goes back to Arnold and other bodybuilders from the golden era of Golds Gym. What you will do is move down reduces the weight for each set. So, start with the heaviest you can do, then for the next set, take the lighter dumbbell off the rack, then when you're done, move on to the next lightest, and so on.

Are You Cheating?

The next thing to look at is your form. If you are swinging the weight up using your back, then you are "cheating". Lot's of people end up cheating because they load up too much weight. What ends up happens is that they use their back and gravity to heave the weight up. You need to correct that ASAP. Keep your back perfectly still and only use your bicep to curl the weight.

Lack Of Quality Protein

Finally, don't forget your nutrition. It doesn't matter if you have perfect form, lift heavy, and rest if you don't have adequate protein. The easiest way to make sure you have enough protein is to get a total milk protein isolate powder supplement and create a protein shake. Simply mix the protein powder with water, and you have an instant source of high quality, easy to absorb protein. You can get a time release isolate protein if you find regular whey protein too upsetting on your stomach. The time release isolate has the same high-quality protein, except it's designed to be timed released so you don't have to process all of it at once, which in some people can cause an upset stomach.