By Christian Thibaudeau
The kid came in grinning the way a guy grins when he’s just figured out that steel answers prayers. You could see it in his gait. He had the look—shoulders notched a little wider, traps creeping up his neck, sleeves starting to fill out. Chalk on his hands, bar marks on his shins, and that new lifter look in his eyes that says: this works.
He’d been focusing on the big basics—high pulls, Zercher squats, military presses, bench presses, and Pendlay rows. The kind of lifts that don’t ask your opinion.
And it was working. His back was thicker. His chest fuller. His delts more alive. His traps showed up first. His legs stopped making excuses.
But his biceps weren’t keeping up.
Not small—but not matching the rest.
He walked over to Christian Thibaudeau.
“Coach… everything’s growing. But my arms aren’t catching up. What do I do?”
Thibaudeau nodded.
“Then for a while,” he said, “they go first.”
And he gave him the plan.
- Start every workout with close-grip chin-ups. Get 20 total reps. Use as many sets as needed. Over time, reduce the number of sets. Once you can do it in 2 sets, start adding weight.
- Then do 2 sets of 5 curls using a weight you could lift for 7 reps. Add a small amount of weight every 6th workout.
That was it.
No fancy variations. No marathon arm days.
Just focus, frequency, and progression.
Why This Works
When you train biceps first, you hit them with a fresh nervous system. That allows better recruitment of fast-twitch fibers—the ones that actually grow.
Doing the work every session improves coordination and activation. The muscle learns to contract harder and more efficiently.
Close-grip chin-ups are the foundation. They allow you to overload the biceps with real resistance while still using a compound movement.
The curls reinforce that strength with focused tension.
Low volume, done often, creates a strong signal without burning out recovery.
The Setup
You don’t change your entire program.
You simply add this at the beginning of every workout:
- Close-grip chin-ups: 20 total reps
- Curls: 2 × 5
Then continue your normal training.
The specialization happens through frequency, not volume.
Progression
At first, you might need 5–6 sets to reach 20 chin-ups.
Over time, that drops to 3, then 2.
Once you hit 20 reps in 2 sets, you start adding weight.
For curls, you stay at 2 sets of 5, increasing the load slightly every 6 workouts.
Small increases. Consistent execution.
What Happens Over Time
Within a few weeks, strength improves.
Within a few months, size follows.
The arms become thicker, denser, and more proportional to the rest of the body.
Not from chasing the pump—but from building strength in the right way.
Key Principles
- Train the lagging muscle first
- Use compound movements for overload
- Keep volume controlled
- Increase frequency
- Progress slowly but consistently
Do this for 12 weeks.
Track your numbers.
Stay consistent.
And let the results build over time.
