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IDFA Pro Line Desbiens – Biceps Training

IDFA Pro Line Desbiens – Biceps Training

by Steve Oldfield, coach of IDFA Pro Line Desbiens

I have had the unique experience of working with Line Desbiens for several years, during which time she has developed from a size 18 casual exerciser to a Pro IDFA Figure Athlete and 2013 contender. I am constantly getting asked to “make me look like her”, to which I always answer, “sure, it’s easy, just do the following.”

Building those biceps

Lets set aside some of the principals that all successful high-level fitness athletes adhere to. Line never misses, and I mean never misses, a workout. Every workout has a purpose, a structure and is a part of an overall plan. She never ever strays from her food plan. She never misses water intake or proper supplementation. Set aside but incredibly hard to accomplish.

The Training

We use a fairly standard periodized program for most body parts, biceps included. A typical 6 months will look like:

Week 1 – 5 – Mass Building (low reps 6-8, high (90)% of max lift)
Week 6 – 8 – Recovery (moderate reps – 10-12, Moderate (70)% of max lift)
Week 9 – 10 – Transitional Recovery – As recovery phase but only 2 or 3 workouts per week
Week 11 – 26 – Contest Prep

Exercises (pre contest prep)

For the first 10 weeks of the season we use fairly “traditional” bicep exercises however we try not to use the same workout twice, vary types of lifts, and alternate between bicep only workouts and overall arm workouts. Biceps are one of the few muscles you can look at directly as opposed to a mirror image when working and not throw off form so Line will take advantage (as the picture shows) of this and watch the bicep explode with each rep.

Sample Bicep Workout

Standing Ez Bar Curls
Seated Incline Dumbbell Curls
Standing Supinated Dumbbell Curls
Concentration Curl
Seated Pump Curl

Sample Arm Workout

Standing EZ Bar Curls
Dumbbell Hammer Curls
Dumbbell Curls Superset with Tricep Kick Back
Tricep rope Pulldown
EZ Bar Curl 7-21’s

Exercises during contest prep

We use a variety of training techniques during contest prep, selecting exercises where possible that will involve several groups in an active exercise. Bicep and in fact overall arm system muscles are an excellent example. Line will train a minimum of 5 times per week with 2 of those training sessions being traditional lifts, push and pull type exercises as listed already. Other workouts will focus on a body part or two and use various exercises mixed with the traditional lift.  So a bicep workout might look like this:

Standing EZ bar Curls
Walking Lunges with Curl
Mountain Climbers super set with some form of push up
Towel Pulls
Box Jumps with Curl
Leapfrog Jump with Curl
Resistance Band Curls
“Run a rack” or a “Gun Run” a drop set of dumbbells curls maxed out at each weight and dropped 5lbs at a time

This is a fairly typical bicep focused prep workout for Line. She loves to work biceps and the “Gun Run” is her favorite exercise of all. Sometimes I’ll throw a set into a workout just because I know she loves to attack it. One of these runs might be well over 100 consecutive curls, all in good form, no cheat curls, and believe me, she starts heavy (45lbs).

So the answer to looking like her is simple. Perfect discipline, monster workout effort, absolute plan adhesion and finally years of doing it, day in, day out, Simple 😉

-END

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