21's

Getting the "pump" - that's what most lifters strive to achieve in each workout, yet we often fall short (and some never reach this level in their workout at all). For those who have never felt this sensation, it is hard to accurately describe, but it is mostly the intense soreness in your muscles that comes from working your muscles extremely hard combined with the ability to actually feel the blood pumping through your muscles. With this feeling, you certainly know that your routine is working and you will get the results you desire, yet how can you be sure to feel the pump after your workout? Well, adding 21's to your bicep routine is the only surefire way that I know to do this.

21's are essentially one very large set of bicep curls, but instead of doing 21 complete reps, you do 7 half reps (lower half), 7 complete reps, and 7 more half reps (this time the upper half). You will have to use a much lower rep than normally used for curls, but this is the best exercise I know of for adding mass to your biceps.

The Muscles it Works: If done correctly, 21's will specifically target your biceps.

How to Perform: This exercise begins the same way as barbell bicep curls (as this is a modified version of them) - Grip the bar at about shoulder width and even from the center on both sides. Begin with the bar around your waist and your elbows against the sides of your torso.

To perform the exercise, begin in the same manner as biceps by raise the bar up while keeping your arms from the elbows up straight. Instead of going all the way up, stop at the half way point and then go back down. Perform 7 reps this way. Then perform 7 more reps with the same motion, but bring the bar all the way up to your neck before returning to the starting position (the full bicep motion). Finally, perform 7 more reps, but this time begin at the top and stop half way down before returning to the top (neck level). This will give you a total of 21 reps, but you're not down yet. Very slowly, allow the bar to fall back down to the starting position (all the way down), but make this trip down as slow as you possibly can (even over the course of several minute). By the time it is all the way down, your arms should be throbbing so just rack the bar and stretch your arms a bit. Hopefully you have now achieved the legendary pump

Tips:
1. Perform relatively slow reps and do not cheat the exercise by moving your back (and using it to perform the motion by generating momentum)
2. The longer (and slower) you allow the bar to fall back to the starting position, the more you will be working your biceps and the better off you will be. Don't cheat this step out of your 21's routine

Conclusion: This is a great exercise to perform at the end of your normal bicep routine (but not at the beginning as you will probably be too tired to actually perform the rest of your bicep routine if this is done first). You biceps will be completely exhausted after 21's, but you will see amazing results after adding this to your routine, and you will certainly not regret adding this exercise.