Body Solid Biceps Bomber Review
Last updated on January 11th, 2024 at 11:58 am
I’ve had a love hate relationship with training Biceps over the years. I often don’t have the best mind muscle connection there. Trying to push arm size with a bad mind muscle connection is difficult. So when I see something like the Biceps Bomber, I get excited. When I see Arnold was a regular fan of it, I double down on that excitement. This is where the Body Solid Biceps Bomber enters my life.
Key Notes
The Biceps Bomber has been around since Arnold was killing it at Venice Beach. It can still be a staple in improving the execution of biceps exercises, even though not much has changed since then.
Background
Some quick background on my training history before we dig in. I’ve been lifting for over a decade, the first half of that was spent doing haphazard workouts, skipping anything difficult, and eating a lot of Chipotle to bulk up. The last half has been spent experimenting with various training principles, programs, and exercises to find what seems to work, and not work, for me and my goals.
One thing I have almost exclusively excluded from my training is direct Biceps work. For one, I’ve always found it boring. I’d rather hit another set of back than arms. And two, I seem to have a pretty subpar mind-muscle connection with the biceps that often ends in either elbow or shoulder pain if I do much more than 20lb dumbbells for a set or two.
Because of that, it has really only gotten worse from both an aesthetic and a pain management issue. My shoulders have gotten bigger, and my elbows continued to get beat up. I finally decided in 2018 that I needed to put some emphasis on arm training. The thought was, if my arms got bigger, the increased blood flow, strength of the surrounding muscles and tendons, and more would help me lift bigger weights as well as keep that elbow in check, not to mention fill out those shirts sleeves a bit.
Transparency
I received the Biceps Bomber free from Body Solid as promotion for the Garage Gym Competition. They are handing one out as a prize, so we wanted to make sure people knew what they were competing for. I have no obligation to give this anything but a fair shake as I always do. Identify the pros, cons, and put it together in a review. But as always, transparency is a big part of what I want to maintain, so keep that in mind as you read the review.
What is the Body Solid Biceps Bomber?
The Biceps Bomber is fairly simple, both in design, construction, and concept. It is a piece of metal that has been shaped to conform around your midsection and behind the back of your triceps to create a leverage point and place to curl off of. Additionally it has a simple nylon strap that goes up and over/around your neck to help keep the unit in place during your working sets. The strap can be adjusted to fit different sized athletes.
The concept here is that, similar to a preacher curl, you can push your triceps into the bomber to increase the contraction in your biceps. This works for two reasons. One, creating a stable position for the muscle to contract against is a staple of most machines in terms of isolation and general body mechanics. Two, it allows you to keep your elbows back keeping the tension on your biceps, instead of do what most of us do and cheat forward, transferring that tension elsewhere.
So the goal, is to improve tension in the biceps, reduce tension everywhere else, and ultimately strengthen and grow some big ass guns.
Does it work?
The short answer, is yes. I’ve found the Biceps Bomber works well for pretty much any curls you do where your arms would stay against your side body, including reverse curl variations. So dumbbells work, barbells work, ez-curl bars work, cables work, etc. But, doing things like cross-body curls doesn’t really do what you want it to do. It just gets in the way, but that is to be expected based on the design general function.
I can tell you that my biceps are not quite in line with the rest of my body, but the speed at which they are catching up has definitely been greatly improved by the Biceps Bomber. Predominantly because of the ability to keep the tension where we want it, and keep it away from where we don’t. I’m able to handle more weight, with cleaner reps, and overall better outcomes with this, rather than without it.
Edit: I got a notice from Body Solid themselves, recommending I try the Biceps Bomber for some triceps work. Wouldn’t you know, it works. If you could only use it for biceps or triceps, I’d choose Biceps because it works better there. BUT, triceps gives you similar function of helping keep your elbow and arm in place, something to push off of, and really focus on the triceps constant tension.
The Good and Bad
The unit stores fairly easy, takes up little space, and at just over $20, is an easy addition to most people’s repertoires. It could easily fit in a gym bag, or store on the wall like my Wall Control board. After several months of weekly use, typically using it for two workouts a week for 3 or 4 sets a piece, the unit shows no signs of wear and tear. I mean, it really shouldn’t, since it isn’t getting dropped, tossed, or banged around, but still no stitches coming loose, no scratches in the paint job, no loose screws, etc.
The Body Solid website claims it can support 1000lbs, which in reality just means, more than anyone could curl. So far, while I’m not a strict curl champion, I’ve curled upwards of 100lbs on low cable curls with no signs of bending or warping. Using the Biceps Bomber isn’t intrusive in your workouts. What I mean is, it seamlessly is added to your curls as an improvement to the exercise. Some “attachments” or additions take extra set-up, or require a change in technique, or otherwise feel like they are changing your workout. The Biceps Bomber just slips on, does its job, and goes back wherever you store it.
The Strap
The strap and the neck pad on the unit are probably the only things I could see being improved. They aren’t bad mind you, they function how they should, but they could be polished up a little. I’d like to see a way to tie off the excess strap somewhere.
As is, I wrap it around the bomber itself a couple of times and tuck it into itself, but for a cleaner look I’d love to see some type of ratchet, or even a button, or something just to keep it out of the way and tied down tight. The neck pad is extremely thin. It does its job of displacing the pressure from the strap, but I could see dudes tossing around 200lbs in curls needing something a little beefier.
Overall Thoughts
The key piece here for me is that the biceps bomber has allowed me to continue training biceps without jacking my elbow up like normal. It helps with that mind muscle connection that seems to be extra important for arm training success, and it does it in a non-invasive, cost appropriate fashion. Especially for those of us in the garage gym community, we aren’t as likely to dedicate floor space to a preacher curl, so this can solve your missing gun show needs.
A quick Amazon glance for price comparisons shows a plethora of companies selling something similar, but almost every company’s product is actually more expensive than Body Solid’s offering, all coming from no name off-brand random sellers. With Body Solid, you get a lifetime warranty from a company that has been around for over 20 years, AND they are only bested on price by about $2 from one seller. I’m not sure why you’d go anywhere else but Body Solid here.
If you are looking for something to supplement and boost your biceps training that is extremely easy to slip into your current programming, without investing much real estate or coin towards a new piece of equipment, this should be towards the top of your list.
Remember, Arnold used it, so you can just about ignore everything I said and just buy it based off of that.
Another option to explore is the NoCo Arm Trainer, or the Preacher Pad.
💲You can get the Body Solid Biceps Bomber from Strength Warehouse USA.
Joe Gray
My name is Joe Gray - aka Gray Matter Lifting - and I've been lifting at home since 2013. In that time I've built a badass gym, deadlifted over 600lbs, helped grow r/Homegym to over 1 Million subscribers, created the Garage Gym Competition and written a ton of posts here on this site. I love the Garage Gym Community... If you do too, I hope you stick around.
