Is 15 Inches Big For Biceps?
Table of Contents
Introduction
Big biceps are synonymous with strength and power. They are the first muscles that people show off when asked to flex.
Is 15 Inches Big For Biceps?
However “big” is subjective. How big your biceps actually look depends on various factors such as your height, weight, body fat percentage, etc.
People with higher levels of body fat will have bigger biceps on the whole but they may not look as impressive as someone who is more ripped with smaller biceps. There is a large element of subjectivity.
How big your biceps peak is will also play a role in determining how big your biceps appear to the eye.
Don’t Compare Yourself
When it comes to self improvement in any area the most important thing is to compare yourself to yourself. Become better than the person you used to be, comparing yourself to others will always be a fruitless exercise.
In my case, when I first started lifting weights at age 16 I could barely do dumbbell curls with 5kg! Now at age 30 I have 17 inch muscular biceps and can do zottman curls with 24kg dumbbells with fat gripz on for reps.
The most important thing is to enjoy the journey and celebrate every bit of small progress that you make along the way. Fifteen inch biceps is above average for men, how big they appear to the eye will depend on factors that I will talk about.
I have an article on my site talking about body dysmorphia which is well worth reading. You can read this article here. There is also a good article on self.com on not comparing yourself to others. Read it here.
The table below shows the average bicep size for men.
Height And Weight
For taller people, they need to have bigger and more developed muscles to fill out their larger frames. Therefore bigger muscles on shorter people will appear more impressive visually.
Likewise, weight plays a role. If person A weighs 90kg and person B weight 115kg, all other things being equal, person B will likely have bigger arms.
Therefore, for people who weigh less, their arms may appear more impressive if they are vascular. Even if their arms are not actually that big in reality. Vascularity can play a role in determining how “big” your arms look to the eye.
How Lean Are You?
The lower body fat combined with lots of muscle mass will make you look a lot more vascular. Even if your arms are smaller than someone with a higher body fat percentage, your arms will look bigger objectively.
Therefore, you shouldn’t get too attached to the actual measurement of your biceps. What is most important is how you look and feel. Are you making progress in the gym and improving aesthetically?
Ways To Increase Bicep Size
In another article I wrote about “why your biceps are not growing”. You can read this article here. In that article I go into great detail explaining what you can do to increase the size of your biceps.
Compound movements such as heavy deadlifts and rows are great. Weighted chin ups are arguably one of the most effective moves for building massive biceps.
But at the same time you shouldn’t neglect isolation exercises for the biceps. Doing dumbbell curls in a way where you are getting maximum tension on the muscle will see you achieve very good results.
It is also important that you make progress on your exercises. If you can’t increase the weight then you should shoot for higher reps. Isolation exercises such as dumbbell curls or concentration curls are where your focus should be on increasing reps at first.
If you stay consistent for the long run and apply progressive overload, you will achieve bigger biceps and exceed 15 inches!
Below is a great video from Matt Wenning outlining some excellent isolation exercises for the biceps. I especially like the Flex Wheeler curl variation.
Don’t Neglect Triceps
I have seen quite a few guys doing endless sets of curls in the gym but hardly any tricep work. One of my favourite exercises for building massive triceps is the close grip bench press.
The exercise is simple but you can handle large weights and it puts a lot of the stress on the triceps. In my case, I only exclusively perform close grip bench presses. I don’t perform wide or medium grip benches.
This is the big reason why my triceps are so big and strong. The close grip bench press is also more useful in real life in terms of pressing strength.
In addition to the close grip bench I would recommend other exercises such as the JM press. The JM press is a hybrid between a bench press and a tricep extension. It can build seriously meaty triceps.
Another fantastic tricep exercise is weighted dips. For isolation movements I would recommend tricep pushdowns, overhead extensions and a flat dumbbell rolling extension.
If you are consistent in your tricep training you will get bigger and stronger triceps. This will translate to bigger arms overall.
Final Thoughts
Is 15 inches big for biceps? It is above average and can appear big to the eye depending on various factors such as vascularity, height, weight, etc.
More important than comparing with others though is to focus on making progress relative to where you are now and where you want to be. As long as you are making progress you can be proud of your efforts.
To get bigger arms, please follow the advice in this article and my other articles that I have linked to in this article. I have left a link for another article I have written, about how to get big biceps and triceps below.
Please leave me a comment if you wish to share your thoughts. As always, stay safe and enjoy your training!
>> RELATED: Building big biceps and triceps – full guide
