For all of your reading this post, just wanted to share some motivational thoughts with you. It's going to be hard, you'll want to quit, abandon, be lazy, but you shouldn't. Remember why you started, it's probably important enough or else you would've never started. Always keep that in mind when you feel like quitting. I trust you.
The last time I tried to do any kind of muscle building I was sore for 3 days and could barely put my arms over my head. Are there any suggestions on after workout care to prevent issues with stiffness that makes other areas of life harder?
The solution to that issue is before and during the workout, not after. As you’re beginning, your muscles aren’t used to being shocked, so what you have to do is start with smaller weights, reduce the volume of work and you’ll be fine :)
You can replace them by preacher curls, like that you won't have that stress on your spine as when doing standing curls, and you'll have a nice stretch at the bottom. It's one of my favorite exercises for biceps. If you don't have access to this machine, just do seated inclined dumbbell curls, they're great too.