OK. I GIVE UP. LET'S TALK ABOUT GETTING BETTER ARMS
(Part 3)
The Best Bicep Isolation Exercises
From
Part 1:
What
you should be doing;
I covered 5 rules in Part 1 and Part 2. If you
didn’t get them go back to Part 1 and read them again HERE
Assuming
you followed the 5 rules mentioned above in Part 1 you’re ready to learn how to
do the best isolation exercises for your biceps and do them correctly.
There
are two parts (or Heads) to the biceps. Plus, we are going to work the brachialis muscle along with the bicep.
The brachialis runs along the outside of the upper arm and under the bicep.
Each part of the bicep serves a different function and need to be trained
slightly differently.
First,
some rules:
These
rules are much the same as those for the triceps covered in Part 2 but they
bear repeating.
1. Don’t go too heavy.
This is not a power lifting competition. Trying to train arms with loads that
are too heavy will lead to several problems:
· You’ll be forced to
“cheat” which will negate a large portion of what you are trying to do. When
you cheat you transfer a large portion of your effort to other muscles or
several muscles resulting in not accomplishing anything at all for your
efforts.
· You will incur injury. You are using two
relatively small and unstable joints in the wrist and elbow. Both contain a lot
of small muscle and bone structure. Injury to the wrist and elbow are painful
and take an inordinate amount of time to heal-weeks to months.
· You’ll look like a fool.
2. The muscles in the arms
respond best to strict form and a slow rhythmic pace.
3. Arm muscles respond best
to medium and high rep counts. (8-15 reps) and Time under Tension (TUT). Use
slow eccentric, drop sets, rest pause and finisher sets (A “finisher” set is a
final set using about 50% of the weight and high rep count to failure on the
last set), static holds, half reps, 21’s…anything to extend the TUT. Before you
even think about increasing the weight, extend the TUT. Every set should take you a minimum
of 30 to 45 seconds to complete.
4. Genetics( and old
injuries) matter. “You are unique, just like everyone else”. Tailor all
exercises to fit your particular bone, joint and muscle structure. If an
exercise causes pain (as opposed to discomfort) try a variation. If an arm
exercise causes you wrist pain all you usually need to do is vary your grip
(wider or narrower) or try a different handle or apparatus. I’ll give some examples
when we get into the various exercises.
The Best Exercises for Biceps
1. Pullups-
Yep, good old fashioned pull-ups. And all you have to do to hit
the different heads and brachialis is to change your hand position-palms up,
palms down and palms facing each other. It’s that simple.
The “Long Head” of the bicep runs along the outer side of the upper arm
and is best worked with movements that situate the arm behind the body.
1. Do not lock out the elbow at the bottom. You are
taking the tension off the bicep and that’s cheating. You’ll also tend to let
the arm hang (resting). That’s also cheating.
2. Do not swing the arm back to try to “get a running
start” on contraction. You’re using the shoulder. Keep the motion slow and
steady throughout the movement.
· Rotate the hand slightly outward at the top
emphasizing the long head
3. Short Head-Standing two arm High Cable Curl
·
Don’t straighten
the arms to lock out the elbow-maintain tension throughout the set.
·
Pull the handles
in directly toward your ears-not toward the front or the back of your head
4. Brachialis- Seated Dumbbell Hammer Curls
The
brachialis runs along the outside of the upper arm and under the bicep.
Building the brachialis adds substantial thickness to the appearance of the
upper arm and since it runs
underneath the bicep it tends to make the peak of the bicep higher.
There
is really only one movement to build the brachialis. It’s activated when the
hand is in a neutral position facing toward your body. All variations are
accomplished with a “Hammer Grip” (as you would hold a hammer)
The
rules for doing a seated hammer curl properly are basically the same as the
seated dumbbell curl except for the grip.
You
may have noticed that all the exercises mentioned here are either seated or
standing in a position that makes in near impossible to cheat. That was on purpose.
The
curl is the most bastardized exercise I can think of.
There
are, of course, many standing alternatives. If you must stand, stand with your
back against a wall or cable station so you can’t swing like some silly dance
from the 1960’s.
I’m just trying to stop you from embarrassing
yourself.
As
always, don’t stick with these or any other exercise forever. You can find about
80 more exercises for biceps or variations in the tab at the top of the page
labeled “Calculators/Resources”. When it’s time to change up the exercises look
at the many variations of preacher curl or concentration curl.
Remember,
all pulling compound movements involve the biceps.
How you do any exercise is
more important than which exercise you do.
Let Me know what works
best for you in the comments below or email me at alphaedgefitness@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are moderated and will posted once approved