Strength coach and founder of Athlean-X Jeff Cavaliere CSCS has been ranking the best and worst ways to increase your gains in different muscle groups, including back Y chest. In a new video, he tackles bicep-building exercises, starting with the exercises he probably should ditch entirely, before moving on to the best and finally the top-tier moves that will help you achieve maximum hypertrophy. .
The worst
Cavaliere starts with the concentration curl, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing in itself, but is often poorly done. He explains that elbow position is everything here, and too often people recruit other muscles to help with that levering motion, making it an inefficient bicep exercise. Likewise, he dismisses the reverse curl as more of an exercise for the brachialis than the biceps.
He also takes issue with the bicep curl, which despite the name, “never is and never will be” a bicep exercise, as it is still a curl, so by definition it targets the chest, triceps and shoulders.
Better
The inverted chin curl actually engages the biceps, but it ranks low here because as a bodyweight exercise it’s hard to add progressive overload. Cavaliere also includes the Zottman curl in this category, as the first part of the movement engages the biceps before moving into pronation.
An alternative to the concentration loop here is the preacher curl, which is a basic element for the construction of arms. However, Cavaliere points out that just because you have the pad to support this move doesn’t mean you have to get cocky when it comes to carrying more and more weight. He’s also a fan of cable curls, but they don’t rank higher because there’s only resistance at the absolute top end of the range of motion, meaning you’re not getting your money rep-for-rep.
Even better
Another cable exercise that offers greater efficiency is the cable flex curl, which involves a higher anchor point and therefore introduces shoulder flexion into the movement, allowing for a good maximal contraction at the top of the leg. the repetition.
When it comes to hitting the long head of the muscle effectively, Cavaliere says the drag curl is unique: “When we drive the elbow behind the body…we stretch the long head of the biceps more.” he says. For the short head, he recommends the spider curl, which is a better option than the preacher curl as it has more range of motion and freedom of movement.
One biceps movement Cavaliere refers to frequently is the bartender’s curl, where you hold a single dumbbell vertically, placing the biceps in a direct line of pull. “What we have here is an exercise with built-in effectiveness,” he says.
almost better
In terms of bodyweight exercises that really allow you to overload the biceps, Cavaliere recommends pull-ups.
When it comes to maximizing range of motion, the incline dumbbell curl is a good choice as it allows the arm to extend and retract behind the body on the bench, reaching a passive stretch position at the bottom end of the rep. . However, it’s worth noting that this can be difficult if you have shoulder, wrist, or elbow problems.
Another “almost favorite” that doesn’t quite make the cut for best moves is a classic: the barbell curl. “There’s a limitation here,” says Cavaliere. “The high bar. You don’t have the option to split your hands to the left or to the right, which means you have no way of exposing underlying muscle imbalances.”
Better
An exercise that eliminates the drawbacks of the barbell curl is the standing dumbbell alternate curl, which allows you to identify imbalances and can be changed with all sorts of variations and grip changes. “The versatility built in here is immeasurable,” says Cavaliere.
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