STARTIN' OUT
May 2010 - Vol. 33 No. 7
BICEPS POWER
by Doug Daniels
This will not be a ‘Curls for Girls’ article on biceps training—I promise—but when biceps training is mentioned, the average powerlifter pictures bodybuilders posing down under the lights. However, bicep power is very important to success in powerlifting. One of my favorite old articles was by Dr. Terry Todd and Paul Anderson in Bob Hoffman’s Muscular Development magazine. These powerlifting legends were firm believers in the role of bicep power for the bench press. Look at the top benchers from the last 30 years and you’ll see biceps that would make Governor Arnold take notice. Biceps are not directly involved in powerlifting, but they serve as stabilizers for the lift and lend indirect benefits to the squat and deadlift as well. Powerful biceps also balance out arm strength with powerlifters’ tricep power which can reduce the chance of injury. Let’s start off with an explanation of the function of the biceps and then explore tips on how to get best results.
The biceps (bi means two) consist of two heads—one head’s function
is to bend the elbow and other is to supinate or rotate the hand
from a palms-down position to a palms-up position. The bicep makes
up approximately one-third of the muscle mass of the upper arm.
To best strengthen your biceps, you will need to work each aspect,
or head. To do this, you must use two different types of biceps
exercises.
To work the elbow-bending bicep head, the best choice is the basic
curl. Unfortunately, out of all the weight exercises ever invented,
curls are the most incorrectly performed. Where do I start? First,
most lifters do not fully extend and contract the muscle while
performing curls. They are in essence performing a cheating partial
curl, and are getting at best, partial results. Not fully extending
and contracting shortens the distance the weight must travel,
enabling them to use more weight. Again I will sound like a nagging
spouse, but the judges do not care how much you can curl. What
should matter to you are the gains to your powerlifts you can
accrue through effective bicep training. Other cheating methods
are swinging, essentially power cleaning the bar up and dropping
the weight to the starting position. Swinging the bar results
in more work being done by your lower back and legs than biceps.
Combine swinging with shortening the range of movement and your
results will not be what you have hoped. This kind of training
not only adds up to a big waste of time and energy, but the ballistic
movement of the bar increases your chance of injury.
The supination or rotating function of the biceps is worked best
with dumbbells or pulley machines as these allow each arm to curl
on its own. The best supinating exercise is the alternate dumbbell
or pulley curl. Begin with arms at your sides with palms facing
back. Curl one weight upwards while simultaneously rotating your
hand to the palms up position. It’s key to gradually rotate the
hand; don’t complete the rotation at the bottom part of the curl.
At the top, twist the pinkie side of your hand inwards to further
contract the bicep. On the way down, reverse the movement, but
take about twice as long to lower as it did to curl the weight
up. While one arm is going up, the other arm should be going down.
The other option is to do a full rep with one arm and then do
the other. Don’t swing or drop the weight. I cannot emphasize
enough the importance of lowering the weight slowly and under
control. This adds negative resistance; making each rep more effective.
Allowing the weight to free-fall uses one half of the exercise;
make each full rep count.
The hammer curl is an old standard with many powerlifters. A hammer
curl is performed with dumbbells with the hands positioned with
the palms inward, just like you were striking a nail with a hammer.
The logic behind the hammer curl is because the biceps are in
this position during the bench you should curl in this position
for power. This is flawed logic as the hammer style limits the
effectiveness of the curl due to restricting the motion of the
exercise. I strongly suggest the aforementioned supinating curl
instead. This style works all aspects of the biceps. Leave hammers
to Bob Villa, MC and The Mighty Thor.
Using dumbbells for curls offers a great advantage. Each arm must
curl half the weight, thus getting an equal share of the load.
When using a barbell, the stronger arm may lift more than its
share, which can further compound limb strength imbalances. If
you have such a limb strength imbalance, I suggest stopping the
set when the weaker arm fails. Eventually—unless you have a nervous
system problem—both sides will even up. If this continues to be
a problem, see a good sports doctor.
The effectiveness of curls can be easily enhanced by altering
a few simple, but critical, aspects of its execution. First, decrease
the weight you use if you are using a sloppy exercise style. Keep
your elbows locked to your sides while curling. If your elbows
drift out and/or back, this will shorten the range of motion and
add other muscles in moving the weight like the delts and traps.
Your goal is to limit the involvement of other muscle groups to
a minimum. Machines, like Eagle and Hammer (not the curl), have
an advantage over free weights because they provide resistance
throughout the entire range of movement, which is very difficult
to do with a barbell or dumbbell. The fixed motion of machines
also limits cheating. But the effectiveness of machines can be
reduced by not lowering all the way down or curling fully to the
top. Remember full extension and contraction—no matter what exercise
or apparatus you choose.
My suggestion is to work your biceps three to eight sets, once
or twice per week. Keep the reps in 6–12 range. Always remember,
bicep exercises are like other assistance work; on meet day no
one cares how much you can cheat curl. The purpose of assistance
work is to register higher competitive lifts. In addition to lifting
more, no one ever minded a more impressive looking set of arms.
Curls can be for girls too.