Thursday is For Refining Techniques: Correct Your Barbell Curl to Get Maximum Muscle

From the get go, even the most inexperienced dude who will set foot in the gym will most likely do the bicep curl as the very first exercise they will ever do. Big biceps are one of the things that even non-bodybuilding people seem to gravitate to. The barbell curl is the most basic exercise for the biceps, but it is also been frowned upon by some as they complain of "not feeling" the movement in their biceps. They always say they feel pain in their wrists or elbows or front shoulders or, for some, even their lower back.

Follow these simple tips to make sure you get the most out of the barbell curl:

1. Make sure you have the proper grip on the barbell.

Every person has a unique bone structure, and this is also true about our individual  wrist structure. The grip width for me might not work for you. There is a way to determine this. Before you pick up the barbell, relax your arms and let them hang loose. Now make your palms face forward. Notice how your forearms moved a few inches away from your body? Now use that exact grip and grab that barbell. That is your ideal grip width on the bar. This simple move has saved hundreds of wrists from being injured.

2. Stabilize the elbows and your shoulders by bracing your body.

Here we go again with the body bracing. It's becoming a trite but I just cannot overemphasize this. Most people can't seem to keep their elbows in place because they don't practice tightening up their lats, abs, and butt during the curl. Start by contracting your abs as if it will receive a blow. Then clench your butt cheeks as if you are about to have a bowel movement (well, uh, it sounds gross but it is effective). Then contract your back muscles by pulling your shoulders down to keep your shoulders from too much movement.

By the way, moving the elbows a little is fine, as long as you don't use momentum and the swing doesn't absorb the load which is meant for the bicep.

3. Keep your wrist straight as you curl.

This is a tip that according to Ironman Magazine was given by Arnold Schwarzenegger to Frank Zane in the 1970's when Frank told Arnold he was having problems feeling the curl in his biceps. Arnold's tip paid big time for Frank. The reason is that most people curl their wrists as they flex their biceps up. The goal is to work your biceps, not your forearms, so keep you wrist straight and rigid.

4. Imagine that you are driving yourself towards the ground.

This tip is one I got from Pavel Tsatsouline's Beyond Bodybuilding. In simple terms, visualize that you are trying to sink yourself to the ground, this will help focus your effort towards your biceps and increase the poundage.

5. Use a faster pace for the positive (lifting) phase and a slightly slower for the negatives

This one is from Charles Poliquin taken from one of his articles in Ironman. According to him, one study showed that the biceps brachii (the main belly of the biceps) gets more of the brunt if the lifting phase is a tad faster than the lowering phase.

Try these on your next workout and drop me a response.

Thursday is for Refining Techniques: Build Muscle Fast In Your Chest By Doing The Bench Press Right

Here's a walkthrough of what a good repetition of bench press should be every time you hit the plates and bar on that weight bench. I hope you will learn a thing or two here to keep you from turning the most effective chest muscle builder into a shoulder and triceps exercise. Most of the time, when people complain that an exercise doesn't work for them, it usually means they don't know the proper form to begin with. So without further delay, here's how you should be doing them.

1. Lie down on the bench and position yourself where the barbell is directly anywhere between over your eyes up to your neck. Some people go too far up where the bar is over their chest from the get go, but this is too unnatural.

2. Make sure your feet are well placed. Imagine them being bolted to the floor. It's weird but even with exercises that require you to lie on a weight bench, planting your feet pays big time. So don't follow into the footsteps of those guys who lift their feet up during benching. Save that for ab work.

3. Before unracking the barbell, grip the bar tight and brace your entire body for the lift. This means that every single muscle, from the traps to your calves, must be in a state of readiness to lift the bar. Also, do not lift your head at anytime during the lift. Focus on nerve force towards the body, not in the neck.

4. Flex your shoulder blades together and down towards your butt. Sure, this will produce a slight arch in your lower back, but it should not be so pronounced that it will make your butt leave the weight bench. Over arching is not necessary. Weld your ass and scapulae to the weight bench. This will be their position through out the rep.

5. As you unrack the weight, breath in deep, hold it and flex your chest muscles. Lower the weight under full control, but do not exaggerate the downward (otherwise known negative) phase too much. 2-3 seconds on the negative is ok. Grip the bar tight, as  this will send a message to your brain to fire more nerves into contracting the muscles for more strength. As you lower, actively pull the bar via your back muscles to stabilize your shoulder joints to avoid injury. Once you reach bottom, do not relax, keep your self tight and take a shallow breath to power you through the lifting (or positive pace)

The reason why you should hold your breath is to keep the intra-abdominal pressure in your torso to stabilize it as pounds of metal is coming down on you.

*One more thing, position your arms so that the humerus (or the upper arms) should form an arrow with your torso, not a T. Saves you a lot of rotator cuff issues in the future.

6. As you lift the weight up, power them up with your chest muscles. If at anytime you will feel you hit a sticking point, squeeze on the bar as if it would crumple in your palm. Simultaneously contract your abs and glutes and also, dig your back into the weight bench. You will find the bar moving again. Once you reach the top, allow yourself to breath and re-energize your torso.

Try this out on your next session on the weight bench. Tell me your opinion after.