Flex 2018-03-01 Flex Magazine | Page 92

BEST ALL-AROUND BICEPS MASS MOVE

STANDING BARBELL CURL

KNEE-JERK REACTION“ Well, sure, but I’ ve seen lots of guys turn it into a lousy lower back exercise.”
OUR EXPERTS’ TAKE The standing barbell curl is universally lauded by our experts as a solid biceps builder, which can annihilate both the long outer head and short inner head of the biceps when done correctly. But“ correctly” is crucial. Your ego will whisper in your ear,“ Slide the 45s on each side, you can do it.” Chances are, you can’ t— and attempting too heavy a load means you’ ll be jutting your hips forward to start the movement, then leaning way back to get your elbows under the bar. Your biceps will barely see any action at all.
HOW TO DO IT Q In a standing position, feet placed shoulder-width apart, hold a barbell with a shoulder-width underhand grip, arms extended. Q Maintaining a tight core, with your chest up and head straight, flex your biceps to curl the bar from hip level toward your upper chest, keeping your elbows at your sides throughout. Q Hold for a count at full contraction at the top, then slowly return the bar along the same path.
KEY POINTERS The standard shoulder-width grip tends to hit both the long and short head of the two-headed biceps muscle well, but you can adjust your grip to emphasize one of them more. A wider grip works the short head— it’ s on the inside of your arm and helps give the overall muscle more width and thickness— while a closer grip inside shoulder width stimulates the long head, which runs on the outside of your arm and forms the“ peak” when flexed.
Add chains on each
which increase the resistance one link at a time as you lift.
BEST BICEPS STRENGTH BUILDER
BARBELL CURL 21S
KNEE-JERK REACTION“ Wait— isn’ t 21 too many reps for strength building?”
OUR EXPERTS’ TAKE In combining the best overall biceps movement— standing barbell curls— with one of the most wicked intensity techniques, this is an elite strength builder, says New York City-based strength and fitness coach Heather Farmer( Instagram
@ Olyfarmer). As for the idea that it’ s too much potential volume?
“ Your overall strength can be enhanced by working in isolated parts of the movement that may be sticking points,” says Farmer, who’ s also an Olympic weightlifting national
competitor in the USA Weightlifting 63kg women’ s class. Still, though, for those who want to go a more traditional route, you can take a longer break between each seven-rep portion, while also varying the weight used in each position.“ You may find that you can handle
OPENER: CHRIS LUND
90 FLEX | MARCH’ 18