Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 01:10:45 EDT From: Mcsiff@aol.com Subject: Strength_List: CURLING LESSONS With all the current discussion on the biceps, it is important to stop viewing bicep exercises as ones which involve only flexion of the elbow. Almost every magazine and coaching authority advocates the usual old exercises such as the standard barbell curl, DB curls, preacher bench curls, concentration curls, cheat curls, cable rowing, hammer curls, reverse curls and a host of other elbow bending exercises. To make the situation even worse, tradition places far too much stress on only one of the major flexors of the elbow, namely the biceps (biceps brachialis). We should even stop calling THAT one exercise "bicep curls", because the curling movement is carried out by all of the elbow flexors, viz: * biceps brachii (a rapid flexor of the elbow) * brachialis (also a rapid flexor of the elbow and generally stronger than biceps) * brachioradialis (good for slow and ballistic flexion, especially when the forearm is pronated) Maybe we should simply call it elbow or arm curls, but to continue calling this sort of exercise "bicep curls" . After all, we call the equivalent exercise for the legs, "leg curls". Let us take this whole arm muscle saga further by ening a few more variations of exercises which involve the elbows, such as cheat curls, drag curls, swing curls, cleans and snatches. All of these exercises involve movement of the shoulder, a point that is very important to remember, because the biceps cross the shoulder joint and serve to swing the arm forwards. On top of this, another muscle, coracobrachialis (which crosses the shoulder joint) also swings the arm forwards and stabilises the shoulder joint. Why is this information important? Well, it tells us that exercises for the upper arm can involve both the shoulder and the elbow. And which are these exercises? I listed some of them above: cheat curls, drag curls, swing curls, cleans and snatches. Now let's add a few more: full range bench press, cable crossovers with bent elbows, incline presses, Olympic press, shot put, discus, full range dips and bent arm pull throughs between the legs (using a cable machine). Even the jerk, push press or push jerk can involve the 'shoulder swinging' muscles very powerfully if you do these movements correctly, because the first part of the action in all of these exercises is to shove the shoulders vertically upwards to overcome the inertia of the bar, then to swing the upper arm upwards with the muscles whose job it is to do this (all named above). Of course, the legs are working overtime, but one should never forget the vital role played by the 'arm swinging' muscles (together with triceps, delts and muscles of the shoulder girdle). There are many others, but this selection serves most adequately to enable one to recognise many others - just look for any action which flexes the elbow and swings or pulls the arms forwards about the shoulder, and you will be well on your way to drawing up a much larger list of arm developing exercises than you ever imagined possible. Note, too, that most of the muscles which flex the elbow are very efficient fast flexors, so that fast flexion is especially productive. If you wish to do a slower curl, then simply slow down the arm exercises during the eccentric phase. If you have not tried high snatch pulls, you will find that they give the arm muscles, as well as the trapezius, rhomboids and some of the deltoids an excellent workout. Ballistic cheat curls can also really target brachioradialis, particularly if the palms are pronated (as in snatches and reverse curls) or facing one another (as in hammer curls). Note that when you cheat, the cheating must not come from spinal flexion and extension, but from a swinging motion of the arms and the trunk, as well as from a partial squatting thrust of the knees (if the load is very heavy). It surprises me that much of what I am sharing with you here, especially regarding the role of many upper arm muscles in the Olympic lifts, is rarely, if ever, discussed by most bodybuilding experts. This probably has a lot to do with the great fixation that exists on posing pictures with flexed elbows, and on training routines that regard strict, isolated curls as "right" and "safe" and cheating curls as "wrong" and "dangerous". Whatever the reason, it is about time that fitness folk recognised that the arm has joints at either end and this enables us to increase the number of arm muscle training strategies enormously. Mel Siff Dr Mel C Siff Denver, USA mcsiff@aol.com Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2000 19:12:53 -0400 From: "Jon Agiato" Subject: Strength_List: Re: Strength-Digest: V1 #2280 > Date: Tue, 5 Sep 2000 22:24:51 EDT > From: Mcsiff@aol.com > Subject: Strength_List: Biceps and Benching > > With all of this discussion on a possible role for biceps in bench pressing, > don't forget that the biceps, besides flexing the elbow in conjunction with > brachialis and brachioradialis, also serves to swing the arm forwards in > conjunction with the coracobrachialis muscle. This means that any form of " > bicep curls" which forcefully swing the upper arm from a fully prestretched > position (as happens in the early stage of a bench press or dips) can > contribute to bench pressing ability. > > Dr Mel C Siff > Denver, USA > http://www.egroups.com/group/supertraining Yes, I have always believed incline dumbbell curls performed on a very low incline with a complete relaxation and pause at the bottom position to help my pressing stabalization, and especially great for the deadlift/clean (injury prevention). I was doing btwn one and two sets a week, and thats all the biceps work I think is nessesary. I always laugh when I see these guys come in and curl for hours on end. I do one, maybe two sets a week and sometimes none for weeks on end yet my arms are past the 19.5 inch mark. The preacher curl will just waste your time. Yours in strength, Jon Agiato 1st class NFPT USA Weightlifting club coach http://home.earthlink.net/~syntrasys/