Mr. America and 2019 Drug-Free Mr. Universe Doug Brignole says that if you’re doing the ideal exercise for a muscle, you will train the majority of fibers throughout—even a two-headed muscle like biceps…
He’s not wrong. The classic book Muscle Meets Magnet, by Per A. Tesch, Ph.D., looked “inside” arm and leg muscles with an MRI machine after various exercises.
What Tesch found was that some exercises do emphasize certain heads more than others; however…
A few exercises light up all heads. His biceps analysis is a good example—and gives Doug’s ideal a thumbs-up…
The MRI shows that close-grip barbell curls light up both biceps heads equally. Doug touts the alternate dumbbell curl, pulling across the torso, as the ideal biceps exercise.
Here’s me demonstrating, even though I rarely do it; you’ll see why in a moment…
Alternate dumbbell curls mimic the movement of a close-grip curl, but with one arm at a time to discourage bi-lateral deficit (explained in the new ebook).
Using dumbbells also enhances the range of motion and improves the strength curve; however…
I’m not a fan of alternating arms on every rep—too much rest for one biceps as the other works. I like continuous tension, usually training one arm solo all the way through a set.
So I prefer concentration curls as my ideal exercise for biceps. Unfortunately, Tesch didn’t look at that exercise via MRI. Here’s an Arnold look-alike demonstrating…
Even so, it also mimics a close-grip curl and is much easier on my shoulder where I have some pain…
What’s interesting is that Tesch finds using a wide grip—with a barbell or dumbbells, heavily emphasizes the medial, or inner, head of the biceps with little action from the outer head. Interesting…
So why do an exercise that emphasizes one head over the other? One of those heads may be less developed than the other due to genetics….
Or, because the outer head appears to contribute more to peak, someone may want to follow the ideal exercise with a lateral-head dominant move, like incline hammer curls, which Tesh’s MRI shows has outer-head emphasis…
I like to follow concentration curls with incline hammer curls. That’s because it’s the best brachialis builder. That muscle snakes under the biceps, which can also add to biceps peak…
Yep, Tesch’s MRI inside look says it lights up lateral-biceps head and brachialis.
So the incline hammer curl gives you a double dose of peak growth.
The bottom line: Doug’s conclusion that the alternate dumbbell curl is the ideal exercise is right on. It hits both heads equally.
Even so, I’ll stick to concentration curls, which are right up there as well—and incline hammers for brachialis…
For the ideal exercise, my complete workouts, exercise start/finish photos, and details on building muscle fast and efficiently, see Old Man, Young Muscle.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
www.X-Rep.com
3 Workouts a Week, 35 Minutes Each for Jacked Mass
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