As a young twig, I admired Arnold. He was the Oak after all. His incredible biceps peak was especially impressive. The photo on the cover of his Education of a Bodybuilder was mind-blowing (photo by John Balik, who was paid a paltry $100 for the pic)…
At that point in time, I thought heavy weight was the answer, and I knew Arnold often used barbell cheat curls. I figured that had to be it. Heavy-ass weight, right?
I now look back and see that cheat curls do provide some of the key hypertrophy elements, like stretch loading—most of the resistance is in the bottom half of the stroke…
Also, many trainees don’t realize that one function of the biceps is to help the front deltoid lift the upper arm. So there’s another hypertrophy plus for the exercise; however…
What a dangerous way to get those mass-building factors. My lower back hurts just looking at that photo—although the guy in the background is obviously impressed—or maybe he’s a zombie.
I think Arnold’s safer “secret” to his mountainous biceps, other than genetics, is the standing bent-over concentration curl.
He got stretch loading at the bottom, his upper arm would move toward the shoulder somewhat as he curled, and he got the last key function of the biceps involved: supination.
He would turn his hand as he curled from palm facing him to pinky finger high at the top—the wrist-twist function. He also said that he would put his thumb against the inside of the dumbbell plate so that the slightly lopsided load would give that twist some resistance…
That concentration-curl version covers all three function of the biceps and isolates that muscle with a near-perfect resistance curve—if you allow you upper arm to move somewhat as you curl.
It’s why I include it in the Old Man, Young Muscle workouts as ideal. I’ve substituted other moves at time, and my biceps mass and peak always suffer.
Oh, and Arnold often included incline curls for even more stretch overload…
Notice that standing cheat curls, concentration curls, and incline curls is the Positions-of-Flexion mass trifecta, as explained in OMYM—midrange, contracted, stretch. Note that for midrange work, separate-handle cable curls or dumbbell curls are safer than cheat curls.
Take Arnold’s “advices” and include concentration curls as a biceps builder with his tweaks: freestanding, supination, and upper arm moving forward as you curl…
You’ll get new size on your bi’s as your prize.
Your Efficient Mass-Building Handbook: For more mass-building tips like the above plus complete workouts that include the ideal exercise for each muscle and the best stretch and contracted add-on moves, get your copy of Old Man, Young Muscle.
And you still get The Muscle-On, Belly-Gone “Diet” ebook FREE for a limited time when you add Old Man, Young Muscle to your mass-building library. Go HERE.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
www.X-Rep.com
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