Seated Barbell Curl

There's no debating the fact that barbell curls are the best overall mass builder for the biceps.

To learn how to place more focus on the long (outer) head of the biceps or the short (inner) head of the biceps click on the link below to watch my video M&F Raw! #6 – Emphasizing the Biceps (it's an oldie but goldie):

http://www.muscleandfitness.com/videos/mf-raw/raw-training/mf-raw-6-emphasizing-biceps

Yet many guys find that when they do the standard barbell curl standing, they feel it more in the forearms and less in the biceps.

And consequently their biceps growth is limited. This is really not all that surprising once you consider that when you perform a typical biceps curl standing the first half of the movement (from straight arm to arm bent about 90º) primarily involves the brachialis (muscle underneath the biceps) and the brachioradialis (forearm muscle on the thumb side of the arm). The biceps doesn't really kick in and take over the curl until the elbow is close to 90º. This first half of the ROM (range of motion) of the biceps curl is the weakest due to the fact that the biceps haven't fully kicked in yet to assist the brachialis and brachioradialis. Therefore, when you do a full ROM curl starting with your arms fully extended in the bottom position, you are limited to a weight that you can perform through the weakest portion of the ROM. This limits the amount of stress that you can place on the biceps, and can limit your biceps growth.

The seated barbell curl is an exercise that can help you maximize the stress placed on the biceps and therefore biceps growth.

To do the seated barbell curl, sit on a short-back bench or on the end of a flat bench, with your feet planted firmly on the floor while you rest a straight bar or EZ-bar on the top of your thighs. Hold the bar with an underhand, shoulder-width grip and curl it toward your shoulders, stopping where you normally would for a standard barbell curl. Hold this position and contract your biceps as hard as possible then slowly lower the bar back to your thighs and repeat for reps. This exercise basically removes the weakest portion of the curl by starting the exercise in the strongest portion of the curl, with the arms bent. This allows you to use more weight than you can normally handle on the standing barbell curl (about 20-30% more) and places more overload on the muscle fibers you are trying to target – the biceps. It also turns the barbell curl into an even greater isolation exercise, by minimizing the involvement of the brachialis and brachioradialis from the curl to better emphasize the biceps.

To watch my video MF Raw! #11 – Seated Barbell Curl (another oldie but goldie), click on the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKYv-vL_zDo

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