Old School Bicep Training

As you may know by now, old school is the way to train. Just ask Ronnie Coleman judging by the recent magazine article he had from his hard-core gym in Texas. One old routine that is as effective today as it was 30 years ago is the following we use for biceps training. It involves using a compound exercise supersetted with another curling exercise. For the few of you who aren't aware of the differences, a compound exercise involves more than one joint during the exercise and an isolation movement uses just one joint during the exercise. For biceps training it's difficult to think of an exercise that actually involves two joints. Usually, it's just the elbow flexion that's going on. But, there's one exercise that qualifies as a compound exercise for biceps.

Did you ever get a pump in your biceps while you did reverse grip pulldowns? During this exercise you move from both your elbow and your shoulder. Think about where your biceps are attached at the elbow and at the shoulder. To make this one work more for your biceps, you have to change the style of your exercise a bit. To make this the most effective, sit with your torso perpendicular to the floor. Don't lean back during the exercise and don't pull your elbows back to squeeze your lats as you would if you were using the exercise for your back. No, this is a different movement all together. By focusing on the contraction when the bar reaches your chin, you get a tremendous pull on your biceps. Your elbows are kept in front of the plane of your torso. Extend your arms as you return to the top position allowing your arms to travel to a full stretch. One way to make this a little easier on the inside of your elbow is to use a curling bar that attaches to your pulldown machine. The bent grip relieves most of the stress associated there. Keep your reps in the 6 to 8 range and the pace of it at 2-0-2. 2 seconds contraction, zero pause but a good contraction and 2 second extension.

Once you've finished a set of pulldowns move immediately to a barbell curl and perform another 6 to 8 reps. Do three sets combining the two exercises increasing the weight as you progress and you'll get a pump and burn like you've never experienced before. Now to keep your biceps really guessing and growing, the next time you do this routine reverse the order. Doing the pulldowns last really allows you to get a tremendous squeeze on your arms and you can move some weight with this one. Do Not Let Your Ego Get In Your Way And Allow Your Form to Fail. You will get HURT and inflame the tendon that attaches on the inside of your elbow if you do. If you maintain good form you can get some serious growth without any injury.

Follow this sequence with a seated incline dumbbell hammer curl to hit the brachilias. Knock out three to four sets of 8 to 10 reps making the last set a drop set to get the burn. By using a high incline you can get a great stretch on the end of the exercise. Keep your upper arm from moving too far in front of your torso. You should feel like your arms are going to explode. Keep alternating routines between volume training and density training and maintain your protein intake to get the results you want.

Daryl Laws

Personal Training and Sports Performance Excellence Blog

Old School Bicep Training