Large arms are created with a combination of triceps
and bicep work. But it is the bicep muscle that peoples eyes focus on,
hence extra attention should be given to this all important “mirrorâ€
muscle. Though all bicep exercises involve the curling motion, I have
found one to be significantly better for building the mass and peak that most people look for.
The single best muscle building bicep exercise is the Hanging Bicep Curl.
Here’s how you do it. Take an adjustable bench and set it at a 45
degree incline and lie on it so you are chest down. Your arms will
dangle straight down towards the floor. Grab an EZ Curl bar and do what
comes natural. Curl it. I do 5 pyramided sets of 8-10 reps.
The reason that this is such a mass builder is because in this exercise
you are in the same position as you would be seated on a preacher curl
bench, but the advantage here is that there is no pressure on any
JOINT. Everything hangs loose, meaning you can use massive tonnage
without fear of straining anything in the shoulder, elbow or wrist
joints. You can curl significantly more weight in this position than sitting or standing. Try it and you’ll see.
Now you can use dumbbells in this position but, as we all know, you can
use much more weight going with a bar and we are talking mass building
here. And again, without joint strain, you can use A LOT more weight.
As an example, from a standing position if you can curl 100 lbs with an
EZ curl bar, in the hanging bicep curl position you can do 170 lbs.
This is the proportional increase that I have. Granted if you want to
swing your arms to give yourself momentum to curl, you can. I do. But
only on the last couple reps.
My first question to you is this, if you are interested in building muscle mass in your bicep do you think lifting 1.7 times what you normally use for a bicep curl will have a mass building affect?
If you subscribe to the belief that more weight will equal more mass,
and you better believe that, my second question to you is, what are you
waiting for? Go build big arms.