Proper Cable Biceps Curl Form | Men’s Health Muscle
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00:00 There is a problem with your standard biceps curl workout.
00:02 Sure, you think you're covering all your bases
00:04 when you're doing your dumbbell curls,
00:06 your hammer curls, your spider curls,
00:08 but none of those moves is really challenging your biceps
00:11 over a full, complete range of motion.
00:13 Because of that, that means you're leaving
00:15 some biceps growth and gains on the table,
00:18 but that's where we add an exercise to our arsenal.
00:21 We're gonna introduce something
00:22 called the cable biceps curl.
00:23 With the cable biceps curl, we get to finally challenge
00:26 the lengthened position of our biceps range of motion.
00:29 It is a great way to finish out any biceps workout,
00:33 and it's gonna ensure that you have hit
00:34 and fatigued your biceps completely.
00:36 That is the ticket to arm gains.
00:38 Let's get into it.
00:40 So what is the actual benefit of the cable biceps curl?
00:43 Well, it is filling in a critical blank
00:45 that is missing from all the other curls you're doing.
00:47 When we're doing our standard dumbbell curls,
00:49 easy bar curls, barbell curls, no matter what you're doing,
00:52 when your arms are straight at the very bottom of the curl,
00:55 there is zero tension on your biceps.
00:58 We can try different things to try to place tension
01:01 on our biceps in that position,
01:02 but it really just doesn't work effectively,
01:04 and that means we're never truly challenging
01:06 the lengthened position of our biceps range of motion.
01:10 Challenging that lengthened position
01:12 in a lot of our strength exercises
01:13 is gonna be a real key mechanic for growth.
01:16 So with the cable biceps curl,
01:18 all we're gonna do with that cable
01:19 is we're going to place our body in a position,
01:22 and we're gonna use the angle of tension
01:23 that the cable creates to place our biceps under tension
01:27 from the very start of the move.
01:29 The truth is, because we're doing that,
01:31 the very end of the move, we may not face as much tension,
01:34 but by combining the cable biceps curl with other moves
01:37 and learning the version of the cable biceps curl
01:39 that we're gonna teach you today,
01:41 you finally can really challenge your biceps
01:43 over its full range of motion
01:45 and really challenge that stretch position,
01:47 and working in that stretch position
01:49 is really gonna help your arms blow up.
01:51 So we've got Brett here in the cable rack,
01:53 and understand one thing about this cable biceps curl.
01:56 This is the better version
01:57 of what you're gonna see a lot of people do.
01:59 In general, they're gonna walk up,
02:00 they're just gonna grab a handle,
02:01 and they're gonna do a standard curl.
02:03 We're not getting anything out of the move there.
02:05 We wanna take advantage of the cable curl when we go to it.
02:08 So what Brett is going to do,
02:10 and you can do this two hands
02:12 if you have a slightly tighter cable machine.
02:14 With the cable machine like this,
02:15 we're gonna work off a single cable.
02:17 What Brett is going to do, and his whole goal here,
02:20 is to set up with the cable creating tension from the start.
02:24 So he's gonna grab the handle.
02:26 What he's gonna do,
02:27 he's gonna take a step and a half forward.
02:29 Essentially, he's gonna tighten up his abs and glutes
02:32 because we are doing a single arm version of this move.
02:34 And then what we wanna do,
02:36 and what we're looking for at the start of this curl,
02:38 we wanna use the cable resistance
02:41 to instantly create tension.
02:43 So Brett wants a little bit of an angle.
02:44 He doesn't necessarily want his arms completely straight.
02:48 That way the cable can pull back on him.
02:50 I don't really necessarily care about your torso lean
02:53 relative to the ground.
02:55 I just want you to be in a comfortable position,
02:57 and what you wanna watch for is for this upper arm angle
03:00 to have a little bit of angle with the cable.
03:03 That way the cable is starting to pull you backwards.
03:06 Once we're in this position,
03:07 Brett needs to do one more thing.
03:09 He needs to try to get his hips and shoulders square.
03:12 I don't want him twisting either way.
03:16 I want his abs nice and tight.
03:17 He's gonna tighten up his glutes,
03:19 and now he's in his starting position.
03:21 From here, the move becomes very simple,
03:24 moving only at the elbow,
03:25 and it's critical to move only at the elbow
03:27 when you're doing this cable biceps curl.
03:29 He's going to curl the way up,
03:31 try to get a good squeeze on his biceps.
03:34 What you'll notice instantly,
03:36 at the very bottom, he's got a lot of challenge
03:39 for his biceps.
03:39 He's facing resistance.
03:42 Once he gets to the top of the curl,
03:43 don't feel like you have to really go through
03:46 a complete range of motion,
03:47 because at the end of the curl,
03:48 let's get to the top of the curl, Brett.
03:50 At the end of the curl,
03:51 the orientation of the cable resistance and his forearm
03:55 is not gonna create a whole ton of challenge,
03:57 so he can hold this all day.
03:59 We won't make him do that,
04:01 but there's not a lot of challenge for his biceps.
04:03 So don't feel like you need to linger
04:05 in that good squeeze position.
04:07 The thing we're attacking here with this cable curl
04:10 is this bottom position is that first 25 to 30%
04:14 of the motion.
04:15 That's where we're getting a lot of extra benefit.
04:17 The other thing Brett doesn't wanna do
04:19 on this cable curl is he doesn't want to over-exaggerate
04:23 the stretch on his shoulder.
04:25 So don't feel this need to get your upper arm
04:28 way behind your torso as you're doing this.
04:31 All that's doing is placing your shoulder
04:33 in a compromised position.
04:35 So you just need a little bit of tension.
04:37 Think about trying to keep your upper arm
04:40 essentially in line with your torso,
04:42 ever so slightly behind it,
04:43 and then get a little bit of squeeze
04:45 on your shoulder blade.
04:46 That way you've got some stability there.
04:48 That way we can go through the curl.
04:50 Let's give them a couple of reps here.
04:52 And what Brett is feeling there at the bottom of the motion
04:58 is that tension.
04:59 You will never feel that in any of the other curls
05:02 you're doing.
05:03 So now you have a curl that's gonna finally help you
05:05 create tension in that stretch position,
05:07 but that doesn't mean we're gonna get rid
05:10 of our other biceps training weapons.
05:11 You're still gonna wanna do your standard dumbbell curls,
05:14 your hammer curls, your preacher curls, your spider curls.
05:16 Get all of those in,
05:18 but you wanna finish off your workouts
05:20 with a move like this cable biceps curl.
05:23 We're gonna essentially attack load
05:25 with our first couple moves in any biceps workout,
05:27 and then we can finish off
05:28 by really attacking that lengthened position
05:31 so that we've really challenged our biceps
05:32 over the full range of motion.
05:34 This is not a move that you need to do for low reps.
05:37 Like any cable move,
05:38 we wanna keep it a little bit higher.
05:40 So think about doing three to four sets of 12 to 15 reps,
05:43 or if you wanna get a little bit more bold
05:45 and challenge your biceps a little bit more,
05:47 one way I like to use this is I'll do, say,
05:49 a set of dumbbell curls at 10 to 12 reps,
05:52 going a little bit heavier,
05:53 and then I'll finish off by challenging
05:55 that lengthened position
05:56 with some of these lighter weight cable curls.
05:59 That super set will really fatigue your biceps.
06:01 Either way, this is another move
06:03 and a great move to have in your biceps arsenal.
06:05 You're finally gonna train your biceps
06:07 over a complete range of motion.
06:09 You will thank us when you see the gains on your arms.
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