watchnerd
Level 8 Valued Member
Oh, I was only looking at the biceps.
Other/Mixed Curls: A Big Waste of Time?
- Thread starter watchnerd
- Start date
Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)
Oh, I was only looking at the biceps.
Dayz
Level 8 Valued Member
What sort of rep ranges do you train the biceps?
Does your observation influence your choices at all?
watchnerd
Level 8 Valued Member
A wide range of rep ranges.
Everything from <6 for barbell curls to 15-30 for BFR DB curls.
grouchyjarhead
Level 6 Valued Member
I posted this in another thread but it is applicable here.
I never did curls when I first started training, and once I got the strongman bug I figured it was silly to waste time on it. I struggled with Atlas stones at first - I couldn’t even load a 225# stone at a competition. I then got advice from pro strongman Steve MacDonald who said my weak link was my biceps. I added a few sets of barbell curls in at the end of one workout for a few months plus practiced with a very light stone. I then loaded a 280# stone during my next competition. It also helped reduce the tendon soreness I was getting after a heavy stones session.
In the great book “Of Stones and Strength”, Steve Jeck recommends any man who wants to tackle stone lifting to develop arm strength if they want a chance to get the stone from their lap. To quote him, “All the leg and hip strength in the world is useless if you can’t hang on to the stone.” Jeck made stone lifting popular for a lot of people and has lifted the Inver stone, the Dinnie stones, the Blue Stones of Old Dailly, and the Husafell stone. Strong dude to be sure.
I never did curls when I first started training, and once I got the strongman bug I figured it was silly to waste time on it. I struggled with Atlas stones at first - I couldn’t even load a 225# stone at a competition. I then got advice from pro strongman Steve MacDonald who said my weak link was my biceps. I added a few sets of barbell curls in at the end of one workout for a few months plus practiced with a very light stone. I then loaded a 280# stone during my next competition. It also helped reduce the tendon soreness I was getting after a heavy stones session.
In the great book “Of Stones and Strength”, Steve Jeck recommends any man who wants to tackle stone lifting to develop arm strength if they want a chance to get the stone from their lap. To quote him, “All the leg and hip strength in the world is useless if you can’t hang on to the stone.” Jeck made stone lifting popular for a lot of people and has lifted the Inver stone, the Dinnie stones, the Blue Stones of Old Dailly, and the Husafell stone. Strong dude to be sure.
watchnerd
Level 8 Valued Member
How heavy were you curling and what sort of sets / reps?
grouchyjarhead
Level 6 Valued Member
Thick bar curls, 3 sets of 5 reps, I don’t recall the weights off hand but I do remember hitting 135 at one point because it was a goal I had. I just worked it the same way as a main lift.
watchnerd
Level 8 Valued Member
So bicep curls with the AGGRO 3X power bar grows biceps better than the Pyrros weightlifting bar.
The AGGRO is 1mm thicker so that might have a little bit to do with it, but I swear it's due to the difference in bearings.
The AGGRO doesn't spin as smoothly as the Pyrros and it feels like this puts more stress and tension on the muscle at the top and bottom when you reverse direction of the curl.
The AGGRO is 1mm thicker so that might have a little bit to do with it, but I swear it's due to the difference in bearings.
The AGGRO doesn't spin as smoothly as the Pyrros and it feels like this puts more stress and tension on the muscle at the top and bottom when you reverse direction of the curl.
Bull_Rush
Level 2 Valued Member
lol. OP, have you seen top-level arm wrestlers on YouTube? Cyplenkov, Larratt, and Voevoda?
If your priority is Olympic lifting, then curls will always be just beach work and elbow health. But if you want to take it to the next level, you gotta curl heavy, man. Treat the standing barbell curl like it is its own sport.
The logic otherwise is like saying you won't ever need front squats because you're already giving your deadlifts some leg drive.
If your priority is Olympic lifting, then curls will always be just beach work and elbow health. But if you want to take it to the next level, you gotta curl heavy, man. Treat the standing barbell curl like it is its own sport.
The logic otherwise is like saying you won't ever need front squats because you're already giving your deadlifts some leg drive.
watchnerd
Level 8 Valued Member
That's all it is for me -- beach work and elbow health.
Bull_Rush
Level 2 Valued Member
lol. The era of Hepburn and Anderson really is gone. Olympic lifters truly are a specialized type of athlete.
Hepburn used to showcase his "weightlifting prowess" by doing curls and handstands. Anderson did the bizarre backlift.
watchnerd
Level 8 Valued Member
Backflips are still to be seen among weightlifters:
But, yes, by comparison, Hepburn and Anderson would be un-specialized amateurs today.
Tommy Kono used to compete in both weightlifting *and* bodybuilding.
Sadly, I don't think Tommy wouldn't win at bodybuilding today, either.
Chimp
Level 3 Valued Member
By no means are my arms as big as some of the people in this forum but I got more arm and specifically front bicep development than I ever did doing various curl variations at the gym . I even got one from alpha m on YouTube (I think it was so 7 reps of curls, then reps of the top half and 7 reps of the bottom half of the curl and It hunk 3 or 4 sets of this). I’m shocked cleans work my biceps more than the curls considering cleans are dynamic and curls are usually done very slow. Chin-ups work as well.
Bull_Rush
Level 2 Valued Member
Backflips are still to be seen among weightlifters:
But, yes, by comparison, Hepburn and Anderson would be un-specialized amateurs today.
Tommy Kono used to compete in both weightlifting *and* bodybuilding.
Sadly, I don't think Tommy wouldn't win at bodybuilding today, either.
I said backlift, not backflip.
And Tommy Kono not winning at bodybuilding has more to do with the fact that Dianabol, the first effective steroid that didn’t have to be ingested through bull urine, didn’t become available in the black market until 1958.
As a silver era bodybuilder, Kono would’ve done decently.
watchnerd
Level 8 Valued Member
What's a backlift?
watchnerd
Level 8 Valued Member
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Bull_Rush
Level 2 Valued Member
The Heaviest Weight Ever Lifted - June 12th, 1957, Paul Anderson's Record Backlift - www.oldtimestrongman.com
The Heaviest Weight Ever Lifted – June 12th, 1957, Paul Anderson’s Record Backlift It was on June 12th, 1957 when Paul Anderson backlifted 6270 pounds — a well-documented and still-unbroken feat. Paul Anderson, of course was a noted Olympic Gold Medal Winner and Strongman. If you are unfamiliar...
www.oldtimestrongman.com
In the following video, skip to 2:20.
He is my hero for a reason. Right up there with Doug Hepburn and Masahiko Kimura.
Bull_Rush
Level 2 Valued Member
The Heaviest Weight Ever Lifted - June 12th, 1957, Paul Anderson's Record Backlift - www.oldtimestrongman.com
The Heaviest Weight Ever Lifted – June 12th, 1957, Paul Anderson’s Record Backlift It was on June 12th, 1957 when Paul Anderson backlifted 6270 pounds — a well-documented and still-unbroken feat. Paul Anderson, of course was a noted Olympic Gold Medal Winner and Strongman. If you are unfamiliar...
In the following video, skip to 2:20.
He is my hero for a reason. Right up there with Doug Hepburn and Masahiko Kimura.
I watched a bit more of that video. Don’t believe their assertion of a 900 pound front squat. Complete bull.
His best well-documented back squat was 900+ pounds.
Chimp
Level 3 Valued Member
Just double kettlebell clean and press and not even a heavy weight just double 20kgs (for now at least).What kind of cleans?
'Reverse curl' is kind of a classic name for 'bad power clean'.
watchnerd
Level 8 Valued Member
I can certainly get biceps stimulation by intentionally doing 'bad dismounts' of KB cleans.