Hey, what's up guys, I'm Scott from Muscularstrength.com and today
I want to talk to you about an exercise called the seated barbell curl now
I've mentioned this exercise in the past
But it was in my video called something like the dumbest exercise as I see in the gym
So you already know my thought process on this movement, but after I made that video
Quite a few of you reached out to me and you're like Scott
Jim Stefani talks about this exercise as being really good for biceps growth and a few other channels have mentioned this exercise being good for
Biceps growth as well and although I'm against it. I'm very open-minded
in fact
The only reason why my channel has grown to where it is today
Is because I am open-minded and I like listening to my community because a lot of you were very smart and I appreciate that
So I did some digging did some research. I watched Jim's video. I actually came to a
Conclusion that I did not expect to come to and we'll get to that in a second
but first
For those of you who enjoy my content and you want to digest it in article form with cool photos and videos and all that
combined in one
Download my app muscular strength, it's free to download
You can go to the articles section and chances are if you go there now
You'll probably see the article version of this video there
So make sure you check that out, but getting back to the exercise first
Let me just make it very clear from the beginning of this video
No other exercise is going to replace your standard barbell curl
alright a half rep in my book is
Still a half rep now the hardest part of a biceps curl is the sticking point
Which is the bottom position where you go from basically fully extended arms
Triceps flexed and then to here. This is the hardest part of the curl. This is where your biceps engage
It's the weakest point and so for me, I don't really feel like I'm getting a good biceps
workout unless I engage from the bottom and then flex and squeeze all the way up like this
alright doing curls like that doesn't make sense to me because you're skipping the sticking point, so
Initially my thought process was if I think this is bad. Why would I think
This is okay. Right it would make me a hypocrite
It would basically just make me like a Gym Shark athlete, you know, not really knowing much about what I'm talking about
So what is the difference in what Jim had to say, he's very smart gentleman. He has a PhD
Super-smart makes great videos. And so one of the things that he was talking about when he was demonstrating the exercise is how a
Lot of times when you're doing biceps curls, you know standard biceps curls your bracket radialis and your brachialis
Starts to fatigue before your biceps do and when that happens you're not able to
really fully exhaust your biceps because
You've gotten too fatigued and your brachialis and
So you're not able to do as many reps basically what he gets to and I feel like there is some truth to that
But it's not for everyone for example when you're a beginner, and I'm sure for those of you who are beginners now
Or maybe you're a seasoned lifter
But used to remember what it's like back in the day when you just started training
What usually happens when you're doing exercises is you tend to fatigue
The muscle groups that are farthest away from your body first before you get to the ones you're trying to target
So what I mean by that is if you're bench pressing as a beginner and you're trying to target your chest
Chances are your triceps and your shoulders are fatiguing way before your chest does or if you're doing a biceps curl
You're trying to target your biceps chances are that your forearm and your grip is
Fatiguing before you fatigue your biceps or if you're trying to train back and you're doing heavy rows
your forearm grip and your biceps probably fatiguing before your back does that's just what happens when you were a beginner, but
over time as you get stronger and you build my muscle connection and you're able to
Focus on the areas you're trying to train and utilize techniques that you've adapted to over the course of time
Doing a biceps curl now
Whether I'm doing super heavy weight or light weight my grip and forearms don't fatigue before my biceps
Do I'll be able to fully target my biceps and figure it out. So I feel like there's some truth to that
But also some mistruth because doesn't apply to everyone
So another thing he talks about in this video and this is where the lightbulb went off for me
All right. Another thing he talks about is how you're not supposed to bring the bar to your knees and
Biceps curl from here and I feel like a lot of people who do the Barbell biceps curl. That's what they're doing
They're curling from here. And this is not the correct way to perform the exercise
Jim actually talks about holding the barbell as close to your body as possible
and
doing a drag curl and dragging the Barbell up your chest to here and
Then returning back to the starting position and he also talks about how this allows you to focus more on
The outside head of your biceps, which is true. In fact, I've made videos in the past
talking about barbell drag curls as a way
To work on the peak of your bicep because it targets the outside head and this is where it clicked. It's the exercise
Shouldn't be called a seated barbell curl. It should be called a modified drag curl and I'll explain why
Whenever I do drag curls to be honest with you
I don't really like the exercise because as I try to go heavier with the weight
What usually ends up happening to me and probably a lot of you is instead of being able to maintain
The strict posture where I bring the weight up like this to the top and then go back down
What ends up happening is as I pull my elbows back
I start to elevate my shoulders and I tend to engage a bit more delts and traps as I'm trying to bring the weight up
It just happens while you're fatigued
so unless you're doing moderate to light weight and you're able to really focus on
That perfect form the entire way up or down what tends to happen is this. All right
So if you do it the seated version you skip that whole
Initial phase of just trying to get the weight to the proper position
To do the curl to target that outside head if you do it seated sit up straight keep your core nice and tight
Pull it into here you're already set to do the drag curl and focus on the most important part of that range of motion
which actually is from the waist to the top part of the
But again, this is more I wouldn't call it an advanced movement
but this exercise is more something you would use if you've been
Bodybuilding for a while, and you need to try something new to get more growth on your peak
If you're a beginner, you just want to grow and you will grow pretty much no matter what you do
So it's in your best interest to do exercises that are gonna allow you to really maximize your time
This exercise focuses on the peak or the outside head of your biceps chances are if you're beginning
you need the inside head and outside head to grow so your best bet is to do a standard barbell curl and
hit both heads at the same time and focus on overloading and even if you are an advanced athlete you can still focus on
Techniques like my cheat and recover, which if you guys haven't seen my cheat and recover program
it's one of the best programs you'll ever try for overloading and busting through a plateau whether it's in strength or muscle gains, but
Typically you're doing barbell curls
You're about 40 percent stronger in the eccentric portion of your reps, which basically means you'll never be able to curl up
What you can actually handle on the way down and so my cheat reps are basically using a bit of momentum
Thrusting the weight up and then getting yourself locked in place keep your core tight and then fighting the negative on
The way down you get the most muscle breakdown on the negative
You are also strongest and the negative so it makes more sense to overload the negative
Than to sit down with lighter weight and just focus on the outside head so
Do I still think it's a really some exercise as my thumbnail implies?
Now that I've done a bit more research and I figured out its proper use
I really don't guys
I think that if you use the exercise as intended as a modified drag curl to hit the outside head of your biceps
I think it's a great exercise to do but only after
You've pre exhausted your biceps with
Exercises that really work like a standard barbell curl or a dumbbell curl fully extending at the bottom
then maybe go over here and work on that outside head if it's a lagging area if you guys enjoyed my no BS ways or
Approach to training let me know by tapping that like button if you want to see more videos from me go ahead and subscribe
click that notification bell, but
Notification bell works like 10% of the time. So if you took my advice you downloaded my app chances
Are you already got notified that this article has been put up with the video and for me to be able to reach out to
You guys directly is a lot better for all of us. So hope you guys enjoyed the vid. I'll see you next time
Hey guys, I wasn't kidding
If you need a program that's guaranteed to help push you through a muscle building or strength plateau
You have got to try my cheat and recover program
you can see the entire program by clicking the link below and
Downloading my app everything you need to make sure, you know exactly what to do when you go to the gym