What's going on Nation? I'm Scott from Muscularstrength.com and today
We're going to go over the three reasons why you're probably not getting the most gains or
benefits from the barbell preacher curl
But before we get started
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Now those three reasons why you're not maximizing this exercise
Guys, the barbell preacher curl well any preacher curl variation dumbbell as well.
This exercise is one of the best exercises for growth for your biceps
it provides the kind of stretch that you just can't get anywhere else
unfortunately 9 out of 10 people I see out in the gym
they don't even get to the stretch because they're doing the exercise wrong. So, let's start
with number one? Number one obviously is ego lifting if you're doing this exercise
with weight that's way too heavy
you're not even getting any kind of curl out of your arms to begin with. Remember to maximize the movement
you're gonna have a flex at the top a stretch at the bottom and you have to be able to
overload throughout that range of motion.
But if you're lifting weight, that's so heavy that when you get set up on the preacher
you're basically relying on your upper body moving
back and forth to do the curl. There's no sort of bicep curl happening here. You're literally just
working like like walking back and forth
or shifting your body back and forth to move this weight
And the amount of range of motion you get is literally is literally is all that's happening.
So number one don't ego lift. Number two is stoping halfway. A lot of people like to claim
oh, it keeps tension in the biceps if you stop halfway.
Not really and you're missing out on the stretch, which is the most important part
What happens? Well, the main reason why people like to stop halfway is because they're able to lift more weight.
So it's almost like a psychological thing.
You'll notice if you go to the gym right now and grab some weight as soon as you get to about here
you do start to feel a lot of tension your biceps, but you also still have that elasticity
that's helping you bring the weight back up and that elasticity goes away as soon as you fully extend.
You're not gonna be able to rely on it.
So you're not going to be able to lift as heavy until you get good at this exercise.
So most people when they first start training they develop a bad habit of stopping, you know
three quarters of the way down and then they use that to rely on that
elasticity and they never train through the full range of motion and they never even
experience what the stretch feels like at the bottom and it's during that stretch
you have to recruit or
contract your muscles so much harder to get out of it because
it's called the sticking point and that brings us to our third and
final reason why most people can't take advantage exercise because they do not fully extend at the bottom
which means that they're not getting a whole stretch and they're not contracting their bicep as hard as possible
to work through the sticking point now the reason why most people skip well
the reason why most people skip the third reason is because they're still doing reasons 1 & 2
but let's say that you don't do reasons 1 & 2 the reason why most people skip
the bottom portion of the movement
is because as soon as you can see here
if you can't move that way you get stuck and most people they don't like getting stuck.
Maybe they get embarrassed or they feel like they're not doing the exercise. Not doing exercise correctly.
Guys
It's ok to get stuck. This is the sticking point of a curl.
This is the hardest part of the curl you're supposed to get stuff when you're training your biceps
but the reason when people skip that on this
versus is even a standing curl is because when you're standing you can cheat out of
the sticking point if you get stuck right here
standing if you use a little momentum, you can drive your elbows back and kind of get out of it, but
as soon as you get stuck you're toast.
So what I want you guys to do the next time you go to the gym is actually two things.
I want you to do five sets of eight to ten repetitions on this exercise
Okay
What you're gonna do the first four sets is your standard preacher curl
you're gonna get about a shoulder width rip on the bottom.
You're gonna go all the way down
You're gonna fully extend you're gonna feel that deep stretch in your biceps. And then
you're gonna go back to the starting position
flex your bicep as hard as you can and you're gonna repeat for eight to ten reps.
Then on your fifth set. This is gonna absolutely destroy you guys
go a little lighter with the weight and you're gonna do pause reps.
Pausing on a rep. It's gonna take all the elasticity out of the muscle
So you have to contract the same muscle fibers ten times harder
just to complete the movement, what I mean by that is you're gonna go all the way down to the bottom
you gonna hold it here for like three seconds, you're gonna be instantly start to feel the weight get heavier
you're losing elasticity
then you're force the contraction as hard as you can to the top.
And you're gonna repeat and that's gonna be your fifth set. Think about it
like when you do a pause bench
why do power lifters do pause bench press? It's because when they go bring the barbell down and then pause.
They start to lose all that elasticity
so they have to contract their chest muscles or all the muscles in their upper body ten times harder
Just to be able to push that weight back up.
What does that equal? Equals more strength and equals more muscle growth over time.
So that's what you guys are gonna do and I have one more bonus tip if you notice I was using a straight bar
And wasn't using an EZ curl bar
As you guys know
supination of the forearm is how you engage your biceps throughout the entire range of motion.
And this is something I used to do
If you do the preacher curl with an EZ curl, bar
and you're automatically starting with your hands turned in you're losing a tiny bit of bicep engagement.
So why not just get rid of that?
by ditching the EZ curl bar and using a straight bar and one more thing guys when you use the straight bar.
If you're having a hard time keeping your wrists straight
take your thumb
put it on the outside like this and
this will force you to keep your wrists turned in as you get to the bottom of the movement
and then as you get back to the top.
So hope you guys enjoyed the video if you want more tips like this to help you maximize
all the exercises you're already doing in the gym just
start listing those exercises down below in that comment section and I'll
make videos for them as always
More good stuff coming soon. See you guys