The Best And Worst Biceps Exercises — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00the biceps get a lot of attention and
2. 0:02for good reason simply growing this one
3. 0:04muscle can make a dramatic difference in
4. 0:06how jacked you look in a t-shirt so in
5. 0:08this video I'll be covering the best and
6. 0:10worst biceps exercises based on the
7. 0:12latest science I'm going to rank them on
8. 0:14a tier list from s for super to F for
9. 0:17fail and at the end I'll Crown one
10. 0:19exercise as the best of the best and
11. 0:21I'll pick one as the worst of the worst
12. 0:23and here's my criteria for ranking
13. 0:25exercises to get into s tier it needs to
14. 0:28provide high tension especially in the
15. 0:30stretched position it needs to feel good
16. 0:32which means it doesn't cause elbow pain
17. 0:34and it has a smooth resistance profile
18. 0:36and it should have a simple progression
19. 0:39that's ultimately what keeps your arms
20. 0:40growing if you can't add weight or reps
21. 0:42over time I'm knocking it down now the
22. 0:44biceps have two heads as the name biceps
23. 0:46implies there's a short head which sits
24. 0:48on the inside of your arm and a long
25. 0:50head which sits on the back of your arm
26. 0:52and contributes more to that elusive
27. 0:54biceps Peak there's also another big
28. 0:56muscle that sits underneath the biceps
29. 0:58called the Breaky Alis and it's actually
30. 1:00just as big as both heads of the biceps
31. 1:03combined and it can also help push the
32. 1:05biceps up more creating bigger Peaks so
33. 1:08it's an important muscle and as we go
34. 1:10we'll consider which variations will
35. 1:12Target which head and along the way
36. 1:14we'll see that there's some decent
37. 1:15evidence that you most likely can Target
38. 1:17your biceps Peak and there's one
39. 1:19exercise in particular that I think you
40. 1:21should definitely include if you're
41. 1:22trying to bring up your Peaks now the
42. 1:24biceps perform two main biomechanical
43. 1:26functions elbow flexion which is when
44. 1:29you bend your elbow like in a curl and
45. 1:31supination which is when you turn your
46. 1:33palm facing up you can try this out for
47. 1:35yourself if you start with your palm
48. 1:36facing down and then slowly turn it up
49. 1:39you'll notice that your biceps
50. 1:40automatically contract and I cue for
51. 1:42this subnation by thinking about driving
52. 1:44through my pinkies as I curl both heads
53. 1:46of the biceps also cross the shoulder
54. 1:48joint which means the biceps will be
55. 1:50more stretched when the arm is held back
56. 1:52behind the Torso okay let's start with
57. 1:54the most popular biceps exercise of all
58. 1:56time the barbell curl right away we can
59. 1:58see that tension on the bicep STS isn't
60. 2:00exactly optimal the hardest part of the
61. 2:02range is when the elbow is at 90° and
62. 2:05above that tension goes down and below
63. 2:07that tension also goes down until it
64. 2:09reaches zero tension at the very bottom
65. 2:12and the very bottom is also when the
66. 2:14biceps are most stretched so this most
67. 2:16likely isn't ideal but you'll still grow
68. 2:18your biceps as long as you're pushing
69. 2:20hard and the barbell curl is very good
70. 2:22for overload you can easily add a little
71. 2:24weight each week the biggest issue is
72. 2:26that the straight barbell puts some
73. 2:27strain on my wrists Plus in public gems
74. 2:30hugging up a squat rack just to do curls
75. 2:32is bad etiquette that's because you can
76. 2:34do curls so many different ways but you
77. 2:36really need a squat rack to do barbell
78. 2:38squats All Things Considered I think the
79. 2:39barbell curl belongs in C tier plus but
80. 2:42I'll bump it up to B tier just because
81. 2:44it's so accessible the easy bar curl is
82. 2:46the same thing except the handles curve
83. 2:48in a way that eases up some torque on my
84. 2:50wrists I use the outer part of the Easy
85. 2:52Bar Because a shoulder width grip feels
86. 2:54more comfortable this grip angle puts
87. 2:56you in between a fully supinated grip
88. 2:58like You' use on barbell curls and a
89. 3:00neutral grip like you'd use on hammer
90. 3:02curls however if you use this in between
91. 3:04angled grip you will take your biceps
92. 3:06out of subnation to some degree this
93. 3:09means it might shift some tension toward
94. 3:10the brachialis and bracho radialis
95. 3:13instead of the biceps per se so to make
96. 3:15sure my biceps are still firing I simply
97. 3:17think about driving through my pinkies
98. 3:19as I curl problem solved I actually
99. 3:21really like the easy bar curl especially
100. 3:23has a heavy free weight bicep movement
101. 3:25in the 6 to8 rep range from an
102. 3:27optimization standpoint it probably
103. 3:29belongs in B tier but I'm going to go
104. 3:31ahead and bump it up to a tier because
105. 3:33it's still an exercise I do quite often
106. 3:35for the convenience Simplicity and
107. 3:37overload the standing dumbbell curl has
108. 3:39zero tension in the full stretch just
109. 3:41like the barbell and easy bar curl
110. 3:42honestly I might have made a bigger
111. 3:44stink about this if I made this video a
112. 3:45few months ago before our new study came
113. 3:47out on full range of motion versus
114. 3:49length and persels in experienced
115. 3:50trainees check out this video for more
116. 3:52on that so the dumbbell Cur loses one
117. 3:54point for the suboptimal tension curve
118. 3:56but it's still a very convenient
119. 3:58exercise that'll still grow your arms
120. 4:00it's also nice that you get to work each
121. 4:01side individually which can help fix
122. 4:03bicep size asymmetries doing alternating
123. 4:05dumbbell curls might be slightly less
124. 4:07optimal just because your biceps get
125. 4:09this long rest in between each rep the
126. 4:11study from goto and colleagues makes me
127. 4:13think that doing those long pauses
128. 4:15without any tension in between reps
129. 4:17probably is a bit worse for muscle
130. 4:18growth as long as you're doing both arms
131. 4:20at the same time I think the dumbbell
132. 4:22curl belongs in low a tier doing your
133. 4:24dumbbell curls as preacher curls
134. 4:26immediately makes the exercise better
135. 4:28that's because by angling your upper arm
136. 4:30you actually pull more tension into your
137. 4:32biceps in the stretched position and
138. 4:34even though your arm is out in front of
139. 4:36you you still get a pretty good stretch
140. 4:38here as long as you go all the way down
141. 4:40and more importantly you have high
142. 4:42tension in that stretched position and
143. 4:44having high tension in a stretched
144. 4:46position seems to be more important than
145. 4:48the total stretch that a muscle
146. 4:50experiences this was shown in a recent
147. 4:52study that compared incline curls to
148. 4:54preacher curls the preacher curl caus
149. 4:55significantly more distal biceps growth
150. 4:58growth closer to the Elbow joint that's
151. 5:00most likely because with the preacher
152. 5:01curl you get very high tension in a
153. 5:04pretty good stretch while with the
154. 5:05incline curl you get basically no
155. 5:08tension in a very big stretch pracher
156. 5:10curls also lock your elbows in place
157. 5:12making it near impossible to cheat
158. 5:13there's basically nothing I can knock it
159. 5:15for so the preach curl definitely
160. 5:17belongs in s tier and as for incline
161. 5:20curls since we now have that study
162. 5:22showing that they are a bit worse than
163. 5:23preure curls they have to go in a lower
164. 5:25tier I still do them from time to time
165. 5:27since they're a solid lengthened biased
166. 5:29movement that's fast to set up and easy
167. 5:31to do I'm still putting them in low a
168. 5:33tier the lying dumbbell curl is
169. 5:35basically just the more extreme version
170. 5:37of the incline curl I first saw these in
171. 5:39Dr Mike's arm routine so I tried them
172. 5:41out for myself while they do look a bit
173. 5:43wonky they actually felt pretty solid
174. 5:45you get this huge stretch especially
175. 5:47near the top of your bicep close to your
176. 5:49shoulder this felt great to me but if
177. 5:51you have shoulder issues you might want
178. 5:52to skip this one also unlike the incline
179. 5:54curl when I lie down I can feel more
180. 5:57tension in my biceps in that most
181. 5:59stretch stretched starting position so
182. 6:01while it's a bit too early for me to say
183. 6:02if I like it better than the standard
184. 6:03incline curl I definitely think it's
185. 6:05worth trying out and I'm putting it in a
186. 6:07tier now the Scott curl is basically
187. 6:09just a preacher curl with a vertical arm
188. 6:11and while the man who it's named after
189. 6:13had some of the most impressive biceps
190. 6:14of all time I don't think it's the best
191. 6:16biceps exercise that's because by
192. 6:18placing your arm vertically you remove
193. 6:20all the tension in the stretched
194. 6:21position it's basically just a worse
195. 6:23version of the 45° pre-ra curl so I just
196. 6:26don't see why you do it and for that
197. 6:27reason it's going in C here on the other
198. 6:30hand the flat bench curl is basically a
199. 6:32pretr curl with the bench angle
200. 6:33completely horizontal doing curls this
201. 6:36way will cause the highest bicep tension
202. 6:38in the most stretched position and then
203. 6:41tension drops off throughout the
204. 6:42positive I was doing these for a while
205. 6:44as a high rep finisher but I found
206. 6:45myself gravitating back toward the
207. 6:47standard 45° pre-ural lately I found you
208. 6:50just hit a wall with your progression on
209. 6:51these because you're limited to light
210. 6:52weights and High Reps as a high rep
211. 6:54burnout with a really big stretch
212. 6:56emphasis I think they're good but they
213. 6:58got old for me quickly I'm putting them
214. 7:00in low B tier the machine preacher curl
215. 7:02has the added benefit of being nice and
216. 7:04locked in actually only do these in the
217. 7:06bottom half of the range to emphasize
218. 7:07the stretch a bit more and I do these
219. 7:09every single week they're easily going
220. 7:11in s tier but they're still not my
221. 7:14number one bicep Builder before we get
222. 7:15to that let's knock out the waiter curl
223. 7:17this is probably the most gimmicky
224. 7:19biceps exercise I actually see people do
225. 7:21it cranks your wrists the plate feels
226. 7:23awkward and you're limited with overload
227. 7:25I just use dumbbells instead and if you
228. 7:27really want to hyperextend your wrists a
229. 7:28bit to help take your swms out you can
230. 7:30still do that with dumbbells but with
231. 7:32more degrees of freedom I'm putting
232. 7:33waiter curls in F tier the drag curl
233. 7:36does have potential because by moving
234. 7:37your arm back as you curl you do put the
235. 7:40bicep under a greater degree of stretch
236. 7:42however as you curl you're shortening
237. 7:44the bicep at the elbow joint while
238. 7:46simultaneously lengthening it at the
239. 7:48shoulder joint this means that the total
240. 7:50biceps muscle length doesn't actually
241. 7:52change much throughout the range of
242. 7:53motion it's kind of similar to how the
243. 7:55total hamstrings muscle length doesn't
244. 7:57change much on a squat and we know that
245. 7:59squats don't grow the hamstrings very
246. 8:01well so even if there's no direct
247. 8:03science on it I still think the drag
248. 8:05curl wouldn't grow the biceps as well as
249. 8:07a more standard dumbbell curl it's going
250. 8:09in C tier the spider curl is the other
251. 8:12overrated exercise by shifting your arms
252. 8:14forward in front of your body you're
253. 8:16putting your biceps in a very shortened
254. 8:17position so at no point in this range of
255. 8:20motion will your biceps experience a
256. 8:22high degree of stretch the dumbbells can
257. 8:24also annoyingly hit the bench and throw
258. 8:27off your groove so spider curls are
259. 8:29going going in C tier okay chinups if
260. 8:32you look at these from a side angle you
261. 8:33can see that there's actually a pretty
262. 8:35solid range of motion at the elbow joint
263. 8:37and out of all the back exercises I do
264. 8:39think these will grow your biceps the
265. 8:40most however because so much of your
266. 8:42back musculature is also involved it's
267. 8:44unlikely that your biceps will be the
268. 8:46limiting factor and so while they
269. 8:48clearly will grow your biceps especially
270. 8:50as a beginner I don't think they're as
271. 8:52good as most isolation exercises that
272. 8:54said because they're so accessible all
273. 8:56you need is your own body weight I'm
274. 8:57still putting them in B tier
275. 9:00okay let's have some fun 21s are a sort
276. 9:02of bro exercise where you do seven reps
277. 9:04in the bottom half then seven reps in
278. 9:06the top half and then you finish with
279. 9:08seven full range of motion reps this is
280. 9:10a fun way to challenge your arms but I
281. 9:12just don't think it's in the right order
282. 9:13traditional 21s has you hit the
283. 9:15lengthened part first which is probably
284. 9:17the most anabolic then you hit the
285. 9:19shortened part which is the least
286. 9:21anabolic and then the full range of
287. 9:23motion last so the order is long short
288. 9:26full I think it's a lot smarter to do
289. 9:28these short then full then long so I do
290. 9:32seven seated curls first which trains
291. 9:34the shortened top half obviously you
292. 9:36could just do these standing but I find
293. 9:38doing them seated standardizes the range
294. 9:40on each rep and keeps it more
295. 9:41interesting then I stand up and do seven
296. 9:43full ROM curls and then I do seven
297. 9:46bottom half curls at the end this way
298. 9:48the curls get a little easier as your
299. 9:50biceps fatigue and this way you get to
300. 9:52end the set with a bunch of length and
301. 9:54partials I don't always stop at exactly
302. 9:56seven reps at the end either I just keep
303. 9:58going until I can't get at least halfway
304. 10:01up so if you do 21s the old school way I
305. 10:03think they belong in high C tier but if
306. 10:06you do them the modified way I think
307. 10:07they can get into low a tier okay let's
308. 10:10rank some cable exercises the standard
309. 10:12cable curl is good but not great by
310. 10:15having your arms at your sides you don't
311. 10:16get a big pre-stretch in your biceps I
312. 10:18do still include these periodically
313. 10:20though because you do get this nice even
314. 10:22tension throughout the range of motion
315. 10:24and I do think they're just good enough
316. 10:25to get into low a tier however by
317. 10:27flipping around and facing away from
318. 10:29from the cable you immediately improve
319. 10:31the tension profile by placing your arms
320. 10:33back behind your torso you get maximum
321. 10:35stretch on the biceps and you still get
322. 10:38that nice even tension throughout the
323. 10:40range I recommend setting up the cable
324. 10:42at around hand height taking one or two
325. 10:44steps forward and curling with both arms
326. 10:47at the same time now if you don't have a
327. 10:48dual stack cable machine you can always
328. 10:50do one arm at a time and if you're
329. 10:51trying to bring up your biceps Peak this
330. 10:53is an exercise I definitely wouldn't
331. 10:55skip because the long head will
332. 10:57experience a very high degree of stretch
333. 10:59and tension it's probably not my number
334. 11:02one exercise for the peak I'll get to
335. 11:03that in a second the face away Bean
336. 11:05cable curl is going in s tier of course
337. 11:08it is it's amazing all right this is a
338. 11:11freaky looking variation on the beian
339. 11:12cable curl that I've been playing around
340. 11:14with lately I don't have a name for it
341. 11:15yet so I'll open it up to suggestions in
342. 11:17the comments the cool thing about this
343. 11:19variation is that you actually get this
344. 11:2090° angle between the cable and your
345. 11:22forarm while the bicep is most stretched
346. 11:25this means you're getting maximum
347. 11:27tension on the biceps while they're in
348. 11:29their most stretched position they were
349. 11:31a little awkward the first time I tried
350. 11:32them but once I figured out the right
351. 11:34cable height they felt fantastic I'm
352. 11:36honestly feeling s tier but since I've
353. 11:38only had them in my rotation for about a
354. 11:40month I don't want to overhype them too
355. 11:42early so I'm going to tentatively drop
356. 11:44them back to a tier for now you may be
357. 11:46surprised to learn that there actually
358. 11:47aren't any studies on whether or not
359. 11:49cheating or strict form causes more
360. 11:51muscle growth I'm planning to help run
361. 11:52that study soon but for now I can't see
362. 11:55the theoretical merits of both as long
363. 11:57as the cheating isn't too extreme by by
364. 11:59using a little momentum to help get the
365. 12:00weight moving you can curl up a bit more
366. 12:02load and then resist and control that
367. 12:05load on the very anabolic negative phase
368. 12:07this might surprise some of you but I
369. 12:09actually think a properly executed cheek
370. 12:11curl can be great for biceps growth and
371. 12:13can also teach some people who might be
372. 12:15more uptight and rigid with their form
373. 12:17how to push themselves hard I definitely
374. 12:19don't think I'd recommend them for
375. 12:20beginners but as an experienced trainee
376. 12:23as long as you can control the negative
377. 12:24and keep the cheating under control I'd
378. 12:26put them in the bottom of a tier the
379. 12:28strict curl is at the opposite end of
380. 12:30the spectrum here you maintain very
381. 12:32strict technique by bracing against a
382. 12:34wall with three points of contact your
383. 12:36glutes your upper back and your head the
384. 12:39theoretical upside here is that you
385. 12:40direct all the tension coming from the
386. 12:42bar into your biceps unlike with the
387. 12:44cheek curl there's no tension being lost
388. 12:46to your hips or your low back with stri
389. 12:48curls if you're lifting more weight or
390. 12:49doing more reps your biceps are getting
391. 12:52stronger and they're most likely getting
392. 12:54bigger too I suspect strict curls would
393. 12:56be a bit better than cheet curls but
394. 12:58without that study it's hard to know for
395. 13:00sure and honestly I could see it going
396. 13:02either way so I'm going to leave strict
397. 13:03curls in a tier for now as well now
398. 13:06hammer curls are really interesting by
399. 13:08taking a neutral grip and pointing your
400. 13:10thumb up you take your biceps out of
401. 13:12supination this means the biceps
402. 13:14probably will be less active on hammer
403. 13:16curls than on standard curls however
404. 13:19remember there's this other big muscle
405. 13:22that sits directly underneath the biceps
406. 13:24called the brachialis and the brachialis
407. 13:27will be very active on hammer curls
408. 13:29that's because all it does is bend the
409. 13:31elbow it can't contribute to subnation
410. 13:34at all so by performing hammer curls you
411. 13:36might shift some tension away from the
412. 13:38biceps and toward the brachialis and
413. 13:41since the brachialis can push the biceps
414. 13:43up more that should enhance the
415. 13:45appearance of bicep peak and because of
416. 13:47their ability to smash the brachialis I
417. 13:50think I would consider them my number
418. 13:51one movement for biceps Peak now
419. 13:54obviously you can't change the genetic
420. 13:56structure of your biceps and there's
421. 13:57honestly no hard science on this but it
422. 14:00does make sense to me that as you grow
423. 14:02your brachialis bigger the shape of your
424. 14:04bicep should become more pequ even if
425. 14:06just a little of course dumbbell hammer
426. 14:08curls have the same tension issue as all
427. 14:09the free weight standing curls so
428. 14:11they're not quite good enough to get
429. 14:13into s tier but they definitely do
430. 14:15belong in a tier that said if you do
431. 14:17your hammer curls while braced against a
432. 14:18preacher bench you instantly improve the
433. 14:20resistance profile and so hammer grip
434. 14:23creature curls are going in s tier
435. 14:25inverse zman curls are where you do a
436. 14:27hammer curl on the positive and then a
437. 14:29standard supinated curl on the negative
438. 14:32this means you get the advantage of
439. 14:33hammer curls on the positive for the
440. 14:35break Alis and the advantage of
441. 14:36supinated curls on the negative for the
442. 14:38biceps these also can help overload the
443. 14:40biceps on the negative with a bit more
444. 14:42load since you're generally able to curl
445. 14:44more weight up with a hammer grip and
446. 14:46since your biceps are stronger on the
447. 14:47negative I think that's a smart pairing
448. 14:49inverse s and curls are going in high a
449. 14:51tier and if I had to pick just one
450. 14:53exercise as the best of the best it'd
451. 14:55have to be the face away beian cable
452. 14:58curl I think the 40 45° preacher curl
453. 15:00would be a very close second and I think
454. 15:01they should both be in your biceps
455. 15:03routine and the worst of the worst would
456. 15:05have to be the waiter curl also I want
457. 15:07to give you guys a quick update on my
458. 15:08new book I'm going to send everyone who
459. 15:10pre-orders the muscle ladder a free
460. 15:12ebook called the ultimate exercise guide
461. 15:14which covers my best exercise for every
462. 15:16muscle it covers the muscles that I
463. 15:18haven't covered in this series like the
464. 15:19forearms glutes and calves it also
465. 15:21includes a more depth than I'm able to
466. 15:23give in these videos to get the free
467. 15:25ebook all you need to do is pre-order
468. 15:27the muscle ladder on Amazon Burns a
469. 15:29noble or wherever you buy your books and
470. 15:31then show me your order number to do
471. 15:33that just go to Jeff ner.me
472. 15:59you the free ebook to your email as well
473. 16:00all you have to do is go to Jeff
474. 16:11ner.me versus cheating technique I'll
475. 16:14definitely do a video on that once the
476. 16:15the study is up and running um don't
477. 16:17forget to leave me a thumbs up if you
478. 16:18enjoyed the video and I'll see you guys
479. 16:19all here in the next one