#12: Exercises for the Biceps

Q: Hi Stéphane,

I tend to do the same two biceps exercises over and over again: barbell curls and dumbbell curls. I feel like I’m in a rut. Can you recommend some different biceps exercises that you might do?

Thanks,

...Thomas Rose

A: Hi Thomas,

Thanks for the question. Most people I see at the gym are doing regular barbell and dumbbell curls. These are popular exercises, probably because they are widely promoted in various exercise magazines all over the world. They are very good mass-building exercises, but I find that they can also be the cause of injuries, such as tendonitis, because of the pressure they can put on the forearm tendons. Therefore, it’s never a bad idea to vary biceps exercises to mitigate any chance of injury. There is another reason to vary exercises, but it’s one I will cover in a future article, not now.

With time, I noticed that doing barbell and dumbbell curls was causing tendonitis in my forearms, which is why I brought it up. And since I follow Guy Bourgon’s "Five-Pound Rule," meaning I always try to increase my exercise weight by five pounds, I’m always putting more and more stress on my forearm tendons. I hate to say this, but the age factor also kicks in, and since I’m getting older, I’m more susceptible to injuries. Therefore, I was forced to find alternative biceps exercises to help eliminate my tendonitis and also to prevent it in the future.

You must wonder why I’m sharing this information with you. The reason is simple: When I started training, I didn’t have the knowledge I have now. As a result, I was doing the same mass-building exercises over and over without giving my muscles and tendons the proper rest they needed. By the time I figured this out, it was too late. I was getting tendonitis all the time, and I had also incurred other injuries. I’ve learned to work around this and it didn’t stop me from improving; however, if I can prevent others from making the same mistake as I did, I feel I’ve achieved another goal.

Let’s go back to your main question about exercise. Barbell and dumbbell curls are very good bicep exercises and are always part of my biceps exercise repertoire. However, I also perform the following bicep exercises that you might be interested to learn:

1. Preacher curls using the "E-Z Curl" bar: Sit on the seat at the preacher bench (or stand) and place back of arms on the pad. Grasp the bar with shoulder-width underhand grip and then raise the bar until forearms are 90 degrees to the floor. Lower barbell until arms are fully extended but be careful not to injure yourself.
   
   
2. Preacher-curls machine: Similar exercise to the preacher curls using the free bar, but it’s a cable machine. Most gyms have one.
   
   
3. Vince Gironda’s "perfect curl": Start by resting your elbows on your pelvis or hip bones and your body leaning back with head and shoulders in back of the hips. As the barbell is curled the first 10 or 12 inches, start moving the body, head and shoulders forward while keeping your hips in place until your body is in erect position. Then, as you continue to curl the barbell, keep pivoting at the hips and bring your body, head and shoulders forward and complete the movement with a forceful contraction of the biceps. Now reverse the sequence as you lower the barbell to the starting position. It should take you about six seconds to perform one curl. (This exercise can be seen demonstrated in the DVD, The Vince Gironda Exercises: Vol. 1.)
   
   
4. Cable biceps curl: In a seated position and with a shoulder-width underhand grip, grasp a short bar with a cable attached. A cable-row machine is good for this. Start with arms extended and straight and then pull your arms high enough so they are horizontal to the floor and close to eye level. Then curl the bar toward your face. If you look at the article "Denis Pedneault Takes On the World!" you will see a photo of Denis performing the exercise. This is actually an exercise I started doing right after my training with him.

Denis Pedneault does Vince Gironda's "perfect curl."

Now that you know what other types of bicep exercises I do, let me share with you some of the combinations I use. I will normally combine a mass exercise with an isolation exercise. Barbell, dumbbell and preacher curls can be considered mass exercises, since they work other muscle group as well, and cable biceps curls and the Vince Gironda "perfect curl" can be considered isolation exercises, since they focus on the bicep only. Here are some combinations I might do:

• Barbell curls with cable biceps curls.
• Dumbbell curls with Vince Gironda "perfect curl."
• Preacher curl with cable biceps curls.

From time to time, I will also start by doing an isolation exercises to pre-exhaust the muscle and then jump to a mass-building exercise. This prevents me from having to put too much weight on the mass-building exercise but still benefit from it. As a result, I might do the following combinations:

• Vince Gironda "perfect curl" followed by dumbbell curls.
• Preacher curl machine followed by dumbbell curls.
• Cable biceps curls followed by barbell curls.

Based on past experience, these exercise combinations allow me to improve my biceps development while at the same time keeping me injury free.

I hope this answers your question and gives you more alternatives for choosing other bicep exercises.

Until next time, train safe and have fun doing it!

...Stéphane Bussière, Canadian Champion 2005, 2006, 2007

If you would like to ask Stéphane a question, please e-mail: askstephane@seriousaboutmuscle.com.

SeriousAboutMuscle.com contributor Stéphane Bussière is a natural bodybuilder from Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. He has won the Heavyweight class at the CBBF National World Qualifier three times in a row.