I love incline dumbbell bicep curls.
They really give the biceps a full range of motion and a great stretch at the bottom of the rep.
Check out the video, then the instructions follow…
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(1) Getting Into Position
- Keep your feet flat on the floor
- Take a firm, commanding grip of the dumbbells
- Hold the dumbbells at your side, with your palms facing outward – away from your body
- Your backrest should be in an incline position – about 60 degrees up from the flat position is good.
(2) Concentric Part of the Repetition
- Take a deep breath in
- On exhaling, curl the dumbbels up
- Fully contract the biceps but do not raise the dumbbells past the point where tension leaves the biceps
- It should take 1-2 seconds to get to the top of the movement
(3) Eccentric Part of the Repetition
- Start to lower the weight with a slow, smooth motion.
- It should take 2 seconds to lower the weight back to the starting position
- Lower the weight right down so that your arms are fully extended and your biceps get a good stretch
- Now Repeat step 2
You should hit failure somewhere between the 8th and 12th rep. If you can do more than 12 reps, make a note to increase the weight on this set for your next bicep workout.
Stay Motivated!
Mark McManus
Question about reaching failure. Should you reach failure at the end of each set, or at the end of the last set?
Each set Alex,
Mark
Hi Mark (nice name),
Should I be ‘squeezing/flexing’ my biceps while contracting, or is that irrelevant?
Also, is it beneficial to squeeze/flex my abdominal muscle simultaneously (to strengthen my core while)?
Hi Mark,
No that’s not necessary. The point is that at the top of the rep, you’ll be at the ‘Peak Contraction Point’ – there’s therefore nothing that ‘squeezing’ would do besides fatiguing the muscle prematurely, which is bad news as far as trying to attain the MAXIMUM overload possible is concerned.
Cheers,
Mark.