Wanna be the No.1 hit at the gun
show? Here are a handful of
surefire tips for ramping up
muscle growth and building
award-winning biceps.1 )Curl to your
shoulder
■The great Arnold
Schwarwzenegger has
always been a stickler
for good form. With the
biceps curl, that means
flexing and extending
fullyatthetopand
bottom. Any lateral
movement away from
thelinebetweenyour
hand and shoulder
isacardinalsin—if
youmoveyourhand
in or out a fraction,
you’ll ease the tension
on your biceps and
stay closer to the
noodle zone. And
squeeze at the top.2 )Go heavier
than you can lift
■The key is to cheat3 )Shoot for a ton
■Three-time
America’s Strongest
ManvictorDerek
Poundstone was
renowned for his pain-
tolerance training. He’d
do a century of curlsthe concentric (lifting)
partofaliftand
then focus on the
eccentric (lowering)
phase. Although
not applicable to all
muscle-building
strategies (see page
79),astudyatthe
University of Florida
foundthatneglecting
the eccentric
phasecouldcutyour
gains significantly.
So,instead,try
overloadingit.Onyour
finalsetpickaweight
you’d struggle to lift
fully, get help hefting
it to the top of the
movefromaspotter,
then dig in and lower
theweightasslowly
asyoucan.Takea
breath and repeat,
five times minimum.with just the 20kg bar,
learning to handle
the searing lactate in
his biceps so he could
work harder with
other lifts while also
sparkingahugesurge
of hypertrophy for his
atlas stone-wielding
arms. What can you
do?Pickaweightthat
forces you to fail at 60
reps. Repeat weekly
until you hit the
100kg jackpot, then
add 2kg and repeat.4 )Press pause
for muscle
■Fly through your
reps and you’re
missingouton5%
more muscle through
sheer haste, according
toastudyinthe
JournalOfApplied
Physiology.
To recruit your
maximum amount
ofmotorunits,pause
inthemiddleof
a curl or triceps pull-
down at the point of
maximum tension
for as long as you can
handle. Best save it
for the final rep.5 )Go large,then little
■Pre-exhaust your
bis and tris with
big-boy moves first.
That means using
multi-joint compound
lifts like chinups and
bench presses to
pre-fatigue your arms
before immediately
following up with
lighter single-joint
lifts like curls and
skullcrushers. It’s a
method advocated
by fitness guru
Matt Bryzcki.■LATERAL MOVEMENT
AWAY FROM THE LINE
BETWEEN THE HAND
AND SHOULDER
WILL REDUCE THE
EFFECTIVENESS OF
YOUR BICEPS CURL.Five small
tweaks for big arms
124 MEN’S FITNESS AUGUST 2016●Body Book Muscle expert
1Ahammer curl x 60
1Bskullcrusher x 100
Walker says:“Before bed, I follow up the
workout I did in the day with a final high-
volume blast. Sitting on the end of my bed
holding very light dumbbells I get through
these reps as fast as I can, switching when
I hit failure. Sleeping straight after gives
them time to grow back bigger.”Win the arms race
Inflate your arms with PT Deke Walker’s
“feeder workout”.Strengthstrategy.
It doesn’t take a
training revolution
to win the arms race.