- 1 year ago
jeff nipard
Datelle
sab ko helo! min ek canida ka qadarti paro badi balder hon or bin alaqwami sath par qaabl paur lieuter hon jas min bio kimasteri/kimasteri min bi es si hay or sciens ka shauq hay. min taqriban 20 sal se tarbiyat kar raha hon. majhe amid hay kah aap meri wedus se ltaf andoz hon ge!
Datelle
sab ko helo! min ek canida ka qadarti paro badi balder hon or bin alaqwami sath par qaabl paur lieuter hon jas min bio kimasteri/kimasteri min bi es si hay or sciens ka shauq hay. min taqriban 20 sal se tarbiyat kar raha hon. majhe amid hay kah aap meri wedus se ltaf andoz hon ge!
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SportsTranscript
00:00The biceps get a lot of attention, and for good reason. Simply growing this one muscle can make
00:05a dramatic difference in how jacked you look in a t-shirt. So in this video, I'll be covering the
00:10best and worst biceps exercises based on the latest science. I'm going to rank them on a
00:14tier list from S for super to F for fail. And at the end, I'll crown one exercise as the best of
00:21the best, and I'll pick one as the worst of the worst. And here's my criteria for ranking exercises.
00:26To get into S tier, it needs to provide high tension, especially in the stretched position.
00:31It needs to feel good, which means it doesn't cause elbow pain, and it has a smooth resistance profile.
00:36And it should have a simple progression. That's ultimately what keeps your arms growing. If you
00:41can't add weight or reps over time, I'm knocking it down. Now, the biceps have two heads, as the name
00:45biceps implies. There's a short head, which sits on the inside of your arm, and a long head, which sits
00:51on the back of your arm, and contributes more to that elusive biceps peak. There's also another big
00:56muscle that sits underneath the biceps called the brachialis. And it's actually just as big as both
01:02heads of the biceps combined. And it can also help push the biceps up more, creating bigger peaks. So
01:08it's an important muscle. And as we go, we'll consider which variations will target which head.
01:13And along the way, we'll see that there's some decent evidence that you most likely can target your
01:17biceps peak. And there's one exercise in particular that I think you should definitely include if you're
01:23trying to bring up your peaks. Now, the biceps perform two main biomechanical functions. Elbow
01:28flexion, which is when you bend your elbow like in a curl, and supination, which is when you turn your
01:33palm facing up. You can try this out for yourself. If you start with your palm facing down and then
01:38slowly turn it up, you'll notice that your biceps automatically contract. And I cue for this supination
01:43by thinking about driving through my pinkies as I curl. Both heads of the biceps also cross the
01:48shoulder joint, which means the biceps will be more stretched when the arm is held back behind the
01:53torso. Okay, let's start with the most popular biceps exercise of all time, the barbell curl.
01:58Right away, we can see that tension on the biceps isn't exactly optimal. The hardest part of the range
02:03is when the elbow is at 90 degrees. And above that, tension goes down. And below that, tension also goes
02:09down until it reaches zero tension at the very bottom. And the very bottom is also when the biceps
02:14are most stretched. So this most likely isn't ideal. But you'll still grow your biceps as long as you're
02:20pushing hard. And the barbell curl is very good for overload. You can easily add a little weight each
02:25week. The biggest issue is that the straight barbell puts some strain on my wrists. Plus, in public
02:30gyms, hugging up a squat rack just to do curls is bad etiquette. That's because you can do curls so many
02:35different ways. But you really need a squat rack to do barbell squats. All things considered, I think
02:39the barbell curl belongs in C tier plus, but I'll bump it up to B tier just because it's so accessible.
02:45The easy bar curl is the same thing, except the handles curve in a way that eases up some torque
02:50on my wrists. I use the outer part of the easy bar because a shoulder width grip feels more comfortable.
02:55This grip angle puts you in between a fully supinated grip like you'd use on barbell curls and a neutral
03:00grip like you'd use on hammer curls. However, if you use this in between angled grip, you will take
03:06your biceps out of supination to some degree. This means it might shift some tension toward the
03:11brachialis and brachioradialis instead of the biceps per se. So to make sure my biceps are still
03:16firing, I simply think about driving through my pinkies as I curl. Problem solved. I actually really
03:22like the easy bar curl, especially as a heavy free weight bicep movement in the 6 to 8 rep range.
03:27From an optimization standpoint, it probably belongs in B tier, but I'm going to go ahead and bump it up
03:32to A tier because it's still an exercise I do quite often for the convenience, simplicity, and overload.
03:37The standing dumbbell curl has zero tension in the full stretch, just like the barbell and easy bar
03:42curl. Honestly, I might have made a bigger stink about this if I made this video a few months ago
03:46where our new study came out on full range of motion versus length and partials in experienced
03:51trainees. Check out this video for more on that. So the dumbbell curl loses one point for the suboptimal
03:55tension curve, but it's still a very convenient exercise that'll still grow your arms. It's also
04:00nice that you get to work each side individually, which can help fix bicep size asymmetries. Doing
04:05alternating dumbbell curls might be slightly less optimal just because your biceps get this long rest
04:10in between each rep. The study from Godo and colleagues makes me think that doing those long
04:14pauses without any tension in between reps probably is a bit worse for muscle growth. As long as you're
04:20doing both arms at the same time, I think the dumbbell curl belongs in low A tier. Doing your
04:24dumbbell curls as preacher curls immediately makes the exercise better. That's because by angling your
04:29upper arm, you actually pull more tension into your biceps in the stretched position. And even
04:35though your arm is out in front of you, you still get a pretty good stretch here as long as you go all
04:39the way down. And more importantly, you have high tension in that stretched position. And having high
04:44tension in a stretched position seems to be more important than the total stretch that a muscle
04:50increases. This was shown in a recent study that compared incline curls to preacher curls. The
04:55preacher curl caused significantly more distal biceps growth, so growth closer to the elbow joint.
05:00That's most likely because with the preacher curl, you get very high tension in a pretty good stretch,
05:05while with the incline curl, you get basically no tension in a very big stretch. Preacher curls
05:10also lock your elbows in place, making it near impossible to cheat. There's basically nothing I can
05:15knock it for, so the preacher curl definitely belongs in S tier. And as for incline curls,
05:21since we now have that study showing that they are a bit worse than preacher curls, they have to go
05:25in a lower tier. I still do them from time to time, since they're a solid lengthened, biased movement
05:29that's fast to set up and easy to do. I'm still putting them in low A tier. The lying dumbbell curl
05:35is basically just the more extreme version of the incline curl. I first saw these in Dr. Mike's arm
05:40routine, so I tried them out for myself, and while they do look a bit wonky, they actually felt pretty
05:45solid. You get this huge stretch, especially near the top of your bicep, close to your shoulder.
05:50This felt great to me, but if you have shoulder issues, you might want to skip this one. Also,
05:54unlike the incline curl, when I lie down, I can feel more tension in my biceps in that most stretched
06:00starting position. So, while it's a bit too early for me to say if I like it better than the standard
06:03incline curl, I definitely think it's worth trying out, and I'm putting it in A tier. Now, the Scott
06:09curl is basically just a preacher curl with a vertical arm, and while the man who it's named
06:13after had some of the most impressive biceps of all time, I don't think it's the best biceps
06:17exercise. That's because by placing your arm vertically, you remove all the tension in the
06:21stretched position. It's basically just a worse version of the 45 degree preacher curl, so I just
06:26don't see why you do it, and for that reason, it's going in C tier. On the other hand, the flat bench
06:31curl is basically a preacher curl with the bench angle completely horizontally. Doing curls this way
06:36will cause the highest bicep tension in the most stretched position, and then tension drops off
06:42throughout the positive. I was doing these for a while as a high rep finisher, but I found myself
06:46gravitating back toward the standard 45 degree preacher curl lately. I find you just hit a wall
06:51with your progression on these because you're limited to lightweights and high reps. As a high rep
06:54burnout with a really big stretch emphasis, I think they're good, but they got old for me quickly.
06:59I'm putting them in low B tier. The machine preacher curl has the added benefit of being nice and locked
07:04in. I actually only do these in the bottom half of the range to emphasize the stretch a bit more,
07:08and I do these every single week. They're easily going in S tier, but they're still not my number
07:14one bicep builder. Before we get to that, let's knock out the waiter curl. This is probably the
07:18most gimmicky biceps exercise I actually see people do. It cranks your wrists, the plate feels awkward,
07:23and you're limited with overload. I'd just use dumbbells instead, and if you really want to
07:27hyperextend your wrists a bit to help take your forearms out, you can still do that with dumbbells,
07:31but with more degrees of freedom. I'm putting waiter curls in F tier. The drag curl does have potential
07:37because by moving your arm back as you curl, you do put the bicep under a greater degree of stretch.
07:42However, as you curl, you're shortening the bicep at the elbow joint while simultaneously lengthening
07:48it at the shoulder joint. This means that the total bicep's muscle length doesn't actually change much
07:53throughout the range of motion. It's kind of similar to how the total hamstring's muscle length
07:57doesn't change much on a squat, and we know that squats don't grow the hamstrings very well. So even if
08:02there's no direct science on it, I still think the drag curl wouldn't grow the biceps as well as a more standard
08:08dumbbell curl. It's going in C tier. The spider curl is the other overrated exercise. By shifting your arms
08:14forward in front of your body, you're putting your biceps in a very shortened position. So at no point in this range
08:20of motion, will your biceps experience a high degree of stretch? The dumbbells can also annoyingly hit the
08:26bench and throw off your groove. So spider curls are going in C tier. Okay, chin-ups. If you look at
08:32these from a side angle, you can see that there's actually a pretty solid range of motion at the elbow
08:36joint. And out of all the back exercises, I do think these will grow your biceps the most. However, because so
08:42much of your back musculature is also involved, it's unlikely that your biceps will be the limiting
08:46factor. And so while they clearly will grow your biceps, especially as a beginner, I don't think
08:51they're as good as most isolation exercises. That said, because they're so accessible, all you need
08:56is your own body weight, I'm still putting them in B tier. Okay, let's have some fun. 21s are a sort of
09:02bro exercise where you do seven reps in the bottom half, then seven reps in the top half, and then you
09:07finish with seven full range of motion reps. This is a fun way to challenge your arms, but I just don't
09:12think it's in the right order. Traditional 21s has you hit the lengthened part first, which is probably
09:17the most anabolic, then you hit the shortened part, which is the least anabolic, and then the full range
09:23of motion last. So the order is long, short, full. I think it's a lot smarter to do these short, then
09:29full, then long. So I do seven seated curls first, which trains the shortened top half. Obviously, you
09:36could just do these standing, but I find doing them seated standardizes the range on each rep and keeps
09:41it more interesting. Then I stand up and do seven full rom curls, and then I do seven bottom half
09:47curls at the end. This way, the curls get a little easier as your biceps fatigue, and this way, you get
09:52to end the set with a bunch of lengthened partials. I don't always stop at exactly seven reps at the
09:57end either. I just keep going until I can't get at least halfway up. So if you do 21s the old school
10:03way, I think they belong in high C tier, but if you do them the modified way, I think they can get into
10:08low A tier. Okay, let's rank some cable exercises. The standard cable curl is good, but not great.
10:15By having your arms at your sides, you don't get a big pre-stretch in your biceps. I do still include
10:19these periodically, though, because you do get this nice, even tension throughout the range of motion,
10:24and I do think they're just good enough to get into low A tier. However, by flipping around and facing
10:29away from the cable, you immediately improve the tension profile. By placing your arms back behind your
10:34torso, you get maximum stretch on the biceps, and you still get that nice, even tension throughout
10:40the range. I recommend setting up the cable at around hand height, taking one or two steps forward,
10:45and curling with both arms at the same time. Now, if you don't have a dual stack cable machine,
10:49you can always do one arm at a time. And if you're trying to bring up your biceps peak,
10:53this is an exercise I definitely wouldn't skip, because the long head will experience a very high
10:58degree of stretch and tension. It's probably not my number one exercise for the peak. I'll get to
11:03that in a second. But the face-away Bayesian cable curl is going in S tier. Of course it is. It's
11:09amazing. All right, this is a freaky-looking variation on the Bayesian cable curl that I've
11:13been playing around with lately. I don't have a name for it yet, so I'll open it up to suggestions
11:17in the comments. The cool thing about this variation is that you actually get this 90-degree angle
11:22between the cable and your forearm while the bicep is most stretched. This means you're getting
11:26maximum tension on the biceps while they're in their most stretched position. They were a little
11:31awkward the first time I tried them, but once I figured out the right cable height, they felt
11:35fantastic. I'm honestly feeling S tier, but since I've only had them in my rotation for about a
11:40month, I don't want to overhype them too early, so I'm going to tentatively drop them back to A
11:45tier for now. You may be surprised to learn that there actually aren't any studies on whether or not
11:49cheating or strict form causes more muscle growth. I'm planning to help run that study soon,
11:53but for now, I can't see the theoretical merits of both, as long as the cheating isn't too extreme.
11:59By using a little momentum to help get the weight moving, you can curl up a bit more load and then
12:03resist and control that load on the very anabolic negative phase. This might surprise some of you,
12:09but I actually think a properly executed cheat curl can be great for biceps growth and can also teach
12:14some people who might be more uptight and rigid with their form how to push themselves hard. I
12:19definitely don't think I'd recommend them for beginners, but as an experienced trainee, as long
12:23as you can control the negative and keep the cheating under control, I'd put them in the bottom
12:28of A tier. The strict curl is at the opposite end of the spectrum. Here, you maintain very strict
12:33technique by bracing against a wall with three points of contact. Your glutes, your upper back,
12:38and your head. The theoretical upside here is that you direct all the tension coming from the bar
12:42into your biceps. Unlike with the cheat curl, there's no tension being lost to your hips or
12:47your low back. With strict curls, if you're lifting more weight or doing more reps, your biceps are
12:52getting stronger, and they're most likely getting bigger too. I suspect strict curls would be a bit
12:57better than cheat curls, but without that study, it's hard to know for sure. And honestly, I could
13:01see it going either way. So I'm going to leave strict curls in A tier for now as well. Now, hammer curls
13:07are really interesting. By taking a neutral grip and pointing your thumb up, you take your biceps
13:12out of supination. This means the biceps probably will be less active on hammer curls than on
13:17standard curls. However, remember, there's this other big muscle that sits directly underneath
13:23the biceps called the brachialis. And the brachialis will be very active on hammer curls.
13:29That's because all it does is bend the elbow. It can't contribute to supination at all. So by
13:35performing hammer curls, you might shift some tension away from the biceps and toward the
13:40brachialis. And since the brachialis can push the biceps up more, that should enhance the appearance
13:45of bicep peak. And because of their ability to smash the brachialis, I think I would consider
13:51them my number one movement for biceps peak. Now, obviously, you can't change the genetic
13:56structure of your biceps, and there's honestly no hard science on this. But it does make sense to me
14:01that as you grow your brachialis bigger, the shape of your bicep should become more peaked,
14:05even if just a little. Of course, dumbbell hammer curls have the same tension issue as all the free
14:10weight standing curls. So they're not quite good enough to get into S tier, but they definitely do
14:15belong in A tier. That said, if you do your hammer curls while braced against a preacher bench,
14:20you instantly improve the resistance profile. And so hammer grip preacher curls are going in S tier.
14:26Inverse Zotman curls are where you do a hammer curl on the positive and then a standard supinated curl
14:31on the negative. This means you get the advantage of hammer curls on the positive for the brachialis
14:35and the advantage of supinated curls on the negative for the biceps. These also can help
14:40overload the biceps on the negative with a bit more load, since you're generally able to curl
14:44more weight up with a hammer grip. And since your biceps are stronger on the negative, I think that's
14:48a smart pairing. Inverse Zotman curls are going in high A tier. And if I had to pick just one exercise
14:54as the best of the best, it'd have to be the face away Bayesian cable curl. I think the 45 degree
14:59preacher curl would be a very close second, and I think they should both be in your biceps routine.
15:04And the worst of the worst would have to be the waiter curl. Also, I want to give you guys a quick
15:08update on my new book. I'm going to send everyone who pre-orders The Muscle Ladder a free ebook called
15:13The Ultimate Exercise Guide, which covers my best exercise for every muscle. It covers the muscles
15:17that I haven't covered in this series, like the forearms, glutes, and calves. It also includes more
15:22depth than I'm able to give in these videos. To get the free ebook, all you need to do is pre-order
15:27The Muscle Ladder on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or wherever you buy your books, and then show me
15:31your order number. To do that, just go to jeffnipper.com forward slash The Muscle Ladder,
15:37input your order number, and I'll email you the new ebook for free. By pre-ordering, you'll also
15:41lock in Amazon's best price guarantee, which means from now until the day it launches, whatever their
15:46best discount is, is the price you'll get the book for. I don't control when or by how much they
15:51discount the book, so basically, the sooner you can pre-order, the better for getting the lowest price.
15:56Oh, and anyone who's already pre-ordered, I will be sending you the free ebook to your email as well.
16:01All you have to do is go to jeffnipper.com forward slash The Muscle Ladder, and input your order
16:05number and email. All right, that's it for this one, guys. Don't forget to subscribe so you don't
16:09miss that new study I'm doing on strict form technique versus cheating technique. I'll definitely
16:14do a video on that once the study is up and running. Don't forget to leave me a thumbs up if you
16:18enjoyed the video, and I'll see you guys all here in the next one.
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