If you walk straight across the gym to the weight rack, pick up the first set of weights you see, and start curling right away, you might be doing your biceps workout too fast. To really emphasize your range and muscle contractions that maximize your muscle building benefits, you need to focus on your form. One of the best ways to do this is to concentrate. This means you should try concentration curls, which are the opposite of sloppy and hasty reps done in front of a bar mirror. Instead of running to the end of each set and accumulating a ton of trash, the goal is to isolate the biceps, cheat the English out, or put yourself in a position where the English of the body moves away from the muscles. Instead of slamming your elbows into your thighs and doing fewer curls, do more concentrated curls. The move is a bodybuilding classic, but going through the motions won`t get you the gains you`re hoping to achieve. “When I see people do it in the gym, a lot of times these days they`re not really executing it well,” says Men`s Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S. The major focus should be on getting that muscle contraction, but your posture on the bench should be totally on point in order to reap the benefits.Watch Samuel guide MH fitness editor Brett Williams, NASM-CPT through the cues you need to perfect the concentration curl.Benefits of the Concentration CurlThe concentration curl allows you to really isolate your biceps muscle—the ultimate aim of all curl variations—more effectively than other versions of the exercise. Your position forces you to move only at the elbow joint, allowing you to emphasize the muscle contraction without your shoulders or momentum aiding in the lift.The exercise also helps to target the peaks of the biceps, since you`re able to really home in on that contraction. The position is an excellent tool to help harried lifters to slow down and really emphasize form and the mechanics of a curl.How to Do the Concentration CurlFollow these form cues to learn how to do the concentration curl. Once you`ve read the step-by-step directions, follow along for some higher-level tips from Samuel to dive deeper into the exercise.●Sit on a bench, with a dumbbell between your legs.●Grab the dumbbell with one hand, then place your upper arm (your triceps muscle) against your thigh. Your goal is to keep your arms perpendicular to the floor throughout the movement.
●Tighten your core and engage your shoulder blades to create tension and reinforce posture.●Make a fist with your off hand and extend your non-working arm out to the side. This allows you to use your core to balance and remove any leverage that would take away from biceps engagement.●Curl the weight up with control, keeping the wrist in a neutral position. Emphasize the squeeze at the top of the rep; avoid any backwards lean or shoulder movement, keeping the focus on the biceps.●Perform 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps per arm, or 3 minutes alternating 30 seconds of work per arm.Arm to ThighEb says: The most common mistake you see with the concentration curl comes in the initial setup: Many people try to wedge their elbow into their thigh. But doing basically lets you use both knee and elbow as one big fulcrum, essentially making the curl easier and taking tension off the biceps.Avoid this by wedging your upper arm into your thigh, thinking of driving the meatiest part of your triceps in there. You`ll have to hinge your waist forward a bit more to do this, but you`ll get more out of the entire curl.Upper Arm PerpendicularEb says: Once you`re in this position, you`re responsibility is to maintain this position. The upper arm should be perpendicular to the floor for the life of each set. As with most curls, you will want to lean back while curling. But always fight to keep your upper arms perpendicular to the floor. If possible, check your technique by observing yourself in a mirror. Don't overcurl Eb's comment: One of the biggest problems with concentration curls (actually all curls) is that they tend to chase random endpoints. For example, you may think you should wear a barbell on your shoulders. Don't do that. Roll up as high as you can before you feel your triceps lift away from your thighs. As long as your forearms are higher than parallel to the floor, you're tightening your biceps. If your elbow starts to move forward trying to get past this point, de-stress and don't focus on your biceps.
#concentration #education #time
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