Ok, let me start by saying, I don't want you to cheat on your husband, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, college exams, or taxes. But at some point, unless you have the grace of arms in genetics, you are going to have to cheat on your biceps to force them to grow!!!
Which person is doing curls wrong?
The dude with spaghetti arms curling 25 pounds for 10 with perfect form.
OR:
The dudes with spaghetti arms curling 40 pounds for 10 with horrible cheating form.
Answer: BOTH!!!! If the first guy can do 10 with perfect form, he should throw in 4 or 5 more cheating. And if the other one had to cheat on all 10, he needs to go lighter!
For your first year to two of training, especially if you are not with a trainer or someone who is pretty seasoned, maybe perfect form is ok. But as you advance, you need to cheat!!! But!!! You can't just go in and arbitrarily pick the heaviest weight that you can swing with momentum. Even cheat curls takes technique, and practice. Here's some tips for getting the arms to grow with cheat curls:
- PERFECT FORM FIRST! You need to hit the bi's with good form before cheating, your first set should be pretty good, as you enter the 2nd or 3rd sets, you should NOT be doing perfect form, you should be challenging your biceps to cheat for an extra 1 to 6 reps towards the end.
- Controlled Negatives: If possible, you should be using slow controlled motion or as controlled as possible for the negative (lowering the weight).
- Momentum, momentum, momentum, but not too much momentum: Momentum is necessary for cheat curls, but if it's getting to the point where you are only using momentum and not the muscle the cheating is pointless. If you are not feeling the burn in your bicep as you use your whole body to swing the weight you are using too much momentum.
- Choose the right weight: You are going to cheat, you are not going to tear your bicep or look like a jack ass. Slightly heavier than your top perfect form weight, don't go run to the end of the rack and steal the 120's from the guy who is getting ready for dumbbell bench press.
- Drop sets: As momentum is becoming too much, use a drop set, the first few curls should be good form, then CHEAT AGAIN!
Biceps are in their own category sometimes, we use them so much functionally, that in the gym sometimes we have to use the variety of cheat curls to spice things up and infuse growth. Have a great day at the gym, and a great arm workout!
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Consult a doctor or medical professional before beginning any fitness, diet, or weight training program.
Consult a doctor or medical professional before beginning any fitness, diet, or weight training program.
I gotta be honest, the strict curls hardly work for me anymore. Today i did some sets with 80's in cheat curls, horrible form but hurt my biceps like a bitch.
ReplyDeleteI then moved on too perfect form preacher curls...
Cheat curls are the best, I need to add a video..