The most critical element of the biceps curl is the squeeze at peak contraction. Getting a good squeeze at the top of a biceps curl rep helps your biceps feel like they’re going to bust out of your arm. It’s often a moment that gets wasted though: It’s tough to hold a good, strong biceps curl squeeze, much easier to let your shoulder get involved, or momentum the weight up.
One way to focus on those ideas: The Peak-Focused Mixed-Style Biceps curl from Men’s Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S. Using a pair of dumbbells (or another load around your house) this curl helps emphasize that squeeze at the top of every rep. “By pausing midway through your rep, you’re canceling out all the energy you generated at the start of the rep,” he says. “That’ll then force you to work harder to finish each curl rep and earn a good squeeze.”
Then you follow with a full rep, and that has value too, says Samuel. “You should be able to carry that feeling of a good squeeze into your full rep,” says Samuel. “Remember that good squeeze from the two-step rep, and replicate it with intent on the full rep.”
The combination of moves sets you up for major biceps growth, especially since the initial two-step rep serves a secondary purpose. You’re also pausing when your forearm is parallel to the ground, a position of great mechanical challenge. “Spending extra time in this position adds time-under-tension at a tough moment of the biceps curl,” says Samuel.
It’s all a perfect way to grow your biceps. It’s best done with dumbbells, but if you don’t have those, you can easily use gallon water jugs wrapped around a towel, too.
The Peak-Focused Mixed-Style Biceps Curl fits perfectly as the opening exercise in an arm workout or the first exercise in a biceps workout. It’s also a good fit in a pull or total-body day; do it as your first arm movement in either situation. In all moments of the curl, focus on moving only at the elbow joint. “Avoid any and all rocking,” says Samuel. “Upper arm stays perpendicular to the ground, and if you do that, you’ll get plenty of value from this curl.”
For more tips and routines from Samuel, check out our full slate of Eb and Swole workouts. If you want to try an even more dedicated routine, consider Eb’s New Rules of Muscle program.
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