The magic of preacher routines: if you want dozens of options for building great-looking biceps, look no further - Body Shop

Men's Fitness, Nov, 2002 by Matt Fitzgerald

Ask any guy, whether he's 6, 26 or 60, to "make a muscle," and if he's not too self-conscious, he'll promptly flex his biceps for you. Not his calves, his lats or his pecs, but his biceps. It appears we're practically born knowing which of the body's 300 or so muscles is best for showing off. Of course, it helps to have biceps that are worthy of showing off. That's where we come in.

AN IDEAL BICEPS SOLUTION

Few biceps exercises help isolate your biceps and their synergists, along with tendons and ligaments, better than preacher bench movements. The reason? The preacher bench foils would-be curling cheaters, preventing you from using momentum to hoist the weight.

You may think of the preacher curl as just one exercise, but actually many variations on the basic movement are available to you:

* You can choose dumbbells, a straight or EZ-bar, cables or even resistance bands to challenge the muscles in slightly different ways.

* You can use an underhand grip to hit the biceps brachii; a hammer grip to target the brachioradialis; or an overhand grip to focus on the brachialis.

* You can do them seated or standing, and you can do them bilaterally (both arms at once), alternating, or unilaterally (a full set with the right arm followed by a full set with the left).

Taylor-Kevin Isaacs, named 2002 Personal Trainer of the Year by the fitness organization IDEA and a professor of kinesiology at California State University, Northridge, recommends making use of all these possibilities, the basics of which are depicted on the following pages. Once you become familiar with our eight preacher cuff exercises, you can adjust each one and create an unlimited number of workouts that will keep your muscles responding.

HOW TO CONSTRUCT YOUR WORKOUTS

Each of the following three sections is named after the aspect of the biceps--biceps brachii, brachioradialis and brachialis--that is targeted. An effective but basic routine will target all three aspects.

A sample routine can look like this: seated preacher curl, standing preacher hammer cuff, and standing dumbbell preacher reverse curl. Another basic routine can be constructed as follows: seated barbell (or cambered bar) preacher curl, standing dumbbell hammer preacher curl, and standing reverse barbell preacher curl.

REPS AND POUNDAGE

Unlike other biceps exercises, the preacher curl places specific demands on form. You must fully stabilize your upper body by anchoring the top portion of the pad against your armpits. Anything less and you'll jeopardize the integrity of both shoulder capsules and your ability to perform reps correctly.

Even more important, you must never extend your arm(s) to full lockout at the bottom of a repetition. When the arm is fully extended, especially when you're holding a barbell or dumbbell, you place a tremendous amount of stress on the biceps tendon at its insertion near the elbow joint.

To maintain joint, tendon and ligament integrity near the elbow, your reps should stop just short of lockout, which will actually generate greater contractile pressure on the working muscles.

These form limitations thus call for repetitions that never fall below eight. A good basic working range is eight to 10 reps, but going higher is acceptable for engaging a greater number of endurance muscle fibers. The least complicated and safest way to increase poundages when doing preacher workouts is to increase the load only when you are able to complete at least eight reps for every set of any given exercise.

SETS

If you've never done preacher bench workouts before, your best bet is to do one or two sets for each of the three exercises. You'll thereby complete three to six sets per workout, more than enough to activate muscle fibers.

Then, as you become more seasoned, you can add sets readily. Because the biceps is a relatively small muscle, it rarely pays off to do more than eight to 10 sets, unless you want to shock a lagging biceps into renewed growth with a week's worth (two or three sessions) of 12-set workouts. Depending on how well the various aspects of the biceps respond, you can also change up the number of sets from exercise to exercise.

The point is simple: With this type of training, and the way this plan is structured, you have virtually boundless options.

PERFORMANCE TIP

For each of the exercises, use a two-count when performing the concentric (upward) portion of the movement and a four-count on the eccentric (downward) portion. At the top of each move, pause and squeeze for a one-two count before lowering the weight.

THE EXERCISES

BICEPS BRACHII

1. SEATED DUMBBELL PREACHER CURL sit at a preacher bench and rest your upper arms on the arm support. Grasp a dumbbell in each hand using an underhand grip. Start with your arms fully extended but not locked out (1a). Curl the dumbbells toward your shoulders (1b) on a two-count, then lower the dumbbells on a four-count.

Variations: Standing dumbbell preacher curl, which allows a bit more torque. As well, this exercise can be done unilaterally, bilaterally, or in alternating fashion.