Barbell Curl

Coached by Justin

Also called: Rest-Pause Barbell Curls · Barbell Bicep Curl

Primary: biceps
Secondary: forearms
Equipment: barbell
Mechanic: isolation
Force: pull
Category: strength

Power (bicep) — a rest-pause rep-total PR.

Execution

One or two warm-ups, then a single rest-pause set to 15–20 total reps: curl to failure, brief pause, go again, repeat. The PR is the total rep count at locked form. Arms are small muscles, so the rep — not the plate — is usually where progress shows up. It kind of looks like a partial range of motion, but the only way for me to get my arms higher at that point is to swing my elbows forward, which is then using the front delts as the contraction that causes that to happen. I've never really found any benefit to that. If you could call a bicep curl a full movement — meaning from hips to nose — then I don't do barbell curls, because that top portion of the movement is really all a front raise for me.

The cue that matters

Strictest form in the gym — the second your torso starts swinging, the set's over.

Common mistake

Using body English to move a bigger number; a 5 lb jump on a curl is proportionally like adding 90+ lbs to a deadlift, so "strength gains" here almost always mean you're using the bicep *less*. If you're a weightlifter you have to train a movement; you have to get very good at the rules of a movement. As a bodybuilder your goal is to use an exercise as a tool to work a muscle, and any way you vary that exercise to work the muscle better is going to benefit you — whether or not you're doing the movement the way it's officially described in some magazine from 60 years ago. That's why I've never been a form Nazi.

Power Bodybuilding Bro Split — Day 4 (Arms).