How much do you curl?

[gspieler]

This is strength and conditioning.
For building your biceps
curls >everything else.

Curling is literally elbow flexion. The same movement you do everytime you do a chinup, row, etc. Only those movements have the added benefits of stressing much more muscle, and being more biomechanically relatable to most sports and activities of daily living. Unless youre referring to an arm wrestler, etc, i'd be curious what supposed benefit an athlete will get doing them vs doing compound movements.

Does this mean theres anything wrong with doing them? Of course not. I dont see how throwing a few fluff sets of curls at the end of a workout is going to make much a difference one way or other, beyond perhaps a psych boost. Its just that I wouldnt consider very common exercise to program into the regimen of an athlete. Again, dont really care though. Just surprised when i see posters in this forum talking about curls non-ironically.

 

[gspieler]

You realize people might do curls or variations thereof for reasons other than strength/looks, right?

Your posting like a guy stuck on Rippetoe’s forum in 2010.

It’s okay to do curls, man.

Ah yes, the curling in the squat rack era.

 

[EL CORINTHIAN]

Curling is literally elbow flexion. The same movement you do everytime you do a chinup, row, etc. Only those movements have the added benefits of stressing much more muscle, and being more biomechanically relatable to most sports and activities of daily living. Unless youre referring to an arm wrestler, etc, i'd be curious what supposed benefit an athlete will get doing them vs doing compound movements.

Does this mean theres anything wrong with doing them? Of course not. I dont see how throwing a few fluff sets of curls at the end of a workout is going to make much a difference one way or other, beyond perhaps a psych boost. Its just that I wouldnt consider very common exercise to program into the regimen of an athlete. Again, dont really care though. Just surprised when i see posters in this forum talking about curls non-ironically.

You need to stop comparing apples to oranges. Chin-ups show the highest EMG rating for the abdominal wall, does this all of a sudden mean we should do Chins in lieu of other direct ab excercises? No because that would be stupid

The bicep curl has more mechanical load on the biceps and is much, MUCH better at building it than the chin-up.

Your only real argument here is that an athletes time is better spent on compounds than isolations. No one is arguing that. But if we are talking about strength and lifting weights than an athletes time is better spent on strengthening his weak links. Period.

 

[gspieler]

You need to stop comparing apples to oranges. Chin-ups show the highest EMG rating for the abdominal wall, does this all of a sudden mean we should do Chins in lieu of other direct ab excercises? No because that would be stupid

The bicep curl has more mechanical load on the biceps and is much, MUCH better at building it than the chin-up.

Your only real argument here is that an athletes time is better spent on compounds than isolations. No one is arguing that. But if we are talking about strength and lifting weights than an athletes time is better spent on strengthening his weak links. Period.

1.It's not apples and oranges. That would imply the curl is on the same level as a squat, clean, etc but just different. Its more like a t-bone steak vs a burger.
2. I never claimed it was useless or that there is mever any place for it. I'm simply stating its a minor exercise in the scope of S&C, and its unusual to hear being discussed in the S&C community. I'm sure you'll strawman this point as well, though.
3. Not sure what populations youre referring to where biceps strength is the limiting factor. Ive never personally witnessed it, unless the subject had a tear, which was usually caused by overuse on exercises like curls. Even in the event, I'd be skeptical of the claim theres greater emg activity in biceps during a curl than during a chin.

 

[EL CORINTHIAN]

1.It's not apples and oranges. That would imply the curl is on the same level as a squat, clean, etc but just different. Its more like a t-bone steak vs a burger.

My brain exploded reading this. How does saying they are apples and oranges imply that they are on the same level? Have you ever heard of this saying before?

2. I never claimed it was useless or that there is mever any place for it. I'm simply stating its a minor exercise in the scope of S&C, and its unusual to hear being discussed in the S&C community. I'm sure you'll strawman this point as well, though.

I never said you said it was useless. Your argument is (was at this point)essentially compounds>isolations for athletes which is sort of a moot point since no one is arguing that and is very reminiscent of the dogmatic anti-bicep curl witch hunt this forum used to be subjected to. It IS a part of S&C whether it be for specific sport where it may be necessitated or for pre/rehabbing.

Bringing up the virtues of chin ups by comparison in a thread like this is just dumb.

3. Not sure what populations youre referring to where biceps strength is the limiting factor. Ive never personally witnessed it, unless the subject had a tear, which was usually caused by overuse on exercises like curls. Even in the event, I'd be skeptical of the claim theres greater emg activity in biceps during a curl than during a chi

You are skeptical about a single jointed isolation exercise where the bicep is the prime mover displaying higher emg activity than a multi-joint pulling moving movement? That's kind of obvious.

Surely the ab-chin up thing sets off your spidey senses more no?

 

[gspieler]

My brain exploded reading this. How does saying they are apples and oranges imply that they are on the same level? Have you ever heard of this saying before?



I never said you said it was useless. Your argument is (was at this point)essentially compounds>isolations for athletes which is sort of a moot point since no one is arguing that and is very reminiscent of the dogmatic anti-bicep curl witch hunt this forum used to be subjected to. It IS a part of S&C whether it be for specific sport where it may be necessitated or for pre/rehabbing.

Bringing up the virtues of chin ups by comparison in a thread like this is just dumb.

You are skeptical about a single jointed isolation exercise where the bicep is the prime mover displaying higher emg activity than a multi-joint pulling moving movement? That's kind of obvious.

Surely the ab-chin up thing sets off your spidey senses more no?

No, its not really obvious. The loads someone will typically do chins is significsntly greater than curls. The relative contribution of the biceps in the movement to that load is questionable. Moot point anyway; (reiterating what Ive already stated) the biceps generally would not need to be stressed beyond what they get with chins/rows for most practical applications. Of course theyre going to be some sport-specific and/or injury prevention applications for them, but generally, they are just an ok accessory lift to do if you particularly like them.

 

[EL CORINTHIAN]

The relative contribution of the biceps in the movement to that load is questionable.

Here is the funny part, in this regard, bicep curl > chin-up.
When it comes to it's practicality the point is, it depends. Generalities only matter to noobs in this regard .If you are talking about athletes a cookie cutter approach doesn't cut it. If it's their weak link and bicep curls are the cure it's integral.

So enough with the witch hunt already.

 

[corpse]

again, curls are just one tool in the box.

i don't know why some people throw away good tools just because they work smaller details of the whole machine.

a pullup, for example, teaches you nothing about moving a heavy object through space while standing on your feet.
a heavy standing curl or even the ricky bruch power curl does exactly that. so according to the "functional" athletic performance logic, you should ditch pullups and only do standing rows. i never saw combat sports done on a pullup bar. maybe at crossfit.

also, if you believe that heavy standing curls don't work all the muscle groups you mentioned earlier, you just don't know the exercise. your traps, upper and lower back will be thoroughly worked from this.

 

[AntonCrowley]

I don't get all the hate for bicep curls, even when talking about strength training for combat athletes. Bicep curls are a pure elbow flexion exercise, while an arm day would obviously not be very beneficial for an athlete, a couple of sets of curls will help keep the elbows and (to a lesser extent) shoulders healthy. A healthy athlete is able to perform. An athlete with an injured elbow or shoulder isn't (i'm not saying curls are the only way to keep you shoulders and elbows healthy). Last point, an athlete that feels good, performs better. If the athlete feels good by having bigger arms (who doesn't), throw in a couple of sets of curls as long as it doesn't cut into recovery.

 

[MMA Maine-iac]

Before suffering an AC joint injury, I could barbell curl 125 for sets of 8 - 10. Now, after a seven month lay off, it's a struggle to curl 35's for a set of 8, wah wah. Working my way back up, though.

 

[legkicktko]

Asking numbers online is kinda pointless lol (no disrespect to TS).

There are a lot of movements that if you were able to do at a certain weight, you would be nearly elite, or at least very strong. At minimum, you would be the top dog of a standard golds gym or something similar. Somehow, sherdog is composed of nearly only the elite lifters. Lol.