Can Bicep Cheat Curls Help You Unlock New Muscle Growth?
If you feel like you're training your biceps all the time and still not making any progress, you're probably not alone.
Because curls are so targeted to one small muscle, it can take a long time to add weight to the movement, no matter how often you train. This can make achieving the progressive overload necessary to build new muscle hard to come by, and can cause your gains to stagnate.
Muscle-building plateaus can be difficult to overcome, but there's one bicep curl variation that might help you to get over the hump. It's one you're probably familiar with, but perhaps have heard some bad press about: the cheat curl.
Now, obviously we're evangelists for impeccable form here at MH. But there's an exception to every rule. When training your biceps, strategically 'cheating' your way to the top of your reps to deliberately make the most of the lowering (eccentric) portion of the lift can help you to gain strength and size.
'The irony of growing big arms is this: in order to build muscle, we have to lift heavy. But to really isolate our biceps and triceps without involving other muscle groups, a lot of times we can't lift as heavy as we want to,' says Ebenezer Samuel, Men's Health US fitness director. 'How do we solve that problem? That's where a move like the cheat curl comes in.'
So, we grant you permission to break form – as long as you do so smartly. Here's how.
How to Do the Bicep Cheat Curl
Changing your body angle to bring the weight up in a bicep curl might cost you a strong concentric contraction, but it will set you up for great eccentric contraction. And, the eccentric (or lowering) portion of the lift can be key to building muscle. Doing so correctly, though, requires a knowledge of how to do a regular bicep curl first. Traditionally, you would set up with your shoulder blades squeezed tight, glutes and core engaged. Keeping your elbow close in towards your ribcage, you would curl the weight up without moving at the torso or the hips.
On a cheat curl, you'll engage the hips or torso a bit more to get the weight up to its top position. Exactly how you cheat will depend a bit on what equipment you're using. Here's how to do it with both a barbell, and dumbbells.
How to Do the Bicep Cheat Curl with a Barbell:
Set up by grabbing your barbell. Keep your hands about shoulder-width apart on the bar.
Hinge softly at the hips, and use your glutes to explode forward and help power the bar to your chest.
Once in this position, stiffen your body. Engage your glutes, shoulder blades and core.
Lower slowly back down, keeping your elbows tucked into your sides and your wrists straight. Focus on going slow here to get the most out of your eccentric contraction – lower for at least 4 seconds.
How to Do the Bicep Cheat Curl with Dumbbells:
Set up with the dumbbells in hand.
Alternate your reps. Hinge softly at the hips, and lean your torso in towards the arm that you are going to curl up. Use that slight rock in the hips and the angle of the torso to bring your dumbbell up.
Regain stiffness through the glutes, core, and shoulder blades. Slowly lower the dumbbell down, keeping your elbow tucked into your side.
Lower for at least 4 seconds, keeping your wrists straight.
Do the same thing on the other side.
How to Programme Bicep Cheat Curls
The cheat curl can help you get past plateaus and start building serious muscle, if programmed correctly. There are two ways to use the cheat curl.
First, you can make cheat curls a main set at the beginning of your biceps workout. If you do this, keep the reps low, and really focus on controlling the lowering portion with a heavy weight. Aim for 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps.
Second, you can add them into the end of a traditional bicep curl set to take your muscles to failure. Do a normal set of bicep curls, and once you can't handle maintaining good form with the weights that you have, use the cheat mechanism to get the weights up to your chest and slowly lower them back down. Aim for an extra 2 to 3 reps at the end of your standard set.
Tips for a Better Cheat Curl
Own the Lowering
If you lower too quickly out of a cheat curl, you're missing the whole purpose of the move.
'The cheat curl is not about cheating the way up – it's about getting yourself into position to lower the weight with control, because that's when we get that really good eccentric contraction,' Samuel says. That overload is what will help build muscle, and get us used to lifting heavier weights, so eventually you can do strict curls with those heavy weights.
Every time you lower in a cheat curl, aim for a count of four seconds. You'll want to go heavy with the weights, but make sure it's a weight you can lower for at least that four count.
Don't Flex the Wrists
In any kind of curl, you want to create as long of a forearm lever as possible. That means keeping your wrists slightly bent back throughout the movement –especially through that long lowering phase. If you flex at the wrist, you'll wind up using more of your forearms, and miss out on targeting the biceps.
More Like This
Hit a Training Plateau? Reverse Pyramid Sets are The Key to Bigger Gains
Use 'Cluster Sets' to Push Through Plateaus, Maximise Strength & Hypertrophy Gains
Use Pause Squats to Break Through Training Plateaus and Lift More Weight
Use the Rest-Pause-Isolation Method for New Muscle Growth and a Balanced Physique
You Might Also Like
