Would you like to know
how to get more out of every single dumbell curl you do? Amazingly
enough, you can do this simply by changing where you grip the
dumbell.
First, I'm going to
tell you what the trick is, then I'm going to tell you exactly
how and why it works. Then I'm going to finish by telling you
how to make the trick so powerful it'll blow your mind!
In a nutshell, instead
of gripping the handle in the middle (as is normally taught),
grip the handle with the thumb and forefinger side of your hand
pressed up against the inside of the dumbell plates. There will
be a space of several inches between your pinky and the other
side plates.
To take full advantage
of this change in your grip, start the curl with your palms facing
in to your thighs, otherwise known as a neutral or hammer grip.
As you curl up, rotate your forearm so that your palm is facing
up at the top of the movement. You should feel a strong cramping
in your biceps.
Here's how and why
it works:
The biceps muscle has
two main functions. The first is flexing the elbow (in essence,
bringing the forearm closer to the upper arm like when you bend
your arm to scratch your nose). The other function is called supination,
which is a biomechanical term for
forearm rotation. Supination occurs when you turn your hand from
a palms-down position to a palms-up position.
The traditional dumbell
curl without forearm rotation addresses the flexing function of
the bicep. Rotating your forearm as you curl the dumbell up invokes
the supination function of the bicep, working more of the muscle
mass of the bicep and giving you a stronger contraction.
Holding the dumbell
off-center essentially adds resistance to the supination function
of the bicep muscle. If you think about it, when you hold your
hand in the middle of the dumbell, the two ends are balanced like
two identical-weight people on a see-saw. You get very little,
if any, resistance on the supination.
By holding the dumbell
off-center, you tip the balance of the dumbell towards the pinky
side of your hand. Your bicep must then work against resistance
to accomplish the supination, adding in more resistance to the
curl movement.
This resistance translates
into more efficient work for the bicep and, ultimately, more results
for you!
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Now I'm going to tell
you how to adapt this trick into something that will make your
jaw hit the floor on the first rep you do.
You've learned about
supination and adding resistance to the supination movement by
holding the dumbell off-center. You've felt the difference this
makes in your biceps.
Now imagine how much
more effective this trick will be if you add actual weight for
resistance instead of just shifting your hand over!
In order to accomplish
this, you're going to need one of two things: do-it-yourself dumbells
with which you can add or remove weight or Plate Mates (TM), which
are small magnetic weight plates that stick to the metal of the
dumbell.
The execution is simple:
make a dumbell with more weight on one end than the other. That's
it. For example, place 20 pounds of weight on one end and 25 pounds
of weight on the other.
Grip the dumbell in
the middle when you use it, making sure that the heavier end is
on the pinky side of your hand. If you are using Plate Mates (TM),
stick a few of them onto only one side of the dumbell to accomplish
the same imbalance.
Now when you curl up
and supinate, your bicep is going to have that added resistance
on the supination movement. The cramping sensation you get on
the very first rep as you come to the top and squeeze the muscle
hard will show you just how powerful this technique is. The pump
you get in your biceps after your set will seal the deal!
You will also notice
that your forearm and grip are getting a lot of work with this
trick. This is just icing on the cake and will not decrease the
tension on your bicep in any way.
Note: If you are using
dumbells that weigh less than 30 pounds total, I would recommend
you use a 2 1/2 pound plate on one side rather than a 5 pound
plate. Any more than 30 and you should use a 5 pound plate.
Nick Nilsson is Vice-President
of BetterU, Inc., an internet-based personal training company.
He has been training for more than 14 years and has been a personal
trainer for more than 8 years. He is the author of the training
eBooks "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of", "Gluteus
to the Maximus" and "Specialization Training" (click
here now for more information on these books).
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