I was trying to be inovative with the equipment i have at home and came up with this noval idea for a lift.
Basicly you get an declined bench and lay back in it with your legs locked at the top as though you were going to do a sit up. Then you hold a dumbell in each hand out streched so that your arms are parallel to the floor (this should put your bicep in a streched position). Then you do a conventional sit up but as you go up you bend your arm at the elbo and keep your forearm parallel to the floor.
The benifit is that not only does this make the bicep curl start from a strech position but it allows the whole range of motion to be under tension i.e. because the torso moves gravity is always against the direction in which the dumbell is moving.
as opposed to a convetional curl where the top of the motion is pointless cos gravity stops acting againts it.
I’ve only tried this a couple of times and because i’m a beginer i don’t know if what i’m doing is stupid or genius.
Not stupid, good for you for actually thinking things through. A writer here had a series of articles about manipulating body positions for exercises to keep constant stress on them. Something Telle, his thoughts are along the same lines about certain exercises.
It’s refreshing to get someone to look at the biomechanics of a lift and think “hmm it’s not hard at all here(top of a curl) what can I do to make sure I’m doing work the whole time, and not what can I do to make this easier.”
Vince Gironda had a way to do barbell curls and preacher curls where the lifter would be leaning back at the bottom phase(like he is on the decline) and as the lifter slowly raises the bar the torso follows a similiar pace of leaning forward(like he would be sitting upright).
This style of curling is an instant ego crusher if you are a current cheat curler because you will be going through the exact opposite motion and it will punish the biceps. He’s not without precedent on this.
sounds cool but you wouldn’t be able to use more weight than you can do a decline crunch with eh?
i had a few ideas too,
cable crossover but torso leaning way forward and you bring the handles out in front of your face… it hits the upper chest perfectly
a lateral raise but when you approach horizontal arms, rotate your palms up and bring your arms up vertical, hits lateral - front delt tie in
a one arm cable pull down when you start with your arm above the opposite shoulder and pull a diagonal line across your body to the other side, it travels the exact line of your lat and gets a total maximum stretch
all of these are isolation exercises i sometimes do at the end of a workout.
one more, hold a light barbell above your head with a wide locked grip and wide leg stance and slowly tip from side to side at the obliques.
[quote]schultzie wrote:
sounds cool but you wouldn’t be able to use more weight than you can do a decline crunch with eh?
Actually the weight is held so close to the fulcrum of the movement that the ‘real’ weight that you lift with the abs is much less than the actual weight you hold in your hands.
If you were to hold the weight on your chest then you’d have to lift the whole weight with your abs.
why did my responce come out the same colour as the quote? how do some people manage to make several quotes and have the colour change between each one.
anyway here is my responce again just to get it in the right colour.
Actually the weight is held so close to the fulcrum of the movement that the ‘real’ weight that you lift with the abs is much less than the actual weight you hold in your hands.
If you were to hold the weight on your chest then you’d have to lift the whole weight with your abs
I don’t want to p*ss on your chips, but wouldn’t the limiting factor be the strength of your anterior (front) deltoids? Seems there would be a lot of stress there (front delts) to get into the start position?
[quote]Old Dax wrote:
I don’t want to p*ss on your chips, but wouldn’t the limiting factor be the strength of your anterior (front) deltoids? Seems there would be a lot of stress there (front delts) to get into the start position?[/quote]
good point, but shouldn’t your biceps be stronger than your anterior deltoids? I’m not sure but i can curl more weight than i can do for a front raise.
But either way doesn’t that fact make this lift a compound lift (as well as the fact that you work your abs) which is good isn’t it?
besides the stress on the anterior deltoid is a static contraction so it will only be a limiting factor during extended set times. If you were to perform this exersize in the hypertrophy rep range that wouldn’t be a factor.
personally, i think if you have it in you to do this BS exercise you thought up, you probably have the energy to do some squats or deadlifts, and actually get something done.
theres no point in trying to re-invent the wheel. the wheel works, and its efficient, leave it alone.
people are getting big and strong all over the world with the basic movements that have been popular weight lifting movements for quite some time now.
id file this just slightly more beneficial that kickbacks on a bosu ball.
[quote]dez6485 wrote:
personally, i think if you have it in you to do this BS exercise you thought up, you probably have the energy to do some squats or deadlifts, and actually get something done.
theres no point in trying to re-invent the wheel. the wheel works, and its efficient, leave it alone.
people are getting big and strong all over the world with the basic movements that have been popular weight lifting movements for quite some time now.
id file this just slightly more beneficial that kickbacks on a bosu ball.[/quote]
fair enough, but can i just say that i do do squats and deadlifts. your reply sounds like your accusing me of only doing this exercise, which i admit would be stupid. and i’m not trying to reinvent the wheel, just refine it. did you know that the original wheel was made from a single piece of trunk, but they found that it was prone to splitting so someone refined it and made it out of three planks fitted together and cut into a circle.
There is validity to changing which part of the arm stays stationary during biceps work so your exercise isn’t exactly “stupid”. CT mentioned supersetting curls on an incline bench with supinated grip chins for instance. I wouldn’t call it “genius” either. If you don’t have fancy equipment at home to work your arms, hang a chinning bar somewhere.
[quote]Old Dax wrote:
I don’t want to p*ss on your chips, but wouldn’t the limiting factor be the strength of your anterior (front) deltoids? Seems there would be a lot of stress there (front delts) to get into the start position?[/quote]
sorry Old Dax, i didn’t take in what you said when i made my first reply, your absolutly right and my responce made no sence at all.
[quote]wukey wrote:
dez6485 wrote:
personally, i think if you have it in you to do this BS exercise you thought up, you probably have the energy to do some squats or deadlifts, and actually get something done.
theres no point in trying to re-invent the wheel. the wheel works, and its efficient, leave it alone.
people are getting big and strong all over the world with the basic movements that have been popular weight lifting movements for quite some time now.
id file this just slightly more beneficial that kickbacks on a bosu ball.
fair enough, but can i just say that i do do squats and deadlifts. your reply sounds like your accusing me of only doing this exercise, which i admit would be stupid. and i’m not trying to reinvent the wheel, just refine it. did you know that the original wheel was made from a single piece of trunk, but they found that it was prone to splitting so someone refined it and made it out of three planks fitted together and cut into a circle.[/quote]
Jeez, where have YOU been? All the wheels on my vehicles are made of vulcanized rubber!
BTW, the trick to quoting responses is to leave the start quote and end-quote tags alone. If you type between them your words become part of the original message.
OK, now back to my BOSU BALL! (It’s made of vulcanized rubber BTW 8^)
[quote]Kruiser wrote:
There is validity to changing which part of the arm stays stationary during biceps work so your exercise isn’t exactly “stupid”. CT mentioned supersetting curls on an incline bench with supinated grip chins for instance. I wouldn’t call it “genius” either. If you don’t have fancy equipment at home to work your arms, hang a chinning bar somewhere. [/quote]
got one. and i use it regularly, in fact it was the second piece of equipment i got for my house.
Just to stop any further confusion. I’m currently just started doing the Waterbery method workout, but prior to that i was doing a german volume training for 8 weeks and befor that i did HIT for 8 weeks. i’ve got every single workout i’ve ever done in a book in my spare room i base every workout that isn’t ready made (i.e. Waterbury method) around the big lifts (i.e. dead lift, squat, bench, chins, overhead press, rows etc) i work out between 3/4 times per week with a layoff period every 8 week (then i’ll change workout). and i most sertainly don’t do this exercise at the expence of deadlift or squats.
All i wanted to say was, ‘hay, look at this, what do you think’
Having said that Kruiser, your coment was a valid one.
[quote]Kruiser wrote:
wukey wrote:
dez6485 wrote:
personally, i think if you have it in you to do this BS exercise you thought up, you probably have the energy to do some squats or deadlifts, and actually get something done.
theres no point in trying to re-invent the wheel. the wheel works, and its efficient, leave it alone.
people are getting big and strong all over the world with the basic movements that have been popular weight lifting movements for quite some time now.
id file this just slightly more beneficial that kickbacks on a bosu ball.
fair enough, but can i just say that i do do squats and deadlifts. your reply sounds like your accusing me of only doing this exercise, which i admit would be stupid. and i’m not trying to reinvent the wheel, just refine it. did you know that the original wheel was made from a single piece of trunk, but they found that it was prone to splitting so someone refined it and made it out of three planks fitted together and cut into a circle.
Jeez, where have YOU been? All the wheels on my vehicles are made of vulcanized rubber!
BTW, the trick to quoting responses is to leave the start quote and end-quote tags alone. If you type between them your words become part of the original message.
OK, now back to my BOSU BALL! (It’s made of vulcanized rubber BTW 8^)
[/quote]
Hahaha, nice.
I thought that coment wasn’t really T-Nation material but i had typed it out and thought what the hell