UPDATED 3/19/10: Gaining Strength on BB Curl (Rep Ranges)

UPDATES PAGE 2

i can bb curl 65 lbs for 3 sets of 10 (pathetic i know but thats why i need to increase the weight i’m using). i BB curl once a week.

what is the best rep/set scheme for gaining strength on this exercise? i desperately need to increase this weight

also for gaining bicep strength is the BB curl the best exercise?

you need to increase the weight on the exercise or need to get bigger biceps?

Why does the weight matter? Holy shit Batman!!

Why does the weight matter? Holy shit Batman!!

well, u could try doin some cheat curls if u havnt already… use ur legs for the last couple of reps to get the weight up…

[quote]HolyMacaroni wrote:
you need to increase the weight on the exercise or need to get bigger biceps?[/quote]

my goal is bigger biceps i just thought that getting stronger on that exercise would help

Lower the volume a bit. warm up until you’re ready for your first work set.

Try to get at least 6 reps. Rep range can be 6-10 maybe (it can vary). If you only get 6 reps, keep the weight the same next time you do the exercise. If you get upwards of around 10 (or maybe 9) increase the weight 5lb.

My volume for BB curls would be:
warm ups

  1. Heavy workset, 6-10 reps.
  2. Lower weight a bit and get 10-12+ reps
  3. Repeat #2 perhaps.

Don’t do 3x10 if you want to get stronger. Focus on one heavy work set which you will ALWAYS strive to either add weight or increase number of reps (or hey, both if you have a great session one day).

Don’t worry too much about progressing in weight with the back off sets. Over time they shoulud obviously go up, but if you are concerned about strength, make sure to constantly progress in some way on that first heavy set.

THis type of rep/set scheme works well and should allow you to make better progress.

thx man that sounds like great advice

another question: should i use an olympic bar or an ez curl bar? which is better for gaining strength/mass?

the ex curl bar is standard, not olympic

[quote]youngblood52 wrote:
another question: should i use an olympic bar or an ez curl bar? which is better for gaining strength/mass?

the ex curl bar is standard, not olympic[/quote]

I used to use a smaller, straight bar but my wrists started to hurt so I switched to an EZ bar.

If your wrists hold up with an olympic bar then go at it.

As for calculating the weights, I just add up the weights on the bar because I don’t know for sure how much my EZ bar weighs.

Btw, when you do warmups, do not use weight that’s too close to your heavy work set. These warmups are not supposed to fatigue you in any way. They only get some blood in the muscle and warm up your joints.

You said you use 65lb on the bar, so you would probably want to warm up using some light DBs since the bar is 45lb to begin with.

If you were curling 165 for instance, i’d do:

  1. bar for 12-15
  2. 95lb for around 8
  3. 115 for maybe 2-3
  4. (if necessary) 120 for 1

This is all up to you and is just a hypothetical guide; you may not need this many warmups for a small muscle group like bi’s. But this is the basic scheme for warming up any muscle group.

I start with high reps and then work my way down. My last warm up is usually just 1-2 reps; my goal here is to just get used to having a heavy weight in my hands and doing the full ROM. I then increase weight to my work set and get as many reps as I can.

Anyone ever weigh an EZ curl bar?

Yeah, you could do like 5x5 with curls, or do like 10, 8, 6, or maybe do biceps like 1.5 times a week instead of just once a week? So like Mon, Fri, Wed, Mon. Something like that. So in two weeks you work them 3 times

I thought they were 25 lbs?

I’d personally recommend you to switch exercise if you’ve been doing barbell curl for a long time…

Do something else, when u’ll do it again, the weight that you can use will most likely have increased…

[quote]sevenmoist wrote:
Why does the weight matter? Holy shit Batman!! [/quote]

Holy bicep curls Batman! Drop the reps and increase the weight. Worked for me but I rarely go over 115. (2 35ers on the Olympic on the BB curl)

I’ve read a few places that for every 15 lbs in muscle you gain you gain about an inch on your arms. Stop trying to analyze lifting so much. You’re picking out every little detail when in all actuality most of your problems will be solved by:

  1. Eating more
  2. Lifting heavier stuff

I dont see how that works most ppl i know that only weigh like 140-150 have like 12-15 inch arms, however even at 150 according to the 15lb formula your suppose to have 10 inch arms. They are all like 16-17
Im 143, 15 and have 12.5 inch arms, and i only started paying arms a lil more attenrtion like a couple of weeks ago, before that it was all squats lol. So idk.

One thing i though is maybe it means for a balanced weight, like most ppl i see my age actually have big upperbodes but chicken legs, though that doesnt apply to me im kinda like the opposite since i focus more on squats (vertical jump improvements)and less on upperbody.

Very random post but yeah :slight_smile:
LOl

[quote]kaoticz wrote:
I dont see how that works most ppl i know that only weigh like 140-150 have like 12-15 inch arms, however even at 150 according to the 15lb formula your suppose to have 10 inch arms. They are all like 16-17
Im 143, 15 and have 12.5 inch arms, and i only started paying arms a lil more attenrtion like a couple of weeks ago, before that it was all squats lol. So idk.

One thing i though is maybe it means for a balanced weight, like most ppl i see my age actually have big upperbodes but chicken legs, though that doesnt apply to me im kinda like the opposite since i focus more on squats (vertical jump improvements)and less on upperbody.

Very random post but yeah :slight_smile:
LOl
[/quote]

Uh… He means 1" for every 15lb GAIN.

curl more than once a week, do some reverse curls and hammer curls