Under the Radar: A very effective bicep exercise. 

Recently, while searching for some new exercises to test out I stumbled upon a bicep exercise that stuck out to me.  I had never heard or seen someone hitting their biceps from this angle, but it really made sense to me.  Anxious to test it out at the gym, I decided to give it a whirl after I had finished my back workout.  I don’t usually do bicep exercises after a heavy back day, but I throw a couple sets in here and there if I feel up for it before making my way out of the gym.  I figured this would be the perfect time to see if this bicep exercise lived up to its claims, considering I hardly doubt many people know about it but those that did grew very fond of it.  Without going into detail, I was honestly shocked.  I’ve never had a problem achieving pumps in the gym, but one set of this exercise had my biceps on fire.  I had not felt this way after doing a bicep exercise as far as I can remember.  After doing 2 more sets, my biceps were ready to tear through my skin.  No, I’m really not exaggerating.  I’m still surprised! 

Here’s how to do it:

Sit yourself where you do lat pull downs, with the regular long bar just like if you were to do wide-grip pull downs.  Grab the bar with your palms facing towards you, as if you were about to do close-grip pull downs (hopefully I’m not confusing you, just trying to create a mental picture).  With your arms extended holding the bar, bend your elbows just slightly enough so that they are around ear-level and keep them steady as you use your biceps to curl the weight behind your head.  Do not straighten your arms after each rep, try to go as straight as possible without actually straightening your arms and taking tension off of the biceps (in other words, don’t “lock out”).  Use your Mind Muscle Connection to keep those elbows in one place as you curl the weight.  You won’t be doing much weight, I’ll promise you that.  However, the exercise will leave your biceps feeling insane.  I promise. 

As long as you keep the biceps under constant tension as you do each rep, you’ll feel the stretch and the blood rushing in.  What’s great about this exercise is that you have absolutely no ability to use any other muscle to aid your biceps, if you do the exercise correctly.  It is literally bicep-exclusive.  On how many exercises can you truly say that?  Add this to your workout routine and if you keep at it and eat right, the results will come.  This exercise is truly a hidden gem, you’ll thank me later.  Similarly, you might be interested in our How To Get Bigger Arms article, Good luck!