This Banded Curl Workout Blasts Your Biceps in 10 Minutes

Photo credit: YouTube
Photo credit: YouTube

From Men's Health

Bored of just doing endless sets of dumbbell biceps curls on arm day? Athlean-X's Jeff Cavaliere C.S.C.S. shared a biceps workout consisting of five banded curl variations that focus on achieving hypertrophy and muscle growth in your biceps.

Each of these exercises is designed to maximize tension in your muscles. The no-money banded curl creates resistance through flexion and external rotation as you pull the band apart, while the banded drag curl shifts focus to the long-head of the bicep. The step back curl, which implements a pullup bar, requires isometric overload to maintain flexion of the elbows and shoulders while pulling the band back.

Next is the cross-body banded hammer curl, where instead of being in the neutral position you'd adopt for a regular hammer curl, you'll start from a pronated position to activate the brachialis. "We know the brachialis is a muscle we want to develop if we want to have a fully developed upper arm, as it lies underneath the bicep," says Cavaliere. Working this muscle, he adds, gives your biceps a little bit of a break in the workout.

The final move in the workout, the leaning stretch curl, places an "enormous" stretch on the biceps as the arms are in a fully extended position behind the body. "You have an opportunity here to get a strong contraction, because you have the added stretch reflex that's going to be used to your advantage," he says. "Make sure you take advantage of it if you want to get through the remainder of this workout."

Cavaliere recommends doing two rounds of each exercise for 45 seconds, with 15 seconds to rest between each set. In the video, he also outlines a heavier version of the workout, which switches out the bands for dumbbell work.

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