lengthing your bi's

**silverice** · 10-14-2002, 10:42 PM

What are some good curls to do to lengthen your biceps all the way down to the bend of your elbow?

**RON** · 10-14-2002, 11:07 PM

Preachers are killer to lenthen your biceps

**brad fuel** · 10-15-2002, 02:13 AM

sorry but preachers don't lengthen...they shorten your bicep. On the preacher curl, you're sitting with humerus slightly flexed which shortens your long head of the bicep.

To lengthen, sit on the incline bench and let the dumbells hang down. then curl it.

**defdaz** · 10-15-2002, 02:42 AM

Woah, hang on a minute!

You cannot alter the length of your biceps - the 'gap' between your biceps and your elbow is your biceps tendon! What you can do however is make your biceps bigger and as they get bigger they look longer (especially when your arm is bent to 90 degreesm - the gap between your biceps and your forearms muscles decreases).

Brad fuel is on about arm position and it's effect on current length of your biceps (how stretched it is), not actually lengthening the muscle itself.

Whether preacher curls actually can isolate the 'lower' biceps is not very likely to be honest - altering the position of the arm just changes the point in the rep where the effects of gravity makes the rep hardest to perform. Think about it - the biceps doesn't change, and the movement it's doing doesn't change, only the initial stretch on the biceps and the force required at any point in the rep range.

With biceps the most important thing to remember is to only do exercises that don't hurt you - if you feel it in your wrists, elbows or tendons change the way you are doing the exercise until no discomfort exists or drop the exercise altogether - you aren't ever going to get huge arms if they are constantly injured.

Daz

**brad fuel** · 10-15-2002, 03:14 AM

The preacher curl can isolate the distal part of the bicep more. It follows muscle potentiation, the distal part is streched more so than the proximal part so the distal part will produce more force than the proximal part.

**defdaz** · 10-15-2002, 04:05 AM

Er, not at all. Tell me, what makes the distal part stretch more than the promixal section? Is there some protrusion from the humerus beneath the distal part? Nope. Tension is equal throughout a muscle at all times.

In fact, the biceps are less stretched during preacher curls than in normal curls - the biceps originate from the coracoid and glenoid processes of the scapula.

The only reason why tension is 'felt' more in preacher curls is because of the change in angle of the exercise and hence the effects of gravity upon the movement - in curls with the arms by your sides gravity opposes the action most when the forearm is perpendicular to the ground. In preachers it is again when the forearm is perpendicular to the ground but this point in the rep is near the beginning of the concentric movement of the rep - the arm is almost fully extended.

So preachers changes the position of the arm where most work is done - this has no effect on which part of the biceps is most worked! The only thing that can change focus is the degree of forearm suppination and the degree of flexion at the shoulder.

Daz

**skid** · 10-15-2002, 10:42 AM

personally, I've had good results using the preacher bench to "build" the lower* portion of my biceps ... but regardless of the exercise, you HAVE to go to full extension and really stretch the muscle (Spider Curls do an excellent job of this) ... I see too many people cheating either by swinging the weight or barely going past 90-degrees on the extension, which can make the biceps look "bunchy"

*there are two muscle regions in the bicep area: the Biceps Brachii compose the Long/Outer and Short/Inner heads, and are traditionally referred to as "The Biceps" ... but there is another muscle, the Brachialis, that sits below the Brachii at the elbow joint which "fills in" the lower portion of the muscle region, and is most affected by exercises like the Preacher Curl

confusion arises because the Brachialis is sometimes referred to as the "Lower Biceps", which is a bit of a misnomer if you consider the Brachii to be the "true biceps", for which there is no upper/lower

**brad fuel** · 10-15-2002, 02:23 PM

sorry i should have said preacher curl uses the short head more than the long head. rather than proximal and distal

**xenithon** · 10-18-2002, 12:57 AM

steroids . honestly - i have heard hundreds of ppl in the gy m say how they do certain excercises to target those humanly untargetable muscles parts - and it dont work. I believe you can strengthem or give certain parts a serious pump more than other - but it wont change your physical aspects in that respect

**saboudian** · 10-18-2002, 11:20 PM

i'm fairly neutral in this arguement in that i don't know enough about it to make a judgement but arnold suggests otherwise, in his encyclopedia he lists a few exercises that lengthen the biceps. i don't have a copy of it right now but if u have one i suppose its something to consider.

**RON** · 10-18-2002, 11:38 PM

Originally posted by brad fuel
sorry but preachers don't lengthen...they shorten your bicep. On the preacher curl, you're sitting with humerus slightly flexed which shortens your long head of the bicep.

To lengthen, sit on the incline bench and let the dumbells hang down. then curl it.

Incline is a peak building exercise but it can also lengthen. Preacher curls build the lower biceps (filling in the area below the peak) and lengthens the muscle. I know this from experience plus I have books that will support this if need be.

**brad fuel** · 10-19-2002, 03:06 AM

when i said lengthening i meant stretching it a bit. Not actually adding more sacromeres to your muscle.

**defdaz** · 10-19-2002, 08:34 AM

Hi Ron, would really appreciate it if you would get some info from these books on preacher curls lengthening your biceps... I doubt there's any valid information in there but I'm prepared to keep any open mind! TIA,

Daz

**RoNNy THe BuLL** · 10-19-2002, 08:46 AM

I'd stick with the standard barbell curl. Just stick with a weight you can control and let the bar drop all the way down and only bring it half way back up, always keep tension. Also, try reverse grip curls to add to your forearm to give the illusion of a full bicep.

**The French Curler** · 10-19-2002, 10:49 PM

You can't lengthen or peak a muscle, simply put, it's impossible.

**Anchor** · 10-20-2002, 01:47 AM

Here is an idea, why not just work on getting bigger biceps? U can have 17" short biceps! Nobody will laugh..

**defdaz** · 10-20-2002, 03:48 AM

Thank fook for Ronny the bull and the French Curler!! I was beginning to lose hope with this place!

**TheChosen1** · 07-26-2003, 04:22 PM

Personally, I get great results from simple barbell or cable curls done with the 21 system (Ironman curls). So far, no complaints.

If you want more exercises that will benefit just about any bodypart, go to www.abcbodybuilding.com. There are hundreds of routines and exercises there.