How To Do Bicep and Tricep Curls Right: Agava's Secret Formula

I recently saw a guy at the gym doing some “biceps curls”. It was itchy to my eyes and I was going back and forth in my head as to whether correcting him was the right thing to do or just minding my business. I had wondered why no one else at the gym had bothered to correct him, could it be that I alone had seen this error? I eventually decided to mind my business but I do regret that knowing that this guy may have spent months and of course money but haven't seen any concrete results. 

I have always been the self absorbed guy at the gym who just focused on his workout, I mean in my hay days though, when I found my footing. Once in a while I try to teach people I meet especially those who walk up to me. Some have done this when I do my bicep or tricep curls, testimonies are: “I make them want to do curls, my curls are fascinating”.

In a way, fate has designed a three subject experiment on my bicep/tricep  curls with three people at different levels of fitness.  A Sixteen year old ectomorph once hit the gym and wanted to change is lanky look into something more defined and bulky. I introduced him to my bicep curls when he approached me seeking to join the program. I gave him a set of 2 kg dumbells to begin the routine. He must have thought of them as light but this routine put an end to his workout for the day and he never seemed to return to the gym afterwards. No, I am not bragging as to the efficacy of this routine neither I'm I pleased to announce that it scared the little kid away, in fact he isn't alone. 

A renowned bodybuilder (mesomorph) met me at same gym on one of those days, I must add, I learnt some new tricep curls from him which I still use till date, however, introducing him to my own routine wasn't something he appreciated. He considered himself to have grown beyond the effects of such moves and thought it was only meant for beginners. He may have thought of it as “boring”. More recently, a fresh looking young man who had the “Zach Efron” body build also approached me while I did same bicep curls. He's intent was to join the program so he picked a set of 15kg dumbells and tried to do exactly what I did. I made a few corrections and the weights began to seem heavy so I advised him to switch to a 10kg set which he did but soon that began to seem heavy and he had to finally submit to a 5kg set. He eventually quit saying he was “fagged out” and left the gym. 

To be honest, I have been a little bit unhappy that most students who got interested in my bicep curls lost interest on the first day. I have only met one gym enthusiast who joined my program and finished a session with me although I have no idea if he sticked with it. 

When I began working out at the local gym, I had used these routines but I didn't invent them, I had just looked them up on the Google search engine, however, I did them right. Doing them “right” is the keyword here. The people who saw me at the time thought I would never see results with my routine, some also thought of it as boring so they never tried it out. Three weeks later, they were all astonished and began to ask for tips. 

I have been told that I make workout routines look easier than they actually are and my biceps curls are probably no different. But relax, if I can do them, you can. There are three reasons why people quit on this routine, some say it's difficult, others feel it has no effect while there are those who feel it's boring. it's a popular routine, at least most people think it's what they do although  a handful of them do it wrongly. 

It's something you can do but it will require patience and humility, yes humility. 

To do this right you must begin with light weights even as low as 2kg (this is where you have to be humble because other guys would look at you in a weird way trying to bulk up with a 2kg dumbbell) because it builds your inner strength and also pumps you up. You can't do it right with a 25kg dumbell or higher if your arms aren't built with strength.  So as a beginner, you must start small and progress slowly as you gain strength which should take a few weeks, that's where patience comes in. 

The secret is in the movement, your upper arm(biceps/triceps) stay in a fixed position while the elbow controls the lower arm in a oscillating or pendulous motion that moves the weight. The static position of the upper arm creates more effect on the biceps or triceps depending on the curls you do. People cheat when the upper arm moves with the lower arm and this happens because they try to curl with heavy weights. The preacher curl is probably best for a beginner as it provides a platform that keeps the upper arm at a stabilized position while the lower arm does the movement.  You should know, although the lower arm moves, the upper arm actually carries the weight by virtue of it's stabilized position. If the lower and upper arms move together, the effect of the weight is spread across the whole arm and elbow, thus creating less effect on biceps or triceps and eventually inhibiting results. That's the simple magic, that's the secret, do this with cables too and you would see lasting results.

The importance of building strength in your arms is that such strength is needed when you have to do pull ups, bench press or ‘bar-dips’. I hope the images help to illustrate this movement. If you are not  satisfied with the images, please see a full visual demonstration here.