Hi and welcome to Natural Aesthetics. This blog, along with my Youtube channel :http://www.youtube.com/user/naturalaestheticstv is dedicated to building muscle and strength without drugs.
For some reason, alot of trainees neglect the principles of progressive overload when it comes to training their arms. Their all for training the bench press and lat pulldown with progressively heavier weights in the low rep ranges, but when its time to curl they seem satisfied with lifting baby weights for high reps. As if suddenly their training style that has served them so well on other areas of their body is no longer necessary for arms; the same rules don't apply?
Too often, trainees put a limit on the weights they use for arm exercises, for fear of using the slightest bit of momentum or hip swing and being labelled a 'cheater', so they stick at 16kg and see little progression in arm development.
The curl is one of the best exercises to cheat on, because its one of the few exercises that allow for it.What happens when you reach failure on squats or deadlift or bench press and shoulder press? Nothing, the set is over; there is nothing more you can do once your muscular energy is spent. On pressing exercises you could perhaps use a spotter to blast a few more out, focusing more on the negative portion of the rep as your concentric strength dwindles. Well curling with a slight hip swing is like self-spotting. Your carrying on the movement past failure and focusing on the eccentric phase (negative) for a few more reps...which as we all know is arguably even more important in strength and size development than the concentric contraction (positive).
Arms should be trained in the same manner as every other body part to maximize progress. If your arms get stronger they WILL get bigger, it is only a matter of time. The notion that arms will grow by chasing the pump with light weights every session is ridiculous. Trainees will often copy the movements and training of massive bodybuilders who train with relatively light weights...however what they don't realize is that almost anything is conducive to hypertrophy when spending thousands of pounds on drugs.
Think for yourself and dont be afraid of doing something different in your training. Dont limit yourself to certain weights when training arms just because its not the 'norm' - dont worry what others are thinking!. If a trainee progresses to 50kg dumbell cheat curls do you not think that their arms will be big? They will be strict curling weights that you couldnt even cheat curl!! You will not find anyone who can curl massive amounts of weight properly with small arms, just like you will never find a skinny guy who can bench 140kg for reps.
Cheat curls are a great tool for increasing the strength and size of your arms. They will build your strength beyond belief and the pay off on your forearm development from holding such big weights will be worth the effort alone! I havnt been using these techniques lately as regularly as i would like during my arm training, however i shall be going back to basics for a few months whilst continuing my bulk and cheat curling every session. With progressive overload in mind, I believe a set or 2 of cheat curls per session combined with a higher volume of work at light to moderate weights repped out in strict fashion will produce maximal arms gains...one should not neglect either styles of training.
Cheat Curls are not to be overlooked!!
Ross, Natural Aesthetics
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