Are you using your back while lifting weights?

Well I was at the gym on saturday and was talking to a former lifter and he was talking to me about how people at the gym lift heavy weights doing the 1-6 reps . He was telling me how the quantity and weight does not matter it matters how you do the curls such as biceps curls. Most people start using their back while others stay at a weight that they can do 4sets of 10 reps doing weights they can control without using their back. This puts more emphasis on the biceps. I use to be able to do more reps while using my back because got to tired so had to use the back aftera certain amount of repetitions. So try this out try not using your back or other body parts while doing a certain excercise and u will feel more of a failure in your biceps or any other msucle part you are trying to work out with a certain excercise.
 
Last edited:
Your friend is part right.

You should not assist a row or curl using the back.

However, weight and volume does matter.

One set is not as good as three. Six rep sets at 85-90% of your one rep max is good for building strength.

EDIT -- I corrected the first line.
 
Last edited:
and by the same token it can be easy to cheat by using some shoulders when doing curls. the upper arm should NOT move. this is part of why some people get better results when doing isolation curls...they isolate the bicep by keeping the upper arm stuck in place, so now they do the exercise proper, and see gains.
 
malkore said:
and by the same token it can be easy to cheat by using some shoulders when doing curls. the upper arm should NOT move. this is part of why some people get better results when doing isolation curls...they isolate the bicep by keeping the upper arm stuck in place, so now they do the exercise proper, and see gains.
I definitely agree with this, even with very strict form I see better gains with a concentration curl.
 
Back
Top