Bicep strength

The way I see it, the biceps has two functions, to generate bent arm strenght and to stabilize the elbow in straight arm elements, and at least from my experience they being strong in one doesn't mean that you'll be strong in the other, ie. I have pretty decent bent arm strenght (i can do Ido's 9090 one arm iso holds and a OAC on a good day) but my straight arm strenght sucks to strenghten those two fields I utilize three excercies which you may find useful because they are very adjustable to your current level:

-for bent arm strength I do uneven grip chin ups, with the supporting hand usually ~40cm lower than the pulling one, with this exercise you can easily gauge your progress and it isn't as hard on the elbows as the 9090 or OACs, so I find it quite good for laying a foundation for those, however chins have some cons, which braindx stated

- for straight arm strength I use these pushups currently on me knees with rings ~5-7 cms above the ground, also very adjustable, and I'm seeing some nice gains from them, I also do them planche exercises posted by Gregor with fingers pointing backwards.

hope it helps

Thanks for the insight.

for bent arm strength I do uneven grip chin ups, with the supporting hand usually ~40cm lower than the pulling one

I can't visualize the exercise, is there a video/picture?

I also do them planche exercises posted by Gregor with fingers pointing backwards.

Which thread is this?

I can't really use search..

search.php?keywords=planche&terms=any&author=Gregor&sc=1&sf=titleonly&sr=posts&sk=t&sd=d&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search

irongymnast said:

I also do them planche exercises posted by Gregor with fingers pointing backwards.

Which thread is this?

I can't really use search..

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1011

Chris said:

The way I see it, the biceps has two functions, to generate bent arm strenght and to stabilize the elbow in straight arm elements, and at least from my experience they being strong in one doesn't mean that you'll be strong in the other, ie. I have pretty decent bent arm strenght (i can do Ido's 9090 one arm iso holds and a OAC on a good day) but my straight arm strenght sucks to strenghten those two fields I utilize three excercies which you may find useful because they are very adjustable to your current level:

-for bent arm strength I do uneven grip chin ups, with the supporting hand usually ~40cm lower than the pulling one, with this exercise you can easily gauge your progress and it isn't as hard on the elbows as the 9090 or OACs, so I find it quite good for laying a foundation for those, however chins have some cons, which braindx stated

- for straight arm strength I use these pushups currently on me knees with rings ~5-7 cms above the ground, also very adjustable, and I'm seeing some nice gains from them, I also do them planche exercises posted by Gregor with fingers pointing backwards.

hope it helps

Thanks a lot. I believe this will come up for me sometime in the future.

irongymnast said:

Thanks for the insight.

for bent arm strength I do uneven grip chin ups, with the supporting hand usually ~40cm lower than the pulling one

I can't visualize the exercise, is there a video/picture?

GsWlEfYIjvI

I have tried this holding onto rope and a ring too. Another one I do is just holding the bar as normal but with 2 fingers of the assisting hand so you are forced to pull more with the hand you are really training. I find these much easier on the elbows as I am afraid of tendonitis too (and am too weak anyways :wink: )

Gregor said:

I do a litlle biceps work with weight, but more or less high weights and low reps....I noticed a bit helpful for swallows (maltese), less pain in biceps after workout.

I can not believe what I'm reading ... the secret to those great biceps gymnasts professional staff is doing curls?! :|

Mikael said:

Gregor said:

I do a litlle biceps work with weight, but more or less high weights and low reps....I noticed a bit helpful for swallows (maltese), less pain in biceps after workout.

I can not believe what I'm reading ... the secret to those great biceps gymnasts professional staff is doing curls?! :|

He didn't say that curls gave him the most biceps hypertrophy, just that they helped somewhat with maltese.

Anyways, I have a question for anyone.

On the inverted curls, are you supposed to keep your elbows to the side of the hips while curling, or on the front, leveraged on the ASIS?

trianglechoke7 said:

Mikael said:

Gregor said:

I do a litlle biceps work with weight, but more or less high weights and low reps....I noticed a bit helpful for swallows (maltese), less pain in biceps after workout.

I can not believe what I'm reading ... the secret to those great biceps gymnasts professional staff is doing curls?! :|

He didn't say that curls gave him the most biceps hypertrophy, just that they helped somewhat with maltese.

Ok, I agree ... but the question is whether the majority of gymnasts professionals do that too, and another question: curls would help non-athletes in their goals (Basic Strength work)?

You don't need to do curls...

I did maximal strength curls: 1-3 lifts with 55 kg or litle more.

Gregor said:

You don't need to do curls...

I did maximal strength curls: 1-3 lifts with 55 kg or litle more.

single arm curl?

I hope not, I'll feel like a wimp.

Gregor said:

You don't need to do curls...

I did maximal strength curls: 1-3 lifts with 55 kg or litle more.

but I'm talking about that ... maximal strength curls not help anyone develop their Basic Strength work? or only helps those who are professionals?

It helped me a litlle in a malteses, cca 5-10%.

Both arm curls I did this 1 month treatment.

what is cca?

approximately

rubadub said:

irongymnast said:

Thanks for the insight.

for bent arm strength I do uneven grip chin ups, with the supporting hand usually ~40cm lower than the pulling one

I can't visualize the exercise, is there a video/picture?

GsWlEfYIjvI

I have tried this holding onto rope and a ring too. Another one I do is just holding the bar as normal but with 2 fingers of the assisting hand so you are forced to pull more with the hand you are really training. I find these much easier on the elbows as I am afraid of tendonitis too (and am too weak anyways :wink: )

The higher reps per set will help stave off tendonitis since the exercise is less intense. When most people do eccentrics it's nearly their 1-3 RM so it stresses the tendons a lot leading to potential overuse.

Now, if you grabbed lower... and were only able to do a couple reps then you may or may not start having some problems later on with overuse.

trianglechoke7 said:

Mikael said:

Gregor said:

I do a litlle biceps work with weight, but more or less high weights and low reps....I noticed a bit helpful for swallows (maltese), less pain in biceps after workout.

I can not believe what I'm reading ... the secret to those great biceps gymnasts professional staff is doing curls?! :|

He didn't say that curls gave him the most biceps hypertrophy, just that they helped somewhat with maltese.

Anyways, I have a question for anyone.

On the inverted curls, are you supposed to keep your elbows to the side of the hips while curling, or on the front, leveraged on the ASIS?

If you're aiming to isolate the biceps then you have to anchor your upper arm. So for this standing example you can brace against the ASIS. Like I said on the previous pages you can do things like preachers to isolate them well.

Mikael said:

trianglechoke7 said:

Mikael said:

I can not believe what I'm reading ... the secret to those great biceps gymnasts professional staff is doing curls?! :|

He didn't say that curls gave him the most biceps hypertrophy, just that they helped somewhat with maltese.

Ok, I agree ... but the question is whether the majority of gymnasts professionals do that too, and another question: curls would help non-athletes in their goals (Basic Strength work)?

We discussed this on the previous page.

If you're not working upper level strength moves it is unlikely that you will need them.

It's better to use your training capacity on compound movements to develop basic strength, coordination, and proprioception.

thanks, helped a lot!

niftyvt said:

I would say 5 sets of 3-5 reps, or 3 sets of 3-5 reps if you are really pushing your weight limit.

I've done that at the end of strength training, resulting in: increased strength of the planche and other exercises of straight arm!

2 times a week i do maximum biceps strength with my boys.

just curls and more weight than they can curl, they can slower the way down and i help with teh way up. i always thought the deltoideus was the most important muscle in gymnastics now i think (for sure on rings) the biceps is.

watch dimitri karbonenko ( think when you look at the bigger gymnasts you can see the most important muscles)

Oh yea, biceps are one of the keys to the straight arm strength! As you say, if you look at the strongest rings guys, they nearly all have BULGING biceps! It's pretty crazy.

I've found that using a thick barbell works better than a thin barbell, because it helps develop the forearm and wrist flexors, all of which are nearly as important as the biceps. They make up the other half of the elbow joint, after all.