The Barbell Curl is the king of
bicep exercises. You want big biceps, you do barbell curls.
But when you get to a certain level of development, the standard
strict barbell curl doesn't always give your biceps enough growth
stimulation to get the job done.
That's where the Barbell Cheat
Curl comes in. Here's the key...you're not cheating just to
use more weight. Anybody can fling heavy weights around...the
key here is to use the small cheating movement to put MORE tension
on the biceps.
Basically, you're cheating
to make the biceps work HARDER, not to make the exercise easier
just so you can put bigger plates on the barbell. Ego lifting
is not what we're looking for here.
We're only going SLIGHTLY heavier
than normal and we're only using a small bit of body movement
to help move the weight. The Barbell Cheat Curl is NOT a license
to thrust your hips around like you're trying to a ring a doorbell
with your hip bone.
Definitely watch the video on
this one to get an idea of much body movement you should be
using.
So in order to properly perform
a barbell cheat curl, you want to use body movement to add some
momentum to the bar to get it past the sticking point of the
exercise where the elbows are bent 90 degrees.
Here's what it looks like:
First, you grip the barbell with
a shoulder-width grip. Keep your knees slightly bent through
the entire movement to act as shock absorbers. This is very
important! You also want to be sure you're not rounding the
back but that you keep an arch in your lower back and keep your
abs tight to support the core and spine.
From the start position, bring
your hips back and lean forward a bit. You're going to be using
a quick forward thrust from your hips to help get the weight
moving.
So use your hips to push the barbell
forward and get some momentum. Not a lot but just enough to
help get the bar moving and complete the rep. At the same time,
start the curling movement with powerful contraction.
As you get towards the top, lean
back a bit. Be VERY sure to keep your knees bent and your core
tight here!
As you bring the barbell to the
top, bring your upper body back to vertical. You're now in the
"normal" top position of the barbell curl. Lower the
weight back down and repeat!
Like I said above, this is NOT
a license to start flinging the weight around and using massive
cheating movements. This is a technique to actually make the
exercise HARDER and put MORE tension on the biceps. Too much
cheating will take tension OFF and defeat the purpose of the
exercise.
Check out the video demo of the
cheat curl in action:
