[islander]

Cannonball hard: ultraheavy isolation curls for biceps size and hardness

Flex, March, 2003 by Markus Ruhl


People come up to me and say, "You are the hardest bodybuilder I've ever seen. Even your biceps seem to be carved from granite." Cannonball biceps are a treasure to possess, and if they're rutted with separations, all the better. Anyone can develop biceps that are big and defined, simply from biding their time with low-rep compound and high-rep isolation exercises. However, to project the message that you are an iron-hard mass monster, you have to do more: You must combine high- and low-rep compound exercises with high- and low-rep isolation exercises. Fortunately, most bodybuilders can't stand the ordeal. Personally, I love it.


Too much, perhaps, because my biceps became so hard and massive that the muscle distorted some of those pretty shapes. Now, all that's left are mountains of rocky mass and knots of muscle that poke out where they shouldn't and spill over into crevices that should have remained empty. That leaves the impression that my tie-ins are not deep enough, but I can live with that. Let others debate matters of aesthetics; I'd rather be accused of having too much muscle than too little.

I'm not recommending that you sacrifice your aesthetics as I did; I'm only proving to you that the impossible is no longer what it seemed. I achieved maximum hardness in my biceps without compromising their maximum mass. Maybe you can do the same. Here's how it all happened for me.

Since low reps and heavy weight build overall size, and since isolation movements build isolated hardness, I thought that by combining the two--using low reps with heavy weight for isolation movements--I could have the best of both worlds: overall biceps mass with hardness inside and out.

What I didn't realize was how tough such workouts would be. With .a compound movement, low reps and heavy weight are manageable, because other muscles are involved, but when the biceps alone are forced to handle that much poundage, the pain and stress are almost unbearable. I feel it all the way to the core of the muscle. The deepest tissues are not merely being pumped with blood; they're being strained and contracted. They're working.

Furthermore, I'm using exercises that keep that stress focused precisely where I want it. Sometimes that's the center of my biceps belly; at other times, it's the upper insertion, lower insertion, brachialis, inner head or outer head.

Since I'm applying such heavy weight to an isolated muscle, I pyramid up through a wide range of reps, starting with 20 or 30 to failure, in order to pre-exhaust the biceps, then making big jumps before finishing with a superheavy, superstrict, superintense set, sometimes as low as six reps. As I curl, I try to keep my eye on the precise area I'm targeting, in order to burn in the mind-muscle connection and hammer hardness deeper with every rep.

The technique I've found that produces the quickest burn is to follow a basic free-weight exercise with another targeting the same area, such as standing barbell curls followed by seated cambered-bar half-curls or two-arm cable half-curls; or barbell preacher curls followed by one-arm dumbbell preacher curls or one-arm cable power curls. To create a permanent hatred of hardness training, try supersetting these combinations!

Experiment and improvise with your favorite exercises. To illustrate, here's how I do four of my favorite biceps exercises.

SEATED CAMBERED-BAR HALF-CURLS

Try these. You'll hate them. Since you're using very heavy weight, yet curling through only the top half of the movement, every set sucks your lungs dry, tugs at that hard strap of muscle across your biceps peaks, and pulls at your upper and lower tie-ins until they want to rip, If you'd like to fill empty pits between your upper tie-ins and delts, and if you'd like to make the bellies of your biceps iron-hard, these are for you.

When I want to prioritize biceps hardness, I start my workout with standing barbell curls, six sets of four reps, then follow with four sets of seated cambered-bar half-curls, six reps each. Every couple of weeks, try the following as a shock routine for hardness: Superset these two exercises for eight sets each, 30 reps down to four for standing barbell curls, 30 reps down to six for seated cambered-bar half-curls.

Also superset this exercise with alternate dumbbell curls.

STANDING TWO-ARM CABLE HALF-CURLS

These are the ideal complement for seated cambered-bar half-curls, picking up the lower half of the movement to deepen the lower split between the two biceps heads, bolster the bottom tie-in and increase the density of the lower half of the belly.

Proper form is important. Keep your elbows at your sides, and curl through a forward arc to just above horizontal. Employ constant tension and use the same slow pace for both contraction and extension. You'll need a lot of air to keep these going to muscle failure, so suck it in with each rep.

Alternate workouts, starting with standing barbell curls followed by seated cambered-bar half-curls for one workout, then standing barbell curls followed by these for the next workout; or start with six sets of standing barbell curls, then superset seated cambered-bar half-curls with these for four sets each, 20 reps for the first set down to six reps for the last.
My personal favorite for a hardness shock routine is to triset all three for six sets each, 20 reps the first time through, six reps for the last triset.

ONE-ARM PREACHER CURLS

Put the hardness where you want it with this one. To broaden the bulge of your lower biceps, bias your body forward. To thicken your upper biceps and wrap them farther under your front delt, draw your body back slightly. Hold the dumbbell level to squeeze hardness into both heads. Pronate it slightly to hammer hardness into the outer head and brachialis. Supinate it for the inner head.

CAUTION: Pronate or supinate only during lighter high-rep sets (12 or more reps). Twisting the wrist while using heavy dumbbells can cause serious ulnar injury. For sets of 11 reps or less, keep the dumbbell level and your wrist locked.

Maintain constant tension. Do not cheat and do not rock backward with your body. Curl only by means of biceps contraction. Squeeze up and squeeze down, at the same pace.

Do not sequence two one-arm exercises; the rest interval between them becomes excessive. Instead, combine this exercise with a two-arm movement, such as cambered-bar preacher curls, paired either as tandem straight sets or as a superset. Either way, I do four sets each, 20 reps for the first set and six reps for the last.

ONE-ARM CABLE POWER CURLS

This exercise puts to rest any idea that one-arm cable movements are for wimps. Nothing beats it for adding lumpy width to the upper arm. By bracing my arm against my side, then curling across the front of my body, close, with very heavy weight, I can combine the disparate effects of a leveraged cheat curl with a concentration curl; in other words, it's a mass builder, as well as an isolated hardness movement.

Versatility is its major virtue. I can pronate my hand to hammer my outer biceps head, brachialis and outer forearm; I can supinate to widen my inner biceps head and thicken both peaks; I can pull, rather than curl, to extend and harden my biceps tie-ins; and I can harden any cross section of my biceps simply by changing my approach angle to the cable.

To drive in hardness from contrasting angles, pair this close-to-the-body position with an extended-arms position (such as that used with seated cambered-bar half-curls, standing two-arm cable half-curls or cambered-bar or barbell preacher curls). Tandem straight sets and supersets are equally effective. Use both.

FINALLY The accompanying charts illustrate how I incorporate these exercises into my once-a-week biceps workouts. By following this program and its techniques, you will add size and hardness to your biceps. Give my workouts a try, then write to me immediately afterward. If you have the arm strength left to actually write a letter, I'll know you held something back during the workout.

MARKUS RUHL'S CANNONBALL I WORKOUT

EXERCISE SETS * REPS

Barbell curls 6 4-30
Seated cambered-bar half-curls 4 6-30
Dumbbell curls 6 6-20
Cambered-bar preacher curls 4 + 4-20
Standing two-arm cable half-curls 4 + 4-20

* Beginners and intermediates should do only three sets per exercise.

+ Beginners should not perform these exercise as part of this workout.

Note: Warm up thoroughly and use good form throughout.

MARKUS RUHL'S CANNONBALL II WORKOUT

EXERCISE SETS * REPS

Standing barbell curls 8 30-4
superset with
Seated cambered-bar half-curls 8 30-6

Alternate dumbbelf curls 6 20-6
superset with
Standing two-arm cable half-curls 6 20-6

* All sets are pyramided. Intermediates should do only three supersets
of each combo.

Note: Warm up thoroughly and use good form throughout. Beginners should
not follow this routine.

MARKUS RUHL'S CANNONBALL III WORKOUT

EXERCISE SETS * REPS

Trisets
Standing barbell curls 6 20-6
Seated cambered-bar half-curls 6 20-6
Standing two-arm cable half-curls 6 20-6

Cambered-bar preacher curls 4 20-4
superset with
One-arm cable power curls 4 20-6

* All sets are pyramided

You can only harden your biceps if you bury your concentration deep into the molten belly beneath their peaks. Think, and think hard, about that spot until your mind ignites it. Start your squeeze from that roaring core, and let it build. Feel it force its way to the surface like an erupting volcano. All the while, squeeze hard behind it to help it along. Right now, no other part of your body exists; only your cannonball biceps. They're heavy solid iron, but you are melting them with the force of your contraction. Think of nothing else.

[chrispghmuscle]

Dam fine reading

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