What's up, guys? Jeff Cavaliere, ATHLEANX.com. Today we want to talk about growing your biceps
and whether or not thereās an advantage to lifting heavier weights, in trying to do
so, or lifting lighter weights. Guys, Iām going to spoil something for you
here. But donāt go anywhere, because itās going
to matter. You have to do both. You should be lifting heavy. You should be lifting light. However, what you should be lifting right
now is something that can vary from person to person. Something is different for you, versus somebody
else, depending upon the situation you find yourself in right now. Thatās what I want to address in this video. So, what are we talking about? When we talk about lifting heavier or lighter
weights it really comes down to something more about the contribution of muscles in
a more heavy, compound lift. Or the need to find more of a mind-muscle
control over a muscle in an individual, smaller, isolated, lighter lift. To start that and dig into that we need to
hold up three fingers. In this we have representation of three muscles
contributing in a bigger, compound lift. We know if I try to contract this muscle alone
and bring my finger down here to my palm I can ā do this along with me ā youāll
feel thereās a certain level of power you can do that with. When I take the middle finger and do that,
thereās a certain level of power I can do that with in strength. Then the last finger, when I bring it down,
thereās a certain level of strength I can do that with. But we know when I try to move the three together,
I can do it with much more force. Itās a lot easier to bring these three together. Obviously, thereās some connectivity of
the tendon here, in this particular example, but it illustrates what happens in the compound
lift. The contributing parts have the ability to
contribute in different ways to the overall impact of that lift. Think about, in the case of biceps, the weighted
chin. Iāve gone on record saying that a weighted
chin-up is one of my favorite ways to use a compound lift, heavy overload to provide
a greater stimulus for growth in my biceps. However, we do know from research that you
can actively contribute more or less to a lift from a certain muscle group based on
focusing heavily on the muscle thatās contributing. So, if Iām up on that bar ā I have an
exercise I call the āchin curlā ā I can bring myself up more with my biceps than
with my lats, just by focusing more on changing the alignment of my body and space on the
bar. By actively trying to contract more in the
biceps, keeping more of a 90-degree angle, instead of folding them down. I can do that and shift the focus of that
lift. So, if thatās possible we need to know that
mind-muscle control over a muscle is going to heavily influence our performance on those
bigger lifts, leading to bigger and better size gains down the road. If we maximize and optimize our ability to
recruit that muscle. At that point, the ability to have mind-muscle
control becomes imperative. Even as a starting point before you start
to pile on in these more compound lifts. We did some tests before. I said āWhat is your mind-muscle control? Do you know how much control you have over
your biceps?ā A) When you do your bicep workouts do you
ever feel it in your biceps? Or are you just feeling it in your forearms
or shoulders, maybe even your low back? Thatās a sign one that itās not working
for you. Sign number two would be, if we could take
that bicep into its most shortened position can you feel it? Is it uncomfortable to contract in that position? To reiterate something Iāve covered in a
video before, we know that the biceps are contracted when we flex the elbow, when we
supinate here like this, of part one. Part two. Then we flex the shoulder and bring it up. So, if I get in this position here and I squeeze
as hard as I possibly can I can feel it very, very uncomfortable right here. I canāt hold this very long without cramping
up. I want you to be able to feel the same thing. If you donāt, you donāt have a good mind-muscle
control. So, when you go to your compound lifts, if
you go to the weighted chin, youāre not really using your biceps as much as you might
think you are. Remember, this is hiding the weaknesses and
imbalances. If I canāt do this with much strength, or
this with much strength, or this with much strength, but I do this, and it feels strong;
Iām not aware of the fact that the imbalances and weaknesses are there. So, we want to make sure we reveal those. If youāre someone that I just described
who canāt do that and feel that, becoming really uncomfortable, or you donāt feel
your biceps in your training what do you do? Your specific prescription is to do this:
maybe forego the heavy barbell cheat curls like you see me doing here. Guys, Iāve covered this exercise. I love this one, too. But if Iām not feeling it in my biceps,
why continue to do it? Just because I said itās a good exercise? No. You need to do whatās good for you. So, what you need to do is start mixing in
more of these exercises like this. This is lighter weights. This is a spider curl. The benefit of the spider curl is that it
puts me in that position where the biceps are in the position of being able to be fully
contracted. We have supination, we have elbow flexion,
and we have that shoulder flexion with our arm up here, out in front of our body. Work on progressively building up the ability
to contract that with good force. Which means I might have to dial back the
weights considerably to do that. But thatās okay because in the long term
itās going to be better in the overall pursuit of bigger biceps. Or I could do a standing dumbbell curl this
way, here. Again, the focus is not to lift like a cheat
curl. Itās to lift with lighter weights, but to
get all three components. Getting that shoulder flexion in, even at
the every, very end. Not too early because we donāt want to activate
the delts and make them take over the movement. That would be reinforcing something thatās
already wrong. We want to get them at the end. So, first flex, at the same time youāve
got the supination going. Then we have the shoulder flexion at the end. But I would work on these with priority. But donāt abandon the other, bigger lifts. Donāt abandon the weighted chin. You could still do the weighted chin because
we know what the benefits are of that exercise. Far beyond building bigger biceps. Itās a great pulling exercise. But donāt think thatās going to be your
primary bicep builder if you canāt feel your biceps at all when you do it. So, continue to do it for your back and as
a pulling exercise, but shift the focus of your bicep training to this. Now letās say youāre already in a position
where you feel your biceps. You can do this and feel it. You could do your bigger lifts and you feel
it. How much reliance do you need to do these
things? Not very much. But donāt abandon them entirely. Hereās why: if I have the ability to feel
these moves, like I do ā I have the ability to really do what I said those studies tell
us we can do. That is to focus more on my biceps and recruit
more biceps to a particular compound lift. If I have that ability, then focus more of
your time on those bigger ābang-for-your-buckā exercises. Do an underhand barbell row and really squeeze
your biceps to get more recruitment there. Do a weighted chin and really squeeze your
biceps. If thatās what youāre trying to do. The focus of this video is building bigger
biceps. Do those. Do your barbell cheat curls. But donāt forget these because you never
want to forget the fact that this is the basis of allowing us to contribute more individually
to these exercises. We know that as this mind-muscle control improves
we take that improved strength of one finger back to this three-finger movement here. We know weāve got a greater output in strength. Improve this one, improve this one, improve
all three; we have a greater output. Itās important. You want to reinforce that at all times. You donāt just need to rely on that so much. One exercise is fine. Itās the same concept as doing rotator cuff
work as a corrective. Itās reinforcing something we know we need. That becomes the role for you. Start focusing more on those bigger lifts
and not relying on these things and building that basis. But if you find yourself in that first situation
where you do not have good control, be real with yourself, guys. Donāt just do what I said was a great exercise. Be real with yourself. Realize your limitations and realize at the
end of it, if you focus more time here, youāre going to be better off. One last point Iāll make about this is mind-muscle
control. There are other benefits of this, guys. Of course, there are more benefits here. The benefits are both aesthetic and athletic. Aesthetically, we know that as mind-muscle
control build in a muscle, weāre more efficiently able to recruit the muscle fibers of a certain
muscle to an action, then the resting tone of that muscle goes up. People say āJeff, you look like your muscles
are harder than mine.ā Itās only a matter of muscle tone. My resting muscle tone is higher than someone
elseās who might be hypotonic. Thatās because Iāve been able to develop
that over time. The resting tone is going to be higher. Performance-wise, we know how critical it
is to athletic performance. You need to have graded muscular control over
an action to be a great athlete. Graded muscle control means being able to
grade the ability that your body reacts to some activity. If I said ā like Jesse, here. Here, pick up this bottle of water, bring
it to your lips, and drink it. This is what it would look like if he had
the ability to grade that just perfectly so he can bring it up and drink it. If he was hypertonic, where he had an overreactive
control of his muscles, where he couldnāt fine tune this, he would look like this. And you get pretty damn wet in the process. The fact is, athletically, you benefit extremely
from having precise control over a muscle, and mind-muscle control matters very, very
much. So, guys, I hope youāve found this video
helpful. Again, be honest with where you are yourself. If youāre more toward this point where this
is already something you feel then veer toward those heavier, compound lifts and realize
you do have the ability at any point to focus that contribution of a certain muscle by focusing
more on it, as the research shows. And if youāre on the other side of that
spectrum, be honest with yourself and start lifting some of the lighter weights and build
up to the fact that you can move toward the heavier compounds over time All right, guys. I hope youāve found the video helpful. Remember to leave your comments below. Let me know what you want me to cover in a
future video and Iāll do my best to do that. If you havenāt already, please subscribe
and turn on your notifications so you never miss a video. Also, if youāre looking for programs that
put the science back in strength, realizing there are differences between us, and we show
you how to get yourself there, step by step; theyāre available in our programs at ATHLEANX.com. All right, guys. See you soon.
In the video, Jeff mentions spider curls for being in a position where biceps is able to be fully contracted. Actually, I personally never tried these spider curls, but maybe would wanna try them. How often a week would you recommend to make them? Twice?