Group: Beginners to Exercise

Created: 2012/01/01, Members: 970, Messages: 18927

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bicep curls

Cristi72
Cristi72
Posts: 14
Joined: 2005/06/23
United States
2005/07/08, 11:33 AM
What is the difference between standing barbell curls and cheat curls? They are both in my program for this week(same day) but the descriptions of the exercises are the same.
bropie
bropie
Posts: 1,084
Joined: 2004/12/04
Canada
2005/07/08, 03:05 PM
with regular curls there is always gravity at work, and the resistance is pulling up and down. so essentially you are not always lifting in direct opposition to the weight, hence the exercise is less effective in certain pts of the movement.
machines have been designed to prevent this, but you can also do it with a free weight that is too heavy for strict movement. when you swing your shoulders and back, you are also forcing the bicep to work to its max at every pt along the movement.
a barbell or dumbell is harder to lift at the pt where your forearms are parallel to the floor than at the beginning of a curl. doing cheat curls, you can use a weight that feels very heavy at the easy part, and then cheat a little to get past the hard part where the resistance is too great to overcome using strict technique.

hope this isnt too confusing..
Cristi72
Cristi72
Posts: 14
Joined: 2005/06/23
United States
2005/07/08, 04:58 PM
Sounds very technical...but I think I understand. Thanks!
bropie
bropie
Posts: 1,084
Joined: 2004/12/04
Canada
2005/07/08, 05:04 PM
lol.. i was reading it out of a book and kind of in a rush.. essentially with a normal curl resistance is always pulling in one plane. by "cheating", you are changing the way you are pulling the weight, hence changing the planes, and forcing your muscle to work in ways it usually doesnt