Here's a little known exercise you can use to boost arm size in a hurry.
The one-arm barbell curl. It's performed just as it sounds. Grab a barbell with one hand and curl it.
It's simple. But certainly NOT easy. You grab the barbell in the dead center of the bar. Then you've got to keep your elbow firmly planted in your side to keep your balance. Plus, you've got squeeze the bar HARD to keep the bar balanced.
Start with just the empty barbell - which provides 45 pounds of resistance. When that gets too easy, add some additional weight.
If the empty 45-pound barbell is too difficult for you at first, fear not. Here's an easy way to build the necessary strength fast.
Perform close grip curls using the empty barbell. So essentially you are curling the barbell with both hands next to each other - your pinkies should almost be touching each other.
When that gets too easy, try holding the bar with your forefinger and thumb of your left hand on TOP of the bar. So essentially you'll be curling the bar using only 8 fingers. In this manner, you can keep taking fingers from your left hand out of the equation until you're curling the bar with only one hand.
The one-arm barbell curl is a fun, circus-type movement that forces you to concentrate, squeeze the bar hard and stay in balance. This combination usually results in new muscle growth.
For a fun biceps blasting workout, try the following.
3 sets of 10 regular barbell bicep curls. (1 minute rest between sets).
Followed by...
3 sets of 7 close grip barbell bicep curls. (1 minute rest between sets.)
Followed by...
2 sets of 5 one-arm barbell bicep curls (No rest. As soon as you finish with one arm, switch hands and keep going. Perform 2 sets for each arm.)
You'll obviously need to reduce the weight when switching from regular barbell curls to close grip, and then again when switching from close grip barbell curls to the one-arm variety.
This quickie workout will only take about 7 minutes but your biceps will be sore for days. One of the keys to making progress with your workouts is to avoid boredom. Nobody talks about this but boredom is one of the main reasons why people fail to make progress.
So if you're feeling bored with your regular workouts, try some one-arm barbell curls. You'll have fun and you will end up with bigger biceps too.
Matt Marshall is the author of the Tried and True Fitness blog - a site that reveals time-tested methods for building muscle, burning fat and achieving optimum health.
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