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Hybrid Cable-Barbell
Curls for
First, you will attach a low-pulley cable to the EZ bar or regular straight barbell (this is explained in detail below). Reach down and pick up the bar, taking a shoulder-width grip on the bar. Use a light to moderate weight on the bar and a light weight on the cable machine - you'll know why you need to start light after doing a few reps of this! Now take a big step back. This big step changes the angle of resistance that the cable will provide. Rather than pulling it straight up and down, you'll be pulling it up and back. This is more effective because the barbell curl is NOT a straight up and down movement but is actually an semicircular arc type of movement. Pulling the cable up and back means you're pulling directly backwards towards your face. In the standard barbell curl, you get NO backwards-pulling tension at the top and have to focus on squeezing the biceps hard yourself. With this direct angled tension, you simply won't have a choice and the tension stays on HARD! Now begin the curl movement. Keep your knees slightly bent, your core tight and your head looking straight forward. Because of the cable pulling you forward, you will need to lean back a little as you perform the exercise. During the first 2/3 of the range of motion, the cable is not actually moving very much. But as you come towards the top 1/3 of the range of motion, you'll notice the cable curl portion kicking in MUCH more. As you come to the top, as I mentioned above, you're actually pulling the cable directly towards your face, dramatically increasing the tension on the biceps at the top. This is very useful because you get increasing resistance only AFTER the sticking point (the weakest point) of the exercise. The biceps are biomechanically stronger in this top range of motion and can handle (and will thrive on!) the increased resistance that you're providing them. Hold for a 2 count at the top, squeezing the biceps hard, then lower slowly. Repeat for as many reps as you can do with good form then adjust the weight for your next sets, if you need to.
Band-Barbell CurlsThis exercise can also be done using a band attached to a solid object in front of you and looped around the bar (explained below). Use a light-tension band the first time you do this exercise to get a feel for how it's done. Here's a link to a site where you can get high-quality training bands for great prices. Bands are especially useful if you're training at home and don't have access to cable equipment. I HIGHLY recommended these bands as training tools. They're very versatile and incredibly effective. Here is the source where I get my bands from. Now, take a big step back to get some tension on the band at the start of the movement. Perform the curl exactly as described in the previous exercise, bringing the barbell towards your face and squeezing hard at the top. The increasing tension in the band puts a powerful contraction on the biceps at the top.
Attaching a Cable To a BarIt's a very simple process to attach a cable to a barbell. All you need to do is loop the cable around the bar and clip it back onto itself. There will be pictures of this process at the link below.
The only downside to this setup is that the cable may slide around on the surface of the bar if the bar tilts during the exercise as it has nothing to grip on. If you have a small towel, you can very easily place this on the bar first, then loop the cable on top of the towel. This will help keep the cable from moving or sliding around on the bar. As a general point, you
will almost ALWAYS use less weight on the cable than you will on the
barbell. For example, when doing cable-barbell curls, you may use
70 lbs on the bar and 30 lbs on the cable.
Hitching a Training Band To use a band with this exercise, you just need something solid to anchor the band onto. This can be a weight machine or a railing or even a dresser leg at home! It just needs to basically be an immovable object. It's a simple process to securely tie the bands onto a rail or post - you will use what is called a bale hitch. And you don't need to be in the Navy to figure out how to use it! To do the bale hitch, loop the entire band around the solid object. You have the two ends in your hands. Now pull one end through the loop of the other end. When you pull that end all the way through so the loop tightens up, it creates a secure hitch. Make this attachment low
to the ground for the band-barbell curl. For the barbell, just loop
the other end around the barbell and move it to the very center of
the bar. There's no need to hitch it onto the barbell - the tension
on the band during the exercise will keep it in place.
That's the exercise! Take this concept to the gym and give it a try...I can promise you'll feel the difference on the very first rep...and you'll feel a BIG difference by the very LAST rep...
Nick Nilsson P.S. If you want to read more about Hybrid Training and the concepts behind, I definitely recommend checking out the main site! Learn more about Hybrid Training here.
Plus, I've also got three
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