You Need a Strong Upper Body to Ride Well—This Bicep Curl Variation Will Help
You’d be hard pressed (er, pulled) to find someone who doesn’t think biceps curls are the best exercise for building biceps. But going about your work from another angle with this curl variation from Jeff Cavaliere, C.S.C.S., creator of Athlean-X training program, can help you to work all of the muscles in your arm for an even stronger upper body—important for holding a better position on the bike and making you more aerodynamic when you need to be.
Called a cross-body reverse curl, in this movement you’ll take up your dumbbells in a pronated (overhand) grip with your palm facing down, instead of the usual supinated (underhanded) or neutral grip you'd use for standard biceps or hammer curls.
You’re switching up your grip and movement path for more than just variety’s sake. Rather than lifting the weight straight up, squeeze your muscles to lift the dumbbell across your torso. You’ll actually wind up targeting different muscles thanks to these changes.
“[It’s] a good way to [hit] the two best bicep helpers: the brachioradialis in the forearm and the brachialis in the upper arm,” Cavaliere writes in an Instagram post demonstrating the movement. If you only stick to classic hammer curls workout after workout, you'll be “forgetting about the supporting cast,” he says.
A post shared by ATHLEAN-X? | Jeff Cavaliere (@athleanx) on Jan 4, 2020 at 7:43pm PST
When you make the move to the cross-body reverse curl, maximize the strain (and therefore gains) on these “supporting” muscles by actively gripping the dumbbell, really emphasizing the squeeze.
[Looking to start cross training but don’t know where to start? The Beginner’s Guide to Strength Training will teach you all the fundamentals to get the most out of your weight session, priming you for stronger miles in the saddle.]
Just as importantly, hold the dumbbell at the top of each rep for a half-second. This increases the time your muscles are under tension, ultimately building bigger, stronger arms.
Cavaliere uses a relatively light weight here, alternating arms. You should do the same—especially as you're just starting out with the movement, you should focus more on the form than on the weights. While he doesn’t give a rep recommendation, we suggest trying this at the end of an arm workout for three sets of six to eight reps for each arm.
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