Accept it or not, your biceps were created for more than simply flexing and doing countless sets of curls. Your biceps are very strong and functional pulling machines and should be trained as such. No matter how old you are.
Unfortunately, most guys think the only way to build big arms is to do every curl variation possible. Not true. Ever watched the arms of top male gymnasts? They are huge, and they do very little, sometimes none, direct arm workouts. So how do they get bigger biceps? They do a huge amount of straight-arm work.
If you are looking to fully build your biceps and push your strength and power to the next level, start with the following three straight-arm biceps exercises:
1. Banded Ring Flye
Get two red mini-bands and two gymnastic rings, loop your bands around the rings and then around your anchor point, so it’s like a pull-up bar. Then crisscross your bands, protract your shoulders, and do some flyes with your arms completely straight. You will feel a huge amount of tension, especially in your lower biceps.
This is among my favorite straight-arm moves. You can get a great pump and easily change the resistance simply by bringing your body forward or back.
2. Incline Straight Fly
This one needs two light or medium dumbbells along with an incline bench. Place yourself high on your bench and protract your shoulders. Lock out your elbows completely to keep all the tension in your biceps. Emphasize your range of motion such that you keep maximal tension on your biceps throughout the entirety of the movement. Fly the dumbbells at the top.
3. External Rotation From A Hold
Here is a more advanced movement. Due to the unstableness of rings, first, ensure you have the requisite strength to keep a ring support steady for at least around 30 seconds with good technique before trying these external rotations.
As you externally rotate your rings, you will feel a lot of tension in your lower bicep muscles. It’s an incredible but simple and fun exercise to really shape up your biceps.
Author: Steven Sinclaire