|
|
|
Building Quality Arms with Scott Preacher Curls |
|
|
|
|
Written by Stephen E. Alway, PhD, FACSM
|
|
Monday, 23 April 2007 |
The biceps is symbolic of upper arm strength and power and there is not a serious trainer alive who has not lusted for larger, thicker and harder upper arms. For a lucky few, their favorable gene sequences result in arms that grow almost by walking past a weight stack. However, most of the rest of the natural world will have to work long and hard for a great biceps. If your biceps represent the seat of stubbornness in that they grow far too slowly, and have little length or peak, then it is time to become more creative with your arm work than offered by barbell and dumbbell curls alone. Adding tonnage is not always the right answer to building biceps, but intense devoted efforts will yield remarkable results in muscle quality.
Arm Structure
The anterior compartment of the arm contains the biceps and brachialis muscles, and the nerves and the blood vessels associated with these muscles. These muscles function primarily at the elbow joint, although parts of these muscles can also function at the shoulder joint. The biceps brachii is a two-headed muscle. The long head of the biceps brachii muscle has its upper attachment on a bump over the shoulder joint called the glenoid tubercle. It sits on the lateral (outer) part of the arm, and its fibers intertwine with the short head of the biceps as it approaches the elbow. Because the long head of the biceps brachii crosses the shoulder, it becomes involved during shoulder flexion (i.e., bringing the arm forward). This anatomical positioning also means the arms and elbows need to be back to stretch the long head (such as in barbell curls) to maximize the stretch and activation of this muscle belly during elbow flexion.
The short head of the biceps lives along the inside (medial side) of the arm. At the top, it attaches to the coracoid process just below the shoulder joint. This is a beak-like projection on the anterior (front) part of the scapula bone or "shoulder blade." The muscle stretches along the medial (inner) part of the humerus bone of the arm and it comes together with the long head of the biceps brachii muscle to form the strong bicipital tendon. The bicipital tendon crosses the front part of the elbow joint and it attaches on the radius bone of the forearm near the elbow joint. Contraction of the biceps muscle can pivot the radius bone at the elbow joint and this supinates the hand (turns palm toward the ceiling), if the hand begins in a pronated position. Because the short head of the biceps brachii does not cross the shoulder joint, it is activated just as strongly whether the shoulder and arm are forward (arm flexion) or pulled backward (arm extension) during elbow flexion (e.g., curls).
The brachialis muscle is a very important flexor of the elbow joint. It attaches along the anterior side of the humerus bone throughout its journey down the arm. It crosses the elbow joint anteriorly and attaches to the anterior side of the non-pivoting ulna bone of the forearm near the elbow joint. The attachment to the ulna prevents the brachialis from having any role in supination. As much as 60-70 percent of forearm flexion is thought to be due to the strength of the brachialis muscle.
Scott (Preacher) Curls
The Scott bench is also called a preacher bench by some, because it looks a little like the pulpit that most preachers/pastors stand behind to deliver their weekly messages. The message delivered by the preacher bench is one of isolation, biceps quality and biceps thickness. Larry Scott, the first Mr. Olympia, was so convinced of the merits of this exercise, that he used the preacher bench in almost every barbell and dumbbell biceps exercise. With it, he turned also-ran arms into the fullest biceps of his day or any other day. As a result, the preacher bench often became synonymous with this legendary bodybuilder and is called a Scott bench. The angle of the bench puts the arm position somewhat forward (arm flexion), and this places an emphasis on the medially placed short head biceps brachii muscles. The bench angle should not be too low (e.g., it should be 60-80 degrees, not 30-45 degrees). Otherwise, the arm will be too far forward and activation of the long head of the biceps brachii will be severely diminished. The brachialis muscle is active throughout the exercise. Although the exercise can be used with either dumbbell or barbell, the barbell version will be described here.
1. If possible, position the Scott bench in front of a mirror so you can closely monitor your exercise form. Usually, it is most convenient to first place a barbell on the rack in front of, and attached to, the base of the Scott bench. Stand up enough to grab the barbell with a supinated grip (palms up). Your hands should be a little narrower than your shoulder width. You may want to use an
E-Z barbell because this will position your wrists in a more favorable position and reduce wrist strain during the curl.
2. Sit on the seat (or, stand if your bench doesn't have a seat). Place your triceps along the top one-third of the bench. Do not jam your armpits (axilla) into the top edge of the bench because it's too easy to cheat from this position. Rather, your axilla should be above the edge of the bench and only your triceps should contact the bench. If you have a weak or injured lower back or intervertebral disc, first position yourself on the bench and invoke the help of a training partner to lift the barbell from the weight stand and place the bar in your hands. This will help you avoid flexing your torso to pick up the weight.
3. Begin by flexing the elbow joint (i.e., curling the weight) so the barbell moves closer to your face. The bench will prevent you from pulling your elbows posteriorly into arm flexion, thereby concentrating the efforts on the biceps- particularly the short head of the biceps.
4. Continue to curl the weight upward toward your face or nose as far as possible. Isometrically squeeze the biceps muscle at the top of the movement. This muscle "burn" will encompass the biceps and the brachialis. Because the hands are supinated throughout the exercise, the biceps will be strongly activated throughout the range of motion
5. Slowly lower the weight toward the floor as your elbow joint straightens. It's important to make this a slow descent and to control the lowering of the weight. A fast decent will, at best, reduce the effectiveness of the exercise; at worst, it will result in injury to the elbow joint and bicipital tendon, particularly as the elbow joint is straightened.
6. Stop the downward descent just before the elbow joint becomes completely straight. Then begin the curl back toward your face. This will maintain the tension on the biceps throughout the full range of motion.
7. After eight good repetitions, your biceps should be screaming. You might want to do a couple of partial repetitions once you cannot complete the full range of motion. Or, if you have a partner, you can get his help to force out another two repetitions. However, keep these extremely high-octane efforts to the last two sets of the exercise; otherwise you may overtrain your biceps.
8. Massage your biceps between sets and/or swing your arms backward and forward to get the blood back to your arms and forearms quickly, before the next set starts. This will help reduce the accumulation of metabolic byproducts that reduce recovery from fatigue. The increased blood flow will enhance your recovery and ability to drive and fully activate your biceps muscles on the next set.
Important Tips
If you cannot control the weight during the descent, you need to lower the resistance or stop the set to reduce the risk of becoming injured. If you need your workout partner to help slow the weight on the downward part of the lift, you are using too much resistance in your set.
The Scott bench is much harder to complete than standing curls. It places stress on the biceps in both ends of the muscle and throughout the entire range of motion. In addition, there is no way to pull your arms into extension to gain additional assistance from the long head of the biceps, or to do any "cheating" to swing the weight up with torso body movement as is often the case with barbell curls. That does not mean you should be using pencil weights to do the Scott curls, or haphazardly thinking about your date during the set. It will take extreme concentration and dedicated gut-busting efforts to achieve huge, defined and thick arms from top to bottom. For sure, nothing can replace hard work and gallons of sweat for creating quality biceps.
Nevertheless, choosing to invest sweat-laden sets in the Scott bench will almost assuredly bring you closer to the fullness of biceps that was worn on the arms of the Mr. Olympia whose name is a legacy attached to this arm bench.
References
Gearhart, R. F., Jr., Goss, F. L., Lagally, K. M., Jakicic, J. M., Gallagher, J., Gallagher, K. I., & Robertson, R. J. Ratings of perceived exertion in active muscle during high-intensity and low-intensity resistance exercise. J.Strength.Cond.Res. 16, 87-91, 2002.
Gibala, M. J., MacDougall, J. D., Tarnopolsky, M. A., Stauber, W. T., & Elorriaga, A. Changes in human skeletal muscle ultrastructure and force production after acute resistance exercise. J.Appl.Physiol 78, 702-708, 1995.
Guevel, A., J. Y. Hogrel, and J. F. Marini. Fatigue of elbow flexors during repeated flexion-extension cycles: effect of movement strategy. Int.J.Sports Med. 21: 492-498, 2000.
Kulig, K., C. M. Powers, F. G. Shellock, and M. Terk. The effects of eccentric velocity on activation of elbow flexors: evaluation by magnetic resonance imaging. Med.Sci.Sports Exerc. 33: 196-200, 2001.
MacDougall, J. D., Ray, S., Sale, D. G., McCartney, N., Lee, P., & Garner, S. Muscle substrate utilization and lactate production. Can.J.Appl.Physiol 24, 209-215, 1999.
Moore, K.L. and A.F. Dalley. Clinically Orientated Anatomy. 4th Edition. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, P.J. Kelly, Editor. Baltimore, Philadelphia. pp. 720-723, 1999.
Nosaka, K. and K. Sakamoto. Effect of elbow joint angle on the magnitude of muscle damage to the elbow flexors. Med.Sci.Sports Exerc. 33: 22-29, 2001.
Rasch, P.J. "Kinesiology and Applied Anatomy" Seventh edition. Philadelphia, London. Lea & Febiger, 136-150, 1989.
|
|
Magazine Archives 
