Biceps Curls Pet Peeve

[tiffanywu]

P.S. I've read too that one doesn't need to use super heavy weights on shoulders and I've tweaked them before so I tend to stay a notch below Cathe in most of her workouts (e.g. if she uses 15 lbs, I go with 12 lbs). Been doing that for years and staying injury-free. I just listen to my body -- most things involving upright rows (which I don't do), overhead stuff (I drop things down a notch) and/or high reps (lighten up!) make me a bit more careful.

[bubbles76]

Hazel, you could be right . I guess I was just thinking about exercises that were just for biceps (hammer curls, bicep curls, W curls) as opposed to those that also work the biceps but were meant for another body part (rows, push ups, most pull exercise). If you think about it that way, maybe she does overwork biceps?

I agree about back. I love working my back, and feel it is underworked compared to shoulders in most Cathe workouts.

[red1013]

I think Cathe's older workouts tend to overwork both biceps and chest, and underwork the back.

She seems to be more balanced in her newer workouts. I was particularly impressed the first time I did Ramped Up Upper Body, my back felt thoroughly worked, and chest/biceps didn't feel overworked.

[kat999]

I think the takeaway from this thread that we should all keep in mind is:

- we all build muscle differently
- we all react differently to a specific set of moves, and that may be a physical reaction or an emotional one
- we all find different things attractive, both for our selves and others

Personally, I love both biceps and triceps work and hate shoulder work, not because I think "big" shoulders are unattractive on women, but because I just don't ever build muscle there and likely never will, and the way my upper body is built, unless I go with like 1 lb. weights, it's too heavy for me. But I just go way lighter and still do the moves as long as they feel okay. If you don't want to do biceps when a biceps segment comes on, I feel like go ahead and sub in something else. I have never been able to do pushups on my toes, so I just do them on my knees and move on with my life. I'm still getting some effect, but I'm not going to beat myself up over it.

[hch]

Originally Posted by Susan H

The book Peak Performance Fitness by Jennifer Rhodes has a chapter titled "Why Biceps Curls Are a Waste of Your Time."

Basically, she believes they are strengthened enough when we exercise the large muscles of the upper and lower back.

I've read similar advice, even from people who favor overall muscle growth and are not at all seeking to avoid arm growth.

I suspect that instructors are likely to emphasize direct arm work and especially biceps exercises (for men too, not only for women) because the biceps are archetypical "mirror," "beach," or "show" muscles--as people have noticed elsewhere, what motion do you readers associate with the phrase "make a muscle"? I've even read a report of a man who exercised only his left biceps because it was the side (in the United States) that would hang out his driver's-side window.

[warriorprincess]

Cathe's bicep strength is crazy. Especially in her early workouts, she seemed disproportionately stronger there. I could match her weights on most things, and her back weights were extremely light back then, but I was lucky to do half her weight on the biceps.

Personally, I like the look of muscular arms, and love feeling strong. Different strokes.

[gladgirl]

I remember back in the day when I did FIRM v1 and v2 on alternating days, I had the best shoulders and arms ever. My arms were fairly chiseled and lean and my shoulder line was amazing. Perhaps I need to revisit those. I did not have overly-muscle-y biceps or triceps. I was not even at my ideal weight back then.

We certainly are so different and I appreciate the variety of workouts. When I got into Cathe I thought her work was overkill, but I only did a Cathe once or twice a week. Still had great shoulders and arms! Go figure!

[Travelmug]

I agree with y'all that tricep work is lacking in workouts (which makes no sense, because no one wants a batwing situation!). The only ones I've ever done where I've really felt the burn is Dancebody. The instructors really emphasize the back of the arm and get it from different angles.

[tiffanywu]

KCM's SculptingRx workout will have your triceps catering and screaming for mercy... I skip the last set of whatever it was that is/was about send me into hallucinations.