In Your Routine: Place this move at the beginning of your workout when your muscles are freshest.
Sets & Reps: Do 3–4 sets of 6–10 reps.
During a standard barbell curl, you seldom exhaust the muscle fibers over the upper portion of the curl simply because you typically fail at the point at which you can’t move the bar past the parallel point. We’re sure you’ve been there. But the point of failure indicates your weakest area of the range of motion; in fact, you’re strongest over the top half of the curl. But most likely you’ve never fully challenged that portion.
The reason you fail during the lower portion of the curl is because that section of the curl is governed predominantly by the brachioradialis, not the stronger biceps brachii. With the seated curl, the stronger brachii are better isolated so that you’re able to train them to fatigue.
Do It Right
START: Sit backward on a decline bench, with your feet facing where a spotter would normally stand if you were doing a decline bench press. Sit up straight, chest up and shoulders back, directly in front of the bar. Grasp the bar at shoulder width and unrack it (if using a decline-bench station), lowering it to your lap.
MOVEMENT: Take a deep breath and curl the weight toward your shoulders, keeping your elbows back. Squeeze and slowly lower the bar to your lap (don’t allow it to touch) and repeat.
REPS TIP: Once you reach muscle failure, you don’t have to terminate the set. Carefully stand up and continue doing curls until you reach failure from a full-range perspective (remember, you won’t be fatigued yet through the lower portion and you’ll have the benefit of a slight bit of momentum because you’re standing). When you can no longer raise the bar a few inches from your quads, you’ve fully exhausted the muscle through the entire range of motion
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