son Curls Forearm-Braced Chin-Ups

son Curls

 Forearm-Braced Chin-Ups

Why Is This Exercise So Effective?

The Nilsson Curl, which can technically be described as a forearm-braced chin-up

movement, is a unique biceps exercise. The reason: it uses your total bodyweight

for resistance!

Most biceps exercises, such as barbell and dumbell curls, require that you move the

resistance around your body while your body remains anchored.

While this is certainly effective, it has been established that exercises which require

you to move your body around a fixed object (such as occurs during a chin-up) fire

many more muscle fibers. This results in a much more effective exercise for the

muscle!

And if that wasn't enough to make this a killer exercise, have a look at this:

The majority of biceps exercises are isolation exercises. They work the biceps across

only one joint (the elbow). This seriously limits the amount of weight you can use and

hence limits your ultimate biceps development.

The Nilsson Curl is a compound exercise for the biceps that uses the lats only

as secondary movers to assist your biceps during the exercise. Working the biceps at

two joints rather than just one (such as in this chin-up movement), drastically

increasing the amount of weight you can use on a biceps exercise.

Now throw almost all of the resistance of the chin-up (your entire bodyweight) onto

the biceps and you'll know the meaning of the word "pump!"

Combine these three features (moving your body around a fixed object for more

muscle activation, using a two-joint movement, and having your entire bodyweight as

resistance) into a biceps exercise and you have yourself one incredibly powerful

movement!

This exercise is best done using the safety rails of a power rack.

There are other methods of setting up that you can use that are

just as effective. I will detail these at the end of this section.

l The absolute easiest way is to use the two, bottom safety

rails of the rack.

l They need to be the type that you can slide completely

out of the rack for this method to work, as you'll be

placing them on the same side of the rack uprights.

l Place one of the rails in the highest set of holes in the

rack.

l Set the other rail in the set of holes approximately one

foot down from that top one in the same side uprights.

l Your setup will look like two rungs in a ladder.

Now you're all set!

l

Grip the top bar and brace your forearm against the

bottom bar (you may want to use a pad or a towel

wrapped around the bottom bar for your forearms).

l

Keeping your forearms pressed against the bottom bar

throughout the entire exercise, curl yourself up.

l

This is the most important point to remember about this

exercise, as bracing your forearms is what sends all the

tension to your biceps. It does this by reducing the

involvement of the lats.

l Also, try to keep your shoulders back in a neutral

position. Don't allow them to hunch forward during the

exercise. This keeps them in a more stable position.

l

Squeeze hard at the top. This instruction is kind of

unnecessary to be honest. You won't really have a choice

at that point - the tension on your biceps is just

incredible!

How to incorporate this exercise into your workouts:

This exercise should be the first biceps exercise you do in your workout. It requires a lot of strength and therefore is best

done with fresh biceps.

1. Pulling Straight Up

For best results, pull yourself up in an arc. This will most strongly affect the biceps. Pulling straight up will still work, just not

quite as strongly.

2. Using Momentum

Always do this exercise deliberately and under control to maintain maximum tension on the biceps. Moving quickly will only

decrease the effectiveness of the exercise.

It is especially important not to use momentum as you come to the bottom of the exercise as your elbows are braced against

a rail. You could injure your elbows if you slam down into the bottom of the rep.

3. Hunching the Shoulders Forward

Try to keep your shoulders back and in a neutral position. Do not allow them to hunch forward. This will help to maintain a

more stable position for the shoulder joint.

1. Using Barbells To Set Up

If you don't have access to a rack that uses the removable bottom safety rails you can also use two barbells inside the rack.

l Start by setting the racking hooks in the highest holes.

l Set an Olympic bar in those racks.

l Load some weight onto that bar to keep it from shifting during the exercise (I use a couple of 45 pound plates on

either side but you may choose to use more or less weight).

l Now set the safety rails in the holes about one foot below the top bar that you've already set up.

l Set another Olympic bar across there and you're done.

Note: You will be doing this exercise from inside the rack so that your forearms are pushing the bottom bar against the rear

uprights. If you work from the other side, your forearms will have nothing to push the bottom bar against and it may roll or

slide away.

2. Weighted Nilsson Curls

This exercise can also be done weighted with a dumbell between your feet or with weight hanging from your waist using a

hip belt. The execution of the exercise is exactly the same.

If you wish to do negatives with a dumbell for extra weight, follow these steps:

l Set the dumbell on a bench in front of you.

l Step up on the bench and get into the top position,

l Grasp the dumbell between your feet then move it off the bench

l Lower yourself down.

As a bonus, using a dumbell between your feet also gives you some really good isometric ab work.