Ryan Terry is the 2017 Arnold Classic men’s physique champion. Part of building his infamously impressive biceps is executing biceps curls, not just frequently, but efficiently. This involves finding the perfect variations that minimize unnecessary movement and isolate the muscle.
Click thorugh for the three bicep curl variations that Terry finds to be most effective.
The 3 Most Effective Biceps Curl Variations
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Dumbbell Curl
The dumbbells allow my wrists to move freely, enabling me to play around with the tempo of my reps and to squeeze and control my biceps throughout the movement.
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Pavel Ythjall
Hammer Curl
I can lift more weight to overload my biceps with these, since they engage all my elbow flexors. To reduce cheating, I’ll sometimes do hammer curls on a preacher bench to restrict swinging and maximize biceps engagement.
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Per Bernal
Smith Machine Drag Curl
They’re one of my favorite biceps exercises due to the fixed position, which isolates the bi’s, creates more tension at peak contraction, and makes it much harder to cheat. And despite a shorter range of motion, I’m still able to maximize the biceps contraction.
The dumbbells allow my wrists to move freely, enabling me to play around with the tempo of my reps and to squeeze and control my biceps throughout the movement.
Hammer Curl
I can lift more weight to overload my biceps with these, since they engage all my elbow flexors. To reduce cheating, I’ll sometimes do hammer curls on a preacher bench to restrict swinging and maximize biceps engagement.
Smith Machine Drag Curl
They’re one of my favorite biceps exercises due to the fixed position, which isolates the bi’s, creates more tension at peak contraction, and makes it much harder to cheat. And despite a shorter range of motion, I’m still able to maximize the biceps contraction.
