Length vs. Belly of Bicep in Muscle Max

[Pedmom]

Cathe, I just finished MM and I always wonder about this, and finally am going to the source.

When doing the barbel lifts, you say we are working the length of the bicep. Then we move to dumb bells to work the "belly". Can you explain what the difference is? I fear I'm doing something wrong because the exercises feel exactly the same to me. I feel a difference doing curls hammer-style, but not the way we do them in this workout.

Thank you!
Jill

 

[AndreaL]

I did the upper body portion of MM this morning and was wondering the same thing! I do the second set of each exercise as a hammer curl just because of wrist issues I have. There is no way I can use a barbell with any kind of weight on it for curls. I've always wondered if the bar hits the muscles a different way.

Andrea

 

[Pedmom]

bump

 

[Pedmom]

bumping again as I'm about to do MM again?

 

[kathryn]

IMO, you can't work different areas of the same muscle doing the same basic move. However, you can work different muscles in the same area (for example, hammer curls work one of the bicep muscles more than other moves--I forget which one it is, brachioradialis?--which is why they feel different from regular curls, while reverse bicep curls involve the forearms more).

I recently came across a "body building myths" article that I had printed off the internet that addresses this. I'll get the URL to you when (if!) I come across it again.

 

[Pedmom]

Kathryn this is why I'm asking the question. You do regular curls with a barbell, and then regular curls with dumb bells and Cathe says we are working the muscle in different ways. I'm just thinking I'm doing something wrong because it feels to my poor biceps that it's the same work on the same muscles.

 

[clareMc]

I feel it very differently. On the barbell curls on MM, due to the heavy barbell and very slow count, the tension builds up right at the lower end of the bicep muscle. Today, 2 days later, I still feel the ache in the muscle right above the elbow joint.

With the faster, dumbell reps that work the half way up and half way down, it is really in the middle of the bicep that I feel it and the greatest tension builds up from the middle to the top, which is what I understand from Cathe as "belly" of the bicep.

I wish Cathe did more hammer curls. I always add them in, even if she doesn't. I just rewind the barbell curls section and repeat as hammer curls with heavy dumbells. Then I know I'm getting a well rounded workout.

Clare

 

[ironlady]

Still not Cathe. But, the Biceps Brachii has 2 heads a long and a short, one originates at the scapula and the other at the humerus. The different exercises involve both heads but with different intensities...like squats with different foot placements involve different leg muscles more. Hammer curls do involve the brachoradialus (forearm) more! Sorry so long!