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Thread: The Lying Triceps Extension

  1. #1
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  2. #2
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    Good video. I never thought I'd see the day when Rip would film a video for the gunz.

    I still find the logic about the EZ curl bar strange, though. This was Mike Mentzer's argument regarding the relative superiority of the straight bar. And he drank his own pee, so that's never a good ally to have. Thoughts:

    * The biceps is biarticulate, i.e. crosses both the shoulder and elbow, much like the triceps. As such, the fully contracted position (forearm supination + elbow flexion + shoulder flexion) represents a position of active insufficiency. I.e. the highest recruitment of motor units is not actually at the top of the movement, it's somewhere in the midrange, which you get just fine with an EZ curl bar.
    * Besides missing a handful of degrees of supination, potential range of motion is otherwise identical.
    * At the bro level, most bodybuilders that I've seen seem to prefer the EZ curl bar, and they're not exactly lacking in biceps function or size.
    * I've always used the EZ curl bar as my primary form of curling, and the strength gained in it transferred more or less exactly to a straight bar curl, whenever I felt like a change of pace. It's simply more comfortable to use the EZ curl bar.

  3. #3
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    It's already started. Place your elbow at 90 degrees, the mid-range area of maximum force production -- if not max. motor unit recruitment -- and pronate/supinate your forearm. Feel the muscle belly when you do this. The medial head of my bicep is in greater recruitment when supine. I suppose if you get your EZ Curl up to 250 x 10 your biceps will have grown.

    This is why I probably will not follow this up with a bicep video. Not my area of interest or expertise, as evidenced by my arms.

  4. #4
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    One might argue that it's worth training the elbow flexors in general, rather than focusing on the biceps, therefore using the EZ-bar. On a bro level, I heard that having a big brachialis helps push the biceps up, giving it a larger peak.

    I'll stop talking about this, I know it weirds you out, Rip.

  5. #5
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    When do u suggest doing this? After a bench or press day?

  6. #6
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    I didn't suggest either one. It is an intermediate exercise, and those people know when to use it.

    Do not type in textish on this board.

  7. #7
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    can we get a video on calf raises please

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe View Post
    It's already started. Place your elbow at 90 degrees, the mid-range area of maximum force production -- if not max. motor unit recruitment -- and pronate/supinate your forearm. Feel the muscle belly when you do this. The medial head of my bicep is in greater recruitment when supine. I suppose if you get your EZ Curl up to 250 x 10 your biceps will have grown.

    This is why I probably will not follow this up with a bicep video. Not my area of interest or expertise, as evidenced by my arms.
    There's probably another, easier way of looking at this. If we agree that the range of motion is equal between an EZ curl bar and straight bar curl, then the exercise which allows us to move the most load over that equivalent range of motion will, by necessity, involve the most total muscle mass, yes?

    So, can we lift more with a straight bar than an EZ curl bar? If we can't, it's an impossible argument to me that we're using less muscle mass to do it, because everything else is functionally the same. My experience is that EZ curl bar strength is almost always exactly the same as a straight bar, for some people slightly more due to the increased comfort.

    Contrast this with something like a pullup vs. chin at equivalent grip width - for most people, chins are stronger as a direct result of more total muscle mass completing the lift. In the case of the curl, in which the only difference is a handful of degrees of supination, effective strength between exercises is approximately the same, thus the total muscle mass responsible for the movements should be about the same, and the stimulus to said muscle mass should be about the same.

  9. #9
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    Wow its like Christmas in July.

    Thank you for making this video coach.

  10. #10
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    starting strength coach development program
    How effective is this if I used a straight barbell?

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