John,

I have followed Power Athlete’s training for years and made tremendous gains.

One question, why do you favor hammer curls in programs?

Lots of love,

Jacked Street Resident

Since I was 14 years old, my full time job was pushing people around on the football field in a tight fitting jersey. Back then, they didn’t tailor the jerseys like in the NFL, so the only way the sleeves were going to be tight is if I did my part and had arms to fill them.

About that time, among stacks of powerlifting and bodybuilding magazines in Zangas’ garage, I read an article about Bill Kaizmaier doing hammer curls as a bench accessory. I asked George about hammer curls to which he replied, “strong fuckers train the brachialis. Guys that wear purple speedos train the brachia”

Like many of George’s comments, I took it as fact and started adding hammer curls and any variation to my training. It paid dividends and I ended up with a set of arms worthy of those early magazines in Zangas’ garage.

I learned pretty quickly, the fastest way to improve the look of your biceps is to focus on the brachialis.  For those who never studied anatomy, the brachialis is the muscle underneath the biceps. It contributes more upper arm thickness than any other muscle. The brachialis has a larger cross-sectional area, which translates a thicker appearance of the upper arm.

Therefore, increasing the size of brachialis is an easy way to make the arm bigger and fill out your sleeves.

Most people don’t know how to hit the brachialis. When executing the hammer curl, focusing on the Isometric contraction at the top with slow eccentrics on the back end will translate to thicker arms.

Done as a super set:

  • 8-12 reps of alternating dumbbell hammer curls, focusing on a smooth concentric contraction with a 2 second hold at the top, followed by a slow eccentric contraction.
  • Immediately jump on a high rep set using resistance bands following the same cadence – smooth concentric, 2 second hold at the top, followed by a slow eccentric to failure.
  • Rest 60-90 seconds and get it again.

Give it a try. Better yet, jump on Johnnie BOD and let me do the programming for you.

John