If your goal is muscle definition and hypertrophy, cable curls can be a better option. The continuous tension provided by the cable machine can aid in muscle isolation and can be particularly effective for targeting the peak of the biceps.
If your primary goal is strength development, then free weights might be a better option. Let's face it, cable curls aren't always going to be the most practical. That said, if your primary goal is muscular hypertrophy—or muscle development—then cable curls can be a great way to supplement existing bicep work.
Free weights have a number of advantages over cable machines, particularly for seasoned gym rats and athletes. Free weights are more effective than cable machines at developing your overall strength and power because they call for more muscle, joint, and nervous system activation and recruitment.
Next to the concentration curl, the cable curl is the best exercise for bicep building.
In addition to curls, Galpin says that other exercises such as lat pull-downs, diamond push-ups, dips, close grip bench press, pull-ups, bent-over rows and even lower body exercises like the deadlift can activate the biceps. "Use a variety of exercises; don't just stick to one," he suggests.
You bet they will—if you're doing them right! Cable Curls are a powerhouse when it comes to building big biceps because they keep your muscles under constant tension throughout the entire movement.
The best exercise for growing the bicep muscle is any variation of the curl. Curls are best done using a barbell and weights or a set of dumbbells. If you're training in the gym, sitting at a bench or using the preacher curl machine can help to further concentrate tension on the bicep muscle, leading to bigger gains.
A: Absolutely! With proper form, progressive overload, and a solid workout routine, you can achieve significant muscle growth using just cables.
Dependency on Maintenance. Cable machines come with moving parts—pulleys, cables, and weight stacks—that require regular maintenance. Over time, cables can fray, and pulleys can wear out. If you're not handy with repairs or don't want to shell out for maintenance, this could be a hassle.
Choosing cables or dumbbells depends on your own fitness goals. Cables provide consistency and a greater range of motion. Dumbbells offer a versatile experience and the ability to zero in on stabilizer muscles.
Cables give you the ability to quickly change angles or manipulate body position easily to overload the muscles in any length or range. This can be extremely convenient for being able to train both unilaterally and bilaterally (both arms at a time).
“But to build bigger biceps and triceps you have to focus on perfect form, moving through a full range of motion and, crucially, never lifting too heavy. The key to adding arm size is to getting a good pump through lifting lighter for longer – and executing every rep as perfectly as possible.”
The biceps cable curl is an isolation exercise for the biceps muscles in the upper arm. The pulling action is performed with a cable machine and is suitable for beginners.
It's a fair question—many people still believe that traditional free weights are the gold standard for hypertrophy (muscle growth). However, recent research provides compelling evidence that cables can be just as effective.
And when scientists examine all bicep exercises, they conclude the most effective one is the concentration curl (1,2). The concentration curl is so effective because it takes out the use of the anterior deltoid (front of the shoulder), that's utilised quite heavily during other bicep exercises (3).
Therefore, you must give yourself enough time to recover in between your bicep workouts. Generally, a 24-48 hour resting period is sufficient to avoid any injury. In case you're using heavy weights, make sure to rest at least for two consecutive days.
Within a training session, we recommend including between 1 and 3 different biceps exercises, but no more than that in most cases, as doing more than 3 biceps movements in one session is likely just a needless burning of potential exercise variations you can save for later mesocycles.
The cable biceps curl can be the key to building strength through the lengthened position of the biceps—but it's not the Holy Grail of biceps exercises. This movement should be added to your routine, rather than as a replacement for anything else.
Squeeze the biceps and bend the arms, curling the weights towards the shoulders. Keep the elbows stationary and only bring the weight as high as you can without moving the elbows. Repeat for 1-3 sets of 8-15 reps.
There are two main training errors people make that keep their biceps from growing. These are overtraining the biceps (often unintentionally) and a lack of variation in training techniques. Adding additional biceps focused workouts and trying multiple biceps exercises doesn't work.
Do Push Ups Work Biceps? Whilst the biceps help to stabilize the shoulder and elbow joints during the lowering phase of a push up, they don't directly work the biceps. If your goal is to build your biceps, you'd be better off focusing on bicep isolation exercises such as bicep curls, hammer curls, or chin ups.
The first step to increasing the size of your pecs is to focus on chest exercises. Chest exercises are essential for building muscle mass and increasing the size of your pecs. Examples of chest exercises include bench press, push ups, chest fly, and chest press.