If you are looking to enhance power, explosiveness, and endurance, incorporating fast curls is beneficial. Conversely, if your aim is to build muscle mass, strength, and stability, slow curls could be more appropriate. It's important to note that variation is key in any workout.
But bicep curls need to be done slowly and steadily to achieve the maximum benefits. Many people also choose weights that are too heavy, which causes your body to recruit other muscles to perform the exercise.
Form and Technique: Moving slowly allows you to maintain proper form, reducing the risk of injury and ensuring that you're effectively targeting the biceps. Control: Slower movements improve control and stability throughout the range of motion, which can enhance muscle activation.
Slower is safer. Most weightlifting injuries are the result of poor form and jerky, erratic movements. Also, the slower you go, the more time the muscles are carrying the weight load. Moving fast can cause momentum to take over and reduce the weight load.
For a standard biceps curl with no pause at the top or bottom, the tempo would be written 2-0-2-0. If added a one-second pause at the top and bottom, it would be 2-1-2-1. The standard tempo works well, especially when you're first starting out.
Additionally, fast bicep curls can enhance performance and muscle endurance as you push yourself to complete more reps in a shorter amount of time. This increased muscular endurance can be beneficial for athletes in sports like boxing or sprinting.
The 5-4-3-2-1 program is a program that aims to take advantage of periodizing training frequency by training one lift five times per week, one lift four times per week, one lift three times per week, one lift twice per week and one lift once per week.
If you're trying to build muscle, then normal to slow speeds are what you'll typically want to focus on. That's not to say there's no place for fast reps, but there are several conditions that need to be present to induce hypertrophy that are more likely to come to bear when you're doing slow or normal speed reps.
Like doing cardio session, lifting weights while fasted might decrease your strength in the short run, as your body adapts to being a “fat burner.” For this reason, you may want to save your weight-lifting sessions for periods after you have eaten (in which case you can fast for two to three hours post-workout), and ...
While some sources say it can take as little as six weeks to see muscle growth, others suggest you can expect to see progress from 3 to 6 months. But generally, if you think you see your biceps getting bigger after only a few weeks, that's probably the result of swelling and muscle damage due to new exercise.
The research discusses the two to eight second repetition tempo as a recommended range for maximising muscle hypertrophy during resistance training.
Enhanced Muscle Growth
By increasing the time under tension, slow negatives amplify the stimulus for muscle growth. The muscle fibres are exposed to stress for a longer duration, which accelerates the hypertrophic response.
If your goal is endurance and lean muscle, use a lighter weight and perform one to three sets of 12 to 16 reps with at least one day of rest in between. For maximum results, switch up your workouts. Don't do the exact same routines every session.
Squeeze your biceps at the top of the movement for maximum muscle stimulus. Slowly lower the weights back to the starting position, maintaining control to keep tension on the muscle fibers. Avoid letting the weights drop quickly to prevent form breaks and potential injury.
Poor Form During Exercises
Using improper form is one of the biggest reasons biceps fail to grow. Swinging the weight, using momentum, or involving other muscle groups (like your shoulders) takes the focus off your biceps. Fix: Slow down your reps and focus on proper technique.
The good news is that you can't go wrong with slow or fast reps if your goal is to get stronger. The researchers behind the International Journal of Sports Medicine review concluded that both fast reps and moderate-slow reps help improve muscular strength (think: how much weight you can lift).
Doing lower reps with heavy loads (defined as 1 to 5 repetitions per set with 80 percent to 100 percent of 1RM optimizes strength increases by enhancing neuromuscular adaptations that facilitate force production, according to a 2021 review in Sports.
Incorporating explosive movements into your workouts can enhance fitness gains and muscle building by increasing muscle force production, promoting growth, and improving cardiovascular health through enhanced heart rate and blood flow.
5×5 means you do five sets of five reps with the same weight. These are “straight sets” or “sets across”. On the Squat, Bench Press, Overhead Press and Barbell Row you do 5×5. Say you Squat 5×5 225lb (total weight including the bar, because you lift it).