The Long Head Of The Bicep Is One Of The Most Powerful Muscles In Your Arm
The biceps get its “bi” prefix from the two heads that form the strength and aesthetics of these potent arm muscles. However, the long head is the more dominant force in armwrestling, and using new and unique training methods is critical for its development. Let’s cover three niche exercises to prepare your long head for the armwrestling table!
Why You Need To Focus On Training The Long Head Of The Biceps
While the short head offers the aesthetic aspect of the bicep by increasing the size of your peak when you flex, the long head offers considerably more utility and strength for your arm. What I mean by utility: The long head of the bicep is used for practical movements like lifting boxes, carrying a ludicrous amount of groceries, or lugging a wheelbarrow of topsoil around your backyard. Interestingly enough, it does offer a “fuller” look to the biceps, although it doesn’t assist with developing the peak. And for armwrestling? It is the long head is the bicep head you will use the most if you are an outside armwrestler.
Neutral Grip Pull Ups
This exercise is phenomenal for two reasons: 1) immense activation of the long head of the biceps (as it is directly targeted) and 2) it also works your back to increase your back pressure and armwrestling strength.
The trick is finding and installing a pull-up bar with neutral handle grips. What does that mean? When you perform the pull-up, your hands will be parallel to your shoulder joint. If you have a hard time envisioning what this looks like, imagine grasping hammers in each hand: that neutral grip fist for swinging the hammer is precisely the position you will have with your hands to hoist yourself upwards above the bar.
Neutral Grip Pull-Up Variation Notes:
- A chain belt for attaching bumper plates or weighted plates can increase the intensity of the neutral grip pull-up by vastly increasing the weight you pull.
- Focus on the positive part of the movement, which is when you flex your arms and back to pull yourself up, and focus on the negative part, which is when you slowly and with control lower yourself from the bar.
- Adding static holds, i.e., holding your arms at a 90-degree angle for 15-30 seconds in the positive phase of the movement, can help you emulate what you feel at an actual armwrestling table.
Preacher Curl Machine Concentrated Hammer Curls
Here is a unique movement that isn’t often discussed. The classic preacher curl involves putting your arm over the preacher’s bench and curling with a free weight. A select group of exercise machines have a pin-loaded or plate-loaded pulley system that provides a more holistic movement.
On the right, I have the Atlantis Strength Preacher Curl Machine, which is plate-loaded. I am not recommending or endorsing this product but simply illustrating the exercise mechanism I am talking about. The pulley system allows for a movement where you can significantly focus on a negative motion and let it down slowly to gain strength. With dumbbells, it is much more dangerous to curl free, heavy weights over a preacher curl bench—with a machine like this, you can just let go if you feel it is too heavy. Plus, you won’t leave a crater from the dumbbell falling in your floor.
The best part about this machine? If you look at the V-handle towards the bottom of the gripping apparatus, you can grip the part that would have your fist in a hammer-curl position. By focusing on this movement with a hyper-concentrated hammer curl, you can develop a solid, long head of your bicep. Consequently, this also drives up your arm’s armwrestling strength. Anytime your fist is in a neutral position, it will work the long head.
Preacher Curl Variation Notes:
- Static movement (holding heavy plates one-handed) or focusing on the negative (letting the weight down slowly) can be effective for building greater arm strength, specifically for armwrestling.
- Performing this movement on this type of machine one hand at a time is a must!
Dynamic Movement: Close Grip Row
Like the neutral grip pull-up, this is also a compound movement that incorporates a lot of different muscles. By utilizing a closer grip on a pulling movement, you mirror the movement of back pressure and hooking. Here, I try to focus on using various armwrestling grips and visualizing pulling the row deep into my body, grasping at the close grip row, and moving it into my sternum (chest).
Using a handle like the one shown here, you can keep the close grip and the fists neutral. This grip vastly increases the size and strength of the long head of the bicep. The seated row attachment can be used on a lat pull-down machine or a seated row machine (highly recommended due to the constant tension pulley system). Pulley systems are everything you need to use to get as close to a match as possible by yourself.
Close Grip Variation Notes:
- An underhead grip on a close-grip rowing movement can emulate a hooking position in armwrestling.
- Trying a static movement, i.e., holding the grip into your chest for more time, can create a similar lift where you use endurance to outlast an opponent’s hook.
Compound Neutral Grip Movements Are The Name Of The Game
Building strong, defined, and armwrestling-worthy long heads of your bicep involves incorporating multiple muscles into powerful, varied movements. A few critical aspects to remember: if something hurts, stop doing it and ensure you take ample rest, recovery, and move at your own pace. There is not an exact science to developing your long heads of the bicep mucles, or training in this fashion deliberately for armwrestling. You must listen to your body and determine what movements work best for you.