# Biceps & S L O W  Negatives



## MilburnCreek (Nov 15, 2012)

Wow...this is probably no news to most of you, but it made such an impact on me today that i just felt like sharing it with you all.

We all have different genetics, and while I curse the stubborn refusal of my chest to grow, I have been blessed with biceps that respond readily to workouts.  Today was arm day, and I was feeling incredibly aggressive - almost, but quite, stupid enough to hurt myself with weights that were too heavy.

So I compromised. I began a set of barbell curls with a weight about 20% heavier than my normal 6-set rep. I decided to do all of the curls 'negative'...AND, to do each of them V E R Y   S L O W L Y.  As in, I counted a minimum of 12 seconds for each negative movement.

Then I moved to the Overhead cable pulls I use or my arms, and did the same things: increased the weight, used compound movements to contract the cables....and then let out the curl S L O W L Y.

Holy Shit, what a burn.  I felt the sweat running of my forehead, and I was in agony.

That was 6 hours ago...and my arms are still rocks, and I still see veins I never knew I had.

I think I've found a new style of training . . . will try this with chest next (with a spotter).


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## Muscleaddict83 (Nov 15, 2012)

Using slow negatives is a great way to add extra stress to the muscle. It produces a lot of damage to the muscle fibers. Be aware though that it can be very taxing on the body and lead to overtraining. Make sure your diet and rest are on par.


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## greggy (Nov 15, 2012)

You should definitely look Dorian Yates' H.I.T. Look it up on YouTube. He emphasis negative training. Good way to blast through a plateau.


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## K1 (Nov 15, 2012)

greggy said:


> You should definitely look Dorian Yates' H.I.T. Look it up on YouTube. He emphasis negative training. Good way to blast through a plateau.



Here is Dorian's Blood and Guts Trainer:

http://www.anasci.org/vB/bodybuilding-motivation/28573-dorian-yates-blood-guts-trainer.html


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## AtomAnt (Nov 16, 2012)

The eccentric portion of a lift produces the greatest exercise induced muscle damage (good thing in this case).  Greater EIMD leads to greater muscle protein synthesis (given adequate nutrition). Thus overloading the negative produces greater potential for hypertrophy.


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## tri-terror (Nov 16, 2012)

12 seconds is probably a bit too long to do on a regular basis, but certainly a nice controlled several second eccentric phase is very helpful.
Also with biceps, instead of going super heavy I've had good luck getting them to grow by using a lighter weight so that only my biceps are working and not my front delts.  Except hammer curls.  I bomb the fuck out of hammer curls, lol.

You can also try doing drag curls where you keep your elbows back during the whole curl.  Really puts a lot of emphasis on the bicep and has minimal to no shoulder involvement.


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## AtomAnt (Nov 16, 2012)

Tri-terror, drag curl widowmakers for biceps are absolutely ridiculous! I know you are no rookie and know what I am talking about when I'm saying perform then like a regular WM. Your arms will be swole for days! 

And take that negative nice and slow...painfully, painfully slow.


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## Magnus82 (Nov 16, 2012)

When I tore my bicep tendon, my sports ortho told me to focus more on the eccentric phase of my lifts, as i would be more beneficial for my goals. After my surgery and my bicep was healed, i began to do this. I now end my bicep workouts on the chin up bar doing weighted 30 second negatives.


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## MilburnCreek (Nov 16, 2012)

I got to tell you, 'painfully, painfully slow' feels fucking awesome.....


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## MilburnCreek (Nov 21, 2012)

Funny Fucking Update....so the Manager of the gym comes over to me and says, "my girl on staff last week came to me because she's really nervous about your workouts. She said your form was really bad and you're going to hurt yourself.  How long have you been working out?

Me:  "You mean, today? Or in Years?  I've been working out in a gym for....17 years!  What did she say I was doing wrong?!"

Him:  "She said that you were throwing the barbell up, and doing the curls backwards...."

We had a brief discussion on forced negatives and the eccentric part of the moves, and he left me alone and looked very embarrassed....


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## AnaSCI (Nov 22, 2012)

MilburnCreek said:


> Funny Fucking Update....so the Manager of the gym comes over to me and says, "my girl on staff last week came to me because she's really nervous about your workouts. She said your form was really bad and you're going to hurt yourself.  How long have you been working out?
> 
> Me:  "You mean, today? Or in Years?  I've been working out in a gym for....17 years!  What did she say I was doing wrong?!"
> 
> ...



It's funny how little those that work at the gym actual know about working out!!


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## tri-terror (Nov 22, 2012)

AtomAnt said:


> Tri-terror, drag curl widowmakers for biceps are absolutely ridiculous! I know you are no rookie and know what I am talking about when I'm saying perform then like a regular WM. Your arms will be swole for days!
> 
> And take that negative nice and slow...painfully, painfully slow.



I actually really fucking like that idea.  I haven't been doing a widow maker per se, but I think I will add a set of drag curls to the end of my biceps workout.


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## electrickettle6 (Dec 6, 2012)

I think any new training stlye gives great results the first couple of times we try them. I used to do the slow negative style as well but when i changed it up to doing two sets to failure (15-20 reps) my biceps would be so engorged it was crazy.

I personally think that we should try a new training style and do it for 4-6 weeks and then gauge how that change has affected our muscle composition. That way we can fine tune our bodies and better understand our bodies over all.


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