Building big biceps is the holy grail for many lifters, but one common piece of gym equipment might actually be holding your gains back: the preacher curl bench.
According to six-time Mr Olympia Dorian Yates, the preacher curl bench doesn’t provide an optimal angle for curling and could actually place you at greater risk of injury.
‘The angle at the bottom places too much strain on the biceps tendon, and then when we come here [halfway up], it [tension] just falls off. You’ve only really got a limited range,’ he says.
Instead, Yates suggests increasing the angle of a bench to 90 degrees. That way, you’ll continue to isolate the muscle by supporting your upper arm against the bench, helping to maintain tension on the biceps in a safer position. Better still, he recommends concentration curls.
‘I did them this way early on in my career, single arm with a dumbbell, and I remember doing them once with Mike Mentzer in LA. I usually preferred concentration curls instead, but try them out,’ Yates adds.
Performing biceps curls on a bench set to a 90-degree angle creates a more consistent tension curve than preacher curls, which demand maximum effort in the lengthened position but provide less tension towards the top of the movement.
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It also makes sense why Yates would advocate finding the most efficient way to grow muscle. The bodybuilding legend has consistently highlighted the importance of training with high intensity and taking working sets to failure to maximise gains. For that reason, he doesn’t want to waste sets using an exercise he believes is less effective.
Ultimately, though, the exercise you choose depends on your goals. If the bottom portion of the biceps curl is a sticking point, preacher curls can help you build strength in that position. Using a bench set to 90 degrees, meanwhile, provides more consistent tension throughout the movement and may do a better job of developing the peak of the biceps.
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