If the draw of bigger arms gets you to the gym and ultimately gives you more confidence when putting on a T-shirt, then go for it. That adjustment in thinking doesn’t mean you should stop working your biceps. Similar to calf raises or machine leg extensions, two other exercises that isolate a single muscle for endless, one-dimensional repetitions, bicep curls remain a moneymaker for the beach or box office, but aren’t considered a difference maker in helping you serve a tennis ball faster or push your friend’s car out of a snowbank. (Bettmann/Contributor)īut as strength training’s core theory has shifted in recent decades to prioritize functional movements (think: preparation for the natural pushes and pulls a human being experiences in the course of a day), the bicep curl has steadily been cycled out of trainers’ notebooks. Sally Field uses Arnold Schwarzenegger’s bicep as a chinrest in 1976. Whatever the end goal was - intimidation, attracting glances at the pool, trying to look more like Arnold - faithful dedication to the routine often led to results. For decades, inmates, lifeguards and bodybuilders alike have hammered away at so-called prison curls, which was presumably the best way to isolate and build up the bicep. Throughout our national self-isolation period, we’ll be sharing single-exercise deep dives, offbeat belly-busters and general get-off-the-couch inspiration that doesn’t require a visit to your (likely now-shuttered) local gym.Ĭue up any prison-yard tracking shot ever, and there’s at least one millisecond afforded to some glistening jabroni curling a loaded dumbbell, his elbow propped against the interior of a leg. Welcome to The Workout From Home Diaries.