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Barbell curl weight?

Lee

Lee

New member
Just curious to what you guys do on barbell curl? I just started using 90 yesterday, im a huge puss.
 
I don't do them anymore but when I did anywhere from 95-175lbs depending on how many reps I was doing. Don't worry about the weight you have to start somewhere.

Cheers,
Scotsman
 
Eh, you'll get there just keep working. I have always had very strong arms so that started me out a little ahead.

Cheers,
Scotsman
 
This week Im supposed to do 150lbs for my 3x5 and 140lbs for my set of 8. Not going to be easy. Im really trying to keep my form tight on these and not turn it into a back workout. :D
 
Me personally? Never do them. But best I can do standing DB curl is 40 for 5. :( Darn long limbs.

Ya wanna talk sick weight? This dude on the HST forums preacher curled 200 for 3 reps!

-casualbb
 
They are really hard on my wrists. Before i stopped doing them, i was at 95x8 and 105x5... not too bad, but they destroyed the wrists.
 
i have really thick wrists, but small forearms, i hate it. but not much hurts my wrists so its not that bad.
 
I personally never go above 135 for 8 or 10 ultra strict reps......I do my important stuff heavy,intense, and with forethought.... by the time I get to curls for the girls, it is the end of the training week, I am spent, and I just wanna pump them up and get out of the gym.
 
WizKid25 said:
They are really hard on my wrists. Before i stopped doing them, i was at 95x8 and 105x5... not too bad, but they destroyed the wrists.
Click to expand...

<----nursing my wrist right now. did a 120x6/3/2 DC style. but damn, it hurts. i think i'll switch to ez curl bar now.
 
TheOak84 said:
i did 135 for 8 one time... :)
Click to expand...

Very nice, Oakie :)

I believe it. As I said before, your arms look bigger than 16" to me. I honestly thought they looked at least as big as mine if not moreso.

That's saying alot because I'm proud of my arms :)
 
I used to do 110 but I've switched to preacher curls; I feel a lot more in control doing preacher curls than BB curls, but I'm probably just pussin out here
 
If you're including EZ curl and not just straight bar I did 5x105 last week (assuming a 15 lb bar).
Thats my PR.
 
Hmmm...ok I must be a freak. My arms are my worst feature (only 18"...grrr), but I train the hell out of them to keep them even close to caught up with the rest of my body. I can do 155 for 6 pretty strict preacher curls. I do half reps with 205. Its the same on tri's. I do 365 on close grip presses if I touch my chest, and 1/4 reps in the rack with 545. What's really messed up is, I've had 2 other bodybuilders tell me I should work on my arms a little more! It's like, wtf do you want me to do dumbell curls with 150's?
 
TheOak84 said:
ty:) not really sure on the size, but, around 16 i guess
Click to expand...

Being short has its advantages, eh?

I'd have to say 16" on a 5'3" guy is equivalent to...? on a man of average height. Mine are a little under 18.5", 18" if I was back into single-digit Bodyfat Land. (I hear the DNP Roller Coaster is scary, but the Clen Merry-Go Round is for kids.)

But blast it! My head is big. And my biceps are very weak for their size. My curls are super-strict, but even with a little english I doubt I could curl more than 155 for a single.
 
you guys are strong. especially bodybyfinaplix, those are some nice weights there. i use 110 pounds (EZ bar) for my 5x5 weight. sometimes i prefer preacher curls as i can go much heavier on those (yeah, ego gettin' in the way lol). i thought 110 pounds for 5x5 was pretty good for my weight and height, although i guess i'm gonna have to bust my ass a lil' bit more after reading this thread!

oh yeah wizkid; if doing straight bar curls hurt your wrists, why not try EZ-bar curls? they're very EZ (yeah lame lol, but you get the point) on the wrists, you should try them.
 
The weights listed here are pretty common, but I wonder how the form used with them is. Of course, most will immediately say their form is perfect. lol
 
bodybyfinaplix--instead of arm work, it just sounds like u need bicep work--i got sixteen inch arms, curling pretty similar weight--but ur tricep workout is fuckin INSANE--
 
Baoh said:
The weights listed here are pretty common, but I wonder how the form used with them is. Of course, most will immediately say their form is perfect. lol
Click to expand...


good observation, i see plenty of guys at the guy doing the body wave when doing standing bb curls. i never give them advice though cuz i know they wont listen, cuz they wont wanna lower the weight they are using. personally, if i cheat on a lift i get mad at myself cuz i know its not gonna do dick for my progression.
 
I do preachers mostly, I'm at 90-95 lb 6-10 reps per set. my arms are 17.5". (I'm 6'1") I need to keep woking at the size thing. -john
 
I did 140 pounds on my 5x5 straight bar curls tuesday, and that was damn tough. I don't know what my 1rm would be maybe 155? My biggest problem now with that weight is that my right wrist starts to hurt like hell and my right elbow gets sore also. Basically I start to fall apart from the effort, but the bi's seem to have endless strength, my one genetic gift bi's and back.
 
This is what I did today for my Bi's

EZ bar Preacher Curls all/ 1 minute rests

65 lbs x 12

75 x 10

85 x 8

95 x 3

35 x 12

it was a focus on tri day, day :)
 
Baoh said:
The weights listed here are pretty common, but I wonder how the form used with them is. Of course, most will immediately say their form is perfect. lol
Click to expand...

Out of my 5 reps the 1st 3 were very strict, rep 4 had the elbows out a little and rep 5 definitely had some body leaning and flared elbows.
 
im not saying on every single rep, but biceps is definitely an exercise that u can cheat on--im talking about having strict form throughout the set, and banging out the last several on a little less then perfect i.e. swinging a little--no matter how perfect anyone thinks their form is, try curling against a wall, and i promise it'll be lighter
 
BodyByFinaplix said:
Hmmm...ok I must be a freak. My arms are my worst feature (only 18"...grrr), but I train the hell out of them to keep them even close to caught up with the rest of my body. I can do 155 for 6 pretty strict preacher curls. I do half reps with 205. Its the same on tri's. I do 365 on close grip presses if I touch my chest, and 1/4 reps in the rack with 545. What's really messed up is, I've had 2 other bodybuilders tell me I should work on my arms a little more! It's like, wtf do you want me to do dumbell curls with 150's?
Click to expand...

Err...YEAH. You ARE a freak! :)

Those are incredible preacher curls. Mentzer once told me that he and Ray rarely went over about 150 lbs. for reps.

I'd also have to say 365 CGBPs are pretty damn nice. Just moving that kind of weight without bitching of wrist pain deserves a bow of respect :)

You must be quite big overall and lean to have people telling you 18" arms aren't enough.

For your strength, though, I am a bit surprised that you're not toting closer to 19"-19.5" arms or so...do you have very small joints? Could you be overtraining?
 
Baoh said:
The weights listed here are pretty common, but I wonder how the form used with them is. Of course, most will immediately say their form is perfect. lol
Click to expand...

That's the thing. My form is perfect. I make damn sure that, if I'm going to be using somewhat wimpy poundages, I'm at least going to do them *right*.

I like to stand with my back against a wall such that I don't bob and weave the way most guys do when they're curling 65 lbs. I don't keep my elbows glued to the wall, but the meat of my triceps stays there. Each negative is 6-8 seconds. Positives are done as "explosively" as possible, but each rep begins from a dead stop--not a rest at the bottom, but a deceleration of the negative to the point that the bar isn't moving when it touches my thighs.

On a final rep, I might step out from the wall and lean back a little if the bar stalls, but I record that as such. I don't curl X for 10, 2 with lean, then tell people I can do 10 perfectly :)

I still try to keep it pretty strict with rest-pauses, but those usually necessitate my only really loose form. It's still cleaner than 95% of the guys I see curling. I have seen some truly SHIT barbell curls in my time.
 
Bullit said:
If you're including EZ curl and not just straight bar I did 5x105 last week (assuming a 15 lb bar).
Thats my PR.
Click to expand...

Wait a sec... some other thread said that a standard EZ bar is 25... so I guess I got 115x5.
 
Guld, yes, I have tiny joints, the wrist pain is controlable on the close grip presses but I have to wrap my wrists up pretty tight, especially on the partial reps. My triceps were a weak point at one time, but by beating them with close grip presses and weighted dips, plus every high intesity technique I can find, they finally started growing. Then again, when I started training a little over three years ago I had like 11 or 12" arms, so maybe `8" isn't so bad. I'm probably not overtraining, I rarely do more than 2 or 3 sets per bodypart in a given week, although my chest and shoulder workouts seem to tax my tri's just as much as my tricep workout. Part of the problem is small joints, the other part is that I overtrained my biceps for a good year and a half before I finally realized that maybe 20 sets for bi's twice a week was getting me nowhere. I gained about 1/2 on them in 6 weeks, and then when over a year without any change in size. My thighs seem to be the only thing that seems to grow regardless of overtraining or training method used.
Yeah, my proportions make them look about an inch smaller than they should. I'm dieting now so suddenly people think my triceps are larger. I've got high triceps so unless I'm pretty lean I think it makes my arms look a bit smaller than they are.
Currenty stats (haven't checked bf lately, but ten weeks out now from a photo shoot, so I'm dieting pretty hard):
Chest 50-51"
arms 18
waist 32
thighs 28.5-29
calves 18 (I have to detrain them a bit to keep them under 18.5 so that my arms are in proportion)
weight 214 this morning
 
BodyByFinaplix said:
[Guld, yes, I have tiny joints, the wrist pain is controlable on the close grip presses but I have to wrap my wrists up pretty tight, especially on the partial reps. My triceps were a weak point at one time, but by beating them with close grip presses and weighted dips, plus every high intesity technique I can find, they finally started growing.
Click to expand...

I imagine so! :)

Then again, when I started training a little over three years ago I had like 11 or 12" arms, so maybe `8" isn't so bad. I'm probably not overtraining, I rarely do more than 2 or 3 sets per bodypart in a given week, although my chest and shoulder workouts seem to tax my tri's just as much as my tricep workout.
Click to expand...

I understand.

And wow...in 3 years, you've added ~7" to your arms? Very impressive. Small joints or not, you've clearly got the genetics to have proportionately big arms.

Part of the problem is small joints, the other part is that I overtrained my biceps for a good year and a half before I finally realized that maybe 20 sets for bi's twice a week was getting me nowhere. I gained about 1/2 on them in 6 weeks, and then when over a year without any change in size. My thighs seem to be the only thing that seems to grow regardless of overtraining or training method used.
Click to expand...

Kinda the same story here. What's your training frequency for arms look like?

I ask because I've done the 2-3 sets/bodypart route and tortured biceps and triceps with intensity, but once my frequency dropped below a certain threshold, I simply couldn't eek any more growth out of them.

This was compounded by my friendship with Mentzer. His answer to any sticking point was invariably, "You're overtraining." So the frequency went lower and lower, eventually to the point of excluding training arms altogether (each decrease in frequency was always matched with a reduction in volume).

It wasn't until, with the DC protocol, I started training biceps and triceps three times in a two week period that they started growing rapidly again. But I'm not sure that's really your "problem"...

Yeah, my proportions make them look about an inch smaller than they should. I'm dieting now so suddenly people think my triceps are larger. I've got high triceps so unless I'm pretty lean I think it makes my arms look a bit smaller than they are.
Currenty stats (haven't checked bf lately, but ten weeks out now from a photo shoot, so I'm dieting pretty hard):
Chest 50-51"
arms 18
waist 32
thighs 28.5-29
calves 18 (I have to detrain them a bit to keep them under 18.5 so that my arms are in proportion)
weight 214 this morning
Click to expand...

THAT, my friend, is your problem. Your arms are quite big, but the rest of you is REAL big! A 51" chest w/ a 32" waist is very, very impressive. For point of reference, my chest is about 51". And my waist is 36"! GAH!

:)


You're doing a LOT of things right...you might consider the arm frequency thing at some point, but that really only jives in the context of a full DC-style workout plan. I don't have to tell you that, though.

I'd say just keep chugging along, and take some care to not get hurt on those preachers. 3 years...fucking-A. Impressive stuff. Your arms may well catch up in short order.
 
140 lbs for 10-8-6 a couple days ago with an ez curl car. Straight bars are deadly on my wrists. I get a shooting pain running lenghwise from my wrist to my elbow when I let go of the bar. Its not so bad while performing the exercise, but when I let go of the bar to put it down it gets you.
 
Guld, actually we have arrived at the same conclusion. I've concluded that bi's and tri's are small muscles thus require very little in terms of total sets in order to stimulate growth, but their localized recovery is very fast by comparison to larger muscles. I'm going to increase the frequincy of training to this.

Monday: back, chest, shoulders + one static hold for bi's & tri's.
I do static holds for bi's on the flat side of a preacher bench with dumbells, and one arms pressdowns for tri's (can currently hold 150 ibs 2 inches short of lockout for 14 seconds with either arm, but getting stronger)
Wednesday: One sets to failure for bi's & tri's, will probably go with preacher curls & hammerstrength dip machine (might go with weighted dips instead, but much harder to imploy high intensity technics, which sucks becuase I love dips). Probably one set to failure, followed by 3 or 4 partial reps, and a spotter to help with 2 or 3 forced negatives.

Friday: My usually thigh, calf and arm routine, but will limit bi's and tri's to two sets. Probably going to do heavy partials on preacher curls and close grip press.

Guld, yeah I've learned alot about training, but honestly my early gains have nothing to do with my knowledge of training, diet drugs, etc, simply good genetics. My first bulking cycle was 250 mg of test, 200 mg of deca a week. Ended week 8 at 235 ibs, about 17% bf (yeah I ate like a pig). I started that cycle exactly one year after I started training, and gained about 50 ibs.
My advice on yoru waist is mainly to diet. Also I find doing vaccums helps, and avoid any direct training of the obliques. Hoping to have mine down to about 29" for my photos. I did my first show at 178 ibs, and 4 days out I measured it at 28.
 
BodyByFinaplix said:
Guld, actually we have arrived at the same conclusion. I've concluded that bi's and tri's are small muscles thus require very little in terms of total sets in order to stimulate growth, but their localized recovery is very fast by comparison to larger muscles. I'm going to increase the frequincy of training to this.

Monday: back, chest, shoulders + one static hold for bi's & tri's.
I do static holds for bi's on the flat side of a preacher bench with dumbells, and one arms pressdowns for tri's (can currently hold 150 ibs 2 inches short of lockout for 14 seconds with either arm, but getting stronger)
Click to expand...

Incredible. There are lots of guys, like my training partner, who'd kill to do 150 for reps with BOTH arms. I'm not exactly repping out endlessly with it, either :)

Anyway, sounds good. I really, really dig statics.

Wednesday: One sets to failure for bi's & tri's, will probably go with preacher curls & hammerstrength dip machine (might go with weighted dips instead, but much harder to imploy high intensity technics, which sucks becuase I love dips). Probably one set to failure, followed by 3 or 4 partial reps, and a spotter to help with 2 or 3 forced negatives.
Click to expand...

Also looks good.

Friday: My usually thigh, calf and arm routine, but will limit bi's and tri's to two sets. Probably going to do heavy partials on preacher curls and close grip press.

Guld, yeah I've learned alot about training, but honestly my early gains have nothing to do with my knowledge of training, diet drugs, etc, simply good genetics. My first bulking cycle was 250 mg of test, 200 mg of deca a week. Ended week 8 at 235 ibs, about 17% bf (yeah I ate like a pig). I started that cycle exactly one year after I started training, and gained about 50 ibs.
My advice on yoru waist is mainly to diet. Also I find doing vaccums helps, and avoid any direct training of the obliques. Hoping to have mine down to about 29" for my photos. I did my first show at 178 ibs, and 4 days out I measured it at 28.
Click to expand...

Awesome.

That sounds like a pretty mean program. I'll be interested to hear how it works for you. I'm betting pretty well :)

And I definitely need to diet at some point. I'm 242 right now and need to be 225 to be truly gym hard. It's probably going to be awhile until I can get a hold of my "connection," though, for a good cutting cycle. I'm terribly lazy when it comes to dieting :)

You have some good luck, there, in prepping for that shoot, and let me know how the arms go. The only thing I might suggest is that, again, be careful! :) With your kind of strength--315 militaries, 455 flat benches, those insane CGBP and preacher curls--I don't want you to get injured. I know you don't want that either ;)

But enough of that. Injury isn't an option. You go get 'em and enjoy having a 29" waist for...well, most of the rest of us :) LOL.
 
A teacher, back in high school, curled 195 lbs for 3 reps on a straight bar.

That guy was huge though. He was on the canadian bobsled team too
 
SlavikHavik said:
A teacher, back in high school, curled 195 lbs for 3 reps on a straight bar.

That guy was huge though. He was on the canadian bobsled team too
Click to expand...

damn, im surprised someone that strong would be small enough to fit in a bobsled
 
Jack, yeah, but only 3 reps and its on a smith machine so its a bit easier. Still I would rather do a little heavier weight on a smith machine and target the delts a little harder than 20 or 30 ibs less with free weight and have to stabilize it. Free weight militaries are too hard on my rotator cuffs, I dislocated my right shoulder about 2 and half years ago. Steated dumbell presses don't seem to bother it though as long as I don't use anything heavier than 100's, only barbell presses. Still I guess that is pretty strong. A lot of people at the gym stop and stare when I train, and I get asked alot about how I lift so heavy. I take it for granted too often I guess. I used to work out with my cousin, so my 315 military doesn't seem that impressive, I've seen him do 425 for reps with free weights. He plays for the Titans right now, it used to scare the hell out of me spotting him, I was always worried he get pinned benching and I wouldn't be able to get the weight off of him.

Guld, yeah I love static holds with heavy weights. Thanks for the concern about getting hurt. I think about that alot. I'm always thinking about form, I train in the rack alot so I can't get pinned (Don't always trust my spotters). 225 hard is pretty good bro if you can get there. Most people have no idea how big that really is. Anyone can eat like a pig and use 2 grams of test a week and get to 250+ soft, but to be anything over 210 and close to contest condition is freakish. Look at some of the older pictures of Flex Wheeler competing in the Olypmia at 218.
 
I didnt read through all of the post .....I'm kinda in a hurry, My two cents though.....BROS SAVE YOUR WRISTS by wrapping them. I'm a fomer boxer so I use that particular wrapping but you can also use an ace bandage. I do diff. variations of curls but my fav. are preachers w/ ez bar 200lbs 3 x 6 with 4 min intervals. Now, I wrap my wrists for all of my lifts........No more pain.......gota give props to my dad for the advise
 
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