By Brian Diaz
Sitting in the corner of many gyms, including some of ours, is that dusty old angled bench that makes many exercisers wonder, “What do you do with that weird-looking bench?” Gone are the days of the traditional preacher bench bicep curl that frequented every chain gym around the country until the last couple of years. In its place, we have come up with plenty of other options for getting those biceps to bulge (for most males) and toned (for most females). There are a few ways to get at the biceps with the TRX Suspension Trainer. This month, I will cover one of the more basic movements that also elicits a little core stabilization.
Start standing and facing the anchor point with a handle in each hand and the straps fully extended. Remember, TRX is a great exercising tool to quickly adjust the resistance on the fly. This movement is another one of those that we will start out easy and then make more difficult. The closer your feet are to the anchor point, the harder this exercise is going to be. With your out elbows flexed, shoulders elevated to about 90 degrees and out in front of your body, you are going to try to lower yourself with just your arms (an eccentric bicep movement). Slowly controlling the extension of the elbows, your upper body and torso will move farther away from the anchor point. Try to engage the core and keep the body as straight as possible as you extend and then eventually flex your elbows to return to the starting position. Do not lower the elbows down or up throughout the movement (meaning that the shoulders are not extending or flexing and the biceps are isolated).
This is the basic supinated bicep curl. Changing just your hand position to pronated (forearm rotated in), neutral (thumb pointed straight up) and rotating will add variation to this movement.
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Brian Diaz is the head physical therapist and sports specialist at ActivEdge Fitness & Sports Performance. He is a Level II Certified TRX Suspension Trainer and a USA Triathlon Certified Coach. Follow him on Twitter (@JediTriathlete) or go to his website at ExperienceTheEdge.com for more exercise ideas.
