Mike Mentzer's GREATEST Biceps Exercise of All Time 

Bro what i jist realized yeah he exploded like 20 years after he died more than anyone else almost

He would not have been surprised, he knew what he was doing.

RiP legend one of the best bodies I've ever seen.

It’s wild. I had gotten pretty into Mentzer around 10 years ago. The fan base around Mentzer and HIT theory was pretty low. Seems like within the last few years it has exploded in popularity.

he’s watching. he knows.

Goat? He never won an Olympia.

​@@mjollnirjcyou don't have to be the goat by winning an Olympia, he was well known for other thing sin the fitness community

@@Bigbroplays you throw around the "goat" to often it's lost its meaning.

@@mjollnirjc sure...

Arnold's the goat pal

Her name is Barbella for a reason

I like that ​@@kolenew8181

No prenup 🤫

At the top meaning when the bar is at your chest or when its overhead?

@@Firecelebi sorry I should have clarified better. When the bar is at your chest, squeeze your grip and biceps hard for a second or three. (I like the three second pause every rep with a lot of my calisthenics. Try it and you’ll see what I mean.)

@@Chris-qv5mc headed to the pull-up bar now. Thank you sir

@@Chris-qv5mc I got so sore I lost a little range of motion in my elbows for from the cross body curls he suggested in his latest bicep video, so I'll try in a couple days 🤣 need to get back into the training groove. I've always neglected my arms

Wild to me that i can do these but not a normal pullup

He just trying to keep up with sam😂😂 i get it if nothing else works anymore just use some goat voice overs😂😂😂

It's probably the best way to consume Jeff's content. His lengthy mental gymnastics to explain why his opinion is fact gets annoying.

☝️yes!!! I like Jeff, but just get to the point.

Even as a 21 year old it helps me with that lol. I always get pretty bad joint pain after an arm day even though I only do 2 bicep exercises for 2 sets.

49 years apart and doing the same workout for the same reason, pretty cool!

110 yo and still maintaining a pump through this exercise.

​@@stoic007😂

Bro rest wtf

The TRUTH always has a way of finding the LIGHT

@@Hata_Michio I'm curious, why do you think his stuff is blowing up?

@@atlehman69 IMO it’s the fact that he was a medical doctor and it makes so much sense. His methods focused on RECOVERY and people have realized they are over training and making fitness rocket science when it’s not that deep. Want the truth ? I just discovered him 6 months ago. Changed my workout to his classic high intensity and MAN I’m jacked , rested and I feel amazing. God Bless him. I’m a believer. Be well my friend. Google his work out where you do 1-2 sets at 85 % to failure you will be happy you did.

algorithm suggesting it most likely@@atlehman69

His method works…..

RIP at relatively young ages. Subconsciously makes me hesitate on their health advice.

​@mfawls9624 they had heart conditions I think Mike's dad passed away early in life as well

I've been doing it for 3 weeks and I can confirm. Not only my biceps but also my forearm gets rock hard. So if you have another exercise planned for the same day do it before this because this will send you straight home afterwards.

Works for me too.

So do you do this at the beginning or mid level? Usually I start with barbell curl..

@@yogeshkarel6745 I usually do these in the middle of my bicep workout. I start out with DB curls and get some blood flowing in the muscles. This either comes right after that or after barbell curls

@@earlcoles5215 underhand grip is bicep biased

Just because you didn’t know Mike Mentzer you came to the conclusion he was not recognised? Get off your very high horse.

​@@SAAmanathahaha... Well said

Same

@@prasannjitkumar780 Asuming that everyone should know everyone in the fitness history, sport community, humanity or what? Muppet

The point is he still glad Mentzer got his recognition, why are you guys so pissed off? It's a truth Mentzer has been robbed for so long in Bodybuilding world

This dude. 😆

Mike would be ruling Social Media bodybuilding industry if he was alive

Would have liked to have met Mike. Same with Jeff

Me too!

ye

Would you recommend this exercise?

@@qiranwang I would definitely add it for sure. I don’t like to use it as my main bicep movement. I’d like to start with heavy dumbbell and then after some fatigue, and set in really shred the muscle with this exercise may be for sets seven through 10.

​@@qiranwang Yes, but do the 6-10 reps to failure like Mentzer recommends. More intensity, less volume, then rest those muscles until the following workout cycle

As well as your biceps, this hits the lats as well. And when you can barely hold the weight on the negative your forearms start burning. It's a great exercise.

Relax Arnold🙄

@@mattp4007what’re you hating for, dude expressed that he sees results from this exercise and you sound jealous… pretty pathetic

@@ryanay999because he hasn’t seen any results, his arms are exactly the same. Everything he said is a lie, one back exercise isn’t magically going to grow his arms lmao

@@jamesrevere2992 Oh so you know him personally? You’ve seen his lack of arm growth? I doubt he only does this one exercise, he likely incorporates it into his workout along with other bicep exercises but Ig you’re not that bright and didn’t think of that

HIS BROTHER WERE EVEN BETTER, BEING MR AMERICA (LIKE MYSELF--BUT NATURAL) !!

You said it, bro

He almost hit Arnold, Arnold was being sarcastic in the Locker room.The pic where you see Mike pointing at Arnold while he's sitting down.Arnold actually sat down when Mike came at him.Mike was upset because he knew Joe Weider was going to give it to Arnold regardless of Arnold's physique where he wasn't at his best.

A​@sergemartinez5843 The fact is that Arnold turned up in fantastic form because he'd been training and dieting for Conan the Barbarian. Filming was scheduled to commence two weeks after the MrO 1980. Mike came second to Zane the previous year and with Zane recovering from injury and not expected to be at his peak for the 1980 contest, Mike had expected winning to be a formality, then Arnold turned up, and Mike was furious. As it was, Mike wasn't in great shape and he came fifth behind Arnold, Dickerson, Zane and Mike's buddy Boyer Coe.

The fact that it puts more stress on the origin makes it top tier bicep exercise

Would you say you’re seeing progress? From an uneducated perspective, it seems like this would work out the lats just as much as the biceps

@@dirtydan3016 .....it depends on how you go about doing it. A wider grip will hit the lats, while a narrow grip isolates the biceps more.

​@@dirtydan3016 your lats are bigger and stronger and will force the weaker smaller bicep to grow because it will be the weakest link in the chain. Just like deadlifts will force your hand grip, lower back, and any other weak points to grow. I basically do this lift with weighted close grip chin ups. Also gymnastics have huge biceps and close grip chinups are their go to workout

@@PaulMcGillTV thank you!

Would you recommend it?

@@qiranwang 100%. I feel it in my entire bicep. The burn is comparable to the one you get when you do leg extensions. Best thing to do is just try it and see how you get on. Let me know how it goes brother.

Do you do other bicep work or did this replace them?

@@tonyrobinson9328same question. Right now my three bicep exercises are barbell spider curls, preacher curls, and hammer curls. Which one should this replace?

@@gabrielbustos2706 That is your choice not mine. I tried this one and it was good but after sometime I felt it in my triceps as much as my biceps so I am not convinced I should replace anything for it, maybe work in it some time though. My favorite bicep exercise is still the incline hammer curl, I set the bench at 60 degrees.

😂😂😂You're probably already doing it when you do back....Anyway🎉

At 68 I'm growing muscle faster than I did in my 30s by focusing more on rest and recovery than reps and weight. My journals prove it.

Yes glad someone gets it

I've just wrote the same. It's a mistake.

it's because of muscle memory, not because of this exercise lol

Totally.

My first thought was that this is actually just a comfortable version of a good old chin up

Mentzer was an atheist.

What sort of weight, rep range are you using? Intrigued because my biceps are serously lacking compared to my triceps.

@@ThiefOfNavarre I’m treating it almost like a seated pull-up. I’m using a lat-pull-down bar and generally do 1 set at 115 or 130lbs. Rep until failure.

@@ericianwalters Thanks

⁠doing the same. It is unreal how much strength I am gaining doing this. Right now doing 130 to failure like you, but only a couple months ago I was doing less than 100.

@@Propane_Acccessories same exact story for me; I think I started at around 80-100lbs. Did 130 last night and I think I can probably go higher next week. One thing that bugs me is my forearms burn out before my biceps do, and I don’t have a good solution for that 😕

I work with my own weight as much as I can and I love hanging from bars (pull ups, abs hanging, upper back with TRX, etc). But I have to say that this is way better than chin ups for the biceps. Do both until failure and you will notice the difference.

​@francomahl it's the same motion tbh, the difference is level of strength you have. If you can't do body weight start small and progressively overload. Once you surpass body weight lifts, either add weights to body or use the pull down.

I do back and chest one day, next training day is arms and shoulders. If I were to do chin ups (cos i can't do pull downs, I've no machine) would that be done on arm day? And wouldn't it be messing up my back recovery cos it's also a back exercise?

@@orangemaniabrother2232 you are already doing too many movements. Maximize and do back and bis one day then do chest and tris on another day. Incorporate chin up’s into back/bi day. See with this you are doing a push day then you do a pull day. You maximize movements and don’t over work your arms. They need rest. Also both chin up’s and pull up’s work your back. But, a slightly closer grip chin up will absolutely murder your biceps.

​@@scottyelverton4885I disagree, the Arnold split, or torso/arms/legs is way more effective for arm growth. Doing arm isolation after heavy bench or Rows is so inefficient, arms need a dedicated day along with shoulders.

Glad its not just me. Forearms all day. Biceps? Cant get there.

I absolutely cooked my upper body with these last time 😮😂.

@@MrThepopopopo sweeeeeeet💪🏼

do it as your first exercise, its mainly for back

@@anothergymkid9242 no...as you can see he's not pulling to the chest OR getting his elbows behind his back/to your sides as you would with a lat focused or traditional pull down. Completely different approach and application

​@thesoundmajors9858 Exactly. I work out back/ traps/ biceps, with this being the first exercise in my bicep routine. Some variation of a set or two of concencentration curls as a finisher.

S FOR STRIATED :D

Dont be an idiot....if prayers and vitamins arent part of your routine there will be no pythons !

Never, cause then the views would stop. Jeff is here for the views, the desire to educate us left a few years ago

perfect@@WithTheBears

​@@WithTheBearsIt's almost like Jeff wanna show the wrong way and the better alternative yet people only focus on they're been told they're doing it wrong.

They have that because of stretched positions in planche and back levers.

​@@VegetaPrinceOfSaiyansyeah that makes more sense

​@@VegetaPrinceOfSaiyans It's for both reasons. Muscle contraction + muscle stretch gives the best results

Its straight arm tension, Not a single pullup or whatever involved. Its Stretch mediated hypertrophy. What Mike Mentzer says is , proven, BS!

Just curl some weight and stop being a nerd

I tried doing dedicated grip strength exercises on cardio days (so the grip is not worn out for lifts) and it has made a difference for exactly the issue you describe.

If you want to get the most out of your shrugs you're going to have to put them earlier in the workout for the time being. Farmer carries and weighted dead arm hangs are great for building up your grip, however you may have to take a hit on volume for the rest of your lifts, as grip training can be very taxing and easily interfere with training your other muscle groups

What's the issue with wrist straps?

@@MaxGutfeld Nothing, but it's nice to increase the endurance of the muscles that contribute to your grip strength

Hang for 2 mins.

A very common comment of jose barking

Be careful. You'll easily tear up the tendons in your forearms right at the elbow. It will mess you up for a long time. Months to heal.

@@dex2591 Holy cow! You're right. This JUST happened to me !! I thought it was from pullups but this makes much more sense Thank you for sharing

​@@JaySinghIsImmatureyou just tore your tendons?

@@nomnomyourmom I don't think they're torn, but definitely injured in some way. It's been a month now and the pain is still very real although significantly improved

@@JaySinghIsImmature pain where specifically

Had to look surprisingly long to find this. It's contracting about the elbow and actively lengthening about the shoulder. Just feels better because you're letting the bicep handle more load since it remains in a length where it can generate more force for a longer range of motion

I find this more effective than weighted chin ups.

Mentzer used to superset this with chin-ups. Would do weighted chins and then go to a pull-down machine immediately after and do these. I’ve tried it too. It’s great at getting more out of your chinups.

It is basically impossible, since you use your back to lower the bar and simultaneously uses the biceps for a similar movement. If you want to isolate your biceps, just do the normal biceps curl with a straight bar.

@ruan441 it can't be impossible if it's the best exercise for biceps. There would at least have to be a way to lessen the intensity on the back. I found that if you turn your palms up like on the waiter curl that kind of helps biceps more

@@flintybraz1 for that reason Mike is wrong wrong wrong it’s not the best haha it’s a secondary muscle these recordings of Mike are old he corrects himself nowadays but people listen to his old stuff not realizing they did t have great exercise science back then

Yes and no. He said some good things that are true and maybe ahead of his time, but he also said loads and loads of things that are just absolutely wrong.

Chin up 😎

Yeah but reverse grip pull up I've found it easier to do than a normal pullup

Think for yourself

He was jacked already before he started training like that. I don’t believe everyone can train like mentzer and see tremendous results

@@capcomfan82 And steroids. Don't forget the enormous amounts of steroids

If you're already on gear and advanced. Not for the average person.

​@@EdwardsNHand meth for preworkout

But, you are using triceps to extend your arm. Your biceps are not being used...

@@nathandrabing5942 @bendover69420 Yeah, the shoulder movement in this exercise is hitting the long head of the tricep, and not the bicep. The math is wrong in this exercise

Yes it is so the clip makes no sense. It's a good exercise but this whole "muscle is contracting more uniformly" this is old school bullshit

Bicep supinates the hand and there is tension throughout. I think Mike is correct.

@MrThepopopopo sure it does but there is no active supination/pronation forces going on. It's static at the forearm. The constant tension and heavy loading capabilities is what makes it a good bicep builder

I think the bar's farther away from you when doing this

And you can push the volume much higher. Myself for example can only do about 8-10 chin ups, and then I'm toast.

Yes, but you can work your way up to it without losing form and also go beyond bodyweight without chains / plates hanging and shit. And you prevent the shock from landing once you're done. Some people can have issues. I did.

Some say that a chin up is limited in being able to take on more load since our body weight only has so much weight. While this may be true, I don’t think that the cap limit of weighted chin ups fall off that quick. Meaning, if chin ups are getting too easy, start trying to do slow negatives with your chin ups. And/or, start to hold the chin up in its hardest position, which is probably around the 90 degree angle or maybe higher up. Feel it out for where it’s hardest and hold that spot for 10s or 30s. From here, you can do a mix of holds and slow negatives. Or add in going slow positives (up) too. If this begins to be easy, grab 2 towels, one for each hand. Throw the towels around the bar, and hang from the towels with your hands gripping the towels. The towels become your new bar. Try doing normal chin ups now. If this becomes too easy, you can, instead, or instead of training with the towels at all, do one arm chin ups. Do the same harder variations as above if normal one arm chime ups become easier. After the harder variations with one arm chin ups, do the towel. Do one arm towel chin ups. This may turn into a pull up, however, with a single arm neutral grip chin up. Either way, if you still get a great bicep workout from it, then great. If not, or you want to avoid working the other muscles too much, stick to the bar with single arm chin ups. From here, if you’d like, you can finally progress to adding a weighted vest or going to a pull down machine where you can do chin ups with more weight than your body.

Shhhh don't speak facts in here

Bicep flexes the forearm and supinates the forearm. Both are present here and there is tension from 2 joints on the bicep.