A while back, I posted this video of some our athletes performing a “gun show” finisher at the end of a workout.
Turns out, I received a couple of “friendly e-mails” from guys who apparently had a huge problem that I was doing bicep curls with football players. I was accused of performing a “non functional” (what does this even mean these days?) exercise that would in no way help a football player improve performance on the gridiron. For whatever reason, there is this dogma among some guys that bicep curls are a “bodybuilding” movement that have NO place in the training of athletes.
Personally, I think that opinion is ridiculous; in a sport as physical and violent as football, where EVERY muscle in the body needs to be as prepared as possible, there is certainly a place for bicep curls. The funny part is, we do not spent an hour doing “bi’s and tri’s.” We spend about 10 minutes, and no more, training these muscles at the end of our upper body workout. Aside from the physical benefit that our athletes derive from having stronger biceps, what about the mental aspect? Ever hear the phrase “Look good, feel good, play good.”? It basically means that if an athlete is confident about the way he looks, he will be confident about himself as an athlete, and perform well. Never be quick to blow off the many mental benefits of a sound training program, for there are many.
If you are dumb enough to think that it is “wrong” for athletes to perform bicep curls, then I don’t really care. I finished trying to convert people to rational means of thinking long ago. I will leave you with this, though: in football, aren’t turnovers hugely detrimental to the outcome of a football game? Look at the following two pictures, and tell me which of these two athletes is more likely to fumble, while holding the ball is an isometric bicep hold!