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QUESTION:
Dear Charles,
My football coach will not
let us do curls he says they have no place in training, but
I say they do. The biceps must be there for a reason, right?
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ANSWER:
Since the biceps is often thought
of as a "show" or "beach" muscle, bicep
training is often over-worshiped by young male trainees,
but also excessively discouraged by well-meaning coaches. To say,
as many coaches do, that the biceps has no function for a football
player demonstrates a basic lack of understanding.
I understand your coach's sentiments
— he's just trying to emphasize function over aesthetics.
However, it's kind of like telling school kids not to read the latest
controversial book— it’s the best way to guarantee that
they will!
The biceps plays a pivotal role in
the function of the shoulder and also in the articulation of the
hand. It also balances the forces created by the triceps at the
elbow joint.
So I hope your coach will someday
take less of an "extremist" position about this issue,
but in the mean-time, see if he'll allow
you to perform more chins— a great bicep movement,
but just tell him you are doing it for your back strength!
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