"Workout of the Month"

"Kfng, fresh from taking runner up in the 198 class, at the NASA Ohio State High School Powerlifting Championship, took a few minutes and sat down with us to share his champion-form, power curling routine.

Special K's Power Curl training is based on an adaptation of the Westside Barbell template. It is also influenced by The Great Brookszinski's writings and his patented-"Gut Buster" training regimine.

There is a Max Effort Upper Bicep day and a Max Effort Lower Bicep day and a Dynamic Effort Bicep day and a Repeated Effort Bicep day. To prevent his body from becoming imbalanced, once every ten days he will perform a "Gut Buster" Upper body and a "Gut Buster" Lower body day. Big K took us through a typical mesocycle in a training block.

Sunday:
DE Biceps-The standing power curl is performed for 10 sets of 3 reps with approximately 70% of his Power Curl 1RM. K uses 70% because he does he competes as an unequipped curler. A lifter using a curling suit would use a lower percentage (between 40-50). K will cycle his DE curling in 3 week waves using bands or chains or a different type of barbell. Typically he will use close, medium and wide grips during one workout.
Weighted Chin-up curl-K uses this modification of a chin-up as a supplemental exercise to push up his Power Curl. Typically he will perform 2-3 sets of 5-8 reps with as much weight as posssible. He will change the supplemental exercise every 8-10 weeks.
Front delts-K-dawg typically perfroms a front delt exercise next as he feels strong front delts are essential to a big curl. Usually he does 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps.
Calf raises-A variation of the calf raise completes the workout. Strong calves help stabilize the body when curling heavy. Sets and reps are 3-4 for 15 respectively.

Monday:
ME Lower Bicep day-Here Kev will perform an exercise that places the muscles under similiar tension they would experience in a Power Curl with emphasis on the "lower bicep". This is an example of the conjugate method combined with Joe Weider's "Muscle Stupidity" Principal. For example, he may work up to a 1-3 rep max in the Nebula Seated Machine Curl this week. Next week he would perform a 3-5 rep max in the Preacher Curl and the following week he could do partial curls in the power rack for a 1-3 rep max. By using up to 3 grips in each exercise he has nine different variations of lower bicep work to do! (And this is just a small example of the exercises that Super K has in his arsenal).
Seated Iso-concentration curls-Kevin will follow ME work with 2-3 sets of high rep (15-25 range) curls for a maximum pump.
Leg curl variation-Following the insane Arnold-like pump K gets from the concentration curls he does 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps of leg curls to hit the leg biceps hard. This follows The Weider Muscle Sympathy Principal which says that getting a big hamstring pump will force the biceps of the upper arm to get stronger because they do not want to see posterior chain domination. This is also an abortion of the conjugate method.
Pec deck-Monday's training ends with a finisher of some kind. In this case, K chose the vaunted Pec Deck Machine. It allows one to hold the biceps in a continuous state of contraction while gorging the pectoralisis with blood (Weider Muscle Iso-Contraction Principal). 2-3 sets of 15-20 reps are the norm here.

Wednesday:
ME Upper Bicep day: The same principals practiced Monday are again in use here except the emphasis is placed on an exercise that primarily hits the upper biceps. An equipped Power Curler will choose different exercises than a raw curler because the curling suit changes the groove of the bar when curling. And because an equipped curler needs a stronger lockout than an unequipped one. Raw curlers will train upper and lower biceps but in truth the common sticking point for them is the transition between lower and upper bicep. "AK" ("like the rifle only I hit harder") for example in the last three ME workouts before his last meet performed partial rack curls for a 1-3 rep max, incline DB curls for a 3-5 rep max and inverted hammer curls for 1-3 rep max.
Dip-curls: These are done assisted or unassisted (sometimes with just bodyweight, other times weighted). They look like regular dips but the key according to Triple K (Kevin Kurling King) is making the mental link to "curl oneself to the bar" when performing the lift (Weider Mind-Muscle Confusion Principal). Typically he does 3-4 sets of 10-20 reps.
One-arm overhead triceps extensions-Next K3 will hit some triceps work because it forces the biceps to act as antagonists to the tricep thus stimulating more deep muscle fibers. Whatever exercise he chooses he will do for 3 sets of 15 reps.
Ab work-three sets of 8-15 reps of an ab exercise are performed. Strong abs help stabilize the core when curling heavy weight.

Friday:
Repeated effort bicep day-Despite what feeble minded bodybuilders will demonstrate, strong biceps are big biceps and vice versa. Or should be. And Big K agrees. The main exercise today can be any type of full range of motion curl, barbell or dumbbell, for 3 sets of max reps. Every 6 to 9 weeks, he will go through a cycle of 3-4 sets of 12 reps instead of going to failure.
Triceps exercise-Some sort of pushdown variation or kickback is done for 3-4 sets of 12-15 reps. This is for purely asthetic reasons and follows no principal at all.
Chest movement-Typically cable crossovers are done because the arms are employed to stabilize the chest while straitions are trained for.
Front delt movement-different from Sunday with same set/ rep scheme.
Calf raises-a variation of calf raise is done different from what was done earlier in the week.

Every ten days, BK will perform a "Gut Buster" Upper body and a lower body day. Because of the intensity employed on these days, no other exercises are performed except for maybe a few sets of lat work for no more than 15 reps total (either one set of 15 or 3 sets of 5 or 5 sets of 3 or even 15 sets of 1). This keeps the strength up so K-billy has the platform to handle the big curling weights.

K-bomb stresses that he has determined that this routine is the best for him and the reader must realistically find their own weaknesses and plan accordingly. However the overall template serves well to guide one to curling greatness. This program has helped K-zilla to a bodyweight curl in 2009 and he feels will help him make an unequipped double bodyweight curl sometime in 2010!"

K-Kong can be reached with all of your questions at icurlhyoogeweight@yoohoo.bs.lotsa.com.

(The previous article is obviously a parody. At least I hope everyone realizes that and enjoys it for what it is; a little bit of nonsense on a Sunday afternoon. See you at the gym!)

Curl strong,
Ed T.