Mike Mentzer Recommending the "Close Grip Palms Up Lat Pulldown" as a Biceps Exercise
Mike Mentzer recommends the close grip palms up lat pull down as one of the "best biceps exercise in the world" and "better than any curl you can do."
Most people think of lats when they think of the lats pulldown exercise, but the exercise also works the rear deltoids and the biceps.
Most people think of lats when they think of the lats pulldown exercise, but the exercise also works the rear deltoids and the biceps.
Mike Mentzer states that the Close Grip Palms Up Lat Pull Down works at the elbow joint and the shoulder joint. He calls out this exercising as causing the muscle to contract "uniformly" at both ends. Another mechanism involved is that when a biceps contraction occurs overhead (ie., with the elbow overhead), the biceps in the raised arms brings the origin and insertion of the biceps closer together even before the biceps contracts. This puts a little slack in the biceps, which changes force production in the biceps because of the principle of the Length-Tension Relationship.
Optimal Length of Muscle - Additional Commentary from ArlingtonAthletics.com:
Force generation in muscles is most efficient when the sarcomeres (the basic contractile units of muscle) are at their optimal length. The actin and myosin filaments within the sarcomere slide past each other with maximal contact and maximal force production. When muscles are overstretched or over-shortened, each muscle is beyond the optimal length-tension relationship. When a muscle is slack (ie., the distance between the origin and insertion of the muscle is shortened) in an exercise activity, the force production can be less than optimal. However, this might be beneficial in developing a different area of the muscle (or causing the recruitment of different contractile units than you get from a regular biceps curl) because force generation compensation occurs in order to perform with less than optimal Length-Tension Relationship conditions.
Note: In order to get effective biceps contraction with the Close Grip Palms Up Lat Pull Down exercise, you need to focus on bringing the hands down toward the forehead (with elbow flexion), without dominating with the action of pulling the elbows down toward the waist like a regular lat pulldown (with shoulder joint extension).
See also ...
MIKE MENTZER: THE HEAVY DUTY ARM WORKOUT #mikementzer #gym #motivation...
Mike Mentzer recommends the close grip palms up lat pull down as one of the "best biceps exercise in the world."
All content, videos and links mentioned are for information only, and are not necessarily endorsed or specifically recommended by ArlingtonAthletics.com for your specific condition or situation.
Mike Mentzer recommends the close grip palms up lat pull down as one of the "best biceps exercise in the world."
All content, videos and links mentioned are for information only, and are not necessarily endorsed or specifically recommended by ArlingtonAthletics.com for your specific condition or situation.
