(The "butterfly kipping pullup," pictured above, utilizes the hips, abs, biceps, forearms, rear delts, lats, and traps)
"But, JO, how will I ever get massive biceps if I don't do bicep curls?"
Try doing the met-con part of this WOD, and then tell me your biceps aren't pumped up.
WOD:
Skill Transfer Exercises:
Hang Muscle Snatch: 3x3 @ 95#
1x Snatch Balance + 2x Overhead Squat: 3x @ 125#
Met-Con:
500m Row
Hang Power Clean + R. Lunge + L. Lunge: 5x @ 95#
20 Pullups
Power Clean: 10x @ 95#
20 Pullups
500m Row
Skill transfer exercises were pretty easy, not much to say.
The met-con, on the other hand... WOW. I haven't had a bicep pump like this in a while.
Pulling with the row, pulling with the pullups, pulling with the cleans... PULLING ALL DAY! By the time I got to the last 500m row... let's just say I had trouble pulling.
Notice that every single movement in this WOD is a "compound" movement. Compound movements involve more than one joint (as opposed to "isolation" movements which only use one joint) and allow you to move a larger amount of weight more efficiently than isolation movements. In addition, it's hard to find an "unnatural" compound movement (deadlifts, squats, pullups: all movements you see people doing naturally in the real world during various activities), whereas isolation movements, by their nature, are unnatural (let me know when you see someone doing a pec-fly or lateral raise type movement out on the street).
Compound movements are, by nature, safe. Any person on the planet can attempt a 10 000lb deadlift without injuring themselves, so long as they keep proper form. There's no way you're going to move it even a millimeter, but you won't hurt yourself.
On the other hand, it's pretty likely that someone trying for a one-rep max hamstring curl is going to injure themselves or others around them. Our hamstrings aren't meant to work on their own, you'll never see someone just pulling with their hamstrings and nothing else anywhere besides the gym.
No, I'm not saying you need to get a full hip extension and reversal of the hips when you're picking up your child. No, I'm not saying run around cleaning and jerking infants, that's not safe (plus infants aren't heavy enough). This is just an example of how compound movements are seen in everyday life. Click here to read a story about how Crossfit helped a grandma so she could pick up her grandchild.
Since compound movements allow you to move a larger amount of weight using more muscle groups, they are much more demanding on your body, and elicit a much more potent neuro-endocrine response than isolation movements. This means that your body is going to secrete growth hormones, testosterone (if you're a guy), insulin light-regulation hormone, and all of that good stuff when you do heavy compound movements. Bicep curls and lateral raises, on the other hand, will not: they simply aren't taxing enough on your whole body for any kind of neuro-endocrine response.
The result is, when you do compound movements, your entire body is going to get bigger, even if you're not isolating any part in particular (actually, because you're not isolating any part in particular). Fact: guys who go to the gym and only do squats and deadlifts will have bigger arms than guys who go to the gym and only do bicep curls.
Bottom line: kill the bicep curls, or gradually ease off of them, and start lifting heavy stuff with your whole body. It's more fun, more effective, more safe, more efficient, and you just look cooler doing it.
Sidenote: I haven't worked bicep curls in over two years and my biceps are bigger than they were two years ago. I can also bicep curl more (just as a test!), like, double, than I could when I trained bicep curls.
But hey, don't take my word for it. Try it yourself.
Happy lifting!
Sidenote 2/Newsflash: Gymnasts don't do bicep curls and have big biceps
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