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The barbell is a staple of weightlifting. It's the most versatile piece of equipment you can use to train your muscles, as it allows for a wide variety of exercises. Barbells are used for things like squats, deadlifts and bench presses—but that's not all.
There are also numerous ways to incorporate them in bicep workouts to help you get bigger arms and a more defined overall physique. Read on to learn which barbell exercises can give you big biceps like Tony Atlas'.
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Best Barbell exercises to get biceps like Tony Atlas
Here's a look at seven barbell exercises to help you get biceps like Tony Atlas':
1) Standing Barbell Curls
Stand upright with the barbell in front of you. Bend your knees slightly and keep your back straight. Lift the barbell to your waist, and lower it back down, repeating for a set number of repetitions (aim for 10-12 reps).
The key here is not just to lift and lower the barbell but rather to keep your back straight throughout this whole process. Make sure you're using only your arms to pull up on the weight.
You should be able to do anywhere between 10-15 repetitions, depending on how heavy or light you choose your weights.
2) Drag Curl
The Drag Curl is a bicep exercise that involves lifting the weight in a curling motion, and lowering it back to where it started.
To do this exercise, take a dumbbell or barbell and lift it up to your shoulder. Keeping your elbows at your sides, curl the weight upwards. Once you reach the top of the movement, slowly lower the weight back down to its original starting position.
Perform 8-12 repetitions. This exercise targets your bicep peak most efficiently. If done correctly, you should feel a tremendous burn in your biceps.
3) Cheat Curls
This is an effective exercise for building biceps. It can be done efficiently with a barbell. Set up your weight on the rack so that when it's at its lowest point - it should be about waist height for you.
Grab the barm and curl it up with as much weight as you can handle in good form - which will vary depending on your strength level. 'Cheat' by rocking forward, and using momentum to get it past your knees before lowering back down again under control.
You'll want to do this slowly so that you're able to focus on feeling each rep rather than just trying to move quickly through them.
4) Reverse Curls
When it comes to bicep exercises, you can't go wrong with reverse curls. This exercise is great, as it targets not just the long and short head of your biceps but also your forearms by using different angles.
To do this exercise, sit down on a bench, and place your feet flat on the floor. Hold a barbell in both hands at arm's length next to your body—you want to keep your elbows in so they're close together.
Keeping your wrists straight, slowly curl the weight up towards your shoulders. Make sure that as you lift, you don't let them drop below shoulder height, as that will cause unnecessary stress on your elbows and shoulders.
Once you've reached shoulder height, slowly lower the bar back down again till it touches against your legs again. That's one rep.
5) Spider Curls
You can perform Spider Curls with either a straight or EZ bar. The benefit of using an EZ bar is that you can use more weight, which means you'll be able to get more out of the exercise, but it's not necessary to do so.
Your grip should be shoulder-width apart, with your hands placed right over each other or slightly less than shoulder-width apart (as shown in the video below).
You may need to adjust your grip at first till you find what feels best while keeping your elbows tight and back straight. The goal here isn't just to develop big biceps but also strong forearms.
6) 21's Curls
The 21's Curls bicep exercise is a classic biceps-building exercise that involves performing three sets of seven repetitions of barbell movements. This exercise can be done with a barbell and requires you to start in a standing position.
The premise of this exercise involves performing half-reps to maximise muscular tension and reduce load on the skeletal system.
This is most bodybuilders' go-to exercise when it comes to building massive biceps.
7) Deadlifts
This is the king of all exercises. It's an old-school move that involves picking up a barbell from the floor and standing up with it, using your legs and back to do the work while keeping your arms straight.
The deadlift works many muscle groups at once, including your glutes, hamstrings, lower back, core, forearms and traps as well as other smaller muscles in the lower body, like calves. You'll also get plenty of arm work when doing this barbell exercise, as holding onto a heavy weight requires strong hands—and stronger arms than most people think they have.
A full-body workout is nothing to sneeze at when you're working towards getting bigger biceps like Tony Atlas did by regularly performing deadlifts.
Takeaway
All you need is a barbell to get some huge guns. If you're at home, in your hotel room or in a tent in the woods, you can use a barbell. With all the different types of curls, lifts and presses, you should be able to find a routine that works for you.
Just remember to keep your form tight and controlled throughout each movement so that you can get the most out of every set.
