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Fitness & Health

22nd Feb 2019

Build blockbuster biceps with WWE wrestler Sheamus’ arm workout

Alex Roberts

The Celtic Warrior is a keen weight training enthusiast.

WWE wrestler Sheamus is no stranger to the weights room. He is renowned for his raw strength and power, in an age where wrestling has placed far stricter rules on supplementation.

The Irishman now documents most training sessions on his Celtic Warrior Workouts YouTube channel.

So far, he’s squatted with John Cena, smashed shoulders with Samoa Joe and even laid the smackdown on referee Charles Robinson.

One of his recent sessions involved a biceps brutaliser with tag team partner Cesaro. Together, The Bar have won five WWE Tag Team titles, but tickets to the gun show were the only prize in store with this arm workout.

Sheamus’ session ended with the good old-fashioned barbell bicep curl.

You may think that bicep curls are nothing new. To an extent, you’d be right, but they’re still very easy to get wrong. Sheamus and Cesaro’s workout is informed by the following methods:

Pyramid sets

Pyramids involve performing the lighter sets first, increasing the resistance with each set until you finish on the heaviest possible load. The final set will use your heaviest weight and lowest reps.

Mixture of rep ranges

If you’re trying to gain muscle mass, some people say you should shoot for high reps with each set. Truth is, you need a mixture of reps to reap the biggest rewards from a workout.

Your body is made up of different kinds of muscle fibres – some which produce powerful movements, others more responsible for muscular endurance.

Training with a variety of rep ranges is therefore the best way of activating the most muscle.

How to perform the best possible bicep curl

Sheamus and Cesaro were using a straight barbell, but you might find an EZ grip bar is easier on your wrists.

  • Stand with a very slight bend in your knees
  • Grip the bar with hands slightly narrower than shoulder-width apart
  • Your palms should be facing up towards the ceiling
  • Keep your elbows tucked in to your sides – this maintains tension on the bicep muscle
  • Excessive elbow swinging puts resistance through the joint rather than the muscle
  • Squeeze your biceps at the top of the lift and then lower to the start with a slower tempo