Want bigger arms? You’re going to have to be patient, because a bulging set of guns won’t just pop up overnight. The best things come to those who put the work in and wait for results—and that goes double in the weight room when you’re building up time under tension.

This biceps finisher from Men’s Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S. uses that pause for growth principle to challenge your arms by attacking two points of focus.

“First off, we get to really hone that forearms-parallel-to-the-ground position, where the lever is longest in the curl,” says Samuel.

“We’re get to pile up a ton of time-under-tension in this position, and because we get to live there, we’ll can continue to pattern good curl mechanics. Second, we get to focus on finishing each curl rep with an aggressive biceps squeeze. That pause at forearms parallel cancels out momentum, and, as it increases, forces us to restart the curl from increasing levels of inertia.”

You’ll need a set of dumbbells and an incline bench to take on the halfway freeze spider curl finisher. Check out this adjustable pair from Bowflex if you need a good option for your home gym.

Men’s Health/Eric Rosati

• Lean your chest on the back rest of the bench, holding a dumbbell in one hand. Don’t sit on the seat, and keep your pecs above the top of the bench.
• Squeeze your bicep to curl the weight up until it’s parallel with the ground. Pause in this position for 1 second.
• Squeeze your bicep again to finish through the curl, bringing the weight up.
• On the next rep, pause at parallel for 2 seconds before completing the movement.
• Add a second with every rep, working up to 6 or 7 second pauses.

This movement is all about that parallel position, according to Samuel. “Because of the angle at which the pause occurs, the biceps has to work in isolation to complete the curl, with very limited assistance from the forearms and brachialis (which are generally involved in the first half of the biceps curl more),” he says. “That means a chance to really attack and build the ball of our biceps muscle.”

Close out your arm day with the halfway freeze finisher by pumping through 3 sets per side.

For more tips and routines from Samuel, check out our full slate of Eb and Swole workouts. If you want to try an even more dedicated routine, consider Eb’s New Rules of Muscle program.

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