The ‘Godfather of Bodybuilding’ Charles Glass is back to help you build bigger arms. On March 29, 2025, he gave elbow-friendly tips for preacher curls and cable skullcrushers to grow the biceps and triceps.
Charles Glass is an established bodybuilding coach wielding decades of experience. He has guided high-profile talents in the IFBB Pro League circuit, including Dexter Jackson, Flex Wheeler, Chris Cormier, and the late Shawn Rhoden.
Glass has a background in engineering and also dabbled in gymnastics, giving him a full scope of how the body operates in motion. He offers no-nonsense advice grounded in experience, leaving fans with an arsenal full of useful workout knowledge.
Charles Glass Shares Instinctive Tips for Building Arms With Preacher Curls & Cable Skullcrushers
In a recent Instagram post, Glass laid out how to approach preacher curls to ensure arm gains while keeping pressure off the elbows.
“My elbow is not straight down, so there’s no pressure going through my elbow. It’s up, so it takes the pressure off the elbow.”
“This you can go either way,” shares Glass. “I would do it [spider curls] here, for a tall guy. When you’re down at the bottom, you get in position, drop down, and curl.”
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He said it’s not a necessity to lean over and said to pull into your biceps for optimal results. This allows the lifter to keep the forearms out of the movement.
“You pull it up into your biceps,” said Glass. “You don’t have to [instinctively lean over].”
“Elbows in the right position are all biceps. The head stays right where it’s at [leaned forward],” explains Glass. “It’s all biceps, no forearms. The forearms take a lot of pressure off the biceps.”
“It has to, the [elbow] has to come up anyway. It’s like the brachialis, every single movement you do, you get a little brachialis. But, direct brachialis is when you go across the body and torque it a little bit.”
He prefers to lean into preacher curls rather than sit.
“I don’t sit down, I lean into it more. Some days we do it instinctively, that’s just the way it is.”
He also explained why cable skullcrushers can be a useful alternative exercise for growing the triceps.
“A [cable] skullcrusher,” he said. “Utilize what you have. You have to think of different things to do besides the same traditional stuff. Lock it in and push it out. Push down just a little bit.”
For safety, he recommended slowing down the repetitions.
“Yeah [tighter on the elbows],” shares Glass. “You slow down so you know where you’re going [with the bar path].”
In retirement, Glass hasn’t stopped shaping the next generation of bodybuilders. He recently walked through his secret chest routine for strength and size, along with his complete breakdown of squatting technique for ‘maximum activation and improved form.’
Glass remains a pillar of knowledge for the bodybuilding community, allowing lifters to learn about the subtle nuances he imposes in training. He credits both of these exercises for helping build a better set of arms.
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