Dorian Yates, the 6-time Mr. Olympia, reshaped bodybuilding between 1993 and 1997 with his massive size and unmatched conditioning. Even decades later, he remains a mentor to many, and his suggestions and tips are still followed by many bodybuilders.

On June 18, Yates shared one of his golden tips by highlighting the timing of single-arm curls.

Yates shared an Instagram post from his prime bodybuilding days showing him doing intense single-arm curls. He writes,

“Single arm curls to failure! I usually either start or finish off my biceps with this exercise. I felt it was better to totally isolate first with either these or any free curls, before going onto EZ barbell curls.

Often on machine-based exercises, I closed my eyes to truly feel and visualize that connection with the muscle... total mastery of each rep and here, three-phase failure.”

For Yates, a perfect arm requires hard work and technical skill. For that, he once also gave advice on building bigger arms.

On December 23, 2025, the bodybuilding legend shared an Instagram post in which he revealed that he also prefers seated dumbbell curls for arms and biceps.

Yates said, “I did experiment over the years with the order of exercises, and I found that when I performed barbell curls first, it brought my front delts and forearms into the movement too much, so I went with a direct isolation exercise first, such as seated curls, Nautilus curls, or dumbbell concentration curls.”

According to him, a full range of motion is essential in one's workout. For seated dumbbell curls, one must drive a powerful contraction at the top and lower the dumbbells slowly to feel the burn.

Not only that, but Yates also used 4 isolation biceps exercises to win the Mr. Olympia.

Dorian Yates 4 isolation biceps movements for Mr. Olympia

On August 7, 2025, Yates posted a short clip on the Dorian Yates Nutrition YouTube channel in which the 6-time Mr. Olympia revealed 4 exercises.

He said, “They were never a strong body part for me, but I was definitely able to improve them by doing very isolated exercises first.”

The exercises are:

• Cable Curls
• Machine Curls
• Barbell Curls
• Dumbbell Concentration Curls.

Yates used to combine machine curls and cable curls.

He said, “That really isolated the biceps. Again, controlling the negative, holding the peak contraction, perhaps extra negatives if possible. If it’s a machine, it’s safe.”

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Written by

Supradeep Dutta

Edited by

Ashvinkumar Patil