Steve Reeves Interview, Part Three - Tony DeFrancisco

 

Part One: 

https://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2026/07/steve-reeves-interview-part-one-tony.html 

Part Two: 

https://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2026/07/steve-reeves-interview-part-two-tony.html 

Me: Arms! Steve, like the incline press, the incline curl has also been attributed to you. How did you do those? 

Steve: As I mentioned earlier, I found the basic barbell curl to have limitations for me. The problem is that the bar comes in contact with the thighs before you get a full range of motion and work the full bicep. Many trainees further negate this by swinging (cheating) the bar up in the beginning, removing any involvement with the lower biceps.

Incline curls, on the other hand, work the biceps through a full range of motion. I couldn't believe the pump I got from the first time I did this exercise. It was incredible. 

When I lowered the bells down, I got an incredible stretch. My arms pumped up by an inch the first time I did these. The next day I was really sore. After several weeks of doing this, the shape and size of my arms had increased remarkably.

For these, just curl the DBs straight up towards your shoulder and contract and then lower all the way down slowly and stretch. At the end of the set, to get a few extra reps in, I would kick the weight up and slowly lower it. 

Me: Negatives? 

Steve: We didn't have a name for it. But it worked. 

Another variation of the incline curl I did after the dumbbell curls was the incline curl with a lat machine, curling to the neck with elbows up. This worked the peak of the biceps. 

Another great arm exercise I did in my workouts was the curl-grip pulldown. This works the lats and the biceps, and I believe created the lat/bicep tie-in that many said I was famous for. 

I believed in doing a lot of different exercises and working my body from different angles, always mindful of the shape I was working for. When I looked at the guys who only did barbell curls, I didn't like the shape that they had. Their arms were beefy, grotesque-looking and shapeless. 

My favorite triceps exercise was triceps press-downs. This really works the outer triceps and gives that horseshoe look. Also a great size builder. 

Another favorite triceps exercise that almost no one does anymore is the one-arm cross-body triceps extension with a dumbbell. This works the outer head of the triceps too. 4 sets of 10-12 reps. 

To work the complete triceps, I liked the two-dumbbell triceps press (parallel grip). Start off like you are doing chest flyes, then lower the dumbbells slowly to each shoulder. 4 x 10-15. 

Okay . . . that wraps up the training end of this interview. 

Enjoy Your Lifting!