On Apr. 3, 2023, Lunsford posted a video to his YouTube channel where he works out with eight-time Mr. Olympia (1998-2005) Ronnie Coleman. The legend and Lunsford walk through a back and biceps workout together that could probably only be achieved by two bodybuilding superstars.

Before Lunsford and Coleman hit the gym, they spent much of a day together, doing things like getting breakfast at a diner and talking about the bodybuilding training process. Then, when it was time to get down to business, they wasted no time.

Here’s an overview of the back and biceps workout from Lunsford and Coleman. The routine took place at Coleman’s Signature Series gym. Note: The exact repetition and sets for each movement were undisclosed.

Deadlift

Lunsford and Coleman begin the session with a traditional deadlift. Given some of Coleman’s recent health issues, only Lunsford performed the movement, working in a few sets before the pair moved on.

Seated Cable Row

Lunsford and Coleman worked in some seated cable rows to center more on a horizontal training angle for the back muscles. The exercise is great for well-rounded back development if performed in a controlled fashion. Both Lunsford and Coleman powered through a few heavy sets while gradually increasing their weight.

Despite an apparent intensity, Coleman took the time to encourage Lunsford, perhaps giving him an appropriate description.

“Next up and coming Mr. Olympia is right here,” Coleman said of Lunsford as he worked out. “The future is here. You got the man in the house.”

Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown

To close out the back-focused portion of their session, Lunsford and Coleman implemented a wide-grip lat pulldown. A staple back movement in many training routines, the latissimus dorsi is under the microscope here. The duo performed a traditional lat pulldown with a wider grip before shifting to a few sets of a behind-the-neck variation.

Lunsford emphasized that contraction and technique were vital on the lat pulldown.

“Even though it looks like we’re swaying a little bit, you’ve really gotta make sure that you’re staying engaged with the muscle and keeping that constant tension,” Lunsford said.

Single-Arm Dumbbell Preacher Curl

Lunsford and Coleman isolated their muscles with preacher curls in the first part of their biceps workout. The nature of the movement restricts an athlete’s positioning, forcing improved work on the biceps. This makes preacher curls a great way to reinforce the biceps brachii muscles.

After warming up, Lunsford and Coleman pushed themselves through a few working sets as they prepped for the final segment of their day in the gym together.

Seated Dumbbell Hammer Curl

To differentiate from the preacher curls, Lunsford and Coleman closed with some sets of the hammer curl variation. Hammer curls work the long head of the biceps muscles and the brachialis near the forearm. With their back and biceps sufficiently trained, Lunsford and Coleman put a neat bow on their mutual session.

After getting the opportunity to pick the brain of a living Olympia legend, Lunsford was appropriately grateful. It’s not necessarily often a current star even gets a chance at this kind of meeting of the minds.

“What a day, man! That was a lot of fun,” Lunsford exclaimed. “It just felt like we all clicked right away. Just everybody here, and especially me and Ronnie [Coleman] hanging out and having a good time, man!”

Featured image: @dereklunsford_ on Instagram

The post Derek Lunsford and Ronnie Coleman Spend Quality Time Building Up Their Back and Biceps appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

But with so many curl variations, which movement do you pick? And how often should you do them? How do you fit curls into an already packed training program? These are the questions you need to tackle, so you can make a more informed decision and win a one way ticket to Armsville. 

To get to the bottom of it, let’s look at two classic biceps-building staples: the hammer curl, which is performed with a neutral (thumbs-up) grip and the standard dumbbell biceps curl, performed with a supinated, or palms-up, grip. By starting from square one, you’ll learn enough to begin building your arms efficiently and effectively. 

Hammer Curl vs. Biceps Curl

• Exercise Differences
• Exercise Similarities
• Technique Differences
• How to Do the Hammer Curl
• How to Do the Biceps Curl
• Knowing the Best Curl for Your Goal

Hammer Curl and Biceps Curl Differences

These two exercises may appear nearly identical, but the subtle difference in grip is responsible for a big difference in results.

Muscle Recruitment

The function of the biceps muscle is to create flexion (bending) at the elbow and supination (rotation) at the wrist. The thumbs-up position of the hammer curl eliminates supination and more specifically targets the brachialis and brachioradialis, while a fully supinated grip (palms up) emphasizes the biceps brachii. (1)

The brachialis is a strong elbow flexor, separate from the “main” biceps brachii on the front of the upper arm. The brachialis sits underneath the biceps, closer to the bone. It’s believed that targeting the brachialis will have the effect of “pushing up” the biceps to make it appear larger, not unlike wearing shoe lifts to appear taller.

This anatomical trickery may not yield significant results, because the biceps brachii is still stimulated to grow regardless of the grip used, but it’s worth a try. Hammer curls also recruit the brachioradialis, which is a relatively larger muscle running along the top of the forearm and over the elbow joint, near the lower portion of the biceps.

The hammer grip also slightly emphasizes the short head of the biceps, while a palms-up grip activates the long head of the biceps muscle more strongly. (2) Due to this, you will usually feel a difference in your arm tension when performing either movement. Both variations work both biceps heads; the different grips slightly shift the emphasis from one head of the muscle to the other.

Muscular Tension

The palms-up grip puts the biceps into a slightly longer stretched position. This is why you usually feel tightness when your arm is fully straightened in the bottom position. The neutral-grip position of the hammer curl puts the muscles into a slightly “rested” position, rather than a long stretched position.

To create more tension in the bottom position of a hammer curl, you can perform the exercise seated for an incline hammer curl, which brings your arms behind your body. You can create even more tension using a palms-up grip by bringing your arms in front of the body by performing a preacher curl or spider curl.

Exercise Similarities

These two dumbbell curls are, fundamentally, similar. They require you to move a weight with strict elbow flexion, which brings the weight from your hip level to near-shoulder height.

Targeted Biceps Training

The biceps curl and hammer curl are both isolation exercises, which creates motion at one single joint (the elbow, in this case). This type of movement is different from a compound exercise, which creates motion at two or more joints — the chin-up, for example, involves both the shoulder and elbow joints.

By restricting movement to a single joint, muscular stress is focused on the target muscle and isn’t distributed significantly across multiple muscles. This is why it’s important to use strict form and keep your elbow near your ribs when you curl.

If you swing the weight and let your elbow get away from your torso when you curl, you create movement at the shoulder joint which can take activation away from the biceps muscle.

Technique Differences

When watching a lifter performing a hammer curl and comparing them to a lifter performing a standard biceps curl, one key difference will stand above anything else.

Hand Position

A change as seemingly simple as turning your hand one way or the other might not look like a big deal, but it’s responsible for determining which arm muscles are recruited and how hard they’re worked.

With a thumbs-up hand position, your brachioradialis is put into a mechanically stronger position to move the weight. The biceps brachii, while still recruited, is moved into a less strong pulling position due to the structure of the muscle, tendons, and surrounding structures. (3)

This subtle, yet highly effective, change in grip isn’t unlike performing pull-ups (with a palm-down grip) compared to performing chin-ups (using a supinated or palm-up grip). In this case, again, a simple change in hand position shifts the muscular emphasis from your back (with pull-ups) to your biceps (with chin-ups). (4)

Because the brachialis is only responsible for elbow flexion and not supination, it’s a relatively stronger arm muscle. (5) This is why many lifters can perform hammer curls using heavier weights than they use with biceps curls. This also makes the two exercises very effective for supersetting together, performing a set of biceps curls until muscular fatigue and then immediately performing additional repetitions with hammer curls.

How to Do the Hammer Curl

Stand up holding a pair of dumbbells at arms-length, with your hands facing in to your center. Pull your shoulders back and flex your abs. Pin your elbows to your sides.

Curl the weight by driving your thumbs up to the fronts of your shoulders. Pause briefly in the top position before straightening your arms back to the starting position.

Benefits

• The hammer curl allows you to use relatively heavier weights, which can help strength gains.
• This exercise targets muscles not typically emphasized with other curl variations, particularly the brachialis and brachioradialis.

Hammer Curl Variations

The hammer curl is primarily defined by using a neutral grip or thumbs-up curling position. You can hit your arms with some variety by using the same hand position with a variety of movements.

Kettlebell Curl

This is the most common way to add biceps training to a kettlebell workout. By grabbing the kettlebell by the “horns,” your hands are put in a thumbs-up position and you get the benefits of a hammer curl using a single kettlebell.

The kettlebell curl can be easily added as a type of transition exercise between larger movements, like squats or rows, or it can be used as a finisher for extra arm training after a high intensity workout.

Cross-body Curl

This single-arm hammer curl variation, sometimes called a pinwheel curl, moves the weight across your body instead of moving directly forward. This movement reduces the range of motion, which lets you use a slightly heavier weight.

The crossbody curl is often done alternating arms with each repetition, but can be performed with one arm at a time for even more time under tension.

How to Do the Biceps Curl

Stand up holding a pair of dumbbells at arms-length, with your palms facing forward. Pull your shoulders back and flex your abs. Pin your elbows to your sides.

Keep your hands level with your palms facing up as you curl the weights toward your shoulders. Don’t allow your elbows to come forward in the top position. Lower to a full extension.

Form Tip: Use a slow eccentric (lowering phase), taking up to three seconds to extend your arms, but drive up powerfully and raise the weight in one second. This will place the biceps under tension during the lowering phase and allow strong force production when lifting the weight.

Benefits

• The biceps curl emphasizes the biceps brachii on its own, with limited involvement from other muscles.
• This staple exercise is relatively simple to learn and program, making it an efficient exercise for any biceps-training program.

Biceps Curl Variations

The classic palms-up biceps curl can be adapted to many different movements, adjusting range of motion, muscular tension, and other variables to provide a different muscle-building stimulus.

Dumbbell Preacher Curl

The preacher curl offers stability from the pad and prevents cheating by removing the ability to swing the weight. That makes this one of the most strict and most biceps-intensive exercises around.

The stretch in the bottom position can be extreme, depending on your flexibility. Reduce the risk of injury by working within your own effective range of motion and, if necessary, avoiding full lockout with this exercise to reduce strain on the biceps tendons.

Cable Curl

The cable curl is a high-tension variation that uses a cable pulley instead of free weights. This constant tension creates a greater trigger for muscle growth compared to dumbbells, which rely on leverage and gravity to produce resistance.

The cable curl can be performed with a variety of handles, as well as single-arm, for even more variety and growth stimulus.

Knowing the Best Curl for Your Goal

The great thing about this decision is that you almost can’t get it wrong. It’s not like choosing between a back squat or a front squat, which are performed very differently and yield very different results. It’s more like deciding if you’re going to put the cereal or the milk in the bowl first. The end result is basically the same, but you get to pick the order you prefer. However, there are just a few things to consider.

For Strength

If you are training primarily for strength, include more hammer curls in your program. Being able to get more training volume to the brachialis is going to give you more assistance in exercises like pull-ups, rows, and even deadlifts. Because the brachialis is a stronger arm muscle, you can use heavier weights for an even greater strength stimulus.

For Muscle Size

If your goal is physique-focused, work more on supinated-grip biceps curls. This will take the muscles through a greater range of movement, which is a major key for hypertrophy. (7) Pairing this type of training with some hammer curls using slower tempos will trigger major arm gains, while also making sure you have trouble lifting your toothbrush the next day.

Better Curls for Better Arms

Biceps training definitely doesn’t have to be complicated, but it does have to be well-planned for maximum results. Now that you know why and when to use each exercise, you’re in a better position to design a routine that takes your arm workouts to the next level.

References

1. Naito, A., Yajima, M., Fukamachi, H., Ushikoshi, K., Sun, Y. J., & Shimizu, Y. (1995). Electromyographic (EMG) study of the elbow flexors during supination and pronation of the forearm. The Tohoku journal of experimental medicine, 175(4), 285–288. https://doi.org/10.1620/tjem.175.285
2. Jarrett, C. D., Weir, D. M., Stuffmann, E. S., Jain, S., Miller, M. C., & Schmidt, C. C. (2012). Anatomic and biomechanical analysis of the short and long head components of the distal biceps tendon. Journal of shoulder and elbow surgery, 21(7), 942–948. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jse.2011.04.030
3. Kleiber, T., Kunz, L., & Disselhorst-Klug, C. (2015). Muscular coordination of biceps brachii and brachioradialis in elbow flexion with respect to hand position. Frontiers in physiology, 6, 215. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2015.00215
4. Youdas, J. W., Amundson, C. L., Cicero, K. S., Hahn, J. J., Harezlak, D. T., & Hollman, J. H. (2010). Surface electromyographic activation patterns and elbow joint motion during a pull-up, chin-up, or perfect-pullup rotational exercise. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 24(12), 3404–3414. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181f1598c
5. Plantz MA, Bordoni B. Anatomy, Shoulder and Upper Limb, Brachialis Muscle. [Updated 2022 Feb 22]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK551630/
6. Kulig, K., Powers, C. M., Shellock, F. G., & Terk, M. (2001). The effects of eccentric velocity on activation of elbow flexors: evaluation by magnetic resonance imaging. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 33(2), 196–200. https://doi.org/10.1097/00005768-200102000-00004
7. Baroni, B. M., Pompermayer, M. G., Cini, A., Peruzzolo, A. S., Radaelli, R., Brusco, C. M., & Pinto, R. S. (2017). Full Range of Motion Induces Greater Muscle Damage Than Partial Range of Motion in Elbow Flexion Exercise With Free Weights. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 31(8), 2223–2230. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000001562

Featured Image: MDV Edwards / Shutterstock

The post Hammer Curls vs. Biceps Curls: The Battle for Bigger Arms appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Training your biceps directly will not only contribute to specific muscle growth, but also joint health and performance. Traditional exercises like the barbell curl can usually target your biceps just fine, but if you want to take things to the next level and really focus on your upper arms, consider including the spider curl in your training regimen. (1)

Among the many curl variations that exist, the spider curl takes advantage of gravity, leverage, and arm position to emphasize the short head of the biceps and provide a unique stimulus, leading to more growth and bigger arms. (2) Here’s why and how you should use this special exercise.

• How to Do the Spider Curl
• Spider Curl Mistakes to Avoid
• How to Progress the Spider Curl
• Benefits of the Spider Curl
• Muscles Worked by Spider Curl
• How to Program the Spider Curl
• Spider Curl Variations 
• Frequently Asked Questions

How to Do the Spider Curl

The spider curl, sometimes called the reverse incline curl, gets its more visual name because the position in which you perform the exercise resembles the arachnid dangling from its thread. Indeed, the weight will be dangling from your arms, and you’ll use gravity and positioning to provide a unique biceps stimulus.

Step 1 — Set Your Bench and Get Into Position

Set an adjustable bench at approximately 45-degrees, similar to an incline bench press. Grab a barbell with a palms-up grip and lie chest-down on the bench. Have your head  and neck protrude over the top of bench and let your arms hang straight toward the ground. 

Retract and depress your scapulae (pull your shoulder blades together and down) and maintain this position for the duration of the lift.

Form tip: Find a secure foot position so that you’re comfortable and stable on the bench, allowing you to fully focus on working your arms. This will depend slightly on your height, leg and torso length, and individual bench model. You may feel more balanced with a relatively wide stance or with your feet close together.

Step 2 — Curl the Weight Up

Keep your upper arms vertical as you curl the weight up as far as possible without moving at your shoulder. In the top position, squeeze your biceps as hard as you can for a second. Keep your elbows pointing toward the ground the whole time.

Keep your wrists straight or bent slightly backward to maintain maximum tension on your biceps and prevent your forearms from taking over the workload.

Form tip: If your elbow shifts forward, you’ll reduce tension from the biceps by using assistance from your front deltoids (shoulders). You’ll also diminish the effective range of motion. The mechanics of the exercise already make it a relatively short motion, as there is limited tension at the bottom of the movement. If you start moving your elbows, you will lose even more tension at the top.

Step 3 — Lower With Control

Slowly let the weight come down to the initial position. Controlling the eccentric (lowering) portion of the movement will prevent you from bouncing or cheating, which would make the exercise less effective.

By moving with control, you’re keeping tension on the desired muscle, leading to better results. Repeat for the desired amount of repetitions to complete a set.

Form tip: If your wrists or elbows are prone to tendonitis or pain, consider using an EZ-curl bar, as the slightly angled grip can be easier on the joints.

Spider Curl Mistakes to Avoid

Biceps exercises are often butchered for the sake of ego, leading to suboptimal results. Isolation exercises are technically easier than more complex multi-joint exercises, but that doesn’t mean you can just wing it carelessly. Avoid these common blunders if you want the biggest arms possible. 

Going Too Heavy

There are big compound (multi-joints) exercises recruiting several muscle groups to move heavy weights. Then there are isolation (single-joint) exercises which focus on a single muscle group, typically with moderate weights to maintain targeted tension. Then, there are hyper-specific isolation exercises that focus on a particular “part” of a muscle group.

These laser-precision exercises are really not meant for moving heavy weight, but are instead best used to bring up a very specific muscle part or emphasize a particular head of a muscle. The spider curl is one of these detail-oriented exercises, as it focuses on the short head of the biceps.

Using heavy weights will defeat the purpose of the exercise because you will undoubtedly shift the workload to other body parts and encourage cheating.

Avoid it: Keep the weights relatively lighter and the sets relatively longer with more reps and a greater focus on squeezing your biceps. If you feel strong contractions someplace other than your biceps, consider using a lighter load.

Using Momentum

Because of your arms’ position relative to gravity, there’s very little tension on the biceps in the bottom portion of the lift. The effective range of motion is already relatively short, primarily the upper half to three-quarters of the curl. If you reduce the range even further by swinging the weight, you lose a lot of time under tension and skip one of the key elements to muscle growth. (3)

Moreover, if you swing your arms around to use more weight, you exceed your biceps muscular strength. This means that the additional pounds being lifted are stressing your connective tissues and joints more than your muscles, and you risk injuries just for the sake of ego. 

Avoid it: Practice using a controlled tempo and, if necessary, an especially slower lowering speed. If you can’t perform the desired amount of repetitions without resorting to momentum, reduce the weight.

How to Progress the Spider Curl

The fact that your arms are hanging in the air during the spider curl might prove difficult for inexperienced lifters to coordinate at first. On the other hand, some hardcore gym-goers will crave a more difficult challenge for building their arms. Try these progressions exercises if you belong in either category.

Preacher Curl

The preacher curl is specifically designed for isolated biceps training. It mimics the spider curl mechanics by setting your arm at an angle and it focuses on the short head as well, but offer the advantage of a secured and supported position from the bench pad.

With this equipment, there’s not much cheating possible. Use it to train with perfect your form and build a mind-muscle connection before trying the spider curl. Start with the more commonly used 45-degree pad and progress to using the vertical pad, just like the unsupported spider curl.

Spider Concentration Curl

If you’ve already mastered the barbell spider curl, you can try this upgraded dumbbell progression, also called incline concentration curl. For a nasty biceps pump, perform it like a standard two-dumbbell spider curl, but press the pinky-side plates of the dumbbells together and squeeze them as hard as you can the whole duration of the lift.

The short head of the biceps also contributes to bringing the arms together, so the isometric adduction (inward movement) will recruit this part of your biceps even further.

Spider Curl Benefits

You can count on arm-obsessed lifters to invent a myriad of biceps exercises, but they aren’t the product of vanity — each has distinct goals and benefits. The spider curl is specifically designed for aesthetic purposes with a laser-like precision, but that doesn’t mean only those with physique goals should include this movement.

Pure Biceps Training

The unique shoulder and arm position induced by this exercise is highly effective for developing a mind-muscle connection and isolating the biceps for hypertrophy. (4) If you recruit other muscles, your arms will start to sway and the mechanics will change. Also, you cannot cheat by swinging your body as much as with some other biceps exercises. 

If you have lagging upper arms, this is a great way for you to accumulate quality volume without recruiting or fatiguing other muscle groups. (5) Isolation exercises are excellent for developing symmetry and an aesthetic physique.

Focuses on the Short Head of the Biceps

If you feel you’re lacking in the inner part of your biceps, give this exercise a go. Focusing on the short head of the biceps will increase the “width” of your arm and give the appearance of a fuller-looking muscle.

The spider curl will target this head more because of the arm’s position, in front of the shoulders. The short head of the biceps attaches at the front of your shoulder joint and can perform a stronger contraction when your shoulder is “relaxed” in the stretched position.

Joint Health and Strength

This exercise can be beneficial for athletes competing in strength sports, such as powerlifting or strongman/strongwoman by directly contributing to overall pulling strength. It may also help with elbow and shoulder joint health by reducing repetitive use strain from performing a limited number of biceps exercises.

Switching to the spider curl will provide variety and a different stimulus, resulting in less stress on your joints and efficient training with lower overall weight used. This can have restorative benefits, especially when performed for higher reps.

Muscles Worked by the Spider Curl

The spider curl has one primary goal: to increase your arm size. Let’s see how it contributes to this sought-after goal.

Biceps Brachii

The biceps is the biggest and most visible anterior arm muscle. It flexes the arm, supinates the wrist (rotates the palm upwards), and slightly contributes to various shoulder movements and stability.

This muscle is composed of two heads, both attached to the radius (forearm bone). The long head runs on the outer side of the arms and is attached to the shoulder blade. The short head is on the inner side of your arm and also attaches to the shoulder blade, but directly from the front of the shoulder. 

The spider curl emphasizes the short head because of the hanging arm position. The long head is in a “shortened” position and its involvement is limited in the stretched position.

Brachialis

This deeper muscle is located under the biceps brachii. It is the primary elbow flexor, being significantly stronger than the biceps itself and not involved in supinating or rotating your wrists. As such, it is recruited during any curl exercise. Increasing its size will result in a fuller arm and will also “push” your biceps upwards, making it appear even bigger.

Forearms

Several forearm muscles contribute to elbow flexion, notably the strongest of them — the brachioradialis. The spider curl will also make your forearms bigger, which can visually help to make up for a genetically “shorter” biceps with long tendons near the elbow. Training these muscles can also improve your elbow and wrist health and performance.

How to Program the Spider Curl

This exercise is not suited to heavy weights, so programming is quite straightforward. Get the most out of the spider curl using these repetition schemes.

Moderate Weight, Moderate Repetitions

This time-tested approach will yield a ton of results. It has been bodybuilders’ favorite for decades for a reason. Do three to four sets of eight to 12 repetitions for maximal muscle gains. This will provide training volume in the most effective hypertrophy range, driving muscle growth.

Light Weight, High Repetitions

Studies have shown that as long as you’re using 40% of your one-rep maximum and are taking muscles close to failure, you’ll reap effective muscle gains, so do not be afraid of going lighter sometimes. (6) Two to three sets of 15 to 20 repetitions will provide a great stimulus, and an intense burn, ideal for a finisher while also being easier on the joints.

Spider Curl Variations

Variety is the spice of life, and that also applies to training. If you don’t have a barbell or if you wish to provide your biceps a different training stimulus, try these variations.

Dumbbell Spider Curl

Using a pair of dumbbells instead of a bar can address imbalances between each arm. Because each arm is moving independently, you can’t use your stronger side to compensate for your weaker one.

This is the perfect variation if you have a blatantly weaker side or if you want the most symmetrical physique possible. It will, however, take a but more coordination and concentration to move the weights at the same time.

Cable Spider Curl

The spider curl is a great exercise to target the short head of the biceps, but it’s doing a poor job of training the lengthened position of the muscle because of gravity’s limited effective in the bottom position. Using a cable pulley is the solution.

Set up a bench at a low cable station to provide muscular tension for the duration of the lift. This boosts the muscle’s time under tension and increases the need for a controlled eccentric. You can also feel a greater stretch in your biceps.

Concentration Curl

This old school exercise uses the same general mechanics as the spider curl, with your working arm extended down, but you don’t need an angled bench. Grab a dumbbell and train one arm at a time. Lean forward and curl while being as strict as possible — don’t start swinging your torso.

This is a harder variation as you have to stabilize your body and really concentrate on your biceps. Some lifters claim it emphasizes the alleged biceps “peak,” but it will mostly provide good, focused work while isolate your biceps as much as possible.

FAQs

The spider curl is probably not the first exercise that pops in your mind when you think about biceps training, so that’s fine if you have some questions about this lesser known lift.

References

1. Wiesinger, H. P., Kösters, A., Müller, E., & Seynnes, O. R. (2015). Effects of Increased Loading on In Vivo Tendon Properties: A Systematic Review. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 47(9), 1885–1895. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000000603
2. Kassiano, Witalo1; Nunes, João Pedro1; Costa, Bruna1; Ribeiro, Alex S.1,2; Schoenfeld, Brad J.3; Cyrino, Edilson S.1. Does Varying Resistance Exercises Promote Superior Muscle Hypertrophy and Strength Gains? A Systematic Review. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: June 2022 – Volume 36 – Issue 6 – p 1753-1762 doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000004258
3. Burd NA, Andrews RJ, West DW, Little JP, Cochran AJ, Hector AJ, Cashaback JG, Gibala MJ, Potvin JR, Baker SK, Phillips SM. Muscle time under tension during resistance exercise stimulates differential muscle protein sub-fractional synthetic responses in men. J Physiol. 2012 Jan 15;590(2):351-62. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.2011.221200. Epub 2011 Nov 21. PMID: 22106173; PMCID: PMC3285070.
4. Calatayud J, Vinstrup J, Jakobsen MD, Sundstrup E, Brandt M, Jay K, Colado JC, Andersen LL. Importance of mind-muscle connection during progressive resistance training. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2016 Mar;116(3):527-33. doi: 10.1007/s00421-015-3305-7. Epub 2015 Dec 23. PMID: 26700744.
5. Schoenfeld BJ, Contreras B, Krieger J, Grgic J, Delcastillo K, Belliard R, Alto A. Resistance Training Volume Enhances Muscle Hypertrophy but Not Strength in Trained Men. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2019 Jan;51(1):94-103. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000001764. PMID: 30153194; PMCID: PMC6303131.
6. Thiago Lasevicius, Carlos Ugrinowitsch, Brad Jon Schoenfeld, Hamilton Roschel, Lucas Duarte Tavares, Eduardo Oliveira De Souza, Gilberto Laurentino & Valmor Tricoli (2018) Effects of different intensities of resistance training with equated volume load on muscle strength and hypertrophy, European Journal of Sport Science, 18:6, 772-780, DOI: 10.1080/17461391.2018.1450898

Featured Image: Sean Nalewanyj / YouTube

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Changing your physique to suit your own goals, and building muscle for muscle’s sake, is still perfectly acceptable, despite the recent prevalence of functional training, obstacle racing, or performance-driven workouts. Nevermind the fact that directly training your biceps can contribute to joint health and may actually boost performance in many lifts. So, in the spirit of getting big ol’ arms, here are some of the best ways to grow your biceps.

12 Best Biceps Exercises

• Cheat Curl
• EZ-Bar Curl
• Chin-Up
• Alternating Supinating Curl
• Barbell Spider Curl
• Incline Dumbbell Curl
• Single-Arm Preacher Curl
• Single-Arm Low Cable Curl
• Concentration Curl
• Zottman Curl
• Hammer Curl
• EZ-Bar Reverse Curl

Cheat Curl

Performing the cheat curl is doing the wrong thing for the right reason. Instead of a strict barbell curl, which can be effective on its own, you’re deliberately using some body English to drive a heavy weight to the top position and then controlling the eccentric (negative or lowering phase).

By using your hips and legs purposefully to lift the weights, rather than accidentally loosening technique due to fatigue, you remain in control of the exercise and reduce the risk of injury while benefiting from heavier weights and increased muscle tension.

How to Do the Cheat Curl

Stand with an underhand, shoulder-width grip on a barbell. Slightly bend your knees and push your hips toward the wall behind you. Keep your back straight and slide the bar down along your thighs. Forcefully straighten your body while curling the weight toward chin-level. Brace your abs in the top position and slowly lower the weight. Keep your elbows pinned to your sides while straightening your arms.

Repeat the entire process for each repetition. Be sure to use your legs and hips to drive the weight up, not simply your hips and lower back. Take roughly three seconds, or longer, to lower the weight on each repetition.

Benefits of the Cheat Curl

• The hip drive and increased muscle recruitment allows relatively heavier weights to be used, which can contribute to building size and strength.
• Lowering the weight slowly can help to build more muscle than lowering at a faster speed. (1)

EZ-Bar Curl

The EZ-bar allows a semi-supinated (angled) grip, which reduces the wrist strain many lifters from using a fully supinated (palms up) grip on a straight barbell. The shift in hand position also affects muscle recruitment by activating more forearm musculature than a straight bar.

The multiple sections of an EZ-bar also allows you to easily change your grip width from “wide,” to “moderate,” to “close.” Grip width will affect your effective range of motion, which will influence muscle activation.

How to Do the EZ-Bar Curl

Stand with a shoulder-width, underhand grip on the bar. Pull your shoulders back and keep your torso upright. Slightly bend your knees and set your stance to a comfortable width. Keep your elbows stationary as you curl the weight toward the front of your shoulders. Pause briefly before lowering the weight to full extension.

Benefits of the EZ-Bar Curl

• The EZ-bar increases brachioradialis activation compared to many other biceps exercises. (2)
• The angled hand position reduces stress on the wrist joint, making the exercise more comfortable for lifters with mobility problems or joint issues.

Chin-Up

Many lifters consider the chin-up to be primarily a back exercise, but the supinated (palms up) grip drastically increases biceps recruitment during the exercise. This makes it ideal for a biceps-focused workout, especially if it’s preceded or followed with additional direct biceps training to increase cumulative fatigue on the muscle.

By flipping your grip, you increase the leverage for your biceps to contribute during the movement, which places more stress directly on them and relatively less stress on the larger back muscles.

How to Do the Chin-Up

Grab an overhead pull-up bar with a shoulder-width, palm-up grip. Allow your body to be supported by your straight arms. Pinch your shoulder blades together as you pull your body toward the bar. Keep your neck in a neutral position and avoid extending your chin to the bar. When your mouth is roughly level with the bar, pause briefly before lowering your body to full extension.

Benefits of the Chin-Up

• The chin-up is one of relatively few compound (multi-joint) exercises which primarily work the biceps. Compound movements are highly effective at building strength and size (3)
• This movement allows for using potentially heavy weights compared to other biceps exercises, which is beneficial for size and strength.

Alternating Supinating Curl

This exercise puts a twist — pun completely intended — on the classic dumbbell curl to deliver increased muscle recruitment. Supinating, or rotating, your hand as you curl the weight up allows you to activate additional arm muscles and it works the biceps to their fullest capacity.

Each repetition takes your arm through a significant range of motion and complete muscle contraction by turning the wrist from a neutral position to a fully supinated (palm up) position, which maximally recruits the muscles of the biceps and forearm.

How to Do the Alternating Supinating Curl

Stand holding a pair of dumbbells by your sides with your palms facing your hips. Curl one arm upwards, keeping your thumb up in a neutral position. As your hand passes your ab-level, begin rotating to a palm-up position as you continue curling. In the top position, your pinky should be slightly higher than your index finger. Reverse the motion to lower the weight, and then perform a repetition with the opposite arm.

Benefits of the Alternating Supinating Curl

• The biceps muscle plays a significant role in supinating the forearm as well as flexing (bending) your arm. (4) This is one of the very few exercises to specifically incorporate the supinating function, which increases overall activation of the biceps.
• Using a neutral grip in the initial portion of the exercise recruits the brachialis and brachioradialis, making the alternating supinating curl an efficient way to train the biceps and forearms.
• Alternating arms and performing the movement unilaterally (curling one arm at a time) allows you to use a slightly heavier weight than curling both dumbbells together. (5)

Barbell Spider Curl

The barbell spider curl works the biceps from a unique angle for a variation in training stimulus. This is essentially a “reverse incline curl,” because it requires lying chest-down on an incline bench and allowing your arms to hang vertically down.

By positioning your upper arm in front of your torso, the short head of the biceps is more strongly recruited than the long head. Some lifters may not notice a significant difference in the development of either head, but for physique-conscious lifters, emphasizing either biceps head can play a significant role in building an aesthetic physique.

How to Do the Barbell Spider Curl

Set an incline bench to a low-to-moderate angle, roughly 30 or 45-degrees. Lie your chest on the bench while holding a barbell with a supinated (palm up) grip at roughly shoulder-width. Let your arms hang straight toward the ground. Curl the weight without moving at the shoulder. Your upper arms and elbows should remain pointed at the ground as the weight moves. Pause briefly in the top position to maximize the peak contraction. Lower slowly with control and avoid swinging the weight.

Benefits of the Barbell Spider Curl

• The short head of the biceps is recruited relatively more than the long head due to the position of the upper arm relative to the torso. The long head is involved in working the shoulder joint, which is essentially “immobilized” due to hanging straight down.
• The barbell spider curl creates an extremely strong peak contraction due to the angle of the bench and the leverage of the weight against gravity. This can help many lifters improve the mind-muscle connection with their biceps, which can ultimately benefit muscle growth. (6)(7)

Incline Dumbbell Curl

The incline dumbbell curl is a classic bodybuilding exercise, known for its unique angle which puts the biceps and shoulder into a stretched position and increases recruitment of the long head of the biceps.

While the stretched position is essential for the incline curl, it may be stressful on your shoulder joint. You can adjust the incline as needed, higher or lower, to accommodate your own mobility and flexibility. The key is to maintain bench-contact with your head, shoulder blades, and lower back to ensure an inclined position.

How to Do the Incline Dumbbell Curl

Lie back on an incline bench set to roughly 45-degrees with a dumbbell in each hand. Keep your head, shoulders, and tailbone against the bench throughout the entire movement. Straighten your arms and rotate your palms forward. Keep your palms facing up as you curl both weights toward your biceps. Your elbows should remain pointed to the floor and should not move forward. Slowly lower the weights to a full stretch.

Benefits of the Incline Dumbbell Curl

• Training the biceps with a unique angle, in an inclined position, contributes to more muscle growth than performing exercises which are too similar to one another. (8)
• The incline dumbbell curl puts the shoulder into a stretched position. Because the long head of the biceps crosses over the shoulder joint and is involved in shoulder flexion, this curl variation emphasizes the long head more than the short head. (9)
• The stretched position of the arm can contribute to improved shoulder mobility and biceps tendon strength. (10)

Single-Arm Preacher Curl

The barbell or EZ-bar preacher curl is a time-tested muscle-builder, but performing the exercise with one arm at a time can allow even greater focus on the muscle. Unilateral (single-side) training will improve muscle recruitment and emphasize on each arm more than a barbell exercise.

The upper arm support and stationary shoulder position de-emphasize the long head of the biceps and increase recruitment of the short head.

How to Do the Single-Arm Preacher Curl

Start with a dumbbell curled to your shoulder, with your palm facing your body. Press your chest against the flat side of a preacher curl bench and rest both underarms snugly on top of the pad. Lay your elbow and triceps on the angled side of the bench, keeping the dumbbell in the top position. Maintain a palms-up grip as you slowly lower the weight. When your arm is nearly straight, curl the weight back to the starting position.

Benefits of the Single-Arm Preacher Curl

• The preacher curl bench supports the upper arm which reinforces strict technique and limits cheating or momentum.
• The single-arm preacher curl emphasizes the short head of the biceps.
• The unilateral movement allows lifters to address common muscle asymmetries between arms by focusing on each arm individually.

Single-Arm Low Cable Curl

The low cable pulley puts the biceps under constant tension, compared to barbells or dumbbells which rely on gravity and leverage to provide resistance. This results in cables offering greater time under tension and a stronger muscle-building stimulus. (11)

The single-arm low cable curl can be done either facing the cable stack or facing away from it. Facing away will put a greater stretch on the biceps, similar to an incline curl, and is the more effective option.

How to Do the Single-Arm Low Cable Curl

Attack a single handle to a low cable pulley. Grab the handle, turn your back to the weight stack, and take one or two small steps forward. With a palms-up grip and your hand by your side, your straight arm should be very slightly “pulled” behind your torso by the weight. Keep your elbow stationary while curling the handle toward your shoulder. From the top position, fully straighten your arm before repeating the next repetition.

Benefits of the Single-Arm Low Cable Curl

• This cable curl variation puts the muscle under constant muscular tension which can increase muscle growth.
• The long time under tension and long range of motion make the exercise highly effective with relatively light weight, making it ideal for lifters whose joints cannot tolerate heavy loads.

Concentration Curl

The concentration curl is a classic biceps exercise, often performed by beginning lifters instinctively without formal direction. It can be an extremely effective way to target the biceps with minimal recruitment of other muscles.

The setup of the concentration curl allows you to, rightfully, concentrate on the working arm during each set. Not only is the movement strictly performed by one arm at a time, but you’re looking directly at your muscle as it contracts and stretches for each repetition.

How to Do the Concentration Curl

With a dumbbell in one hand, sit on a bench or chair with your feet set well-beyond shoulder-width. Brace the triceps of the working arm near the same-side knee. Curl the weight toward your face while maintaining a palm-up grip. Don’t allow your legs or torso to swing the weight up. Slowly lower the weight to complete extension.

Benefits of the Concentration Curl

• This exercise is ideal for using the “touch training” technique — using your non-working hand to touch the working muscle during each repetition. This can improve the mind-muscle connection and may increase muscle growth. (12)
• This movement allows for strict exercise performance with little to no momentum due to the braced stance and arm support.
• The concentration curl allows variety from standard dumbbell curls without needing additional equipment like a preacher curl bench or cable pulley.

Zottman Curl

The Zottman curl, named for American strongman George Zottman, works the biceps and forearms through a variety of motions for maximum muscle recruitment. It combines a standard dumbbell curl and a reverse curl, while testing and building wrist mobility.

If you can manage the necessary coordination (which is less complicated than patting your head while rubbing your stomach), then you can build bigger, stronger arms with this efficient movement.

How to Do the Zottman Curl

Stand holding a dumbbell in each hand by your sides. Curl one arm palm-up toward your shoulder. In the top position, rotate your hand palm-down and lower the weight to full extension. Next, curl the opposite hand palm-up toward your shoulder before rotating it palm-down for the lowering phase. When you’re comfortable with the basic movement, aim to move your arms at the same time — raising one hand palm-up while simultaneously lowering the other palm-down.

Benefits of the Zottman Curl

• The Zottman curl recruits multiple muscles of the arm — including the biceps, brachialis, and brachioradialis — during the multiple phases of the exercise.
• The varied hand positions and use of supination and pronation (turning the palm up and down, respectively) will help to build overall wrist mobility and may improve wrist and elbow health.

Hammer Curl

This simple adjustment to the standard dumbbell curl increases recruitment of the forearm muscles, allows you to move relatively heavier weights, and builds grip strength.

The thumbs-up position emphasizes the brachialis and brachioradialis, along with the biceps, making it an efficient way to train the forearm as well as the upper arm.

How to Do the Hammer Curl

Stand holding a pair of dumbbells at your sides with your hands facing your hips. Curl both weights up toward your shoulder while keeping your thumbs up. Allow your elbows to move slightly forward as you bring the weight into the top position — this can increase overall muscle recruitment. Pause briefly before lowering to full extension.

Benefits of the Hammer Curl

• The hammer curl allows you to lift heavier weights than any palms-up curl, which can benefit size and strength gains.
• The neutral-grip hand position emphasizes the brachialis and brachioradialis, which are not significantly recruited during other biceps curl variations.

EZ-Bar Reverse Curl

The EZ-bar reverse curl shares many of the benefits of the standard EZ-bar curl — reduced wrist strain and a consistent gauge for adjusting grip width — and it offers even greater recruitment of forearm muscles due to the angled palms-down grip.

The semi-pronated (partially palms-down) grip increases activation of the brachialis, brachioradialis, and wrist extensors, along with some recruitment of the biceps. This makes the movement a very efficient way to train the lower arms.

How to Do the EZ-Bar Reverse Curl

Stand with a shoulder-width, palms-down grip on the bar. Pull your shoulders back and keep your torso upright. Slightly bend your knees and set your stance to a comfortable width. Keep your elbows stationary as you curl the weight toward the front of your shoulders. Pause briefly before lowering the weight to full extension.

You may find the exercise more comfortable using a thumbless or “false” grip, placing your thumb next to your index finger instead of wrapping it around the bar. This technique will require greater grip strength as you squeeze the bar harder throughout the movement.

Benefits of the EZ-Bar Reverse Curl

• The combination of using an EZ-bar and a predominantly pronated (overhand or palms-down) grip significantly increases brachialis, brachioradialis, and forearm activation compared to supinated (palms-up) biceps exercises.
• The angled hand position reduces stress on the wrist joint, making the exercise more comfortable for lifters with mobility problems or joint issues.

The Biceps Muscles

It sounds counterintuitive, but “the biceps” aren’t actually just made of your biceps. Several closely related muscles in the upper and lower arm need to be developed for a great looking set of biceps.

Biceps Brachii

The primary biceps muscle on the front of the upper arm is composed of two heads working together. The short head of the biceps, sometimes called the “inner head,” runs from near the elbow to the top of the upper arm. The long head, sometimes called the “outer head,” runs from the elbow over the shoulder joint and attaches to the shoulder blade.

The biceps are well-known for working to flex (bend) your elbow, but they also function to pronate and supinate your wrist and forearm — turning your palm up and down. This is one reason why exercises like the alternating supinating curl result in stronger muscle contractions and greater overall growth.

Brachioradialis

The brachioradialis runs along the thumb-side of the forearm from the wrist area to the lower part of the biceps. It is heavily activated when curling, particularly when the hand is in a neutral (thumbs up) position. The brachioradialis also plays a role in stabilizing the forearm muscle during and after supination or pronation.

Brachialis

This often under-appreciated muscle is actually located “beneath” the biceps, near the elbow joint. When the brachialis increases in size, it has the effect of “lifting” the biceps to make it appear larger. The brachialis becomes the primary arm flexor when using a neutral grip, which is why movements like the hammer curl target it efficiently.

Forearms

The wrist flexors and wrist extensors, on the lower and upper part of the forearm respectively, are largely responsible for lifting the hand at the wrist joint. These muscles are often statically trained during most biceps curl variations, to stabilize the hand and wrist.

However, exercises like the Zottman curl or the cheat curl may recruit the flexors or extensors more significantly due to the involvement of more dynamic lifting technique.

How Often Should You Train the Biceps

Direct biceps training will be a factor of your specific goal and your overall training split. Two effective approaches are to either perform a moderate amount of biceps work immediately after training a larger body part or to perform a low amount of biceps training more frequently.

Because your biceps are recruited during almost all back exercises, ending your back workout with two or three biceps exercises (each for two to four sets of eight to 12 reps) is an efficient way to fully exhaust the biceps.

With this approach, the exercises should be as varied as possible. For example, performing the cheat curl, EZ-bar curl, and single-arm cable curl would all train the biceps with a similar stimulus. Performing the EZ-bar curl, incline curl, and Zottman curl would deliver greater variety, increased muscle recruitment, and stronger stimulus for growth.

An effective alternative is to perform one biceps exercise for two to three sets of six to 15 reps at the end of your workout three to five days per week. With this high-frequency approach, your biceps are trained often, but the low volume allows for optimal recovery and growth. (13)

The lower volume per workout also prevents biceps fatigue from interfering with your other training for other body parts. For this method to be most efficient, use different exercises and/or a different set/rep scheme in each workout. For example, perform cheat curls for four sets of six in the first workout, single-arm preacher curls for three sets of 12 in the next workout, hammer curls for three sets of eight in the next session, etc.

How to Progress Your Biceps Training

One essential element for maximizing your biceps growth is training with a variety of hand positions and arm angles, either in a single workout or throughout the week. This will optimize overall muscle recruitment and balance activation of the major arm flexors — biceps long head, biceps short head, brachialis, and brachioradialis. (14)

Be sure to incorporate “classic” palm-up curls like the barbell spider curl, palms-down curls such as the EZ-bar reverse curl, movements with your upper arm in front of your torso like the chin-up, and movements with your upper arm angled behind your torso including the incline curl.

One particularly effective technique to increase training intensity and volume is the mechanical advantage drop set. This is a specific type of superset which pairs similar movements with simple adjustments to improve leverage in order to perform more total repetitions.

For example, when you might begin with alternating supinating curls. When you approach muscular fatigue, transition immediately (without setting the dumbbells down) and begin performing hammer curls. Because hammer curls put the brachialis in a stronger position to contract, you will be able to complete additional repetitions before again reaching muscular fatigue.

Many people accidentally stumble onto this technique when performing strict barbell curls, as they inadvertently transition to cheat curls to complete a challenging set.

How to Warm-Up Your Biceps

While the elbow joint is most commonly overstressed or aggravated by certain triceps exercises, biceps training can also play a critical role in determining joint health. Because the elbow is held in position during most biceps exercises, the joint can be put under significant strain. A thorough warm-up can go a long way toward preventing any excessive stress.

Before any biceps training, get blood flowing throughout your upper body. Alternating low-rep push-ups with high-rep band pull-aparts for two or three sets is a good start. Following that with (perhaps counterintuitively), a light weight, high rep triceps exercise alternated with a light weight, high rep biceps exercise for two sets. With those four movements, you’ve got an efficient way to approach your biceps warm-up. Continue the training with a relatively light first set on each biceps exercise, and get to work.

Don’t Be Scared to Train for Big Arms

Direct biceps training has developed an unfortunate reputation in recent years, with some lifters thinking it’s purely for “vanity.” First of all, no it isn’t. Setting a goal of lean, muscular 17-inch arms isn’t “vanity” any more than setting a goal to squat five plates per side. Secondly, biceps training can play a performance-boosting role in upper body strength, stability when handling heavy weight, and shoulder, elbow, and wrist joint health. So, you want to build your biceps? Excellent. You’re now armed with the most effective ways to get there.

References

1. Wilk, M., Zajac, A. & Tufano, J.J. The Influence of Movement Tempo During Resistance Training on Muscular Strength and Hypertrophy Responses: A Review. Sports Med 51, 1629–1650 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-021-01465-2
2. Marcolin, G., Panizzolo, F. A., Petrone, N., Moro, T., Grigoletto, D., Piccolo, D., & Paoli, A. (2018). Differences in electromyographic activity of biceps brachii and brachioradialis while performing three variants of curl. PeerJ, 6, e5165. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5165
3. Paoli, A., Gentil, P., Moro, T., Marcolin, G., & Bianco, A. (2017). Resistance Training with Single vs. Multi-joint Exercises at Equal Total Load Volume: Effects on Body Composition, Cardiorespiratory Fitness, and Muscle Strength. Frontiers in physiology, 8, 1105. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2017.01105
4. Tiwana MS, Charlick M, Varacallo M. Anatomy, Shoulder and Upper Limb, Biceps Muscle. [Updated 2021 Aug 11]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519538/
5. Costa E, Moreira A, Cavalcanti B, Krinski K, Aoki M. Effect of unilateral and bilateral resistance exercise on maximal voluntary strength, total volume of load lifted, and perceptual and metabolic responses. Biol Sport. 2015;32(1):35-40. doi:10.5604/20831862.1126326
6. Calatayud, J., Vinstrup, J., Jakobsen, M. D., Sundstrup, E., Brandt, M., Jay, K., Colado, J. C., & Andersen, L. L. (2016). Importance of mind-muscle connection during progressive resistance training. European journal of applied physiology, 116(3), 527–533. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-015-3305-7
7. Schoenfeld, B. J., Vigotsky, A., Contreras, B., Golden, S., Alto, A., Larson, R., … & Paoli, A. (2018). Differential effects of attentional focus strategies during long-term resistance training. European Journal of Sport Science, 18(5), 705-712.
8. Costa B.V.D., Kassiano, W., Nunes, J. P., Kunevaliki, G., Castro-E-Souza, P., Rodacki, A., … & de Sousa Fortes, L. (2021). Does Performing Different Resistance Exercises for the Same Muscle Group Induce Non-homogeneous Hypertrophy?. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 42(09), 803-811.
9. Schoenfeld, Brad CSCS. Accentuating Muscular Development Through Active Insufficiency and Passive Tension. Strength and Conditioning Journal: August 2002 – Volume 24 – Issue 4 – p 20-22
10. Wiesinger, H. P., Kösters, A., Müller, E., & Seynnes, O. R. (2015). Effects of Increased Loading on In Vivo Tendon Properties: A Systematic Review. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 47(9), 1885–1895. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000000603
11. Burd, N. A., Andrews, R. J., West, D. W., Little, J. P., Cochran, A. J., Hector, A. J., Cashaback, J. G., Gibala, M. J., Potvin, J. R., Baker, S. K., & Phillips, S. M. (2012). Muscle time under tension during resistance exercise stimulates differential muscle protein sub-fractional synthetic responses in men. The Journal of physiology, 590(2), 351–362. https://doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.2011.221200
12. Oshita, Kazushige. (2021). Effect of internal focus of attention with touching cue on the agonist muscle activity during exercise. 10.14198/jhse.2021.16.Proc2.04.
13. Schoenfeld, B. J., Grgic, J., & Krieger, J. (2019). How many times per week should a muscle be trained to maximize muscle hypertrophy? A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies examining the effects of resistance training frequency. Journal of sports sciences, 37(11), 1286–1295. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2018.1555906
14. Kleiber, T., Kunz, L., & Disselhorst-Klug, C. (2015). Muscular coordination of biceps brachii and brachioradialis in elbow flexion with respect to hand position. Frontiers in physiology, 6, 215. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2015.00215

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Shoulder injuries and biceps tendon ruptures are the boogeymen of weight training that can put you out of action for a long time. The good news? The incline dumbbell curl trains the shoulder to gradually tolerate hyperextension and may make the biceps brachii tendon larger and better able to transmit load. (1)(2)

Adding the incline dumbbell curl to your routine will result in bigger, fuller muscles. (3)(4) But the immediate result is a unique combination of stretch, burn, and pump you won’t soon forget. Read on to learn why and how this classic muscle-building exercise delivers more than just arm size. 

• How to Do the Incline Dumbbell Curl
• Incline Dumbbell Curl Mistakes to Avoid
• Benefits of the Incline Dumbbell Curl
• Muscles Worked by the Incline Dumbbell Curl
• Who Should Do the Incline Dumbbell Curl
• How to Program the Incline Dumbbell Curl
• Incline Dumbbell Curl Variations
• Incline Dumbbell Curl Alternatives
• Frequently Asked Questions

Incline Dumbbell Curl Video Guide

The incline dumbbell curl is often done with loose, ineffective technique, but Dr. Merrick Lincoln demonstrates textbook form for this important exercise. See it in action and then read the details to learn more.

[Related: How to Do the Chin-up for Bigger Arms and a Stronger Back]

How to Do the Incline Dumbbell Curl

The incline dumbbell curl places more stretch on the biceps than other curl variations and virtually eliminates the use of momentum to cheat the weights up. Start with dumbbells approximately 50% of what you’d typically use for a standing dumbbell biceps curl.

Step 1 — Set Your Bench and Get Into Position

Sit on an adjustable bench set to approximately 45-degrees while holding a pair of dumbbells. Retract and depress your shoulder blades (pull them together and down) as you lay back on the bench.

Keep your feet flat and allow your arms to hang straight towards the ground. Keep your shoulder blades pinned to the bench throughout the exercise. Locking your shoulder blades into place will improve your form and boost your strength.(5)

Form tip: If your head comes off the bench, your upper back and shoulder blades will follow. Keep your head pressed into the bench during the entire set and resist the urge to look straight ahead.

Step 2 — Curl with Your Elbows Pointing Down

Supinate your hands (turn your palms up) and begin to curl both weights up. Keep your upper arms vertical, Your elbows should point straight down, not forward towards your feet.

Bringing your elbows forward takes tension off the biceps and introduces momentum, which makes the exercise less effective. Curl the dumbbells as high as possible without losing the vertical upper arm position.

Form tip: For increased stability, “over-supinate” throughout the repetition — think about keeping your pinky higher than your thumb — and “over-grip” the dumbbell like you’re trying to crush the handle into dust. Supination and gripping have been shown to enhance rotator cuff activity which results in a stronger, more stable shoulder position. (6)(7)

Step 3 — Lower Without Releasing Tension 

Keep your upper arms locked vertically as you lower the dumbbells slowly. Don’t allow your thumbs to point up as you lower the weight. Don’t bounce into or out of the bottom position. Bouncing or quickly rebounding engages the stretch-shortening cycle, which makes this exercise less effective.

Maintain control as your arm straightens and never lose tension on the target muscles and tendons. Feel and visualize your muscle fibers being stretched.

Form tip: Savor the negative. Because the exercise requires relatively lighter weights, you need a longer time under tension to achieve an effective training stimulus.(8) Prolonging the eccentric (lowering) phase is a favored strategy. A four-second eccentric is a good place to start. (9)

Incline Dumbbell Curl Mistakes to Avoid

The incline dumbbell curl can be a powerful biceps-building and tendon-toughening exercise, but suboptimal execution results in suboptimal results. Common mistakes include: allowing the shoulder to drift out of position, underemphasizing the eccentric, and a lack of focus on the working muscles. Avoid these pitfalls with the following strategies.

Loss of Shoulder Position

It’s easy to cheat the incline dumbbell curl by flexing your shoulders and swinging your elbows. Allowing your arms to travel forward diminishes muscular tension, which means less muscle-building stimulus.

Dialed-up tension is one defining feature of the incline dumbbell curl. Without it, you’re just doing a lazy version of a seated curl.

Avoid it: Keep your shoulder blades pulled together and down. That will keep your shoulder joint in an optimal position. A small arch in your spine can improve retraction. Aim your elbows toward the floor beneath your shoulder joints. Lock into this position by engaging your lats and pinning your arm into your armpit.

Poor Eccentric Control

Because the eccentric stretch often feels more difficult, and because some lifters believe “lifting the weight is what builds muscle,” many lifters instinctively rush through the lowering portion of the rep and miss a significant part of the training stimulus.

Rushing through the negative phase will shortchange your training. Research supports using a prolonged eccentric to maximize the strength and size-building benefits. (9)

Avoid it: If you are consistently rushing your negatives, take a break from music for a few sets and consider using a metronome app, or search for “60 bpm audio” on YouTube. At the second beep, your hands should be roughly parallel to the ground. By the fourth beep, your arms should be extended in the bottom position. 

Lack of Mind-Muscle Connection

Aesthetics-focused lifters work to develop a mind-muscle connection, or a conscious focus on the target muscles, during hypertrophy training.

Lifting the weight too quickly, failing to feel a muscle contraction, or utilizing momentum instead of muscular force can all contribute to a decreased mind-muscle connection. “Performing a curl” is different than “feeling your biceps activate while performing a curl.”

Avoid it: Focus on squeezing your muscles throughout each repetition. Pause briefly at the top while flexing your biceps as hard as possible. Some research has reported those who focus on “squeezing” their biceps during curls experienced nearly twice the gains in muscle thickness than those who simply focus on lifting the weight. (10)

Benefits of the Incline Dumbbell Curl

The benefits of the incline dumbbell curl include muscle growth, position tolerance, and tendon adaptations. These benefits are directly related to the tension placed on biceps brachii and the unique shoulder position maintained throughout the exercise. 

Muscle Growth

Because the incline dumbbell curl stretches the long head of the biceps, the muscle experiences greater tension, resulting in improved growth.

Exercise variety is shown to improve muscle growth. (3)(4) Select exercise variations that bias or increase tension in different areas of the target muscle or at different joint angles. (3)(4)(11)(12)

Research has shown that training the biceps from multiple angles leads to significantly greater increases in biceps thickness compared to training without variety, so incline dumbbell curls complement standard curl variations. (4)

Position Tolerance and Mobility

For some lifters, certain body positions are simply difficult to achieve. A position of stable shoulder hyperextension is one of them. Shoulder hyperextension and mobility are required for full range of motion bench pressing, barbell rows, dips, and to simply hold the barbell for back squats. The incline dumbbell curl helps to build a strong, foundational shoulder position.

If you struggle to achieve stable, pain-free shoulder hyperextension, the incline dumbbell curl can be a good corrective exercise. It brings awareness to appropriate shoulder blade orientation, provides support and tactile feedback from the bench, and is easily adapted to your current ability by changing the weight or bench angle.

Biceps Tendon Health and Durability

The specter of a biceps tendon tear sends chills down the spine of any serious lifter faster than a fumbled shaker bottle. Tendons connect muscle to bone and transmit tension generated by muscle contraction and stretch.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could “bulletproof” our tendons against these tragic injuries? It’s not to say that injuries can be entirely prevented, but research supports that direct loading can increase tendon thickness and improve material qualities, making them tougher over time. (1)(2)

Training with a tendon lengthened across a joint increases the tendon load and may stimulate adaptation with the use of relatively light weights (e.g. 55% of one’s one-rep max). (2)(13) Because the load is placed through a stretch across the hyperextended shoulder, the incline dumbbell curl is an ideal exercise to target the tendon of the long head of biceps brachii.

Muscles Worked by the Incline Dumbbell Curl

Like the majority of curl variations, the incline dumbbell curl primarily targets the biceps brachii. The brachialis and brachioradialis also experience training effects.

Biceps Brachii

The biceps brachii is the most visible muscle on the front of the upper arm. It’s “the biceps” muscle and it controls elbow flexion (bending your arm), supination (turning your palm up), and plays a small role in shoulder flexion (raising your upper arm).

The biceps brachii is a two-headed muscle. The long head is located on the outer portion. Its tendon runs in front of the shoulder and attaches to the shoulder blade. When well-hypertrophied and fully contracted, the long head may have a summit-like appearance, hence the term “biceps peak” in bodybuilding circles.

The short head sits on the inner part of the arm. Its tendon attaches to a bony projection on the front of the shoulder blade. A well-developed short head enhances the thickness of the biceps brachii.

The incline dumbbell curl places massive tension across the entire biceps due to the hyperextended shoulder and supinated forearm positions. Due to the hyperextended shoulder position, it particularly emphasizes the long head. (1)(2)

Brachialis

The brachialis is a deep muscle in the front of the upper arm. It crosses the elbow joint and contributes substantially to elbow flexion. Physique-focused lifters should take note of this unassuming muscle. Because the brachialis sits beneath the biceps, brachialis growth makes your arm look bigger by “pushing” the biceps up.

Of interest to strength-focused lifters, building the brachialis also promotes greater mechanical advantage by slightly altering leverage, resulting in greater pulling strength. (14)

Brachioradialis 

The brachioradialis assists with elbow flexion during the incline dumbbell curl. The brachioradialis runs along the thumb-side of the forearm and contributes to upper and lower arm size.

The brachioradialis is the primary elbow flexor when the forearm is neutral, as during the hammer curl. Electromyography data also suggests high activity of the brachioradialis during elbow flexion with a supinated forearm, as in the incline dumbbell curl. (15)(16)

Who Should Do the Incline Dumbbell Curl

Those who scoff at the incline dumbbell curl because it “isn’t functional” are sorely mistaken. Individuals with a wide variety of training goals can benefit from this movement. Consider a throwing athlete, for example, or simply someone who enjoys playing catch with their children. Training the biceps directly may protect your shoulder and tendon health. 

Bodybuilders and Physique Athletes

The hyperextended shoulder position and forearm supination during the incline dumbbell curl create muscle-building mechanical tension. These positions can also enhance the physical “pump” in the biceps. (17) The pump is a result of metabolic stress (e.g. metabolite accumulation and cell swelling).

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The exercise also creates muscle damage, particularly during the negative or eccentric phase. (18) Altogether, the incline dumbbell curl creates the perfect storm for muscle-building.

Strength Trainees

For powerlifters and other strength athletes, holding the barbell in place during back squats requires shoulder hyperextension. Loaded shoulder extension also occurs in the bottom position of the close-grip bench press and dip exercises. Other movements, such as mixed-grip deadlifts and strongman-style carries, place large tension loads on the biceps.

Strength athletes need to be able to access a stable position of shoulder hyperextension and tolerate biceps loading at high intensities and volumes. Incorporating the incline dumbbell curl can enhance these capacities. 

Athletes of All Types

For athletes who grapple, throw, tackle, or climb, the biceps brachii and other elbow flexors experience massive demands. For example, the biceps brachii is important for decelerating the throwing arm. (19) If you’re throwing 80+ mile per hour fastballs, decelerating the arm is no small feat. Throwing athletes can benefit from adding incline dumbbell curls to their arm care (if not arm-building) programs.

Finally, consider “industrial athletes” or manual laborers. These are individuals who work with their hands for a living and require strong muscles and tendons. An industrial athlete might not program the incline dumbbell curl for aesthetics, but rather to safeguard their livelihood. 

How to Program the Incline Dumbbell Curl

The incline dumbbell curl is most appropriately programmed in a moderate repetition range with a moderate-to-light load.

Although lower load, higher repetition sets may stimulate hypertrophy, they are unlikely to stimulate optimal tendon adaptations. (2) Those high-rep sets also burn like hell. Using a four-second eccentric facilitates greater hypertrophy and greater tendon adaptations. (8)(9)

Keep in mind, the prolonged eccentric necessitates slightly lighter loads than you’d typically sling. Here’s a more detailed look at setting up a program for your goals.

Hypertrophy Program

For optimal biceps growth, shoot for 10 to 20 total sets per week in the eight to 12 rep range directly training elbow flexion. (20) You should approach failure on the final repetitions of each set. Although a wide range of loads can be used to elicit muscle growth, using a moderate load is most efficient. (20)

For best results, incorporate the incline dumbbell curl along with other elbow flexor exercises that bias different muscle lengths and upper arm positions. (4) To achieve the desired set volume, you will likely need to train biceps multiple times per week on non-consecutive days.

Keep in mind, exercises like chin-ups and supinated-grip lat pulldowns also hit the biceps brachii. If you’re performing these consistently, you can avoid exercises like preacher curls or EZ-bar curls.

Tendon Loading Program

When training for tendon adaptation, lower loads have been shown to be effective for exercises which apply a large tension load on the target tendon. (13) The incline dumbbell curl is an exercise that places high tension load biceps brachii, therefore moderate loads are appropriate.

Train the incline dumbbell curl with four to five sets in the 8-12 repetition range using a four-second eccentric phase and a two-second pause at the bottom. Note: this program is not designed to treat any specific injury or medical condition. See your sports medicine provider.

Incline Dumbbell Curl Variations

By changing the bench angle, the incline dumbbell curl can accommodate lifters with varying amounts of shoulder extension mobility while manipulating tension on the long head of the biceps.

High Incline Dumbbell Curl

The traditional incline dumbbell curl uses a 45-degree bench angle. Lifters with stiff shoulders or shoulder discomfort may adjust the bench to a more steep angle, roughly 60 or 70-degrees.

Technical performance of the exercise remains the same. However, less shoulder hyperextension is required to maintain vertical upper arms throughout. 

Low Incline Dumbbell Curl  

Lifters with more shoulder mobility who wish to amp up biceps tension even further may consider the low incline dumbbell curl. By placing the bench at approximately 30-degrees, the shoulder is put into more hyperextension which puts the long head of the biceps under a greater passive stretch.

Keep your form dialed in. If you feel your shoulder or upper arm pushing forward during the exercise, go back to a higher bench angle.

Incline Dumbbell Curl Alternatives

Maybe all the adjustable benches in the gym are taken. Maybe you’ve programmed the incline dumbbell curl for a couple of training cycles and it’s time for a change. Maybe you miss standing in front of the mirror while doing curls. The good news is that you can still achieve some benefits of the incline dumbbell curl with these alternatives.

Bridge Position Dumbbell Curl 

Those unable to stabilize their upper arm during the incline dumbbell curl, or those who cannot resist training glutes every chance they get, might try the bridge position dumbbell curl. Peak resistance is shifted to end-range, so use light dumbbells.

Lie on your back with your hips and knees bent, and your feet flat on the floor. Your arms should be on the floor at your sides, holding the dumbbells in a palms-up position. Bridge your hips off the floor while keeping your triceps touching the floor. Curl while holding the bridge position to work the buns and guns. 

Drag Curl

Popularized by legendary bodybuilding coach Vince Gironda, the drag curl trains the biceps in shoulder extension. The lifter stands and “drags” a barbell along the front of their body. The drag curl builds shoulder stability along with biceps size. The scapula retractors (middle traps, rhomboids) and shoulder extensors must work to keep the shoulders and elbows back during the curl.

Stand with your feet shoulder-width and hold a barbell with an underhand grip. Pull your shoulders and elbows back as you curl the weight up. The barbell should travel as close as possible to your body. Raise the weight as high as you can without allowing shoulders to shrug or your elbows to drift forward. Lower the bar along the same path with control. 

FAQs

I saw ‘so-and-so’ tear his biceps on TikTok. Is the incline dumbbell curl going to tear my biceps?

When loaded appropriately and performed with control, resistance training is extremely unlikely to injure healthy lifters. (21) Knowledge of the risk factors and mechanisms of biceps tendon injuries will help lifters make informed training decisions.

Biceps tendon injuries are more common among middle-aged males, those who smoke or have a history of smoking, and those who are obese. (22) Interestingly, there appears to be a link between rotator cuff disease and long head of biceps tendon rupture. (23)

While very rare, biceps tendon injuries can occur during lifting, typically during the eccentric phase of heavy curls, rows, or pulldowns. (21) Intelligent programming, gradual progression, and controlled lifting technique may reduce risk.

For example, “maxing out” on a single-joint exercise like the incline dumbbell curl can increase risk. For best results, leave your ego behind, introduce the exercise using a light-to-moderate weight, control the eccentric, and progress the weight gradually.

I’m getting pain during the incline dumbbell curl. What should I do?

You should probably consult a doctor. And if you’re cleared to continue performing this movement, try lowering the weight and tweaking your form. For discomfort at the front of the shoulder, remember the technique tips to “over-supinate” and “over-grip” the dumbbell to enhance rotator cuff activity.

If shoulder extension mobility is lacking, the incline dumbbell curl may irritate anterior shoulder structures such as the long head of biceps tendon, the joint capsule, or subscapularis tendon. Setting the bench to a higher angle may be appropriate because it requires less shoulder extension. If these “fixes” do not resolve the issue, it’s best to get checked out by a physical therapist or other qualified sports medicine specialist.

Will the incline dumbbell curl build my biceps peaks?

Yes. The incline dumbbell curl emphasizes the long head of biceps brachii. The peak-like appearance of well-developed biceps brachii is attributed to the long head (and genetics). Train incline dumbbell curl consistently to build enough muscle to develop a killer front double biceps pose. 

Get Ready for the Stretch, Burn, and Pump

Biceps tendon injuries are disruptive to lifters, athletes, and tradespeople, alike. Fortunately, mechanical tension can promote tendon adaptation, with a side effect of arm size. By adding incline dumbbell curls into your routine, some of these potential injuries may be avoided. Everyone can benefit from bigger biceps and more robust tendons, so the time-tested incline dumbbell curl will never go out of style.

References

1. Wiesinger, H. P., Kösters, A., Müller, E., & Seynnes, O. R. (2015). Effects of Increased Loading on In Vivo Tendon Properties: A Systematic Review. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 47(9), 1885–1895. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000000603
2. McMahon, Gerard. No Strain, No Gain? The Role of Strain and Load Magnitude in Human Tendon Responses and Adaptation to Loading. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: July 7, 2022 – Volume – Issue – 10.1519/JSC.0000000000004288 doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000004288
3. Kassiano, Witalo¹; Nunes, João Pedro¹; Costa, Bruna¹; Ribeiro, Alex S.^1,2; Schoenfeld, Brad J.³; Cyrino, Edilson S.¹. Does Varying Resistance Exercises Promote Superior Muscle Hypertrophy and Strength Gains? A Systematic Review. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: June 2022 – Volume 36 – Issue 6 – p 1753-1762 doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000004258
4. Costa B.V.D., Kassiano, W., Nunes, J. P., Kunevaliki, G., Castro-E-Souza, P., Rodacki, A., … & de Sousa Fortes, L. (2021). Does Performing Different Resistance Exercises for the Same Muscle Group Induce Non-homogeneous Hypertrophy?. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 42(09), 803-811.
5. Yun S, Kim Y. (2021). Muscle activation and biceps brachii strength under manual fixation of the scapula and different loading conditions. Isokinetics and Exercise Science, 29(3): 239-245.
6. Hedt, C., Lambert, B. S., Daum, J., Pearson, J. M., & McCulloch, P. C. (2020). FOREARM POSITION MATTERS DURING ECCENTRIC SHOULDER EXERCISES: AN EMG RECRUITMENT STUDY WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION. International journal of sports physical therapy, 15(6), 1110–1118. https://doi.org/10.26603/ijspt20201110
7. Alizadehkhaiyat, O., Fisher, A. C., Kemp, G. J., et al. (2011). Shoulder muscle activation and fatigue during a controlled forceful hand grip task. Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology, 21(3), 478-482.
8. Wilk, M., Zajac, A. & Tufano, J.J. The Influence of Movement Tempo During Resistance Training on Muscular Strength and Hypertrophy Responses: A Review. Sports Med 51, 1629–1650 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-021-01465-2
9. Pereira, P. E. A., Motoyama, Y. L., Esteves, G. J., et al. (2016). Resistance training with slow speed of movement is better for hypertrophy and muscle strength gains than fast speed of movement. International Journal of Applied Exercise Physiology, 5(2), 37-43.
10. Schoenfeld, B. J., Vigotsky, A., Contreras, B., Golden, S., Alto, A., Larson, R., … & Paoli, A. (2018). Differential effects of attentional focus strategies during long-term resistance training. European Journal of Sport Science, 18(5), 705-712.
11. Schoenfeld, B. J. (2010). The mechanisms of muscle hypertrophy and their application to resistance training. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 24(10), 2857-2872.
12. Krzysztofik, M., Wilk, M., Wojdała, G., & Gołaś, A. (2019). Maximizing muscle hypertrophy: a systematic review of advanced resistance training techniques and methods. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(24), 4897.
13. McMahon, G. E., Morse, C. I., Burden, A., et al. (2013). The manipulation of strain, when stress is controlled, modulates in vivo tendon mechanical properties but not systemic TGF‐β1 levels. Physiological Reports, 1(5), e00091.
14. Vigotsky, A. D., Contreras, B., & Beardsley, C. (2015). Biomechanical implications of skeletal muscle hypertrophy and atrophy: a musculoskeletal model. PeerJ, 3, e1462.
15. Kleiber, T., Kunz, L., & Disselhorst-Klug, C. (2015). Muscular coordination of biceps brachii and brachioradialis in elbow flexion with respect to hand position. Frontiers in Physiology, 6, 215.
16. Marcolin, G., Panizzolo, F. A., Petrone, N., et al. (2018). Differences in electromyographic activity of biceps brachii and brachioradialis while performing three variants of curl. PeerJ, 6, e5165.
17. Barakat, C., Barroso, R., Alvarez, M., Rauch, J., Miller, N., Bou-Sliman, A., & De Souza, E. O. (2019). The effects of varying glenohumeral joint angle on acute volume load, muscle activation, swelling, and echo-intensity on the biceps brachii in resistance-trained individuals. Sports, 7(9), 204.
18. Lau, W. Y., Blazevich, A. J., Newton, M. J., et al. (2021). Effects of wrist position on eccentric exercise‐induced muscle damage of the elbow flexors. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 31(6), 1290-1300.
19. Jobe, F. W., Tibone, J. E., Perry, J., & Moynes, D. (1983). An EMG analysis of the shoulder in throwing and pitching: a preliminary report. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 11(1), 3-5.
20. Schoenfeld, B., Fisher, J., Grgic, J., et al. (2021). Resistance training recommendations to maximize muscle hypertrophy in an athletic population: Position stand of the IUSCA. International Journal of Strength and Conditioning, 1(1), 1-30.
21. Golshani, K., Cinque, M. E., O’Halloran, P., et al. (2018). Upper extremity weightlifting injuries: Diagnosis and management. Journal of Orthopaedics, 15(1), 24-27.
22. Kelly, M. P., Perkinson, S. G., Ablove, R. H., & Tueting, J. L. (2015). Distal biceps tendon ruptures: an epidemiological analysis using a large population database. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 43(8), 2012-2017.
23. Vestermark, G. L., Van Doren, B. A., Connor, P. M., et al. (2018). The prevalence of rotator cuff pathology in the setting of acute proximal biceps tendon rupture. Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery, 27(7), 1258-1262.

Featured Image: Merrick Lincoln, DPT, CSCS / YouTube

The post How to Do the Incline Dumbbell Curl for Bigger, Stronger Arms appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

It might be seen as a very simple movement — grab the bar, curl the bar, done — but like many straightforward exercises, details can have a big impact on your results. While there is a wide range of curls at your disposal, let’s break down why this biceps-building exercise should remain at the top of the list.

• How to Do the Barbell Curl
• Barbell Curl Mistakes to Avoid
• Benefits of the Barbell Curl
• Muscles Worked by the Barbell Curl
• Who Should Do the Barbell Curl
• How to Program the Barbell Curl
• Barbell Curl Variations
• Barbell Curl Alternatives
• Frequently Asked Questions

How to Do the Barbell Curl

Visually, the barbell curl seems like a pretty straightforward exercise. You’re just bending your arms.

The truth is, there is a little more happening behind the scenes that can take you from having decent biceps to a having a great-looking set of arms.

Step 1 — Stand Tall and Proud

Stand holding a straight barbell with your hands slightly wider than hip-width and palms up. Your arms should be fully extended. Retract your shoulder blades and think about keeping your chest high and proud.

Take a breath and engage your core. Contract your triceps to make sure your biceps are fully lengthened. This assists in recruiting all the muscle fibers and ensures a full range of motion. Fix your elbows near your ribs. Your biceps should be slightly touching the outside of your chest.

Form Tip: If you have average or shorter arms, the standard hand width will be effective. If you have relatively longer arms, you can benefit from gripping the bar much wider than hip-width. Gripping too closely can put your arms into a significant internal rotation at the shoulder, which can increase joint strain.

Step 2 — Curl the Weight

Contract your biceps while breathing out. Keep your shoulders in place and continue curling until your biceps are fully shortened.

As you reach the top of the movement, curl your wrists towards your body and grip the barbell tightly. This helps to fully contract your biceps while also strengthening your forearms, wrists, and grip.

In the top position, your elbows should finish a little further in front of the body. This is okay since it is further activating the biceps (specifically the long head of the muscle). (1) Just make sure to not let your shoulders come too much into play and take over as a primary mover.

Form Tip: Throughout the exercise, keep the inside of your biceps gently in contact with the outside of your chest or serratus. This is a great way to make sure you are in the correct position for maximum your biceps recruitment, and prevents your elbows from moving too far forward or back. 

Step 3 — Return to the Start

Take a short breath in before you lower the weight under control. Again, be mindful of where the inside of your biceps are touching (chest and serratus). Keep your shoulders pulled back.

It is important to lower the barbell under control. Aim for a two to three second eccentric, which will recruit even more muscle fibers which can provide you with a greater opportunity at building more muscle.

Form Tip: After each rep, take a full inventory. Are your shoulders rolled forward? Have your elbows moved back behind your body? You should be finishing the rep exactly how you started — with the inside of your biceps slightly outside your chest or serratus, your elbows in front of your body, and your shoulder blades retracted with your chest high and proud. Don’t begin your next rep until you’re in the right position.

Barbell Curl Mistakes to Avoid

Like many exercises, the barbell curl is simple and effective when executed correctly. When executed correctly being the most important words. Let’s look at some of the common errors that can occur if you are not paying attention to technique.

Too Much Upper Body Movement

Swinging your torso front and back as you curl a barbell up and down is the quickest way to not see results and possibly find an injury. Not only does it decrease muscular tension on the biceps, but swinging weights is a clear indication that you’re trying to move weights that are way too heavy to lift with strict form.

Heaving the weights with your entire upper body instead of focusing the work on your biceps also increases your chances of straining your lower back. That’s the type of potentially chronic injury which can impact your entire training plan for the long-term.

The only exception to this is when you deliberately use your entire body to move very heavy weights in order to emphasize the eccentric (lowering phase) with strict control. This is a specific exercise variation, which will be discussed in a later section. It is an intentional movement to spread force through your legs, back, and shoulders, rather than swinging your hips and putting stress entirely on your lower back.

Avoid It: Keep your shoulder blades retracted, and tense your abs and glutes during each rep to better maximize muscular strength. Control the descent for two to three seconds to decrease the urge to swing the weights and recruit your biceps much more effectively. 

Gripping the Bar Too Wide 

Some lifters mistakenly believe that bench pressing with an extremely wide grip will increase the width of their chest. Many lifters also make the mistake of curling with an extra-wide grip hoping it will sculpt their biceps differently. The body doesn’t work that way.

Taking an incorrect grip increases the chance of straining the forearm and biceps tendons at the elbow joint because tension isn’t being focused on the muscle itself. When stress is too much for the arm musculature to tolerate, and as you fatigue during a set, it creates wear and tear leading to the biceps tendon tears.

Avoid it: Refer to the technique setup and grip width appropriate for your limb length. If you have longer arms, you’re more likely to require a wider grip to maintain relative stress on the muscles due to leverage, well-outside your shoulders and up to double your hip-width. Otherwise, keep your hands closer to hip-width.

Benefits of the Barbell Curl

The barbell curl  has long-been used to build size and strength in the biceps. Here’s a closer look at several benefits of this is foundational exercise.

Beginner-Friendly 

The barbell curl is an excellent exercise for new lifters due to its quick learning curve, basic mechanics, and ability to load the exercise with ease. It’s a highly effective fundamental lift as a simple and effective introduction to direct arm training.

Direct Biceps Training

The barbell curl is performed purely with elbow flexion, which is a major function of the biceps and no other body part. Because of this focused work, it’s one of the most effective exercises to improve size and strength in the biceps, specifically.

Potential for Heavy Weights

If you want to build strength, you need to move relatively heavy weights. The barbell curl allows you to put the biceps under the heaviest potential weights compared to other biceps exercises. This can contribute to greater overall strength, particularly with pulling exercises like deadlifts and rows.

Muscles Worked by the Barbell Curl

The barbell curl is essentially a single-joint (isolation) exercise that is one of the most effective ways to target the biceps, primarily, and the forearms as secondary movers. However, the barbell curl does incorporate a small degree of movement at the shoulder joint which also activates the anterior deltoid (front shoulder muscle) as an additional mover.

For this reason, some lifters consider it a multi-joint (compound) exercise under the most technical definition of the term, often when they exaggerate or emphasize the elbow-rising position at the top of the lift.

Biceps Brachii

The biceps are a two-headed muscle with the long head located on the outer part of the muscle and the short head on the inner side of the muscle. The long head attaches at the shoulder blade while the short head attaches at the upper arm, and both heads connect near the elbow. This is why both heads are activated when bending the elbow and the long head is recruited to move the arm at the shoulder.

Forearms

The forearms include the wrist flexors aligned with the palm-side of and the wrist extensors on the top side of the forearm. Both muscles work actively to hold and stabilize the barbell as you curl the weight.

Anterior Deltoid

The deltoid (shoulder muscle) is comprised of three separate heads — the anterior (front), lateral (side), and posterior (rear). Each head is activated to move the arm in its respective plane. During barbell curls, the anterior delts contribute to raising the arm when the barbell is in the fully curled position.

Who Should Do the Barbell Curl

Any lifter that steps foot into the gym can benefit from including barbell curls in their program. It’s a simple and versatile movement that can be programmed for several goals.

This exercise will aid in increasing muscle mass, improving arm and grip strength, and injury prevention for performance athletes that may have a higher chance of biceps or elbow injuries.

Strength Athletes

Strength athletes, including strongmen, strongmen, and powerlifters, will find that improved biceps strength carries over to increased stability during heavy pressing and pulling exercises, as well as improved grip strength. Light weight, high-rep barbell curls can also have restorative and preventative joint health benefits. (2, 3)

Physique Athletes

The barbell curl can provide any physique-focused lifter the most bang for the buck when it comes to building a more muscular set of arms. The barbell curl can accommodate much heavier weights than many other biceps exercises, which creates more programming options for more muscle-building stimuli.

How to Program the Barbell Curl

Just because the barbell curl is simple to perform, don’t think you can just walk into the gym and knock out random reps with no plan of attack. Below are some effective programming options that you can use going into your next session.

Heavy Weight, Low to Moderate Repetitions

To maximize strength, three to five sets in the four to eight rep range is a good place to start. Use a weight that allows you to leave at least two reps left “in the tank”, since curling very heavy weights to muscular failure can disrupt technique.

A rest period of two minutes and thirty seconds to three minutes after each set will ensure you are able to continue lifting with maximal effort.

Moderate Weight, Moderate Repetitions

To maximize muscle growth, aim for three to four sets in the six to 12 rep range. This will give you a bump in training volume, which is beneficial for building muscle. (4) The addition of sets and volume will allow you to develop better coordination of the movement and thus better recruitment of the biceps muscle overtime. 

Barbell Curl Variations

The standard barbell curl can be worked around using specific variations, for a lifter’s individual needs such as injury history, or for general change in training.

EZ-Bar Curl

This very subtle, very effective variation can provide some relief on the wrist joints and elbow joints if maintaining a palms-up (supinated) grip on a straight barbell causes discomfort. The angled grip decreases the wrist mobility needed to maintain a full palms-up grip, which reduces strain on the wrist, forearm, and elbow tendons.

The overall execution of this exercise is identical to the straight barbell curl. The angled grip also slightly alters recruitment and incorporates more forearm musculature into the exercise.

Cable Curl(s)

Attaching a straight bar to low-pulley cable will provide constant tension throughout the entire range of motion. There are two very effective ways you can make use of this variation. The first option is to stand upright and perform the exact same technical instructions as the barbell curl, using the cable pulley. 

A more intense option is to lie on the ground and perform the same curling movement. This is one of the most strict curl variations since cheating with a swinging torso is simply impossible. This can also be a great biceps finisher at the end of your workout, putting the emphasis on maximum the time under tension to fully exhaust all muscle fibers.

Eccentric Barbell Curl

This variation is all about overloading the biceps during the lowering portion of the rep. The lengthening of a muscle under load has been shown to cause a high amount of muscular stress, which leads to a higher stimulation for muscle growth. (5)

Aim for five to eight seconds to lower the barbell from the top position to fully straight arms. This specific variation is one time when it’s acceptable to use a heavier-than-normal weight and perform a cheat rep to bring the weight into the starting position. Because the biceps contraction is not a priority, use coordinated leg and back drive to lift the weight — do not simply swing with your back.

Barbell Curl Alternatives

The time-tested barbell curl can be extremely useful, but some alternatives offer specific benefits the classic barbell movement can’t match. Here are some options to consider implementing into your workout. 

Standing Dumbbell Curl

The standing dumbbell curl is performed nearly identical to the barbell curl with a strict upright stance and no swinging torso.

The dumbbells’ biggest advantage is the ability to work each arm independently, which strengthens any discrepancies that often develop naturally from performing bilateral-only exercises (working both arms work as a single unit).

Barbell Preacher Curl

The preacher curl puts the muscle under more stress in the lower portion of the range of motion. This unique stimulus and intense contraction assists in triggering more muscle growth.

With the preacher bench, your arms are set at a downward angle. Your upper arms and shoulders are supported by the pad to minimize any unwanted movement and to help isolate your biceps more effectively.

Barbell Spider Curl 

While this appears somewhat similar to a preacher curl with the upper arm angled from the body, the key difference is that the most difficult part of each rep is in the fully shortened position at the top of the movement, not the bottom.

This movement is often performed with your chest supported on the pad of a high angle bench, but it can also be performed with your elbows on the 90-degree angle side of a preacher curl bench with the arms perpendicular to the floor.

FAQs

How many different curls should I do in each workout?

This all depends on the goal of your workout. If you are purely after strength, performing one or two biceps exercises across two days of the week will be very effective. If you plan on chasing muscle gains, it would be wise to dedicate some attention to your biceps two or three times per week using one or two exercises per session.

When should I do barbell curls in my routine?

If your priority is to get stronger and build bigger biceps, it would be best to perform them at the beginning of the workout. If you are simply looking to add some direct biceps training into your upper-body focused workouts, then add this towards the end of the session after training the larger muscle groups.

Bring Back Old School Curls

The barbell curl is a time-tested exercise for performance-based training, as well as physique-focused lifters. Make room in your training plan for this classic movement and you’ll eventually have to make room in your sleeves for bigger arms.

References

1. Landin D, Thompson M, Jackson MR. Actions of the Biceps Brachii at the Shoulder: A Review. J Clin Med Res. 2017;9(8):667-670. doi:10.14740/jocmr2901w
2. Shaw, Ina & Shaw, Brandon. (2014). Resistance Training’s Role in the Prevention of Sports Injuries.
3. Kubo K, Kanehisa H, Miyatani M, Tachi M, Fukunaga T. Effect of low-load resistance training on the tendon properties in middle-aged and elderly women. Acta Physiol Scand. 2003;178(1):25-32. doi:10.1046/j.1365-201X.2003.01097.x
4. Schoenfeld, B. J., Contreras, B., Krieger, J., Grgic, J., Delcastillo, K., Belliard, R., & Alto, A. (2019). Resistance Training Volume Enhances Muscle Hypertrophy but Not Strength in Trained Men. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 51(1), 94–103. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000001764
5. Roig M, O’Brien K, Kirk G, Murray R, McKinnon P, Shadgan B, Reid WD. The effects of eccentric versus concentric resistance training on muscle strength and mass in healthy adults: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Br J Sports Med. 2009 Aug;43(8):556-68. doi: 10.1136/bjsm.2008.051417. Epub 2008 Nov 3. PMID: 18981046.

Featured Image: vladee / Shutterstock

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While there are countless varieties of curls to work the biceps with different angles or equipment, most lifters overlook how simply holding a dumbbell differently can affect muscle recruitment and overall growth.

The hammer curl uses a simple thumbs-up position to more directly work the forearm muscles and emphasize a different part of the biceps, leading to more growth, bigger arms, and a stronger grip. Here’s why this fundamental dumbbell curl shouldn’t be overlooked.

• How to Do the Hammer Curl
• Hammer Curl Mistakes to Avoid
• Benefits of the Hammer Curl
• Muscles Worked by the Hammer Curl
• Who Should Do the Hammer Curl
• How to Program the Hammer Curl
• Hammer Curl Variations
• Hammer Curl Alternatives
• Frequently Asked Questions

How to Do the Hammer Curl

There’s a good chance that anyone who’s picked up a pair of dumbbells has performed a hammer curl, or something that was supposed to be a hammer curl. It’s an instinctive movement that can be made even more effective when following some simple technique guidelines.

Step 1 — Grab Dumbbells Correctly

Begin standing with a pair of dumbbells at your sides with your palms facing your body and your thumbs pointing forward. Rather than gripping directly in the center of the handle, slightly offset your grip to have your pinky near the lower weight plate. This requires greater grip and forearm recruitment during the exercise. (You can center your hand on the handle if you prefer.) Flex your triceps to ensure a straight arm and fully locked out starting position.

Form Tip: The offset grip slightly shifts the dumbbell’s center of gravity forward and requires you to squeeze harder during each rep to maintain control of the weight. Gripping with a standard, perfectly centered grip requires less gripping strength. Offsetting your grip to have your thumb touching the top weight requires even less grip strength. Experiment with each slight variation as a way of adjusting the exercise’s intensity.

Step 2 — Curl the Dumbbells to Your Shoulders

Bend your knees slightly, pull your shoulder blades back, and flex your abs to ensure an upright posture. Flex your biceps to curl the weight to your front deltoids.

The “hammer curl” gets its name from the visual cue of hammering a nail, so keep your wrists neutral, your palms facing each other, and your fingers in a vertical line throughout the exercise. As the weights approach your shoulders, allow your elbows to come forward slightly, letting the dumbbells touch the front of your shoulders.

Form Tip: With most curls, the elbows should remain pinned to your ribs for optimal tension. However, the hammer curl significantly recruits the long head of the biceps, which also plays a role in moving the upper arm at the shoulder. Allowing the elbows to come forward, slightly, by moving at the shoulder lets the long head contract even more strongly. (1) Don’t allow the shoulder movement to become a wild swing. Use a controlled motion.

Step 3 — Lower to Full Extension

Once the weights touch your shoulders, reverse direction. Keep your hands pointed in the same direction, with your palms facing each other and your fingers stacked vertically. Lower the weights under control until your arms are fully extended in the starting position.

Form Tip: Resetting at the bottom of each rep and achieving a full stretch by contracting the triceps may seem like “resting” the biceps, but it allows a maximum range of motion which contributes to overall growth. It also helps to prevent cheating by making it more difficult to swing the weights into a curled position.

Hammer Curl Mistakes to Avoid

The hammer curl may seem like a simple movement, which it certainly is, but that means there’s even less reason to cheat and less room for error. Here are the most common technique errors.

Rotating Your Hands

A “hammer curl” with your hands positioned any way other than thumbs-up is no longer a hammer curl. Changing your hand and wrist position isn’t necessarily wrong, it’s just a different exercise emphasizing different muscles.

It’s like performing a barbell flat bench press, but gripping the bar with your hands nearly touching instead of being slightly outside shoulder-width. It’s still a valid exercise, but it’s now a close-grip bench press which emphasizes the triceps, not a barbell flat bench press which emphasizes the chest.

The same principle applies to hammer curls; it’s meant to be done with your hands vertical and your palms facing each other. A different grip creates a different exercise.

Avoid It: Make sure you’re doing hammer curls, not pronated (palms down) curls, supinated (palms up) curls, or an angled grip in-between. Keep the “hammering a nail” visualization on your mind. You wouldn’t, couldn’t, and shouldn’t hammer a nail with an angled swing, so be sure to keep your thumbs up.

Swinging Your Body

One of the most common mistakes with hammer curls is swinging your torso to bring the weights up from the bottom. Not only does this increase strain on the lower back, but it reduces biceps activation by starting the exercise with momentum rather than muscular strength.

Upper body swinging can sometimes be caused by trying to lift too heavy, but many lifters instinctively swing their body for every rep of every set regardless of the weight, as if it’s the way the exercise “should” be done.

This unconscious movement is an indicator that they’re not treating the hammer curl with the same deliberate intention as they likely do for squats, deadlifts, or other more involved exercises.

Avoid it: Begin each rep from a strict upright posture with your arms at your sides, your abs tense, and your shoulders pulled back. Bracing and contracting your abs while curling can make upper body swinging more noticeable and more preventable. Raising the weights at a slightly slower speed will also discourage swinging.

Benefits of the Hammer Curl

The hammer curl recruits the muscles of the upper arm as well as the lower arm, delivering more overall results than many other curl variations.

The increased muscle activation and potential for relatively heavier weights make the hammer curl suitable for a wide variety of goals.

Bigger Biceps

Because the biceps are responsible for elbow flexion (curling and bending), the biceps are directly activated during hammer curls. This makes them a key player to adding size to your upper arms.

Bigger Forearms

Few lifters do direct forearm work, but hammer curls are a simple and effective way to build the muscles below the elbow as well as above it. The neutral (thumbs up) hand position increases stress on several muscles of the forearm compared to supinated (palms up) curls.

Increased Grip Strength

Building a stronger grip can not only carryover to improvement in other exercises, it has also been associated with improved overall health. (2) Hammer curls are an efficient way to improve grip strength without needing to add specific grip-building exercises into your general workout program.

Muscles Worked by Hammer Curl

Curls are to bigger biceps what coffee is to mornings — simply necessary. The hammer curl, however, works more than just the biceps.

The specific hand position recruits a variety of muscles in the upper and lower arm, making it an important addition to an arm workout.

Biceps Brachii

The biceps brachii is “the biceps muscle” on the front of the upper arm. It’s composed of two separate heads, the long head on the outer part of the biceps and the short head found running along the inner part of the biceps.

Both heads are connected to the elbow, with the short head attaching to the upper arm bone and the long head attaching to the shoulder blade just behind the shoulder joint. Because of this, both parts of the biceps are involved in flexing or bending the elbow, and the long head is also activated when raising the arm at the shoulder. Both heads are also strongly activated when rotating the wrist palm up and palm down (supination and pronation).

Brachialis

The brachialis is considered a “hidden” muscle because it’s not often visible and is located beneath biceps brachii, near the elbow. When the brachialis increases in size, it can essentially “push” the biceps higher, contributing to a larger arm size overall.

Its primary function is to flex and bend the elbow and it is not involved in supination or pronation. For this reason, a neutral-grip (palms facing each other) puts the brachialis in a strong mechanical position. (3) This is also why you can typically use more weight with any neutral-grip curling, rowing, or pulling compared to a pronated or supinated grip.

Brachioradialis

The brachioradialis runs along the thumb-side of the forearm, contributing significant muscle size particularly near the elbow. It stabilizes the forearm during arm movement and directly acts as an elbow flexor.

Forearms

The wrist flexors make up the bulk of the lower arm on the palm-side of the forearm, while the wrist extensors are found on the top side of the forearm. Both muscles are heavily involved in any grip-intensive exercise, like the hammer curl. The wrist flexors work actively to hold the weight in place while the wrist flexors provide stability.

Who Should Do the Hammer Curl

The hammer curl isn’t just used for increasing arm size. It certainly does play a big role in arm training, but it also carries over to help other lifts, making it useful for strength-focused lifters as well as those prioritizing muscle size.

Lifters Training for More Muscle

The hammer curl will help to pack size onto your arms, including the often neglected forearms. While some lifters may be reluctant to include direct arm training in their workout due to time or efficiency concerns, the hammer curl is an excellent choice to reap maximum size benefits from just one exercise.

Lifters Training for Strength

Stronger arms and a stronger grip can carry over to any exercise that puts weight in your hands. Having a more secure grip on the bar, regardless of the specific exercise, can help to improve bar control and stability. A stronger grip also directly benefits all types of pulling exercises, from deadlifts and pull-ups to barbell or dumbbell rows.

How to Program the Hammer Curl

Just because it’s an “arm curl” doesn’t mean the hammer curl should be treated with light weights and high reps. Here’s how to fit hammer curls into your plan for better results.

Heavy Weight, Low to Moderate Reps

Because the hammer curl uses a neutral-grip, the arms are put into a significantly stronger pulling position than if the hands were palm-up. This lets you move heavier weights without sacrificing technique. Four to five sets of six to eight reps turns the hammer curl into a serious strength-builder without needing to swing the weights around.

Moderate Weight, Moderate Reps

Training hammer curls with a classic bodybuilding-style approach using three to four sets of 8 to 12 reps is a reliable way to build arm size with this fundamental exercise. This type of workout should deliver an excellent pump in the forearms and biceps.

Hammer Curl Variations

The hammer curl is primarily unique for its specifically neutral hand position. There are several simple and effective variations of the basic hammer curl to fine-tune the results to your specific needs.

Single-Arm Hammer Curl

Training unilaterally (one side at a time) allows you to use a slightly heavier weight in either hand compared to lifting both sides together. (4) Training each side separately also allows you to more specifically address natural strength discrepancies, since one side of the body is typically stronger than the other.

Another significant benefit of the single-arm hammer curl is stricter technique. Specifically, by bracing the non-working arm on the back of a bench, upright post, or stable object, you can create more stability and ensure that you don’t use any upper-body momentum.

Cable Rope Hammer Curl

Curling using a cable provides constant tension and increases the overall muscle-building stimulus. The rope attachment allows you to use a neutral-grip, compared to straight-bar attachments.

Cable hammer curls also make it more difficult to cheat with your torso because the cable disperses much of the momentum that would be moving the weight and keeps stress on the target muscles.

Pinwheel Curl

The pinwheel curl, sometimes called the cross-body curl, changes the range of motion by sliding the weight across the body rather than remaining extended in front. This slightly shortened range of motion changes the stress on the muscles, recruiting the brachialis and further emphasizing the long head of the biceps.

Because the weight is closer to your body’s center of gravity, a heavier weight can be used compared to standard hammer curls. Pinwheel curls are typically done one arm at a time or alternating arms with each repetition.

Hammer Curl Alternatives

Most lifters can be overwhelmed with curling options. Here are a handful of options to incorporate in addition to, or instead of, the hammer curl.

Supinating Curl

The classic supinating curl involves rotation during the exercise, beginning with the weights facing the body in the bottom and the palms facing up in the top position. This recruits both heads of the biceps brachii more significantly because they work to rotate the forearm.

By focusing on “twisting the pinky up” at the top of the curl, the biceps contract fully. Most lifters are surprised by the intense muscle activation from this simple technique adjustment.

Reverse Dumbbell Curl

Reverse dumbbell curls use a palms-down grip throughout the exercise. This de-emphasizes the biceps brachii and puts increased muscular stress on the brachioradialis, brachialis, and wrist extensors.

This overlooked exercise is an excellent choice for prioritizing lower arm size and strength, because the biceps are not significantly activated.

Incline Curl

The incline curl is a bodybuilding staple. Using a high-angle incline bench allows the arms to stretch behind the torso in the bottom position, which significantly activates the long head of the biceps.

Incline curls also encourage strict form, due to the stretch in the bottom position as well as the fully supported seat back which helps to prevent swinging. Be sure not to lean forward, which reduces the incline and defeats the purpose of the exercise. Keep your head and shoulders in contact with the pad.

FAQs

How many different curls should I do in each workout?

Programming direct arm training, like curls, into a workout plan means walking a fine line between efficiency and effectiveness. Few lifters need to dedicate a huge chunk of time (multiple exercises on multiple days per week) to training arms. However, the other extreme (zero direct arm training) can compromise results and eventually lead to arms that do require a significant amount of attention.

Generally speaking, if your goal is to build larger arms, incorporating one or two different exercises two to three days per week should be sufficient, depending on your overall training split and the specific sets and reps. If your goal is primarily strength, not size, directly training biceps with one or two exercises once or twice per week can be an effective and efficient plan.

Why does my elbow hurt during the exercise?

If hammer curls aggravate pre-existing elbow pain, you’re likely not keeping your wrists in a neutral position during the curl. By rotating the wrist palm up or palm down, you may be increasing strain on the tendons and supportive tissues of the elbow.

Reduce the weight and focus on maintaining a vertically stacked hand when raising and lowering the weight. Lifting with a slower tempo can also help to dial in perfect technique.

Pick Up The Hammer Curls

To paraphrase an old saying, “Whosoever performs hammer curls, if they be consistent, shall possess bigger and stronger arms.” It’s a useful lift for physique-focused lifters as well as performance-based lifters, and is an ideal choice for blending size and strength into a single arm exercise.

References

1. Chalmers PN, Cip J, Trombley R, et al. Glenohumeral Function of the Long Head of the Biceps Muscle: An Electromyographic Analysis. Orthop J Sports Med. 2014;2(2):2325967114523902. Published 2014 Feb 26. doi:10.1177/2325967114523902
2. Bohannon RW. Grip Strength: An Indispensable Biomarker For Older Adults. Clin Interv Aging. 2019;14:1681-1691. Published 2019 Oct 1. doi:10.2147/CIA.S194543
3. Plantz MA, Bordoni B. Anatomy, Shoulder and Upper Limb, Brachialis Muscle. [Updated 2022 Feb 22]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK551630/
4. Costa E, Moreira A, Cavalcanti B, Krinski K, Aoki M. Effect of unilateral and bilateral resistance exercise on maximal voluntary strength, total volume of load lifted, and perceptual and metabolic responses. Biol Sport. 2015;32(1):35-40. doi:10.5604/20831862.1126326

Featured Image: MDV Edwards

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Want to bring up your bench press? A strong set of horseshoe triceps will help you when locking out the weight. If you struggle with pull-ups, underdeveloped biceps may be holding you back.

Whether you are just beginning your training journey, have been hitting the gym for years, or have no equipment at all but still want great results, you can find the perfect arm workout to get you closer to those goals. Dive in, choose your plan of attack, and get working.

The Best Arm Workouts

• Best Bodyweight Arm Workout
• Best Arm Workout for Beginners
• Best Arm Workout With Dumbbells
• Best Muscle-Building Arm Workout

Best Bodyweight Arm Workout

Bodyweight training may not seem like a popular option to consider, but focusing on bodyweight movements can translate into improved body awareness, better muscular coordination, and more exercise options once you start to add weight in the gym.

The Arms Mastery Bodyweight Workout

This workout is designed to be simple and effective. Get stronger, improve muscle coordination, and feel a pump that you never thought could be possible with just your body weight.

You will perform two exercises in a superset fashion with the inclusion of the “contrast training method.” Contrast training is when you start a set using a slow-and-controlled rep speed and finish the set performing reps explosively. This contrasting tempo recruits more muscle fibers, which leads to increased power output and an increased stimulus for muscle growth.

Tempo is indicated by a series of four numbers. The first number addresses the speed for lowering the weight (stretching the muscle), the second number refers to any pause in the stretched position, the third number is the speed to raise the weight (contracting the muscle), and the fourth number covers any pause in the contracted position. The third number, in particular, may sometimes be an “X” instead of an actual number. This means the movement should be performed as quickly as possible. Think of the “X” as “explosive”.

For example, using the contrast training method, perform the first six to eight reps working at a 5-0-1-0 tempo — take five seconds to lower the weight (yourself, in this case). Take no rest before immediately raising the weight for one second. Lockout but do not rest at the top before beginning the next repetition. For the next six to eight reps of the same set, you will use a 2-0-x-0 tempo — two seconds to lower, no rest, as fast as possible upwards, and then no rest at the top position.

The amount of reps in this bodyweight workout may not seem too difficult at first, but take into account the total time under tension. The first half of your set can take more than 45 seconds followed by another 20+ seconds, resulting in more than one intense minute for each set.

Diamond Push-up

• How to Do it: Support your body on your toes and hands. Set your hands directly underneath your chest to create a triangle or “diamond” shape with your thumbs and index fingers. Your hands do not need to be touching. Keeping them a few inches apart may be more comfortable for your wrist and elbow joints. Maintain a straight line from your neck to your ankles during each rep. Bend your elbows to lower your entire body. Press to full lockout. Allow your elbows to sit roughly at a 45-degree angle towards your body.
• Sets, Reps, Tempo: 4 x 12-16 using contrast training. Each set should be 6-8 reps at 5-0-1-0 tempo followed by 6-8 reps at 2-0-X-0 tempo.
• Rest time: 60 seconds before moving to the next exercise.

Inverted Biceps Curl With Towel 

• How to Do it: Wrap a sturdy towel around any fixed object that can support your bodyweight, such as a rail, staircase, or fence. Grab the towel with your thumbs up and the material running out of the pinky-side of the hand. Shift your weight onto your heels. A lower body angle will be more challenging, so adjust the towel length and position your body accordingly. Flex your biceps and curl to pull yourself up. Supinate your wrists (rotate your palms towards you) as you come to the last quarter of the contraction. Your palms should end up directly in front of your face.
• Sets, Reps, Tempo: 4 x 12-16 using contrast training. Each set should be 6-8 reps at 5-0-1-0 tempo followed by 6-8 reps at 2-0-X-0 tempo.
• Rest time: 60 seconds before moving back to diamond push-ups.

Best Arm Workout For Beginners

So you are just starting your fitness journey. That’s good. But you might be thinking the way to a bigger, stronger, and more functional set of arms is all about getting as pumped as possible. Nope.

It’s important to understand that you cannot rush this process and, much like the larger muscle groups that most trainees dedicate time to, improving the arms should be no different.

The biceps and triceps receive a portion of the tension in almost every exercise involving the chest or back. This indirect work should still be counted towards your overall weekly “arm training” volume. It is also important to understand that, in the initial weeks of starting any new program, you will see an improvement in neuromuscular adaptations before muscle growth can occur. (1)

Essentially, when you begin a new workout routine, your brain “learns” how to efficiently use various muscles during an exercise before your body can “tell” those muscles to respond to training by growing larger. When your body is more efficient at using specific muscles, your training plan can become more productive.

This means it would be wise to spend time perfecting these exercises to better serve you in later cycles of training. Because most people work on their larger muscle groups at the start of the week, it makes sense to use this arm workout at the end of the week.

This beginner workout focuses on recruiting the biceps and triceps with simple and effective exercises. This allows you to develop a mind-muscle connection (learning to feel the specific muscles working), reinforces strict form on fundamental movements, and targets the body parts to build a foundation of size and strength.

Close-Grip Bench Press

• How to Do it: Take a slightly inside shoulder-width grip. Lower the bar in-line with your mid-chest. Do not aim to keep your elbows tucked in, but allow them to sit naturally or at a 45-degree angle with your forearms perpendicular to the floor. Touch the bar to your chest at the bottom. Reach full lockout before lowering the bar.
• Sets, Reps, Tempo: 4 x 6-8 at 4-0-X-0 tempo.
• Rest time: 60 seconds before moving onto the next exercise.

Medium-Grip EZ-Bar Curl

• How to Do it: Keep your feet flat and grasp the bar with a palms-up grip. Keep your shoulder blades retracted as you brace your abdominal wall. Keep your upper arms perpendicular to the floor. Every rep should start with the muscle fully stretched at the bottom and end fully contracted at the top.
• Sets, Reps, Tempo: 4 x 6-8 at 4-0-X-0 tempo.
• Rest time: 60 seconds before moving back to the first exercise.

Cable Triceps Extension With Rope 

• How to Do it: Face a cable high-pulley with a rope attachment. Grab the rope with both hands and take one or two steps back. Maintain a strong, stable upright position. Set your upper arms in place, gently touching the sides of your body. Keep your elbows in position and do not let them move forward or back. As you start the movement by pressing your hands down, think of flexing your triceps to move the weight.
• Sets, Reps, Tempo: 3 x 10-12 at 3-0-1-1 tempo.
• Rest time: 60 seconds before moving to the next exercise.

Cable Hammer Curl With Rope 

• How to Do it: Face a cable low-pulley with a rope attachment at the bottom. Grab the rope with a thumbs-up grip and take one or two steps back. Maintain a strong, stable position. Your upper arms should be set in place with your elbows angling slightly outwards. Do not allow your arms to flail as you curl the weight upwards.
• Sets, Reps, Tempo: 3 x 10-12 at 3-0-1-1 tempo.
• Rest time: 60 seconds before moving back to the previous exercise.

Best Arm Workout With Dumbbells

Whether you can’t make it into the gym or you don’t have a gym membership, no problem. You can still build a respectable set of arms. All you need is a few sets of dumbbells and an adjustable bench.

The Dumbbell-Only Workout for Arm Size

Training with dumbbells can be a great way to spot any lack of strength or coordination from one arm to the other. Requiring the body to move two weights separately in a single coordinated exercise will reveal, for example, if one arm has been under-stimulated by standard exercises or if one side has been overcompensating for the other during specific movements.

It’s not uncommon for one arm to reach muscular failure before it’s opposite side, typically the non-dominant side (right-handed people tend to have weaker left sides and vice versa.). When this happens, end the set when one side reaches failure even if the opposite side is not fully fatigued. This allows the weaker side to eventually “catch up” in development and reduce the discrepancy.

Switching to dumbbells is also a great way to take the pressure off your joints if you get pain when performing the same exercises with a barbell. Dumbbells allow your wrists and elbows to adjust slightly during any given exercise, while a barbell requires your hands to stay in a static position during an exercise, which can sometimes contribute to joint strain.

Single-Arm Skull Crusher

• How to Do it: Lie on a flat bench as if performing a standard dumbbell bench press, with a dumbbell in only one hand. Keep your elbow pointed directly up to the ceiling. Lower the weight until your arm is fully stretched and the dumbbell is touching the top of your shoulder on the same side (right hand lowers to right shoulder, left to left).
• Sets, Reps, Tempo: 3 x 8-10 at 3-1-1-0 tempo.
• Rest time: No rest between sides, 45 seconds before moving to the next exercise.

Dumbbell Spider Curl

• How to Do it: Set the bench to a high-incline angle. Lie with your chest on the top of the bench. Curl both weights while keeping your your hands supinated (palms facing up). During the movement, do not allow your elbows to shift back towards your body. Be sure to hold an isometric contraction at the top position.
• Sets, Reps, Tempo: 3 x 8-10 at 3-0-1-2 tempo.
• Rest time: 60 seconds before moving back to the previous exercise.

 Dumbbell French Press

• How to Do it: While standing, raise one dumbbell over your head with both hands. Your hands should be placed against the top weight plate with your palms facing the ceiling. Be sure to pause in the stretched position before raising the weight. Keep your elbows stationary during the movement. Raise and lower the weight by bending only at the elbows, not pressing with the shoulders.
• Sets, Reps, Tempo: 3 x 12-14 at 2-2-1-0 tempo.
• Rest time: 45 seconds before moving to the next exercise.

Zottman Curl

• How to Do it: Sit on a bench with an upright torso. Retract your shoulder blades and brace your abdominal wall. Your upper arms should remain perpendicular to the floor. Curl the dumbbell up with a supinated (palms up) grip. As you reach the top position and begin the descent, rotate both hands into a pronated (palms down) grip. Lower the dumbbells until the biceps are fully stretched in the bottom position. Rotate both hands to a supinated position before beginning the next rep.
• Sets, Reps, Tempo: 3 x 12-14 at 4-0-1-0 tempo.
• Rest time: 45 seconds before moving back to the previous exercise.

Best Muscle-Building Arm Workout

Dedicating an entire session to train the biceps and triceps is a classic and effective workout style. Even if you are already hitting your triceps and biceps in other sessions, add this workout 36-48 hours later. You’ll be fully recovered beforehand and can put 100% into this workout. This will make sure you are maximizing your efforts to add muscle, since training a body part twice per week can deliver better results than only training it once per week. (2)

This workout combines heavy loads, extended sets, and intense peak contractions all into one workout. You begin with a heavy lower-rep exercise, followed by exercises using the high-intensity one-and-a-quarter rep technique. The workout finishes with high-tension isolation exercises using high reps coupled with isometric holds in the fully shortened (peak contraction) position.

You will perform this workout in a superset format using a short rest period after the first exercise and a longer rest period after the second exercise in each pair.

Close-Grip Bench Press

• How to Do it: Using a standard flat bench, emphasize triceps recruitment by using a slightly closer grip on the bar. Keep your elbows positioned at a 45-degree angle from your body and don’t allow them to flare out. Note that there is no lockout or pause in any position. Maintain explosiveness coming out of the bottom of the movement.
• Sets, Reps, Tempo: 4 x 6 at 3-0-X-0 tempo.
• Rest time: 60 seconds before moving to the next exercise.

Medium-Grip EZ-Bar Curl 

• How to Do it: Grab an EZ-bar with a palms-up grip, setting your hands just outside your hips. Keep your elbows positioned into your rib cage throughout the set. Focus on not letting your elbows move forward or backwards as your lift. Keep your upper arms in place with no internal or external rotation of the shoulders. Maintaining strict form will keep all the tension placed on the biceps.
• Sets, Reps, Tempo: 4 x 6 at 3-0-X-0 tempo.
• Rest time: 90 seconds before returning to the previous exercise.

Decline Dumbbell Skull Crusher 

• How to Do it: Position a bench at a slight decline (roughly 20 degrees) and lie back holding two dumbbells overhead with your hands facing each other. Perform each set using the “one and a quarter rep” technique. Lower the weight fully, raise it one-quarter of the way up, return to a fully stretched position, and then return to full lockout. This is counted as one rep. As you lower the dumbbells, fully stretch the triceps by thinking about reaching your arm slightly behind your head.
• Sets, Reps,Tempo: 3 x 8-10 at 3-2-1-0 tempo.
• Rest time: 45 seconds rest before moving to the next exercise.

Incline Dumbbell Curl

• How to Do it: Position a bench at a high incline (roughly 45 to 65 degrees. Choose the higher angle if your shoulder mobility is restricted) and sit fully back with your hips, shoulders, and head on the bench. Begin with the weights hanging straight down. Perform each set using the “one and a quarter rep” technique. Curl both dumbbells all the way up, lower them to a full stretch, curl both weights one-quarter of the way up, and then down to a full stretch. This is counted as one rep. Focus on keeping your elbows in place and don’t allow them to swing forward.
• Sets, Reps, Tempo: 3 x 8-10 at 3-2-1-0 tempo.
• Rest time: 60 seconds before returning to the previous exercise.

Cross-Body Dual Cable Triceps Extension

• How to Do it: Position yourself in a cable station with two high pulleys. Grab the left handle with your right hand and the right handle with your left hand. Take a few steps back to add emphasis to the peak contraction. Bring your elbows in front of your body slightly to line up the cables with each arm. Focus on keeping your upper body stable while allowing your elbows to naturally sit in position. Do not keep your elbows tucked in close to your body. Press both hands down, and once you feel tension in your triceps, focus on maintaining it through the set. Be sure to finish each rep with a two-second isometric hold in the shortened (contracted) position.
• Sets, Reps, Tempo: 2 x 15 at 3-0-1-2 tempo.
• Rest time: 45 seconds before moving to the next exercise.

High-Pulley Dual Cable Biceps Curl

• How to Do it: Position yourself in front of a cable set at eye-level. Grab the handles and take a few steps back until your biceps are almost fully stretched out. Imagine your elbows are sitting firmly on a very high table and do not let them move during the set. Keep your palms supinated (palms facing up), and flex your biceps to bring your palms towards your face. Be sure to use a two-second isometric hold in the shortened (contracted) position.
• Sets, Reps, Tempo: 2 x 15 at 3-0-1-2 tempo.
• Rest time: 60 seconds before returning to the previous exercise.

The Arm Musculature

Building an impressive pair of arms requires training both the biceps and triceps. Neither body part can be neglected when the goal is overall size. In order to optimally train these muscles, it’s important to understand the details of how they perform and how they’re best recruited.

Biceps Brachii

When you flex your biceps in the mirror, you’re actually looking at more than just one muscle. The upper arm consists of two main muscles on the anterior (front) side. Both are responsible for achieving the desired look.

The biceps brachii is what most people consider “the biceps”. It is composed of two heads: a long head commonly referred to as the “outer” and a short head referred to as the “inner.” Both muscle heads originate at the scapulae and insert on the radius bone of the forearm.

Because the biceps muscle crosses both the elbow and the shoulder, it’s worked during the classic curling motion (elbow flexion) and it’s worked during front arm raise movements (shoulder flexion).

Brachialis

The brachialis originates at the humerus bone of the upper arm and inserts on the forearm’s ulna bone. Due to its location, the brachialis isn’t involved in shoulder movement; it only bends the elbow and moves the forearm. Its anatomy also makes it the stronger elbow flexor. (3)

Triceps Brachii

The triceps brachii is the main muscle on the posterior (back) side of the upper arm. The triceps muscle has three distinct heads, each with a slightly different shape and function — the long head, the medial head, and the lateral head.

The long head is located closest to the torso. It can be seen in poses such as the bodybuilder’s classic “front double biceps”. The lateral head, responsible for a triceps’ “horseshoe” shape, is on the outer side of the upper arm and it’s most visible in a “side triceps” pose. The medial head is a deeper muscle, located below the long head, and isn’t often noticeable on the surface.

The primary function of the triceps is elbow extension. All three heads cross the elbow joint and insert onto the ulna bone of the forearm. The origin of the lateral and medial heads are both on the humerus bone of the upper arm. The long head crosses the shoulder joint and originates on the scapula.

This different attachment point is one reason why different triceps heads can be influenced by shoulder and upper arm position during an exercise. (4)

Physical Preparation is Non-Negotiable

It does not matter what muscles you are planning to train — a warm-up is an absolute must. It not only prepares for what is to come physically, but mentally as well.

An effective warm-up will have your muscles firing and your nervous system ready to hit the ground running before you start your first working set. Arm workouts, in particular, require warming up the shoulder and elbow joints to train hard without pain.

The Biceps and Triceps Warm-Up Circuit

Perform these exercises back-to-back for three total rounds. Take no rest between each exercise, but take 30 to 45 seconds rest after each full round.

• Push-Up: Perform a basic push-up. Take two seconds to lower your body and two seconds to press up. Complete 10 reps.
• Bench Dip: Sit off of the side of a standard flat bench with your feet flat and knees bent. Place your hands on the bench to each side of your hips with your fingers pointed at your feet. Straighten your arms and then lower your hips below bench-level until you create a 90-degree angle with your arms before returning to the top. Complete 10 reps.
• Inverted Row: Use a Smith machine or any sturdy bar set at roughly waist-height. Grab the bar and suspend yourself from locked arms below it. Keep a straight body with only your heels touching the ground. Pull your chest to the bar. Perform five reps with a pronated (palms down) grip and then five reps with a supinated (palms up) grip. If necessary, keep your feet flat and bend your knees to improve leverage and complete the reps with less difficulty. This should be a warm-up, not an intense working set to muscular failure.

Bigger Arms Start Now

Wanting larger triceps and biceps isn’t just for bodybuilders. A workout dedicated to building a set of arms helps to put the finishing touch on any lifter whether their training priority is strength, athleticism, or all-out muscle. Stop short-changing your physique and start adding an arm day to your program.

References

1. Moritani T. (1993). Neuromuscular adaptations during the acquisition of muscle strength, power and motor tasks. Journal of biomechanics, 26 Suppl 1, 95–107. https://doi.org/10.1016/0021-9290(93)90082-p
2. Schoenfeld, B. J., Ogborn, D., & Krieger, J. W. (2016). Effects of Resistance Training Frequency on Measures of Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 46(11), 1689–1697. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-016-0543-8
3. Plantz MA, Bordoni B. Anatomy, Shoulder and Upper Limb, Brachialis Muscle. [Updated 2022 Feb 22]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK551630/
4. Kholinne E, Zulkarnain RF, Sun YC, Lim S, Chun JM, Jeon IH. The different role of each head of the triceps brachii muscle in elbow extension. Acta Orthop Traumatol Turc. 2018;52(3):201-205. doi:10.1016/j.aott.2018.02.005

Featured Image Credit: Goami / Shutterstock

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And while most folks think hammering out close-grip bench presses and standing curls is enough to target the smaller arm muscles, there’s a science to building up your arms. But there are four fundamentals you need to wrap your head around to comprehend how to build bigger arms fully.

Arm Training Tenants

• Muscle Mechanics: That is, how your muscle move your joints. To fully develop your biceps and triceps, you must know how they move so you can select the right exercises for the job.
• Training Volume: Volume — meaning how many total reps you perform — has a dose-response relationship with hypertrophy. More training volume equals more muscle (assuming you don’t exceed your ability to recover).
• Progression: The best progression model to use if you haven’t used one before is double progression. Simply put, double progression is where you increase the weight within your exercises only when you hit the upper limit of a given rep range across all of your target sets.
• Training Frequency: A comprehensive meta-analysis concluded that twice per week is better than once per week for maximizing growth, while frequencies of three or more may or may not be better. (1) Because the biceps and triceps are two of the smaller muscle groups you can train, they’ll recover faster. Training your arms three times per week isn’t unheard of. And if you’re at a point volume-wise where you’re pumping out 15 to 20 sets per session, it may make more sense to break those sets up into two to three separate eight-set sessions.

Muscle Mechanics

It’s essential to understand the biomechanics of the arms before understanding how to train the best. So first, we need to cover their basic anatomy quickly.

The Biceps

The upper arm consists of three muscles in the anterior compartment. However, we will only need to focus on two of these muscles:

• Biceps brachii
• Brachialis
• Coracobrachialis 

Biceps Brachii

The biceps are composed of two heads: a long head commonly thought of as the “outer” and a short head referred to as the “inner.” Both muscle heads originate at the scapula and insert on the radius bone of the forearm. The biceps crosses both the elbow and the shoulder and can flex both the elbow (aka curl) and the shoulder (aka front raise).

Brachialis

The stronger of the elbow flexor is the brachialis. It originates at the upper arm’s humerus bone and inserts on the ulna bone of the forearm. The brachialis isn’t involved in shoulder movement; it only flexes the elbow.

The Triceps

There is one main muscle in the posterior compartment of the upper arm: the triceps brachii. The triceps muscle has three heads:

• Long head
• Medial head
• Lateral head 

The long head is the thicker or more dense muscle, which can be seen in poses such as a double front biceps. The lateral head or the “horseshoe” muscle is what you see most visibly in the side triceps pose, and the medial head is a deeper muscle that isn’t as noticeable on the surface as the other two.

The primary function of the triceps is elbow flexion. All three heads cross the elbow joint and insert it on the ulna bone of the forearm. The origin of the lateral and medial heads are both on the humerus bone of the upper arm, with the long head crossing the shoulder joint to originate on the scapula.

Additional Considerations

Both the biceps and triceps are involved in pulling and pushing movements, respectively. Therefore, it’s not uncommon to hear that back and chest exercises are enough to stimulate the bis and tris. And there are several studies have shown pull-ups and rows elicit high levels of biceps activation, and that horizontal presses bring the triceps into play (2)(3)(4). However, pulling and pressing exercises alone may not be enough to maximize biceps and triceps development.

When you rely on indirect movements exercises to engage the arms, the biceps and triceps only receive a portion of the tension. That said, your arms do get hit when your work the chest and back, and it’s essential to keep this in mind when training. If you train your back hard twice per week, you probably don’t need two to three dedicated biceps workouts.

Instead, it’s probably wise to focus more of your sets on moderate (8-12) and high (12-20) rep ranges for recovery purposes and for the sake of avoiding redundancy. Because the triceps are also targeted with any heavy vertical or horizontal pressing movements, it may be wise to focus more of your sets on moderate (8-12) and high (12-20) rep ranges for recovery purposes.

The Missing Link

Ok, now that you have a firmer grasp on those arm training fundamentals, let’s circle back to a big issue in arms training: exercise variance. You may think that simply curling and extending is enough to stimulate the muscles, but there’s more nuance to arm training. Your arm muscles will travel through different ranges throughout the entire range of motion.

To stimulate our muscles throughout their entire contractile range we must be challenging them at these three points:

• Mid-range: barbell curl, close-grip bench press
• Lengthened (stretched position): incline dumbbell curl, French press
• Shortened (contracted position): high-cable curl, cable pushdown

“Fine, then I’ll just make sure to lift with a full range of motion (ROM) for every movement,” you say. Well, hold up. Lifting only with a full range of motion is a great move (so kudos), but you still need to select movements that engage the muscle the most during each of the three ranges listed above. A worthwhile arm training session aims not to complete a movement using a full ROM but to be challenged throughout the entire ROM.

Putting it all Together

Ok, so where do you go from here? You’ve probably already peeped the charts below and noticed that there’s a lot of work to be done. Don’t freak out just yet. Look closer, and you’ll see that most of the movements below are done for just two high-rep sets. The program’s goal below isn’t to decimate your biceps; it’s to partition a moderate amount of work (10 sets for each muscle group) among all three ranges of motion.

Training Explained

There’s nothing complicated about this routine. First, you’ll select a primary movement for your biceps and one for your triceps. These exercises preferably target the lengthened or shortened range since these are the ranges most folks ignore. You’ll perform the primary exercise for four sets of six to eight heavy-ish reps, using a tempo of 3-0-1-0 (lowering phase-pause at bottom-lifting phase-pause at top).

After that, you’ll blast your arms with a circuit of three movements, known as a triset, each of which targets the mid, lengthened, and shortened ranges. The trisets are marked with the same letters (“A” and “B”). Think of this as a template to guide your sets, reps, and exercise choices. If you want to sub out the movements below for others, that’s fine, but make sure you’re hitting each ROM.

Pay attention to the tempo within each exercise especially the triset sequence as you will notice a pause in the shortened position (contract hard) exercises and a pause in the lengthened position (full stretch), if you take these into consideration your arms will be pumped like you have never seen.

While you most certainly could complete this three-times per week, focus on quality over quantity at first. Whereby you focus on the quality of work given within the workout twice per week for six weeks before taking its progression to the next level by completing it three times per week.

Another aspect of progressing this plan is to change the primary exercises from a lengthened to a shortened focus and the same to be done in the triset exercises. After at least 2-3 rotations of this you can then start to reintroduce the mid-range exercises as a primary focus while the others take a back seat. Here is how it should look:

Nutritional Considerations

To maximize your muscle growth, you need to eat within a caloric surplus then you cannot expect to be building any significant amount of muscle mass. With that being said here some recommendations regarding your nutritional intake:

• Eat 5-10% above your maintenance (Caloric Surplus).
• Eat four to five times per day. This his could be three meals plus two shakes or four meals plus one shake. Make sure it is suited to your lifestyle and daily schedule but keep your protein feeding times frequent.
• For your macros aim to eat 35% protein/35% carbs/and 30% fat. Say you’re eat 3,000 calories per day, that comes out to 262.5 grams of protein, 262.5 grams of carbs, and 100 grams of fat.
• Excessive supplementation isn’t necessary to grow. Your standard multi-vitamin, fish oil and probiotics will provide a great base of support.

References

1. Schoenfeld BJ, Ogborn D, Krieger JW. Effects of Resistance Training Frequency on Measures of Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sports Med. 2016;46(11):1689-1697. doi:10.1007/s40279-016-0543-8.
2. Youdas JW, Amundson CL, Cicero KS, Hahn JJ, Harezlak DT, Hollman JH. Surface electromyographic activation patterns and elbow joint motion during a pull-up, chin-up, or perfect-pullup rotational exercise. J strength Cond Res. 2010;24(12):3404-3414. doi:10.1519/ JSC.0b013e3181f1598c.
3. Snarr RL, Esco MR. Comparison of Electromyographic Activity When Performing an Inverted Row With and Without a Suspension Device. J Exerc Physiol. 2013;16(6):12-22. http://faculty.css.edu/tboone2/asep/Russell.pdf.
4. Barnett C, Kippers V, Turner P. Effects of variations of the bench press exercise on the EMG Activity of 5 Shoulder Muscles. 1995:222-227.

Featured Image: Paul Aiken/Shutterstock

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Triceps aren’t much more exciting. Traditionally for triceps, you extend the arm—that’s it. Whether it’s standing, seated, or lying down, all you do is extend with a barbell, dumbbell, or cable apparatus.

Tired. Boring. Been there, done that. Sound familiar? Then you might want what I’ve been having lately: a great big dose of the unconventional. 

Get Out of Your Isolation Rut

Be honest. How are all those curls and extensions working for you? Have those moves fulfilled all of your hopes and dreams of bigger, stronger arms?

Wipe your arm training slate clean and let’s adopt a different mindset. Instead of thinking of arm training as a series of isolated movements, think more whole-body. Visualize your arms as part of a bigger picture of functionality and mechanics, and how different angles, big body movements, and residual stimulation can affect their development.

The first order of business is to take a look at the larger muscle groups. All chest press exercises will also stimulate your triceps, and all back-pull motions will work your biceps as well. You need to perform these big moves in order to have a chance at packing on any serious arm size. Have you ever seen a pair of giant triceps on someone who also didn’t bench press a lot of weight, or someone with huge biceps who couldn’t do pull-ups or row a ton? I didn’t think so.

Serve yourself a heaping helping of heavy presses, pull-ups, and rows. Now, this isn’t a green light to go crazy and swing, heave, and cheat up a bunch of weight and end up hurting yourself. Always practice textbook form, and try your best to feel each exercise in the intended area. The point is to include those key exercises and focus on being progressive in each one. The byproduct will be a load placed on your arms that no curl or press down could achieve.

Frequency Check

The other flaw in traditional hypertrophy programs is that most of them call for an arm day once per week. Normally, these days are filled with countless sets and reps of (painfully boring) isolation work. That may work for a few, but if you’re struggling with progression, a little more frequency is in order. 

Splitting up your current weekly volume into two separate arm sessions per week will effectively increase frequency, while your volume remains the same. In other words, you’ll double up your stimulation and growth potential, but still train with the same amount of sets. That’s instant weekly progression. Additionally, you’ll keep overtraining in check by avoiding annihilating your arms, pummeling them into the ground without any hope for recovery. Volume, load, and intensity will be just right for increased frequency, strength progression, and adequate recovery.

Unconventional Arm Training

With this whole-body mindset in place, let’s ditch the ultra-isolation work for a while and instead focus on some bigger, more functional moves that will give your arms a new stimulus and a better reason to grow bigger and stronger.

The great thing about this switch is that you’ll perform most of the exercises with little to no equipment. All you’ll need is a fixed low bar, a pull up bar, bands, and a bench. No dumbbells, barbells, or specialized machines required. With moves like close-grip push ups, biceps chin ups, and rack bar nose breakers among many others, you’ll also get the residual effect of training the surrounding muscle groups for better overall development. For example, triceps dips also hit the chest, and any chin up designed for biceps will also work your back to an extent.

Here’s the short list of the unconventional arm exercises that are included in the workouts below:

• Parallel bar dips
• (Feet elevated) close-grip push ups
• Suspension trainer (TRX) triceps presses
• Curl-grip chin ups
• Curls with bands
• Inverted bar curls
• Suspension trainer (TRX) biceps curls

Here’s the part of the article that most bros will skip. When performing bodyweight exercises, many lifters will haphazardly perform sloppy reps just to get more (they think) out of each set. The fact is, textbook form is just as important as ever when using your bodyweight. If you want to target specific muscle groups and take advantage of the residual effect, then your form must be impeccable in order for all of the supportive muscle around the targeted area to be engaged. Keeping solid form will also help stabilize your joints and core, and prevent potential injury.

Below is a sample training routine with all of the factors above included. As stated earlier, you won’t need much by way of equipment, just a few key items and your willingness to try something different for a change.

Try this routine for 4-6 weeks while temporarily ditching what you’re currently doing for arms. Do session 1 and session 2 once per week each, either on a designated day, or tacked onto another major muscle group.

Exercises labeled 1A and 1B are to be performed back-to-back with little to no rest between. Same thing goes for 2A and 2B. After each pair is performed, take a one minute rest. Shoot for as many reps as possible for each exercise.

Session 1

• 1A: Suspension trainer biceps curls
• 1B: Suspension trainer triceps extensions
• 2A: Floor close-grip push ups
• 2B: Curls with bands

Session 2

• 1A: Parallel bar dips
• 1B: Curl grip chin ups
• 2A: Feet-elevated close-grip push ups
• 2B: Inverted bar curls to forehead

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Why such hatred? Why has this once-big man on campus been demoted to laughingstock in the lunchroom?

The fact is that the biceps are functional in every sense of the word. While they are secondary movers in the larger picture of multi-joint, compound lifts and movements, they still deserve love and attention from the functional-minded, when optimal performance is desired.

How the Heck Are Biceps Functional?

When it comes to most functional training programs, pulling is a significant factor throughout. From pull ups and deadlifts to carries and certain weightlifting phases, pulling is a necessity. Biceps serve as an integral part of that equation. Untrained biceps quickly reveal themselves as the weak link in myriad exercises. Imagine a strong back but weak biceps for an exercise like chin ups. Even if you don’t care at all about aesthetics, you aren’t getting your head over the bar without biceps.

Training biceps doesn’t have to be about sleeve-busting, highly-peaked mountains of showoff muscles. If you’re the kind of lifter who scoffs at anybody doing a curl, you need to shift your perspective and adopt a functional mindset about biceps training. Envision how they fit into the overall picture of whole-body movement, while keeping a close eye on shoring up weaknesses and taking full advantage of their development.

Key Concepts of Functional Biceps Training

It’s easy and unfair to think of biceps training as simply sitting on a bench and blasting out mindless dumbbell curls. While I would never advocate an “arm day” when it comes to focusing on performance, you will still want to dedicate some time to specific arm movements if you want to progress. Chasing the pump and flexing in the mirror have to go out the window. Think of strength, angles of pull and endurance.

If you’re the type who needs to shore up this weak link for bigger compound lifts, then the factor of strength should be the priority. The stronger your arms, the more you can get done. And it isn’t enough to be great at standing arm curls. A strong barbell curl is only one angle of performance. When your arms are in different positions (for example, overhead as in pull ups) you’ll need to develop those strengths as well. Another crucial example is when you hoist a sandbag or medicine ball to your shoulder. In that multi-phase movement, the biceps have to work in several planes of motion in order to be efficient.

You might already be strong, but what good is it to have arms that gas-out in 15 minutes? Muscular endurance is another important performance factor when movements like carries, holds and repetitive tasks are required.

Functional Bicep Strength Without the Curls

Now that I’ve convinced you to pay attention to your biceps, don’t make the mistake of paying too much attention all at once. You don’t want to go from ignoring them altogether to pummeling them into the ground with too much intensity, isolation, and volume. If you do, you may end up with them as an even weaker link than before. Take a calculated and practical approach to training them for effectiveness and efficiency.

This will be accomplished through a series of exercises that you may not be used to. Whereas many traditional programs will have you perform a series of biceps-specific moves, here you’ll be exposed to a new and different way to get the most out of your training without the threat of overtraining.

Below are four powerful, functional biceps moves that will provide carryover to other key lifts, and provide a practical progression in strength, pull angle, and muscular endurance.

Modified Pull Ups

Grasp a pull up bar with an underhand grip about shoulder-width apart. Normally, you’d start a pull up with an arched back, in order to fully engage your back. Here, you’ll actually round your back in order to focus more stress toward your biceps. Begin pulling up with an emphasis on elbow angle while using your arms to ascend to the bar. With your back roundness maintained, pull up to the bar for a squeeze and then slowly descend back down to the starting position.

Rope Pulls

Another big bicep blaster is the sled pull. This normally will have you pulling with every muscle you have, namely your back. Here again, you’ll focus on pulling with your arms to give them a wake-up call and develop some endurance along the way. To differentiate it from the traditional method, try pulling with your arms by curling the weight in toward your body while keeping your upper body relatively stationary.

Suspension Trainer Curl

The suspension trainer curl offers yet another angle of attack for your arms. Affix a trainer above and step out, grasping the handles and facing the origination point. Form a straight line from head to toe and hold the handles out in a neutral grip out in front of your torso. Begin the motion by curling the handles toward the top and sides of your head, and keeping your body rigid. Lower your body slowly after a contraction, and repeat for reps.

Rack Curl

The rack curl is executed in similar fashion to the suspension trainer curl, with the exception that you’ll be working from a fixed bar versus suspension straps. Assume the same straight position and curl up to your forehead for a squeeze. For an even greater challenge, prop your feet on a bench to increase the resistance.

Sample Functional Biceps Program

Now let’s fit these moves into a weekly program. Perform the routines below once per week, combined with any other training. Workout 1 could be performed on Monday, and workout 2 could be done on a Thursday, for example.

Workout 1

• Modified pull ups: 3 sets of as many reps as possible
• Suspension trainer curls: 3 sets of as many reps as possible

Workout 2

• Rope pulls: 3 rounds of a specified length
• Rack curls: 3 sets of as many reps as possible

It’s Not Like You’ll Hate Having Bigger Biceps

I purposely left out talk of aesthetics in this article, but I will mention that over time and once you are reaping significant progress, you’ll notice bigger biceps are part of the bargain. Although it may never have been your initial goal, it will be nice to fill out that t-shirt and show off just a little of your hard work. Why not? You’ve earned it.

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A Little Time, An Armload of Results

As a coach, business owner, and athlete, carving out time to devote to arm training can be tough. Olympic weightlifting, squats, deadlifts, and large compound movements come before arm training, and always should for those with time constraints. With the help from Marcos Rodriguez, owner of Stronger Fitness, LLC, I developed an effective program to blast my biceps, triceps, and forearms in 30 minutes or less, performed twice per week.

This routine is simple and effective. It is also demanding and requires you to push yourself. After eight weeks, my arms grew 1.75 inches (16 inches to 17.75 inches). I couldn’t fit comfortably in large shirts anymore, and my fiancée couldn’t keep her hands off them.

If you attack this program half-heartedly, your results will be the same. If you want to see how jacked your arms can get before summer, dedicate one hour per week to make it happen. Trust me, you won’t regret it.

Training for a sport doesn’t mean you have to give up looking how you want. Or donuts.

The Arm Gainz for Summer Program

The program is two workouts, each done once a week, and each takes about 30 minutes. Both workouts have three sections (A, B, and C) that take about 10 minutes to complete. Section A and B have two exercises (1 and 2) that are done as a superset (perform A2 directly after A1, then rest). Keep rest periods between sets and sections around 60-90 seconds.

Workout One:

A1: Barbell Curl: 4×8

A2: Skull Crushers: 4×10

B1: Incline Dumbbell Curl: 4×10/side

B2: Triceps Pressdown: 4×12

C1: Farmers Carry: 4x 2 minutes on, 1 minute off

*as heavy as you can without stopping

Workout Two:

A1: Weighted Dip: 4×8

A2: Dumbbell Hammer Curl: 4×10/side

B1: Overhead Dumbbell Extension: 4×10

B2. Barbell Reverse Curl: 4×12

C1: Farmers Carry: 4x 2 minutes on, 1 minute off

*as heavy as you can without stopping

Focus, Attack, Gain

When performing each rep, focus on the muscle working and contracting, rather than unconsciously flopping the weight around in space. Be diligent and strict with form, but still attack each set with everything you have. This is my favorite time of the year to increase training volume and have fun. Train now to reap the benefits in the summer, and beyond.

More Hypertrophy Dos and Don’ts:

• Cardio Doesn’t Kill Gains (and You Should Be Doing It)
• The Secrets to Pain-Free Hypertrophy Training
• You Don’t Need to Lift Heavy to Grow Muscle
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photo courtesy of Mike Dewar.

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