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Working Your Biceps
Revised 12/01/06
Muscle Group Table of Contents
This is organized with the machines first and the free
weights second, as beginners would tend to start with
the machines and work their way down to barbells and dumbbells.
The biceps are perhaps the smallest muscles that get the
biggest attention. Having "big guns" is a sign you work
out. If you ask someone to "make a muscle", they
must likely would flex their bicep.
Because there is so much attention given to the biceps, there are a lot of different ways
people have devised to work these muscles. (On the other
hand, remember that about two-thirds of the bulk of
your upper arm muscles will come from the triceps.)
Also, people are a lot more likely to move to free weights
for their biceps compared to the other muscle groups because
the weights themselves are relatively smaller and not
as scary or dangerous. People rarely use need a spotter
for most types of biceps work.
Bicep muscles have a high ratio of fast twitch to
slow twitch muscles and benefit the most from
fewer reps (6-8) and
pretty heavy weights. Biceps tire fairly easy
doing just a few high-intensity sets instead
of set after set will be enough to get them
growing.
- Lat Pulldowns. (The normal lat pulldown uses a wide grip which
mostly works the lats - as per the name suggests. You can work
the biceps by using a close grip on the bar.)
- Bicep Curls.
You place the pulley
at the bottom and attach a short straight bar. There is
also a peacher bench on the left-hand side of the machine.
- Cybex Arm Curl.
- Paramount Chin/Dip.
Chin-ups are an excellent way to work the biceps.
Curls
Almost everyone knows that curl is where you start with the arm
fully extended and then bring the hand
toward the body by bending the elbow. I assume
that curl comes from the same derivation as
"curve". You can also curl your legs, but "curl"
otherwise unspecified would mean an arm curl.
Compared to dumbbells, with a barbell, it is harder to maintain the
proper posture, and hold the right elbow and wrist position since
the bar keeps everything fixed.
To get the most out of a curl, squeeze the bicep at the top
of the rep.
It is easy to do curls wrong, by twisting
your body and letting your shoulders do some
of the work. In order to isolate the biceps,
it helps to either stand up against a pillar,
or sit with your back against a support. The
preacher stand is another way to keep your
shoulders from elbowing their way into the act.
Dumbbell Curls
With a regular curl, you hold the weights with
your palms up. With hammer curls, you hold
the dumbbells with your palms vertical, in other
words, as if you were grasping a hammer. With
reverse curls, you hold the weights with your
palms down. With Zottman curls, you twist
the dumbbells at the top.
- Standard Dumbbell Curls.
Keep your elbows close to your body. Keep
the hands with palms facing up. Raise and
lower one dumbbell at a time, alternatively. Turn
your head to look at the dumbbell you are lifting.
(Not sure if this helps isolate the muscle or
just so you can better control it visually.) At the
top of the movement, you can twist your wrists so the
pinkie end of your hand is nearer your face.
(In other words, rotate the right hand
counterclockwise and the left hand clockwise.)
- Hammer Curls.
Hammer curls will emphasize the brachialis
(the muscle closest to the elbow on the
upper arm) and the forearms. It is suggested
you only need to do once and awhile do
hammer curls (assuming you are doing standard
curls regularly). On the other hand, some
suggest you standardized on hammers and only
occasionally do the regular curls.)
You hold each dumbbell with your palm vertical and facing
your body, as if you
were holding a hammer. Raise and lower each
dumbbell one at a time, alternating back and forth.
When you start, your torso should be leaning slightly
forward and let your back move to an upright position
as you raise each weight. (If you try to keep your
back totally still, you will find you can't lift quite
as much.
- Reverse Curls.
In this exercise, you grip the dumbbell with your palms facing
down instead of up. This is not as effective for the
overall biceps since the radius bone of the forearm
is in "extreme pronation" (meaning the palms
facing down), so the point where the biceps
are attached to the arm bone are not in alignment with
the muscle. However, a reverse curl seems to be
a better way to work the brachioradius muscle, the
muscle of the upper forearm.
- Preacher Curls. (The preacher bench can be used with
dumbbells, barbells, or the EZ-curl bar.)
- Zottman Curls.
This is like the standard dumbbell curl, but you twist
the dumbbells at the top so your palms
are facing down when you lower the weight. This
also work the wrists. In order to not lose
balance and control of the weights, Zottmans
require more concentration and make you go
slower, which is good.
- Concentration Curls.
This is done sitting on the bench, doing
a full set at a time with just one dumbbell. Place your
feet out a few inches wider than your hips. Lean
forward slightly from the hip but don't round
your lower back. Hold a dumbbell in one hand, palm
facing up, and rest the elbow of that arm inside
your thigh just above the knee. You thus curl
sideways. As you lift, don't lean away from your
arm, as that is cheating.
- Standing Concentration Curl.
This is similar to the seated concentration curl. You
lean over while keeping the back straight and bend
your knees.
- Barbell Curls.
With a barbell curl (compared to a
dumbbell curl), it is harder to maintain the
proper posture, and elbow and wrist position since
the bar keeps everything fixed. A variation
on the straight barbell is the EZ-curl or
"cambered" bar, which is easier on your wrists.
Don't curl all the way to your shoulders as this takes
tension off the biceps at the extreme. Lower the bar slowly.
At the bottom of the movement, make sure your
elbows are fully extended (locked out).
As with the dumbbell
curls, don't swing your arms, or sway back and forth
in an effort to "cheat" as this both limits the
work the biceps do and can cause injury.
The standard grip is shoulder width apart, and this
works both the inside and outside of the biceps the
most. As you raise the bar, keep your arms up
against the side of your body and only let
your forearms move.
If you grip the bar about 6 inches apart,
you will work the outer part of your biceps,
especially effective for getting more of
a "peak" to your biceps. You'll find you
will be using less weight than with the
standard grip. At the top of the rep,
squeeze your biceps to get the
most out of this exercise. However,
with a such a narrow grip, the bar will
be less stable. Using a preacher bench
for this version will help you from
cheating.
Another variation is to use a wide grip, which
will work the inside of your biceps. This
will make your biceps rounder and really shape
them. With this variation, you might need
a spotter.
- Reverse Grip Curl
In this exercise, you grip the barbell with your palms facing
down instead of up. As with the dumbbell reverse curls,
this is not as effective for the
overall biceps since the radius bone of the forearm
is in "extreme pronation" (meaning the palms
facing down), so the point where the biceps
are attached to the arm bone are not in alignment with
the muscle. However, a reverse curl seems to be
a better way to work the brachioradius muscle, the
muscle of the upper forearm.
- Preacher Barbell Curls. (The preacher bench can be used with
dumbbells, barbells, or the EZ-curl bar.)
- "Twenty-Ones."
This consists of 7 reps from the starting position to
about halfway up, another 7 from the mid point to
the top of the movement and finally another 7 through
the full range of motion.
This is a kinky or "W"-shaped bar, sometimes
called the "cambered" bar. It changes the
angle of your grip, but otherwise you can use
this bar for the same biceps exercises as you can do
with a straight barbell. The bends allow for
a more comfortable grip (and less stress
on the wrists), but it also keeps
the tendons of the muscles in line with
where they are attached to the radius bone
of the forearm (a good thing).
If you have any ideas, suggestions, comments, etc.
as to either what
is or should be on this website,
or the Mueller Center in general,
please let us know.
To contact us:
Phone: 276-2874
Fax: 276-2817
Email: mugrap@rpi.edu
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