Bicep Curls - Tips and tricks for strong arms

All arm flexor muscles:

• Biceps (both parts)
• Brachialis
• Brachioradialis

This exercise can be incorporated into any upper body training. You can integrate it, for example, into your back training or chest training to strengthen your arms.

Pick up the dumbbells. Hold one in each hand gripping them from underneath. Stand upright with feet waist-width apart. Roll your shoulders back and fix your elbows to your sides with your lower arms outstretched. Now bend both arms simultaneously until your hands are close to your shoulders. Your elbows should remain glued to your sides during this movement. Then slowly lower the dumbbells again. Again your elbows remain fixed to your sides. You have reached the bottom of the movement when your arms are in full extension again. The movement is a rotation of the forearms around the fixed elbow joint.

Start with a light weight and slowly increase.

Two dumbbells.

Sit on an inclining bench and pick up the dumbbells. Make sure that your upper arm is pointing vertically downwards and that you are not working with a swinging motion. Your upper and lower legs should form a right angle. Your feet should be completely flat on the floor and your back should remain straight.

There is no difference in the execution of the exercise to bicep curls with dumbbells. The advantage of dumbbells is that you can perform the exercise in a more controlled way.

By changing your grip, you can work different muscle groups. Remember, however, that you cannot train individual muscle groups in isolation, but that all parts of the body work together.

• Pronated grip = overhand grip: focus brachialis and extensor carpi
• Supinated grip = underhand grip: focus biceps and brachioradialis
• Neutral handle = hammer grip: even load on biceps and brachialis

This variation can only be done in the gym because you need a “preacher bench”. Ideally you should use a EZ barbell but if you don’t have one of these you can use a standard barbell. Sit on the preacher bench with your upper body pressing against the padding. The bottom of your upper arms however should not be in contact with the padding. Position your elbows on the upper part of the pad. Hold the EZ barbell or standard barbell in both hands. Now start your bicep curls by lifting and lowering the barbell. With this variation, the strain on your muscles is significantly higher due to the inclined position of the pad. Your long bicep head is not strong enough to perform this variation on its own so you have to build up greater muscle strength in your other arm flexors.

Set the height of the pulling tower to as low as possible so that the bar is just above the ground and stand in front of the tower. The distance you stand from the tower depends on the tension in the cable. Pick up the bar and stand shoulder-width apart. Roll your shoulders back, keeping your chest and neck upright. Now pull up the bar in a bicep curl. Make sure that your upper arms and elbows stay in place. The movement should only be in your forearms so that the focus is on your biceps.

• Hollow back: whether you perform bicep curls sitting or standing, make sure you avoid a hollow back. Keeping your abdominal muscles tensed throughout the exercise will help you avoid this.
• Bending your wrists: this can be avoided by reducing the weight and actively rolling your wrist during the upward movement. It is better to start with less weight and work with clean technique than to let your exercise suffer. Alternatively you can reach for the EZ bar to avoid your wrists buckling.
• A crooked spine: No matter how beautiful your biceps are, your gaze should always be directed forwards and not towards them.
• Swinging action: by swinging your arms you compensate for your lack of strength by bringing in other muscles rather than focusing on your biceps. If you find you need to swing your arms, it may be a sign that you should reduce the weight.

You can include bicep curls in your upper body training or isolated arm training.

If you want to learn more about training and how to train most effectively, take a look at our back training and chest training pages.