How to do bicep curls correctly?

Biceps exercises are a great source of increasing strength in the upper arm so today we will be talking about “how to do bicep curls correctly?”.

It is the most popular resistance training exercise out there.

There are so many biceps exercises variation that targets different muscles in our arm like –

• Barbell bicep curl
• Dumbbell bicep curl
• Hammer curl
• Low-pulley bicep curl

To understand the topic “How to do bicep curls correctly”, we need to know the muscle involved in this.

Name of the exercise	Action of the exercise	Muscles involved (predominant muscle In bold)
Barbell bicep curl	Elbow flexion	Brachialis, Bicep brachi, brachioradialis
Dumbbell bicep curl	Elbow flexion, Forearm supination	Brachialis, Bicep brachi, brachioradialis
Hammer curl	Elbow flexion	Brachialis, Bicep brachi, brachioradialis
Low-pulley bicep curl	Elbow flexion	Brachialis, Bicep brachi, brachioradialis

Preparatory body position and lifting rules

When a person went to do resistance exercises then the first thing he needed to do is to lift the bar or dumbbells off the floor before starting doing exercise.

Before jumping onto How to do bicep curls correctly, let’s just first understand some lifting rules.

This process also needs proper attention to avoid excessive strain on the lower back and to keep the body stable to lift the weights.

Here are some tips:-

• While picking up the dumbbells or barbell, squat down between the dumbbells or behind the bar.
• Position the feet shoulder-width apart.
• grasp the bar with the closed grip that is shoulder-width apart.
•  while lifting dumbbells, position your arms outside the knee with the elbow extended.

These are some steps that you need to follow before lifting a weight off the floor:-

• Your Back should be flat or slightly arched.
• The chest should be held up and out, and shoulder blades should be held together.
• Your head should be in the line of the spine or slightly hyperextended.
• Your bodyweight should be balanced between the middle of your feet and heels should be in contact with the floor.
• Your shoulder should be over or slightly in front of the bar.
• Your eyes should be focused ahead or slightly upward.

Bicep curl exercises

How to do barbell curls?

We usually use an E-Z bar for this exercise which is a short bar that is bent to create an inside or outside grip.

While performing this exercise, your upper arm must remain parallel.

It is the best exercise to work on both hands at the same time.

Starting position

• Hold the bar with a closed and supinated grip.
• Follow the preparatory body positions and lifting rules mentioned above before lifting the bar off the ground.
• Hold the feet shoulder-width apart with your knees slightly flexed, torso erect, and eyes focused ahead.
• Let the bar hang in full elbow extension and where this position, all the repetitions starts.

Upward movement

• Begin the exercise by flexing the arm at the elbow.
• Keep your wrist stiff and don’t let your shoulder or upper arms move, movement should only be done at the elbow joint.
• Maintain that stationary position or don’t let you swing your body, shrug your shoulders, extend your knees, or rise up on the toes to make the bar raise upward.
• Continue this movement till the bar reached near the anterior deltoid or anterior shoulder.

Downward movement

• Bring the bar in the downward direction slowly or under the control to the previous starting position by extension of your elbow, and don’t bounce the bar on the thigh, extend the knees.
• Keep your wrist stiff.
• Maintain the stationary position with your feet flat on the floor.
• Continue to bring the bar down until your elbow is fully extended but not forcefully locked.
• After your set, flex your hip and knee to return the bar back to the ground in a controlled manner.

Repeat this exercise with the alternate movement of your both hands.

How to do dumbbell curls?

Starting position

• Hold the dumbbell with a closed grip.
• Follow the preparatory body positions and lifting rules.
• After lifting, your palm should face towards the lateral thigh.
• Place your feet shoulder-width apart.
• Hold the dumbbell sideways, with the knee slightly flexed, shoulder-held back, and eyes focusing ahead.
• Dumbbells should be in the full elbow extension.

Upward movement

• You should start the exercise by flexing the elbow but there should be no movement at the shoulder and the non-exercising arm should stay stationary at the side of your thigh.
• Continue this movement by talking the hands upward, but there should be no shrugging of shoulders, hyperextension of the neck, no swinging of the body, and also no rise up on your toes to help elevate the dumbbell.
• While doing the movement of elbow flexion, when the dumbbell comes to around the mid position start doing the supination of your hand or rotating your hand outwards.
• Keep your wrist stiff.
• Continue this motion until it comes to the level of anterior deltoid.

Downward movement

• Slowly extend the arm in a controlled manner by pronating your arm or rotating the arm in the inward direction.
• Keep your wrist stiff and maintain the same stationary body position.
• There should be no movement at the torso, and don’t let your weight shift on your toes.
• Continue the motion of elbow extension until it is fully extended.

Repeat this exercise with the alternate movement of your both hands.

I hope that I am explaining the topic “How to do bicep curls correctly” correctly to you so that you understand it better.

How to do hammer curl?

Starting position

• Hold the dumbbell at the side of the thigh with the palm facing inward.
• Follow the preparatory body position and lifting rules.
• Place your feet shoulder-width apart.
• Allow the dumbbells to hand at full extension of the elbow.

Upward movement

• Start the exercise by flexing the dumbbell at the elbow, and the non-exercising arm should be at rest at the side of the thigh.
• Keep your wrist stiff, and Flex the elbow but there should be no movement at the shoulders (no shrugging), no hyperextension of the neck, don’t elevate yourself on the toes, and eyes should look straight ahead.
• The dumbbell should remain in a neutral position.
• Continue this movement until the dumbbell reaches the level of the anterior deltoid.
• If your elbow moves forward at the highest dumbbell position then it means the elbow is flexed too much or shoulder moved.

Downward movement

• Lower the dumbbell in a controlled manner.
• Don’t let the should move, movement should only take place at the elbow.
• Keep your wrist stiff in this whole process.
• Keep your eyes looking straight ahead, no shrugging of shoulders, no hyperextension at the neck, no elevation at the toes.
• Continue this process until your elbow is fully extended.

Repeat this exercise with the alternate movement of your both hands.

How to do a low-pulley bicep curl?

Starting position

• Stand at approximately 46 cm away in front of the low pulley machine.
• Hold the pulley’s handle with a supinated and closed grip.
• Flex your knees, torso erect, and slightly leaning backward, and should be held back with the eyes looking straight ahead.
• Keep the elbow at full extension and your arms should be placed slightly forward to the body because of the machine arrangement.

Upward movement

• Start the exercise by doing flexion in an arc at the elbow joint.
• Keep the wrist stiff and no movement should occur at your shoulder, torso erect with slightly leaning backward, no hyperextension at the neck, and no raising up on the toes.
• Maintain the stationary body position or don’t swing the body.
• Continue the flexion at the elbow until it reaches the anterior part of the deltoid.

Downward movement

• Slowly bring the bar in a downward direction in a controlled manner by doing extension at the elbow joint.
• Keep your wrist stiff, no movement should occur at the shoulder, the torso should be erect.
• Continues the extension until your elbow is fully extended, not fully locked.

 conclusion

• we need to do exercises in a proper form.
• properly doing exercises will develop the muscles more precisely.
• keep all the preparatory body positions and lifting rules in mind before performing any exercise.

I hope that I accomplished my goal of explaining this topic “How to do bicep curls correctly” to you guys.

Is there any exercise about which you guys wanna know, how they performed?

let me know in the comments.