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November 24, 2022

Hammer Curls vs. Biceps Curls: The Battle for Bigger Arms

Filed under: Fitness,Training — Tags: , , , — admin @ 9:10 am

It doesn’t take much to convince most people in the gym to curl. If you want an impressive physique, an intense pump, and more strength in the gym, you’ll find time to do some curls.

out of focus person performing barbell curl with weights in focus

Credit: Kzenon / Shutterstock

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 and Biceps Curl

Hammer Curl and Biceps Curl Differences

These two exercises may appear nearly identical, but the relatively 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 avoids 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.

Woman at home performing dumbbell curl

Credit: antoniodiaz / Shutterstock

The hammer grip also slightly emphasizes the short head of the biceps, while a supinated 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 do work both heads of the biceps, but the emphasis is shifted slightly from one to the other. 

Muscular Tension

The supinated 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 supinated-grip curl 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.

long-haired person in gym doing dumbbell curl

Credit: YAKOBCHUK VIACHESLAV / Shutterstock

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.

Form Tip: The brachialis, which is targeted by the hammer curl, responds very well to slow lifting speeds. (6) Instead of performing hammer curls with a powerful, explosive movement, slow down to keep that muscle under more consistent tension. Take three seconds to curl the weights to the top position, pause for one second, lower the weights in three seconds, and pause at the bottom for one second.

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 primarily 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 supinated 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

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May 11, 2022

How to Do the Hammer Curl for Bigger Biceps and Forearms

Filed under: Fitness,Training — Tags: , , , , , — admin @ 4:48 pm

Bigger, stronger arms are usually high on the list of priorities for some lifters, even if they half-whisper it for fear of being labeled “a bodybuilder,” as if there’s anything wrong with training specifically to add muscle.

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

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

Woman in home gym standing holding dumbbells

Credit: antoniodiaz / Shutterstock

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

Woman at home performing dumbbell curl

Credit: antoniodiaz / Shutterstock

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

Muscular woman in gym performing dumbbell curl

Credit: Jasminko Ibrakovic / Shutterstock

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.

Man in gym performing dumbbell curl in mirror

Credit: TheCorgi / Shutterstock

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.

Muscular shirtless man performing dumbbell curl

Credit: Jasminko Ibrakovic / Shutterstock

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.

Man in gym performing curl with two dumbbells

Credit: MDV Edwards / Shutterstock

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.

Muscular arm in shadows holding dumbbell

Credit: Improvisor / Shutterstock

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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January 31, 2022

The Definitive Guide on How to Build Big Arms

Filed under: Fitness — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 1:00 pm

If you lift, then you probably want to look like you lift. And for many gym-goers, looking the part includes owning a pair of arms that put the seams of your sleeves to the test. Aesthetically, big arms are imposing and signal to others that you do indeed hoist iron. Functionally, bigger and stronger arms help you bench press, overhead press, and row more weight; they’re not just the end; they’re a means to another end (lots of strength).

Muscular man curling a loaded barbell with both hands inside of gym

Paul Aiken/Shutterstock

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.

Anatomy chart of biceps muscle

stihii/Shutterstock

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

Anatomy chart of the triceps muscle

By CFCF – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

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.

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. 

Exercise Sequence Sets & Reps Tempo Rest Target Range
A1) EZ-Bar French Press 4 x 6-8 3010 60 seconds Lengthened
A2) Incline DB Curl 4 x 6-8 3010 60-90 seconds Lengthened
B1) Triceps Pushdown 2 x 10-12 2011 15 seconds Shortened
B2) DB Skull Crusher 2 x 12-14 2010 15 seconds Mid-Range
B3) Cable Overhead Rope Extension 2 x 15 2110 60 seconds Lengthened 
C1) DB Spider Curl 2 x 10-12 2011 15 seconds Shortened
C2) Standing EZ-Bar Curl 2 x 12-14 2010 15 seconds Mid-Range
C3) DB Preacher Curl 2 x 15 2110 60 seconds Lengthened

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:

Exercise Sequence Sets & Reps Tempo Rest Target Range
A1) Triceps Push Down 4 x 6-8 3010 60 seconds Shortened
A2) Ez-Bar Spider Curl 4 x 6-8 3010 60-90 seconds Shortened
B1) Cable Overhead Triceps Extension 2 x 10-12 2110 15 seconds Lengthened
B2) DB Skull Crusher 2 x 12-14 2010 15 seconds Mid-Range
B3) Single Arm Rope Triceps Extension 2 x 15 2011 60 seconds Shortened
C1) DB Incline Curl 2 x 10-12 2110 15 seconds Lengthened
C2) Standing EZ-Bar Curl 2 x 12-14 2010 15 seconds Mid-Range
C3) High Cable Curl 2 x 15 2011 60 seconds Shortened

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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April 5, 2021

10 Do Anywhere Exercises for Strong Arm Muscles

Filed under: Fitness — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 6:27 am

10 Do Anywhere Exercises for Strong Arm Muscles - Fitness, push ups, hypertrophy, dumbbells, shoulders, biceps, triceps, curls, arm strength, at-home exercise, at-home workouts, no equipment, stay fit at home

When the weather is great, you want to show some skin. You didn’t hit the gym as often as you wanted to and your arms are looking a little flat. You might want to dedicate some time to do exercises that specifically target your arms to make them sleek, sexy, and sculpted so you are ready to hit the nightclubs, go on vacation with your besties, or look great in photos during an upcoming event.

To help sculpt your arms and make them photo-ready, here are 10 exercises to pump up your arms using items that you can find almost anywhere (no gym or exercise equipment required).

Repeat each exercise for 5 sets of 30 seconds each (in other words, do as many repetitions as you can for 30 seconds) 5 times, and take 20 seconds to rest between sets.

Push Ups

There is a reason push-ups are the first exercise that most of us learn. Push-ups will help strengthen the front part of your shoulder and your chest, as well as your tricep, which accounts for the back part of your arm.

This is truly the king of bodyweight arm exercises due to the fact that on the concentric (lowering) component of the exercise you work your pull muscles, and on the eccentric (pushing) component, you work all three heads of your tricep evenly.

Instead of doing a traditional push-up, here is a variation you can do to kick up the intensity. With your hands placed slightly outside the width of your shoulders, lower your body and squeeze your elbows in as much as you can so you activate your lats and chest. Lower your chest to the ground, and then push yourself up.

Curls

With just a pair of dumbbells in hand, curls will pump up your biceps. However, if you do not always have dumbbells, you can use anything that you have available to you that will have some weight to it and that you can easily hold on to and maneuver, such as a jug of water. Your biceps are the front facing part of your arm.

Curls emphasize every component of the bicep and work all parts of your biceps evenly.

When you perform this correctly, you work both the long head and the short head of your biceps, the deep part of your bicep responsible for the shape of your arm closer to the elbow, as well as your forearms.

Start with your hands facing each other at thigh level. Then, elevate your hands up to your shoulders, rotating them inwards and aiming to bring your pinky finger to point outward toward the outside of your arm.

Equipment needed: Pair of dumbbells, a jug of water, or other household items.

Diamond Push Ups

Diamond push-ups are going to work your triceps further. By bringing your hands in, you will emphasize the clavicular head of your pectoralis. It will also emphasize the lateral head of your triceps, the outer head. This variation will allow you to feel more in your triceps.

Use the same movements as the basic push up. However, with this push-up variation, you bring your hands in to form a diamond on the floor. From there, lower yourself down to the ground until your chest is touching the floor. Then, raise yourself back up.

Hammer Curls

Just as the name suggests, with hammer curls you will hammer out the long head of your biceps.

This variation of the curl will emphasize the long head of your biceps, which will help add fullness to your arms.

Using a pair of dumbbells or a pair of weighted household items, keep your palms facing each other at thigh height and bring the weights to your shoulders.

Focus on squeezing your bicep muscles during the curl movement. Each repetition should be quick and take no less than two seconds each.

Equipment needed: Pair of dumbbells, a jug of water, or other household items.

High Low Plank Tricep Extension

The high low plant tricep extension is going to engage your core. This emphasizes the long head of your triceps, which will add width and size to your arms. Your core strength is a factor in your capacity to do the exercise smoothly.

Starting in a high plank or push up position, lower your body into a low plank. Throughout the entire motion, your body will not rock left to right.

You will know that you are doing this correctly by both elbows and forearms meeting the ground simultaneously. Your elbows will be pointed out at roughly a 45-degree angle.

Then, push your hands down into the floor and extend and raise both arms up together, raising back into a push-up position. Make sure to squeeze your triceps together during all of your movements.

Flat Curls

Yes, you read that right, another type of curl—we are going to curl and curl and curl some more. We are going to make sure we make those arms scream!

These curls are going to emphasize the short head of your biceps, which gives your arm the peak. These are most likely going to be the most difficult arm exercise for you to perform.

This time, keep your palms facing outward and perform a curl movement. Focus on keeping your upper arms glued to your side, and bring your palms up to your shoulders. Squeeze your arms tight toward your body, and don’t let the weight go.

Equipment needed: Pair of dumbbells, a jug of water, or other household items.

Dips

Dips are another total arm movement that involves a pressing to engages your triceps, deltoid, and pectoralis.

Dips can be done with your feet and hands on several different surfaces to increase or decrease difficulty and core activation, as needed.

An L-sit dip is a great dip to activate your core. To perform an L-sit dip, use two chairs (larger chairs provide more stability, so the larger the better). With one hand on each chair, pick yourself up and kick your legs out.

You are looking to achieve a perfect 90-degree angle with your body. Sink down until your hands are roughly placed in your armpits. Then, press up until your arms are straight once again, all while maintaining the L-sit position to optimize core engagement.

Equipment needed: 2 large chairs.

Concentration Curl

Yes, another curl! This is variation is going to remove any movement from the back of your arm, by bracing it against your leg. Just as the name suggests, you are going to make sure that you focus all of your energy on the bicep (and don’t let yourself cheat).

You will work the biceps evenly when you keep your hands upward facing the ceiling. This curl variation is going to make your arms burn if they aren’t already.

To do a concentration curl, press your triceps against your inner thighs to stop your arm from moving. Then, bring your weight up to your shoulders. Again, focus on squeezing the tricep muscles. Do not rush through your repetitions.

The time that you spend under tension is one of the single most underrated variables when it comes to exercise. By increasing the time under tension, you increase the amount of work that your body has to do.

Equipment needed: Pair of dumbbells, a jug of water, or other household items.

Lateral Push Up

Lateral push-ups are going to make your shoulders do a ton of work. You are removing one of your arms from the motion that you are performing, forcing a deeper more intense burn in your triceps.

For this push-up variation, push your hands out as far as you can reach on both sides of your body. Then, bend one elbow to push your body over toward your elbow, while still keeping the other arm straight. Then go to the other side, contracting your triceps with every repetition.

Zottman Curls

Yes, for our final arm-specific exercise, we are going to do another variation of a curl! The Zottman curl this is going to greatly increase your time under tension.

You are forcing the brachialis to do extra work with the rotation at the top and bottom of the exercise. You will squeeze through the motion, which will force even more of a pump into your arms. These will take any extra energy that you had left in your arms and completely drain it.

Do a traditional curl on the way up and rotate your arms with your pinky finger facing out. Then at the top of the movement, flip the dumbbells over so your pinky is facing in. Then, return the dumbbells down to your thighs. Flip back over and repeat.

Equipment needed: Pair of dumbbells, a jug of water, or other household items.

See more fun workouts and simple exercises to do at home.

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