biceps are arguably the most widely trained muscle because of they ‘show off’ appeal to many bodybuilders.
To ensure that your biceps are well trained and developed, you will need to understand the biceps a bit more. With this understanding, you can than choose your exercises to create your best biceps workout for maximal effect. There are many bicep exercises that you can include in your best biceps workout. In this article, we will look at five biceps exercises that you must include in your workout, and the reason behind why they can be so effective to develop your biceps.
1. Barbell Curls
- Stand up with your torso upright while holding a barbell at a shoulder-width grip. The palm of your hands should be facing forward and the elbows should be close to the torso. This will be your starting position.
- While holding the upper arms stationary, curl the weights forward while contracting the biceps as you breathe out. Tip: Only the forearms should move.
- Continue the movement until your biceps are fully contracted and the bar is at shoulder level. Hold the contracted position for a second and squeeze the biceps hard.
- Slowly begin to bring the bar back to starting position as your breathe in.
- Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.
2- Seated Dumbbell Curls
There are a couple of tips to learn before starting dumbbell bicep curl. These are:
- Do not sit across the bench. In this case you will unconsciously lean forward in order not to touch the edge of the bench by dumbbells. If you’re working with heavy dumbbells,tilting forward rounds the back, which leads to spinal cord injuries. So always sit along the bench only if you perform seated curls.
- Keep the torso straightened all the time. All movement takes place only in the elbow joint, while the rest of the body remain motionless. Lock your elbows on the sides of the trunk and not move them. Leaning the elbows forward during the lifting you loosen the load on the biceps.
- Hold your breath while lifting dumbbells. This helps to keep the correct posture and allows you to develop a more powerful force.
If you perform correctly, that this exercise will certainly improve your arms and shape your biceps in the most nice way.
3- Preacher Curls
Preacher Curls isolate the biceps. Secondary stress is applied to the forearms. Sit on a preacher bench with your upper arms lying flat on the pad, palms of your hands facing up. Have a training partner hand you a barbell.
Lower the barbell until your elbows are almost straight and you feel a good stretch in the biceps. Moving only your forearms, use your bicep strength to curl the barbell up to shoulder level. Slowly lower the barbell back to the starting position. Hold this position for a second to really stretch the biceps. Repeat.
TIPS:
- Since this is an isolation exercise use lighter weights and really focus on using perfect exercise form.
- For variety you can do this exercise with dumbbells instead of a barbell.
- You can also do this exercise with a bar attached to a low cable pulley.