Many new trainers enter the gym, and they immediately begin training the biceps. Perhaps it’s the stigma they learned from Hollywood movies, or the fact that anytime they’ve seen a “muscle man” posing, it’s always been a flexed biceps muscle pose. When they first enter the gym, they usually gravitate to the free weight area and curl lots of dumbbells, lots of times. They aren’t concerned with legs, back, or shoulders. They just want big arms. This attitude is usually quickly broken the minute the “biceps-builder” takes off his shirt to show off his arms and he is dwarfed by a man who actually trains the full body. This humbling experience usually leads to the biceps-builder discovering that there are in fact other body parts which warrant attention if you want to be able to disrobe with a straight face. This leads to research online or in books and magazines, which leads to the trainer finally learning how to actually train correctly.

In addition to this need for full-body balanced training which includes all body parts, the biceps themselves should also be trained in a balanced manner. As mentioned, a beginner’s biceps workout usually involves a whole lot of curls – which is good, to an extent. It is important to build up a foundation of muscle, and curls using dumbbells or barbells do allow for initial growth. However, as the months and years pass, imbalances can begin to occur as the areas you hit of the biceps outgrow the areas you do not. Simple curls do train the whole biceps, but you often need other movements to complement curls. These activate fibers which aren’t addressed by curls. Let’s examine a few of these movements.

Supinated Dumbbell Curls

When completing standard dumbbell or barbell curls, change the position of your thumb so that it is touching your index finger, on the same side of the barbell or dumbbell handle. This helps to lengthen the biceps head in the curling position, transferring some of the tension to the biceps peak.

Preacher Curls

This movement can be completed using dumbbells or curls, and helps to isolate the biceps peak. This area is often neglected during standard curls with the standard grip. Enjoy preacher curls for the added bonus that they press up your biceps, giving you the largest appearance of your own arms that you will ever witness!

Hammer Curls

The brachialis muscle is targeted using this movement. It’s very important to develop that key biceps/forearm tie-in, if you wish to deliver a sense of power and thickness throughout the entire upper body in any pose you deliver (including back poses!)

Reverse Grip Barbell Curls

Like hammer curls, this movement targets the brachialis muscle. It also brings even more forearm and wrist support into play. They should be used at least once per month.

Concentration Curls

The hanging dumbbell aspect of this movement helps to keep continuous tension upon the biceps. It also helps to fill in the gap between the biceps and the elbow joint, which can be a major curse for some competitors with short muscle bellies.

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