The barbell curl is often the first exercise a bodybuilder will discover in the gym, and one which delivers terrific results in terms of upper arm mass when they are completed correctly. This is the tricky part, however. Many bodybuilders don’t complete the exercise correctly, and there isn’t a great deal of literature out there dedicated to proper completion of slow and effective barbell curls. Here are four tips for making your barbell curls more productive.

Back it up!

Keep your back straight for the entire duration of this movement. Slouching or bending over not only places your lower back and neck at risk of injury, but also removes the workload from the biceps and draws it to other parts of the body. If you have a tough time keeping your back straight, you may want to consider standing against a wall while completing your repetitions. Assuming you keep your elbows in, this will not be a problem. This of course, takes us to…

Elbows in!

Your elbows must remain against your body for the duration of your biceps curls. Allowing them to flare out provides some great additional strength when completing curls. However, it also takes the brunt of the workload and transfers it to the back, shoulders, neck, hips and forearms. Remember that the goal of biceps curls is to stimulate the two heads of the biceps. While efficiency is great in most facets of our lives, it doesn’t matter much when it comes to targeting certain muscle groups. We want this exercise to be very hard for the biceps. We need to do everything possible to ensure the biceps are being forced to suffer though a very painful workload. Keeping your elbows in keeps the biceps in play, which leads to biceps growth.

Lighten Up!

How much weight do you use for your heaviest sets of barbell curls? There’s a good chance you could peel about 20% off of the bar and see better results than you are seeing now. You don’t believe it? Look at the training DVDs of top bodybuilders. Even men like Ronnie Coleman keep their barbell curl weight at 135 or less most of the time. Yet you see 180-pound monsters at your gym with 15-inch arms using more weight every day, right? The key to biceps growth is feeling each muscle contraction in order to draw the most possible blood into the arms. You can’t do that when you’re breaking good form in order to heave more weight than you can handle. Keep the weights heavy, but manageable!

Speed Kills

Tempo means everything when it comes to upper arm training. The slower you can complete biceps curls, the more effective they will be in terms of building up new muscle mass. Many bodybuilders rush through their training trying to ‘pump” up the upper arms. The truth is that ten very slow repetitions with the same amount of weight will deliver a more lasting and meaningful pump. Treat your set of biceps curls as you would a relationship. The more time you put into it, the longer it will last. And we all love training biceps, right?

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