One of the most popular muscles, especially in beginners, are the biceps. And there is nothing surprising about it, because most of us like to boast about the size of the biceps brachii muscle. The biceps consist of two heads, a long and a short one. Anatomically, the biceps brachii muscle has one most important function – bending the arm at the elbow joint.
Barbell Forearm Flexion Standing
This is an exercise that every man knows. Usually, most people at the gym do them on their first day of training. Is this a mistake? Not at all. Standing barbell forearm bend is the most popular biceps exercise and one of the most effective. With exercises in the full range of motion, you can make very good use of the work of your biceps and build muscle volume accordingly.
Another advantage of this exercise is that it is easy to add weight. It is easier to add weight to the barbell than to increase the load of the dumbbells by 2 or 2.5 kg. Anyone who trains for a long time can see the difference between the possibility of adding kilograms on a barbell and the possibility of adding kilograms on dumbbells.
In this exercise, as in any other, you should work in the full range of motion and keep an eye on the tension and relaxation of the muscle in each repetition. Whenever you extend your arm with a barbell, it is worth tightening your triceps. This will allow the biceps brachii muscle to be fully stretched and allow it to work in its full range of motion.
In this exercise, it is important to place your feet parallel and tighten your abdomen, pull your shoulder blades together for retraction and depression and not to make excessive forward movements with your elbows. The elbows must not spread outwards. It is worth stopping at the end of the concentric phase, and in the eccentric phase (lowering) slow down for 2-3 seconds. This will allow your biceps to do their best work.
Dumbbell Forearm Flexion
Dumbbell curls are another exercise that you can see very often in the gym. Thanks to the use of dumbbells, the arms work unilaterally, i.e. separately. Forearm bending with dumbbells is an ideal exercise for people who have disproportions between one arm and the other. Working with dumbbells will allow you to even out the disproportions in the size and strength of the muscle. When bending arms with dumbbells, it is worth remembering not to perform the so-called flare during the concentric movement.
How to avoid this technical error? Try to keep your elbows close to your torso and avoid moving your elbows to the side. It is important not to use too much weight, as this will lead to technical errors. Of course, this does not mean that you have to perform every repetition perfectly to the point of exaggeration. Performing the so-called cheat curls, i.e. cheat movements, can also significantly affect the size and strength of our biceps. Of course, you have to distinguish between making cheated moves, which are acceptable, and those that are exaggerated. Usually, people who always try to perform perfect curls have the smallest biceps. A slight cheating while moving will not hurt anyone, provided that it does not affect the position of our body to a large extent.
It is acceptable to throw your arm slightly at the very beginning of the movement to lift the weight and complete the movement only with the strength of your biceps. If mistakes such as bending the lumbar spine too much or rocking the body start to creep in, let’s reduce the weight and pay more attention to the technique of performing the exercise. Cheat reps should be done to complete the set, not from the first rep. Let’s remember that.
Cheat repetitions are nothing more than the use of momentum in a part of a given movement. Mechanical tension is present all the time, but through the use of momentum, the main work is done only within a certain range of motion. In strength training, it is important to ensure that the vast majority of exercises are performed in the full range of motion. It’s not just about the biceps, but about all the other muscles.
Exercises in the prayer book
All exercises on the prayer book will be a good choice when it comes to developing biceps. It should be remembered that the appearance of our arms does not consist of just one muscle. There are three basic flexors of the elbows: the biceps brachii muscle (lat. musculus biceps brachii), which consists of two heads, short and long, the brachialis muscle (lat. musculus brachialis), the brachioradial muscle (lat. musculus brachioradialis). These are the main muscles that are involved in any bicep curl. Of course, to a greater or lesser extent, so it is important to diversify training in such a way that all flexors are equally engaged. This will allow for optimal development of the entire arm.
When bending the forearms on a prayer book with the wrists in the undergrip position, we mainly work the biceps brachii muscle, but if we change the position to a hammer grip, i.e. with the thumb pointing upwards, then the brachial and brachioradial muscles work more. When we work in the overhand position, we focus very much on the muscles on the forearm. These are small modifications that can make a big difference in arm training.
When it comes strictly to doing the curl on a prayer book, the principle is the same as in all other biceps exercises. We try to work in the full range of motion and strongly empathize with the work of the biceps themselves. Another piece of advice is not to try to squeeze the barbell with your hands as hard as you can at all costs, because then you will tire your forearms faster than your biceps.
It is also worth paying attention to the position of the shoulder and elbow when placed on the prayer book. If the shoulders are pushed forward too far, the forearms will be more involved in the work. This is probably not what anyone wants during biceps training, so it is worth paying attention to this small detail. If we want to isolate the work of the biceps, and we do not have access to a prayer book, we can perform forearm flexion based on the knee.