Best exercises to build your bicep muscles.
In your muscle building workout you may be tempted to spend more time training your bicep and triceps muscles than training your larger muscle groups such as your legs and chest. The bicep muscles along with the pectorals are the most desirable muscles to build but don't make the mistake of thinking "more" is always better. In muscle building training remember these three words, "quality not quantity".
The standing barbell bicep curl is one of the best exercises to perform to build bicep muscles. This exercise gives you a full range of motion, working your bicep muscles hard through the entire movement. You can either use a straight bar, or an EZ bar to perform the standing barbell bicep curl. The EZ bar is what I recommend using because there is less strain on your wrists than there is when using the straight bar.
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Pick up the barbell off the floor with your palms facing away from your body. Placing your hands shoulder width apart. Stand straight up with a straight back. Don't bend backwards. Step back with one foot for stability, only if it feels comfortable. Grip the bar tightly and slowly bring it towards your upper chest. Keep your elbows tucked into your sides. At the top of the movement pause, then slowly lower the bar to the starting position. Don't arch your back or swing the weight up. Focus on keeping control of the weight at all times. The key to the bicep curl is control of the weight. If you can't control the weight through the entire bicep curl, you may be lifting too heavy or performing too many reps.
The dumbbell curl is just one of the many types of bicep curl exercises. Stand straight up with the dumbbell weights to your side, your palms should be facing the outside of your leg. Keep your chest out and your back straight. With your left arm, raise the dumbbell up to your shoulder. Halfway through the movement, twist the dumbbell so that your palm is facing your bicep. Lower the dumbbell slowly and repeat for the right arm. When performing the dumbbell curl it is very important that you use strict form. Don't swing. You should have "control" of the dumbbell throughout the whole dumbbell curl.
Another variation of the dumbbell curl is the seated dumbbell curl. This dumbbell curl works the bicep muscles hard! Sit on an inline bench with your arms holding the dumbbells down by your sides. With your palms facing forward curl the dumbbell up to your shoulder area. When performing the seated dumbbell curl you can move both dumbbells at the same time.
There is also the preacher dumbbell curl. Sit on a preacher bench holding the dumbbell with one arm fully extended. Curl the dumbbell up towards your body. Use your other arm as a spotter if the dumbbell curl gets too hard for your arm.
You may also want to try the reverse dumbbell curl. This variation is identical to a standing dumbbell curl exercise except you twist the dumbbell the opposite way Your palms should face the floor increasing the pressure on your forearm muscles.
You may also try adding super sets to your bicep muscle training. With a super set you can work the same muscle twice or work opposing muscles. There are two reasons for the super set exercise. The opposing muscle super set is designed to save time in your workouts and the same muscle super set is designed to hit your target muscle extra hard to stimulate more growth .
One major factor in the success of your muscle building training is make the commitment to better than you used to be not better than anyone else.
