BARBELL
CURL
CORRECT FORM
 1)
Hold the bar shoulder-width apart (your little finger should be touching
your thigh). Keep feet shoulder width apart as well.
2) Raise the bar in an
arc by bending at the elbows. Lift the barbell until your elbows
are completely bent.
Keep your arms at your
sides while lifting. Do not swing or use momentum to lift the bar
upward.
3) Contract the biceps
at the top of the movement.
4 ) You should feel this entirely in the belly of the biceps muscle
and not in the shallow portion of the front of the elbow.
5) Slowly lower
the bar under control. Do not bounce or lean backward at the bottom
to begin the next repetition.
6) Inhale as you
lower the weight, exhale as you lift the weight.
MUSCLES
USED
SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS/PRECAUTIONS
The common mistakes
made with a barbell curl are mentioned above, which include bouncing
at the bottom, arching the back and using momentum to complete the
lift. This is done obviously to enable you to lift more than you actually
can.
If raw strength
is what you are after, swinging the barbell with momentum is a nice
way to try to overload the muscle. But know that you are putting your
back at some risk for injury by lifting in this manner. It is always
better to simply use good form, and lift what you can.
You may notice there
is no mention of placing your hands very close together or wide
apart. This is an old myth that supposedly allowed you to control
whether or not you emphasized your inner/short head (close-grip)
or outer/long head (wide grip) of the biceps.
Gripping in
this manner increases your risk of an sustaining a repetitive elbow
joint injury, especially when curling with a wide grip on the bar.
This not only places your medial (inner) elbow joint ligaments in
an abnormal, stressful position under weight, but also risks straining
your ulnar nerve (the nerve that wraps around your elbow on the
inner side making it your "funny bone"). Stretching this
out can cause micro-tears in the sheath around the nerve, resulting
in pain and inflammation.
If you want
to emphasize the inner head of the biceps, try using a dumbbell
supinated curl, which is biomechanically much more sound.
EFFECTIVENESS
This is the bread-and-butter
exercise for bicep development. It is very easy to perform this incorrectly
as mentioned above. For some, the dumbbell
bicep curl is safer (less bicep tendon strain) and more effective
because it allows you to move in a more independent, natural arc.
With a barbell curl, you are locked into one hand position.
HELPFUL WITH TRAINING FOR
Bodybuilding, Power lifting,
Martial arts, Boxing, Wrestling, possibly Football and Baseball.
|
