Shape and Firm Your Arms by Lifting
Bicep curls may seem easy to do, but even small mistakes can ruin the move`s effectiveness. For example, if your wrist curls during the exercise, you`re actually using your lower arm to move the weight. And momentum doesn`t help you one bit. Swinging the weights requires other muscles to assist. To focus on biceps, control the curl with just that muscle group. All it takes a light weight, slow movements and exact form.
To stabilize your elbows, squeezing your arms to your sides, as though you`re holding a pencil in your armpit. This position uses the upper back and arm muscles to hold your elbows in place. Then, stabilize your shoulder blades by thinking about pulling your shoulders back and down. By doing this, the biceps can do the work.
As for hand position, safe and efficient barbell or cable curls should be done with a wide grip. Close-grip curls will hurt your elbows and cause tendonitis, commonly called tennis elbow. Proper grip is determined by where your arms hang naturally when you turn your palms to face forward, which is been caleed the “carrying angle”.
To find the right spot, stand straight, letting your arms hang in a relaxed manner. Now, turn your tumbs outward to your arms face forward. Your hand will probably raise upward a little bit. The most comfortabel height, with your thumbs turned out, is the best starting position for barbell or cable curls.
Range of motion is also commonly misunderstood. Just because you can go there, doesn`t mean you should go there. When lifting, use the muscle in the range where it is strong. For bicep curls, the muscle is weakest at the beginning of the rep, or when the arm is fully extended, and strongest when fully contracted. It`s most likely to be injured when the arm is almost straight.