How to Do Barbell Curls for Bigger Biceps

The original barbell curl was probably performed about three minutes after the barbell was invented, and it has been a gym staple ever since. This timeless exercise has been trusted to build a set of bulging biceps. Unfortunately, weightlifters have strayed away from this classic exercise. It’s time to start over and find the right way to build this effective bicep workout.

Exactly How to Do the Barbell Curl

Visually, the barbell curl seems like a very simple exercise – just curling your arms. In fact, there are a few extra things going on behind the scenes that can take you from having decent biceps to having nice arms.

Step 1 – Hold it Up

Stand with a straight barbell in your hands, slightly wider than your hips, palms facing up. Your arms should be fully extended. Retract your shoulder blades, taking care to keep your chest flat. Contract your triceps, making sure your biceps are fully extended. Your biceps should be slightly touching the outside of your chest.

Tip: If you have medium or short arms, a standard hand size will work well. If you have fairly long arms, you may benefit from a grip that is wider than hip width. Gripping too tight will cause your arms to internally rotate a lot at the shoulder, which can increase joint stress.

Step 2 – Curl the Weight

Contract your biceps as you exhale. Keep your shoulders in the position and continue curling until your biceps are completely relaxed. When you finish the movement, curl your wrists toward your body to keep a tight grip on the barbell. This helps to fully contract the biceps while strengthening the forearm, wrist, and grip.

At the top position, your joints should be slightly further in front of your body. This is OK, as it further activates the biceps (specifically the long head of the muscle). (1) Just make sure not to over-mobilize your shoulders and use them as the primary carrier of movement.

Type Tip: Keep the inner biceps engaged with the outer chest or serratus anterior throughout the exercise. This is a good way to ensure you are in the correct position to maximize biceps engagement and prevent your elbows from moving too far forward or backward.

Step 3 – Return to Start

Take a brief breath before you lower the weight under control. Again, pay attention to where the inner biceps are engaging (chest and serratus anterior). Keep your shoulders back.

It is important to control the lowering of the barbell. Aim for a few seconds of eccentricity, which will recruit more muscle fibers, giving you a better opportunity to work more muscle.

Are your shoulders rolling forward? You should finish the movement the same way you started it—with your inner biceps slightly outside your chest or serratus anterior, your elbows in front of your body, your shoulder blades pulled back, and your chest lifted.

How To Do The Barbell Curl (Construction Video)

Barbell Curl Mistakes to Avoid

Like many exercises, the barbell curl is both effective and simple if performed correctly. However, there are some common mistakes that can occur if you don’t pay attention to strategy.

Too much upper body language

Turning your torso back and forth as you curl the barbell back and forth is the quickest way to not see results and potentially get injured. Not only does it reduce muscle stress on your biceps, but turning the weight is a clear sign that the weight you are trying to move is too heavy to lift with strict form.

Lifting the weight with your entire upper body instead of focusing on your biceps also increases your chances of stressing your lower back. This is a potentially chronic injury that can affect your entire training program over the long term.

The only exception is when you intentionally move very heavy weights with your entire body in order to highlight the eccentric (the lowering phase) with strict control. This is a specific exercise variation that will be discussed in a later section. It is a deliberate movement designed to distribute the force through the legs, back, and shoulders, rather than swinging your hips and placing stress entirely on your lower back.

Avoid this: Keep your shoulder blades pulled back and tighten your abs and glutes during each rep to better utilize muscle power. Control the descent for 2 to 3 seconds to reduce the need to swing the weight and engage the biceps more effectively.

Grip Too Wide

Some lifters mistakenly believe that doing the bench press with a very wide grip will increase the width of their chest. Many lifters also make the mistake of doing curls with an extra-wide grip in the hope that this will shape their biceps differently. The body does not do this.

An incorrect grip increases the risk of stress on the forearm and biceps tendons at the elbow joint because the stress is not focused on the muscle itself. When too much stress is placed on the arm muscles and you fatigue during a set, damage can occur, leading to a torn biceps ligament.

Avoid this: Refer to the technique set-up and grip width that is appropriate for your arm or leg length. If you have longer arms, you are more likely to need a wider grip to maintain the relative stress on the muscles from use, and the grip should be away from the shoulders and should be twice the width of your hips. Otherwise, keep your hands close to hip width.

Benefits of Barbell Curls

Barbell curls have long been used to build size and strength in the biceps. Let’s take a closer look at the many benefits of this basic exercise.

For Beginners

The barbell curl is a great exercise for new lifters because of its easy learning curve, simple technique, and ability to perform the exercise with ease. It is a very effective basic lift that provides an effective and simple introduction to direct arm training.

Direct Bicep Stimulation

The barbell curl only requires joint flexion, which is the primary feature of the biceps, not other body parts. Because of this focused exercise, it is one of the most effective exercises for building size and strength in the biceps, in particular.

Powerlifting Potential

If you want to build strength, you need to lift fairly heavy weights. Compared to other biceps exercises, barbell curls allow you to put the heaviest weights possible on your biceps. This can lead to overall strength gains, especially in stretching exercises like deadlifts and rows.

Muscles Worked by the Barbell Curl

The barbell curl is essentially a single joint (isolation) exercise and is one of the most effective exercises for primarily targeting the biceps, as well as the lower arm as the secondary moving arm. The barbell curl does add a small amount of activity at the shoulder joint, which also activates the anterior deltoid (front shoulder muscle) as an additional moving arm.
For this reason, some lifters consider it a multi-joint (compound) exercise, which is the most technical interpretation, usually when they overemphasize or emphasize the elbow elevation position at the top of the lift.

Biceps

The biceps is a two-headed muscle, with the long head located on the outside of the muscle and the short head located on the inside of the muscle. The long head connects to the shoulder blade and the short head connects to the upper arm, with both heads attached near the elbow. When the elbow is flexed, the long head is recruited to move the arm at the shoulder, which is why both heads are triggered.

Lower Arm

The lower arm includes the wrist flexors aligned with the palm side of the hand and the wrist extensors on the upper side of the lower arm. When you curl weights, both of these muscles actively work to hold the barbell and hold it.

Anterior Deltoids

The deltoids (shoulder muscles) are made up of three separate heads – the anterior head (front), lateral head (side), and posterior head (back). Each head is triggered to move the arm in its own plane. During a barbell curl, the anterior deltoids help lift the arm while the barbell is held in a fully bent position.

Who the Barbell Curl Is For

Any weightlifter who steps into a gym can benefit from incorporating the barbell curl into their training program. It is a flexible and simple movement that can be programmed for a variety of purposes. This exercise will help increase muscle mass, strengthen arms and grip, and prevent injuries in athletes who are at higher risk for bicep or joint injuries.

Strength Athletes

Strength athletes, including powerlifters, strongmen, and powerhouses, will find that increasing bicep strength can improve safety during heavy pushing and pulling exercises and improve grip strength. Lightweight, high-repetition barbell curls can also have preventive and restorative benefits for joint health.

Physique Athletes

When it comes to building stronger arms, the barbell curl offers the most bang for the buck for any physique-focused weightlifter. The barbell curl can accommodate heavier weights than many other bicep exercises, allowing for a wider range of program options to stimulate more muscle development.

Exactly how to Program the Barbell Curl

Even though barbell curls are easy to do, don’t assume you can just walk into the gym and knock the shit out of people unprepared. Here are some effective exercise options you can use in your next workout.

Heavy Weight, Low to Moderate Reps

To optimize strength, inserting 3 to 5 reps in the 4 to 8 rep range is a good place to start. Use a weight that leaves you with at least 2 reps “in the bin,” as curling very heavy weights to muscle failure can interfere with strategy. Resting for 2 minutes and 30 seconds to 3 minutes after each set will ensure you’re able to continue lifting at your best effort.

Moderate Weight, Moderate Reps

To take advantage of muscle growth, aim for 3 to 4 sets in the 6 to 12 rep range. This will definitely give you an increase in training volume, which is beneficial for building muscle. Increasing sets and volume will definitely allow you to build better coordination of movements, which will allow you to better utilize your biceps.

Barbell Curl Variations

The standard barbell curl can be built around using certain variations to suit the individual needs of the lifter or general variation in training.

EZ-Bar Curl

If holding a straight barbell with your palms up (lying on your back) causes pain, this very subtle, very effective variation can relieve pain in the wrist and arm joints. The angled grip reduces the amount of wrist work required to maintain a full palms up grip, which reduces stress on the elbow, forearm, and wrist joints.
The overall execution of this exercise is the same as the straight barbell curl. The angled grip also slightly changes the movement and incorporates more of the forearm muscles into the movement.

Cable Curl

Attaching a straight bar to a low pulley cable will provide consistent tension throughout the entire range of motion. There are two very effective ways to apply this variation. The first option is to stand upright, using a cable pulley, and follow the exact same technique as the barbell curl.

Another more intense option is to lie on the ground and perform the same curl. This is one of the most restrictive curl variations, as cheating with a torso rotation is not possible. This is also a great biceps finisher at the end of a workout, with the focus on maximizing the amount of pressure to fully exhaust all muscle fibers.

Eccentric Barbell Curl

This variation is all about depressing the biceps while reducing the rep portion. Research shows that stretching the muscles under pressure creates a lot of muscle pressure, which better stimulates muscle growth.

The goal is to take 5 to 8 seconds to lower the barbell from the top position to fully extended arms. This specific variation is one where you can use a heavier than normal weight and do a cheat rep to bring the weight into the starting position. Since biceps tightening isn’t an issue, use the strength of your legs and back to lift the weight – don’t just swing with your back.

When should you do a barbell curl?

If your focus is on strengthening and building bigger biceps, it’s best to do it at the beginning of your workout. If you just want to incorporate some straight-line biceps work into your upper-body focused workout, add this at the end of your workout after you’ve trained your larger muscle group.

Like many exercises, the barbell curl is both effective and simple when done correctly. Many lifters also make the mistake of doing the curl with an extra-wide grip in the hopes that it will shape their biceps in a different way. Compared to other biceps exercises, the barbell curl allows you to put the most possible weight on your biceps. During the barbell curl, when the barbell is in a fully flexed position, the anterior deltoids help lift the arms. Lightweight, high-repetition barbell curls can also have restorative and preventative joint health benefits.