When someone asks you to “make a muscle,” you don’t roll up your pant leg and flex your calf or hunch over and show off your traps—you flex your biceps, dammit. And that’s why I’m never shocked when I witness average gym rats screaming and cursing during sets of curls, training their biceps with more intensity than they do any other body part. It’s the quintessential muscle, the mark of a guy who lifts. Everyone wants a nice pair of sleeve-huggers, and that’s fine by me. With that said, here are a few good ways to tweak basic curling movements to make them more productive for you—and to ignite a new jolt of growth. Hit them hard, hit them often, and enjoy the gains that come. Now, get to work!
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Edgar Artiga / M+F Magazine
Incline Dumbbell Curl
The Tweak
Keep your hands and wrists rotated outward.
The Execution
Sit on an incline bench set to about 60 degrees with a dumbbell in each hand. Rotate your hands and wrists outward (as far as your shoulders will allow) so your forearms are facing away from you. Curl the weight until the biceps are fully contracted. Hold the squeeze for 1 second before slowly lowering back to the bottom. Make sure arms are fully extended before beginning the next rep.
The Result
By rotating your hands and wrists outward while curling on an incline bench, you will force the biceps to stretch hard at the beginning of every rep, flooding them with more nutrient-rich blood for faster recovery and growth. Additionally, you’ll better target the inner head of the biceps in this position.
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Edgar Artiga / M+F Magazine
High-Cable Curl
The Tweak
Use the lat pulldown machine.
The Execution
Attach a short straight bar to the pulley of a lat pulldown machine. Secure your legs under the pads and then grab the bar with a shoulder-width grip, arms fully extended. Keep your torso upright as you curl the bar down and back behind your head. Make sure to flex the biceps hard at the contraction point for 1 to 2 seconds before slowly returning to the start position.
The Result
Because the elbows are up by the ears when performing this movement, the biceps become a less powerful flexor of the forearm. This forces the brachialis, found underneath the biceps, to become more active, helping ignite more growth in this muscle. Increasing the mass of the brachialis also pushes the biceps muscle higher, creating the illusion of a better “peak.”
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Edgar Artiga / M+F Magazine
Standing Barbell Curl
The Tweak
Hold the barbell with your wrists flexed downward.
The Execution
Grab a preloaded barbell that’s lighter than you would normally use with a shoulder-width grip. Curl the bar until your biceps are fully contracted, keeping elbows tucked in. Keeping the wrists in the same position as the ascent, slowly lower the bar back to the starting position.
The Result
Cocking the wrists downward removes the forearms from the equation, making the biceps work harder. Even though you can’t lift as much weight using this method, the increased tension on the muscle will result in more hypertrophy.
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Edgar Artiga / M+F Magazine
Barbell Curl
The Tweak
Perform the move seated.
The Execution
Sit on a bench that has an adjustable incline and set it to about 80 degrees. Grab a loaded straight bar with a shoulder-width grip and sit down on the bench, holding the bar just above the tops of your thighs. Curl until the biceps are fully contracted, hold the squeeze, then return to the starting point. Do not rest the bar on your thighs for the duration of the set.
The Result
These keep constant tension on the biceps. And because you’re performing only a partial curl, you can use pretty heavy weight. Personally, I love to occasionally finish off my biceps workout with this movement.
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Edgar Artiga / M+F Magazine
Seated Concentration Curl
The Tweak
Use a “hammer” grip when curling.
The Execution
Holding a dumbbell in one hand, secure yourself on a preacher bench, with your upper arm resting on the pad. Very strictly curl the dumbbell, with your palm facing in, until you feel your biceps contract. Hold for 1 to 2 seconds and then slowly lower the weight back down.
The Result
Like the lat pulldown curl, this variation places the biceps in a weaker position, causing the lesser-used brachialis to come into play. The hammer grip even further activates the brachialis. All in all this is a sick move for bettering your biceps peak.
