Curved Bar Curls: Targeted Biceps Work

Correct technique

1. Before performing the exercise, you need to stand up straight, holding a barbell with a curved bar with a wide grip. The palms face forward, and the elbow joints are pressed tightly to the body. This will be the starting position for curling your arms.
2. After exhaling, smoothly bend the arm at the elbow joint. The part of the arm from the elbow to the shoulder must remain motionless, since only the forearms are involved in the work.
3. The movement is performed until the biceps are fully contracted and the bar is level with the shoulders. At the top point of the amplitude, a short pause is maintained and the muscles are further tensed.
4. As you inhale, the bar smoothly lowers down to its original position.
5. 15-20 repetitions are performed. Beginner women are recommended to work with 12 kg, and beginner men with 20 kg.

This exercise can be performed in a block simulator from the lower block. A special EZ-handle is used for this. With its help, you can clearly feel the middle part of the biceps at the end point of the amplitude.

Pros of a curved neck

Traditionally, a curved barbell is used as part of exercises to work the triceps and biceps. Thanks to its anatomically more natural shape, it makes lifting easier and more isolated.

At the same time, the design of the curved bar allows for load variability. Various grip widths allow you to accelerate the achievement of results by training muscles using the shock principle. It will also provide greater safety when performing exercises with a curved bar. In addition, this particular barbell is most optimal for athletes with injured wrists and forearms.

Safety

Bent bar curls are simple exercises, but this does not mean that safety precautions can be neglected. Advanced athletes must work at racks, as their arms can get tired at any time under the influence of heavy weight. You can also use the help of a belaying companion. He should stand behind him, since only in this position can he catch the barbell.

Beginners are recommended to work with an empty bar. As a rule, its weight reaches only 10 kg, but at first this is quite enough. Once you feel that the exercise has become too easy, you can start using larger weights.

It is important to hold your wrists firmly in this exercise . There is no need to “break” them too much, as this leads to rapid fatigue of the joint. When working with heavy weight, such a movement can injure the joint.

Extrastrong – Strength training, Fitness and bodybuilding, Increasing muscle mass

24.01.2013

Curved barbell curls, Arnold Schwaznegger

Surely every athlete has held a barbell in his hands at least once in his life, but few can correctly characterize this equipment, although it does not at all belong to exotic sports equipment. In fact, everything is simple: a barbell is a sports equipment that is used only in strength sports, such as powerlifting, weightlifting and bodybuilding. In addition, almost all athletes use it during training, regardless of sports discipline. Naturally, everyone noticed that in the gym there are usually curved and straight barbells .

Curved barbell W bar

Preference is always given to a straight barbell with an Olympic-size bar (20kg), which is what is used in all kinds of strength competitions. However, in all this fuss, they forget about an equally practical barbell option - the EZ bar, also known as a curved barbell . Such a projectile, when used correctly, can bring enormous benefits. The only practiced example is biceps training, namely standard standing curls. It is not uncommon for athletes to use curved barbells , but they do not at all understand the true potential of such bars. Today we will try to talk in detail about the true meaning of such seemingly simple shells.

Curved barbell EZ bar

What is the difference between a curved bar and a simple bar?

First of all, its undulation. The main advantage of a curved bar is its convenience. There are often cases when performing a particular exercise puts quite a lot of stress on our wrists; in addition, straight barbells require fairly strong forearms. As you can see, the plus is quite significant, but that’s not all.

What are curved bars for?

The fact is, most of the human muscles use our forearms and wrists. A striking example is the pectoral muscle, the main functions of which are to bring the arm to the body and rotate the arm inward (pronation). Have you ever wondered why the bench press is only performed with an overhand grip? Any other grip would disable a large part of the pectoral muscles. Similar situations are observed with the shoulder girdle, arm and back muscles. But more on that a little later. The main takeaway from this paragraph is that curved barbells provide safety and can improve the performance of an exercise.

Curved barbell with ez and super ez bar

Types of curved vultures.

In fact, there are three options for curved bars : angled, wave and standard. You have already become familiar with the first one. As for the second and third types, everything is quite simple. The corner is distinguished by sharp, less often straight, corners, which actually elevate it to the EZ format. The wave, in turn, is completely devoid of sharp corners, which makes it most convenient when performing all kinds of French presses, etc. So, where should one type of neck be used? Exercises with a curved bar.

Jay Cutler, W-bar curls for biceps

1. Biceps – standing arm curls. Of course, barbell curls are the first exercise on our “curved” list. Its popularity is quite high, because in every gym there are several athletes who perform this movement. The load on the biceps can be different, with an emphasis on the long or short head. It all depends entirely on your grip. A curved barbell allows you to transfer most of it to the long biceps bundle, which is often called the external one. It is the one that borders the triceps and deltoid, and is also responsible for the appearance of your arm.

Of course, curls with an EZ bar cannot eliminate short buns from working. Take this into account when designing your training. Also try to alternate performing these bends with both a straight and a curved barbell .

Curved Barbell Extensions, Lee Priest

2. Triceps - French press. One of the best triceps exercises is traditionally performed with a straight barbell, which in turn puts a lot of stress on our wrists and forearms. Also, the elbow joints, which under the pressure of an incorrect grip are forced to bend to the sides, receive an unfavorable load. Of course, athletes use a straight bar for a reason. The fact is that the reverse position of the hands, which is used with a straight barbell, at the end point of the trajectory sets the maximum load on the medial head of the triceps, but the rest of the trajectory is rather unnatural.

Standing Curved Barbell Extensions, Triceps Workout, Lee Priest

That is why the editors of our portal recommend that you switch to a curved bar , which will allow you to perform the movement technically correctly, without all sorts of elbow joints and unfriendly load.

3. Triceps - bench press with a narrow grip. Another productive exercise for the triceps muscle, which is usually performed with an Olympic bar. To put it simply, a straight bar does not allow you to fully realize the potential of your triceps. Your task is to keep your elbows as close to your body as possible, while lowering the barbell to the middle of your chest. The anatomical structure of the arms simply will not allow this, as a result of which you will spread your elbows to the side.

Bench Press Close Grip Curved Barbell Triceps Workout Lee Priest

Take curved barbell with a shoulder-width grip, and the exercise will become several times more productive. In addition, this will allow you to turn off the pectoral muscles from work. Of course, the working weight will decrease slightly. Close-grip bench presses are the best exercise for the triceps, second only to weighted dips. 4. Deltas – barbell row to the chin. Again, traditions that force us to pick up a straight bar, which creates a very unnatural load on our hands. Moreover, many athletes use too narrow a grip, as a result of which the pull occurs due to the work of the trapezius muscles.

We highly recommend that you use an EZ bar. It should be taken slightly narrower than your shoulders. Such conditions will allow you to transfer all the work to the deltoid muscles when pulling the barbell to the chin.

Bent Over Row, Lee Priest, Latissimus Dorsi Training

5. Back – pull towards the belt. There are essentially no negative effects from using a straight bar in this exercise, but using a curved bar can improve the performance of the movement. The fact is that the anatomical features of the human structure will not allow you to place your elbows far behind your back using a standard grip in a bent-over row. By grasping the wave-shaped projectile with a reverse grip (palms up), you will be able to retract your elbows as much as possible and squeeze your shoulder blades together, as a result of which the load will be colossal.

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Common mistakes

Body rocking . In some cases, you can observe how athletes try to bend their arms holding a curved bar by swinging their torso. This does not need to be done, since the load will not be applied to the biceps normally. It is better to perform fewer repetitions, but without losing quality.

Raising your elbows to the side . This mistake occurs especially often among beginners, since they do not master the technique of this exercise. Raising the elbows leads to a decrease in the amplitude of flexion, so the biceps contract poorly. It is very important to keep your elbows pressed to your body, they should not swing or move.

Bouncing the barbell off your hips . This technique is often used by weightlifters to simplify the exercise. However, beginners who work with light barbells do not need to use this technique, as it will prevent them from using their arms properly.

Barbell curl

It is an accentuated exercise on the biceps brachii muscle. Performed while standing. Grip shoulder-width apart. We press our elbows to the body and leave them motionless throughout the entire exercise. Raise your arms to the maximum, hold them in this position for 1.5-2 seconds and strain your biceps as much as possible.

To isolate this muscle more, and to prevent cheating, you can press your back and elbows against the wall and perform the EZ-shaped exercise. This way the biceps will be pumped most effectively.

Useful tips

1. The load on the biceps directly depends on the degree of curvature of the bar: the more the bar is curved, the higher the load.
2. You don't need to throw your arms too high up. In other words, the bar should not rise to shoulder level, since towards the top point of the amplitude the load will begin to decrease, which will negatively affect the efficiency of the entire exercise. In this case, the hands at the top of the movement are always in front of the elbows.
3. There is no need to move your elbows back when lifting the weight and forward when lowering. It is enough to move your elbows 5 cm while lifting the barbell, and then return them to their original position.
4. There is no need to swing your whole body, since the bar rises not by inertia, but due to muscle strength.
5. At the bottom, the arms are fully extended so that the biceps can fully stretch under the load. This movement greatly improves the amplitude and efficiency of the exercise.
6. It is important to keep your shoulders and back straight. The chest is straightened and the shoulders are pulled back slightly so that the posture always remains level.

Few people know the secrets of how to quickly pump up their pectoral muscles. Our specialists are ready to share with you!

The correct technique for bending the arms on the upper block is always available at: /silovye/ruki/s-bitseps/sgibanie-ruk-s-verhnego-bloka.html.

French press

A very famous exercise in bodybuilding. This is an isolation exercise for the triceps.

Perform both lying and sitting, with both a straight bar and an EZ-shaped bar. When performing the lying version, the bar is lowered to the parietal part of the head, and when performing the standing version, it is lowered to the back of the head.

Instructions for implementation:

1. Lie down on a bench, place your hands so that the bar is located at chin level.
2. We fix the elbows in one position, the shoulder part is motionless.
3. Slowly lower the bar until it almost touches your head and then sharply press it back to the opposite position.

In the standing version: hold the barbell above your head, keep your elbows still, and lower the barbell to the back of your head.

How to choose a barbell?

A barbell is a sports tool used for strength training. It consists of three elements, the correct choice of which is very important. Let's start with the bar - a steel rod, at the ends of which there are discs (plates). How do different vultures differ from each other? Mainly length and shape. More details about the types of vultures are described in the video for this article, and in the text we will focus only on the most common ones.

The men's bar is 2.2 meters long and weighs 20 kg, the women's bar is slightly shorter (2.1 m) and lighter (15 kg). In addition to this, the following types of griffins are also distinguished:

• Straight neck.
• Broken griffin.
• Parallel grip bar.

Bench press sitting or standing

The best exercise for the deltoid muscles, also, with a wide grip, affects the upper chest, great for training at home. When standing, the load is placed on the spine. You can lower the barbell to your chest or behind your head.

Let's consider the option of performing it while standing and lowering onto the chest with a wide grip:

1. Hold the barbell overhead.
2. Lower the barbell to your chest and press it to the starting position.

Be sure to keep your back straight, you can even lean against the wall,

How to choose discs for a barbell?

Discs are an extremely important element of the barbell. They allow you to adjust the weight of the lifted loads and adapt it to our needs. You need to think about what type of drives to choose. One of the selection criteria is the material from which they are made. Most often it differs:

• concrete;
• steel;
• cast iron.

Although much depends on the user's personal preferences and available financial resources, we do not recommend using concrete discs. Of course, it is tempting to spend the lower price and get a relatively inexpensive barbell, but this material, when compared to steel discs, is extremely fragile. Plates can easily be crushed, for example by removing them from the bar and putting them back in the wrong place. It's better to buy steel or cast iron wheels - the price is not much higher, but thanks to the more durable material, you don't have to worry about their condition.

When choosing disks for a barbell, you need to take into account not only the material from which they are made, but also their weight. Most often, beginners are recommended to work with the following weight:

• 25 kg (Olympic discs)
• 20 kg
• 15 kg
• 10 kg

It is worth buying discs of different sizes. Thanks to this, we can more accurately control the weight of the barbell. When placing cymbals, remember to place the same weight on both sides of the bar. The order in which you place the disks is not random - you need to start from the heaviest to the lightest.