Hammer curls involves the lateral part of biceps and shoulder muscles that form and thickens the biceps and forearms. While many believe that the hammer iron brahialis and brachoradialis exclusively, the first thing he mercilessly stings is the lateral head of the biceps. With such load distribution you develop both brahialis located under the biceps, the development of which pushes biceps out even stronger, and brachoradialis muscle, which determines the thickness of your forearms. As you see, the benefit is enormous.

To start this exercise take a dumbbell in each hand using neutral grip (palms facing each other). Straighten yourself completely and bend slightly in the waist, as dumbbells are on the hips level. Look forward, tighten your lower back muscles and fix the natural curvature of the spine to the end set.

Now inhale and hold your breath. Tighten your biceps and lift one dumbbell to the shoulder. Elbows are located on the sides of the torso and must remain the same, so do not push them forward. As soon as the weight will be at the top of the chest, stop for 1-2 seconds, straining biceps and forearm even more. Exhale, and then slowly lower the dumbbell. Pause a bit at the lowest point and then lift the other dumbbell. This is considered to be one repetition.

Make sure that the upper arm remained motionless and held upright that all the time. If you move elbows forward, you just steal the load from the biceps.

The body must be fixed in an upright position. Do not pull the pelvis forward, helping the whole body to move the dumbbell from the dead point at the beginning. It is better to take the lighter weights instead. Remember that the correct form of movement is on the first place and weight load is on the second.

The last rule is keeping  your palms facing each other all the time. If you expand the dumbbell so that the top of the palm is pointing up, then the focus shifts away from the biceps.

Alternatively, you can raise both dumbbells simultaneously, but be careful in this case, because the closer you are to the end of the set, the more tired and more tempted to push the dumbbells all over you become. Therefore do not overtrain by such style.

Include hammer curls in your program and it won’t let you down!

Written by: Dennis Borisoff
© June  2010 www.gymper.com. All rights reserved. Reprint article with link only.