This angled position minimizes shoulder involvement and keeps tension on the biceps at the end ranges of motion; better isolation of the biceps. How you structure your volume (sets and reps) will determine whether you gain more strength or muscle.

This move targets all the muscles on the front of your upper arm in every rep, using both heads of the biceps – brachii and brachialis – on the way up, and the brachioradialis when you go palms-down for the descent. You can choose to do hammer curls standing, but you’re only going to increase the chance of performing the exercise with a swinging movement, which is best avoided. They’re particularly helpful in building biceps strength — curl bars can effectively target both the short head and the long head. It can also be a good alternative to the traditional biceps curl if you’re looking for more variety.It's got hybrid sleeves, with one needle bearing and one bushing per sleeve, providing the perfect combination of spin and stability. To maximize your training, you should utilize a multitude of training methods which will include free weights, cables, and machines. The swinging hammer curl is a hammer curl variation that focuses on the upper back, arm, and ab muscles for bodybuilders, weightlifters, and strongmen. Because the biceps brachii crosses both the elbow and shoulder joints, it creates motion for both joints. A conventional, supinated bicep curl, will improve the peak of your bicep, because of the increased activation of the short head of the bicep brachii,” says Buckton, “but a hammer curl is more about increasing the thickness and the overall development and strength of the arm and the forearm, which is going to assist more with bigger compound exercises where there's a more of a pronated grip like pull-ups or wide grip pull-downs.

However, to work on overall girth of your arms, the hammer curl is a perfect exercise to add to your routine. Mixing up your grip is a great long term strategy to ensure you keep challenging your body, avoid overtaxing one group of muscles, and keep setting PRs. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Hold an EZ-bar in an underhand grip with your arms extended and then curl the bar up towards your chest, keeping your elbows in to your sides.

Trying to use momentum to lift is normally caused by people choosing weights that are too heavy for them.