Hi Guys! I hope that you will read this article carefully. Not only do I explain exactly how to do a biceps curl, I talk about some of the most common mistakes people make when exercising their biceps. Proper form is really important, for a number of reasons:

• You will get the most results for the effort you are putting forth
• You will reduce your chance of injury
• You will be a good example for others in your gym

Normally, I write longer more detailed articles about bicep workouts as a whole, but I just had to get this one out to keep from pulling at my hair and gnashing my teeth. I’m at the gym yesterday, and I saw a couple of things that really frosted my yarbles:

The first was a guy with a fair amount of muscle doing barbell curls. Nothing wrong with that. But he is using classic noob form! I am used to seeing this with kids, and people who obviously don’t know their way around the gym, but this guy had done his time, and had more than a few bicep workouts under his belt. I made me wonder if there are a lot of you out there pulling this crap. It is important to do your bicep workout properly. A quick review:

• He was using too much weight for his biceps.If you have to lean forward at the beginning of the movement, you can’t lift that much weight!
• If you have to lean back at the top of a biceps curl, you’re using too much weight! Get past your ego, and lift only what you can actually lift.
• That lean back at the top may cost him a nasty muscle strain. He is taking a huge risk here. A lower back strain or muscle pull will put him out of commission for a few weeks.
• He is short changing himself. Improper form = poor progress. Without proper form, you are not stressing the target muscle. How can you expect to get stronger.
• Cheating the barbell up makes his workout log useless. What is he actually recording in there? It sure isn’t how much he can curl!

For once and for all, here's how to do a proper biceps curl:

Take a weight that you can actually curl in good form. What is good form? Read on…

With your arms extended, get a little bit of a crook into your elbows. Now the barbell should be resting on your thighs, and your elbows are a little behind your stomach. You need that little bit of bent elbow to protect the tendons in your arm.

There should be a slight bend in your knees as well. This takes stress off of your lower back, and should make you feel more stable.

Tense your core. Your abs should be tight. Picture your torso as being a single piece of steel.

Important: your body does NOT move during this exercise! Do not swing your body to and fro to get the weight up!

Curl the weight up to your chest. Use a deliberate pace. If you like, you can squeeze the biceps at the top of the movement, but I have never seen a benefit from this myself. Lower it back to the starting position. Rinse and repeat. Was that so hard?

I think it is vital that this exercise is properly performed.

After all, in various forms, it really is the only biceps workout you can do. They are all just variations on a curl of one sort or another.

You may remember that at the beginning of this article I said there were a couple of things I saw that were upsetting. Well the second one was almost unbelievable. But I swear I saw this with my own two eyes.

The nightmare in the gym:

We have a trainer at my local gym. He looks like maybe he played football in high school, but really his physique is nothing special. He was taking an older gentleman through his workout.

Now, when I say older, I mean about 65. And big, as in sloppy fat. I would guess this geezer was about 5’ 10” and maybe 225.

So what do you think he had him doing? A low intensity full body exercise, right? Something that involved a lot of muscle mass to burn calories, with a low risk of injuries. Maybe deep knee bends while holding onto something for balance? How about rows or benches with moderate weight?

Not a chance

He has this guy standing on one of those silly half bosu-balls, balancing on one foot, doing dumbbell curls! What an idiot! Let’s review this shall we?

• The exercise was not appropriate to the trainee’s skill level. The “trainer” had to keep one hand on the guy to make sure he didn’t fall off of the ball.
• The exercise had nothing to do with the trainee’s needs. He wasn’t burning calories, or working his heart, or building muscle. He was simply doing the gym equivalent of walking along the top of a garden wall.
• The exercise was ridiculous on the face of it. Can anyone tell me what the real world application is for this crap? Are we all suddenly going to be in a position where we are standing on a pier post, a la Karate Kid, and have to pull a jug of milk off of a passing harbor seal?

This is exactly the kind of stuff that makes fitness trainers a subject of ridicule among those of us who actually understand how to build our bodies. Kind of a shame, actually.

Anyhow, that’s it for now. Thanks for hanging in there with me. Please check out the links below for more awesome non-bosu ball health and fitness info!

Chest workout emphasis part of a muscle
Incline movements for a better workout
Should the cheat curl be part of your bicep workout?
Protein Shaker Bottles - A Quick Review
My Best Chest Workout Ever
Weight Benches – Reviews, Attachments and How to Buy
Olympic Weights