Strength and power athletes can use the barbell curl, primarily to improve arm and grip strength, enhance eccentric loading potentials (injury prevention from strains and tears) during heavy deadlift and pulling training. Here’s more about how stronger biceps can help in specific strength sports: Below are three primary training goals and programming recommendations when utilizing the hammer curl into specific training programs. These are general guidelines for effectively training this movement and by no means should be used as the only way to program hammer curls. For More Strength

Wide-overhand bent-0ver barbell row: The perfect compound exercise to strengthen the entire posterior chain. Stimulates the lats, traps, rhomboids, rear delts and of course the biceps and forearms. Besides looking good — because a pair of meaty arms are aesthetic — bigger biceps serve some practical functions, too. The biceps muscle is a key player in most pulling exercises. Anytime your pull a heavy deadlift, your biceps are involved. The same is true for pull-ups, barbell rows, and more. Strengthening the biceps will carry over to those moves as well as help protect them from injury. Elbows in a resting position right below the shoulders, generally when curling your wrist moves even lower than this point. Avoid this at all costs. Want bigger arms? Then you need to leave your ego at the door and focus on the contraction. This means lowering the weight on the bar and performing the barbell curl slowly and with intention. A goo rule of thumb is to use a weight that you can perform for two more reps than your target reps. Hammer curl alternatives give lifters more control over the muscles they engage by isolating specific ones, like the brachioradialis.The preacher curl is a biceps curl variation that can be done with the barbell, dumbbells, EZ bar, or machine (just to name a few). This exercise has the lifter place the arm at an angle, on a preacher curl bench, with the arm and shoulder supported on a pad (to minimize movement), to help isolate the bicep completely. Chin-Up BUY: Rep Fitness Stainless Steel Curl Bar Best Curl Bar for Olympic Weights - Body Solid Chrome Bar Performing hammer curls with dumbbells is definitely going to help you to build some of those stabilising muscles that come in handy when you’re working on other compound exercises. Most people think of hammer curls as a biceps exercise — because it mainly is — but it can help you create crushing grip strength, too. The neutral-grip position that you hold the dumbbell in recruits more of the elbow flexor muscles in your forearms along with muscles like the flexor carpi radialis and extensor carpi ulnaris. Because you’re generally stronger in a neutral-grip position, you can also use heavier weight, overloading the forearms and biceps more than using exercises like concentration curls. Wrist Stability Coach’s Tip: If your goal is to strengthen your grip, increasing the overall grip diameter of the dumbbell — by using Fat Gripz — can help increase the muscular activity of your forearm muscles. ( 1) Due to the decrease in overall strength while using Fat Gripz, it’s recommended to perform additional training volume to target grip strength specifically. Step 2 — Curl the Weights

The hammer curl is done with the wrist in a neutral position (palms facing each other), rather than being supinated (palms facing your face) and/or pronated (palms facing the floor). Neutral-grip movements may increase the stability and strength of the muscles surrounding the wrist, enhancing overall injury resilience of the wrist joint and surrounding tissues. Muscles Worked by the Hammer CurlJarrett, C. D., Weir, D. M., Stuffmann, E. S., Jain, S., Miller, M. C., & Schmidt, C. C. (2012). Anatomic and biomechanical analysis of the short and long head components of the distal biceps tendon. Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery, 21(7), 942–948. doi:10.1016/j.jse.2011.04.030 A shaft finish indicates how durable and rust-resistant your curl bar is. In general, it's a good rule of thumb to go with a chrome, steel, copper, or Cerakote finish. You should look for a coating that enhances a number of physical performance properties including abrasion and wear resistance, corrosion resistance, chemical resistance, impact strength, and hardness. Sleeve Finish If you’re looking for a curl bar, you’re likely pretty well immersed in the fitness world and interested in exploring these more niche territories. However, curl bars can be used for a variety of lifting exercises and you should consider how you plan on using your bar before deciding which one would be best for you. Do you simply need it for some variety in your training? Are you going to use it with a cable machine? Do straight barbell curls hurt your elbows? Different curl bars will suit different scenarios better than others, so be sure you’re looking for bars you can use to reach your personal goals, rather than just grabbing the cheapest one on the market. Your Budget Some athletes don’t consider this variation a curl since the arms are not the primary focus, but the motion and equipment make it ideal for people hoping to work for more muscle groups at once. Swinging hammer curls work the abs, delts, and traps along with the brachialis muscles.