

When it grows larger, it pushes up the biceps and makes them look larger as well.Īlso, a well-grown brachioradialis muscle helps define your forearms and makes them look powerful. Aestheticsīulging biceps look good, but they are only one part of your upper arm. There are three main reasons to do hammer curls in addition to, or even instead of, bicep curls: aesthetics, blah, and injury prevention. Okay, so why would you want to hit the brachioradialis and the brachialis more than the biceps? This is also why pull-ups and chin-ups are different, by the way. Your forearm is not supinated during hammer curls, so other upper arm muscles are activated. The reason why the muscles exercised changes is because biceps are involved in forearm supination. When you twist the hammer curl as in the variant described above, the primary muscles exercised change during the exercise to hit your biceps more. But not nearly as much as with bicep curls. Oh, and those biceps get worked out some as well.

They also work out your brachialis, which is lower on your upper arm than are the biceps. This is actually a muscle in your forearm, one of those oft-overlooked forearm muscles also exercised by a forearm workout you can find here. Image by OpenStax College The primary muscle worked by hammer curls is your brachioradialis.

What are those muscles hit by hammer curls, anyway? What Muscles Do Hammer Curls Work? This is often called the dumbbell twist curl. This changes which muscles are exercised by the hammer curl. While the hammer curl is a great exercise, you can make a small change that causes it to bridge the gap between normal hammer curls and bicep curls.Īs you raise the dumbbell to your shoulder, rotate your forearm so your palm faces your chest at the top of the movement. You do not want to throw the weight around or let it drop, lest you risk injuring your elbow! A Twist on the Hammer Curl Make sure to move at the same slow speed, up and down.

Inhale as you lower the dumbbell back to its starting position.You will likely end up with the dumbbell right next to your shoulder. Pause once the dumbbell reaches your shoulder and becomes parallel to the floor.The dumbbell should be straight up and down when your elbow reaches 90 degrees. Hold your elbow against your torso so it doesn’t move as you pull the dumbbell up, toward your shoulder.The dumbbell should be front to back if there are two, they should be parallel. Hold the dumbbell in your hand with your hands by your side and your wrist rotated so the palm of your hand is facing inward.
#DUMBBELL HAMMER CURL HOW TO#
Otherwise, here are the instructions on how to do a hammer curl: If you want to workout both arms at once, mirror the following steps. They are easy to do, and you can do them with either both arms at the same time or just one. You can do a hammer curl seated or standing. How to Do a Hammer CurlĪnd here’s a video detailing the steps further: They a called hammer curls because the dumbbell moves vertically, sort of like a hammer being raised then struck against a nail.īe careful not to swing at the same speeds you would use when swinging a real hammer, though! Going too fast is a good way to torque your joints and force you into several weeks of rest. Hammer curls are a variant of bicep curls that uses a slightly different position to exercise a wider variety of muscles than are hit by bicep curls. Though you can use kettlebells, it’s smarter to start with dumbbells
