Today we are going to be doing an arm workout focusing on the biceps which consists of 3 different muscle building exercises. The first one is going to be seated two arm dumbbell curls. Then we’re going to move into one arm cable curls, and then finish up with concentration curls. So let’s get started!
Seated Two Arm Dumbbell Curls
The first exercise in our biceps workout is seated two arm dumbbell curls. This is a great choice for an overall mass builder for the arms. Make sure you always warm up your muscles with a set of 15-20 reps using a light weight in order to get some blood into your muscles and get fully warmed up. With this exercise, we will be doing two arms at the same time and curling the dumbbells up. You want to focus on using proper technique all the way through the movement with a nice and slow “negative” eccentric move coming down, and then a full contraction coming up on the concentric portion of this movement.
There’s actually a couple of different ways you can do this exercise and they all involve the way your wrists move during the movement. You can use supinating curls where you twist your wrists as you curl the dumbbells up, or you can do hammer curls where your wrists are in a fixed position throughout the exercise and this style works more for the outside of the biceps along with targeting the forearm muscles very well. Today, we will be doing the normal supinating curls. The first set is going to be about 12-15 reps for a warm up. After that, the next 2-3 sets will be in the range of 6-10 reps for each set.
One Arm Cable Curls
The second exercise in our biceps workout is one arm cable curls. You want to basically focus on keeping your elbow close to your body and try to get a nice tight contraction at the top when you curl the cable up. When you lower the weight down, always keep a slow tempo to target the eccentric portion to complete a full repetition. You want to do about 8-12 reps on this exercise and then switch to the other arm. Total sets will be in the range of 2-3 for this movement.
Seated Concentration Curls
The last exercise in this biceps workout is seated concentration curls. This is a great shaping movement to finish up your workout with because you’re able to really isolate the biceps muscle very well on this one. You want to focus on positioning your arm against your leg where your elbow or back of your upper arm rests on the inner part of your thigh which gives your arm stability and locks it into place when you perform the exercise. Try to avoid swinging the dumbbell with your upper body as you curl the weight up. Keep all of your focus and concentration on using only your biceps to curl the weight up to the top position. Maintain a nice and smooth tempo all the way up and all the way down with a tight contraction or “flex” of the biceps muscle at the top.
There are a few different variations of the seated concentration curls as well. You can do hammer concentration curls where your wrist is in a fixed position (not twisting or turning as you curl the weight up) and this works more of the outer part of the biceps muscle along with hitting the forearms really well. Or, you can do supinating curls which is when you begin with your wrists in a hammer curl position at the bottom and then you supinate and twist your wrist as you curl the dumbbell up.
The seated concentration curls exercise is a fantastic shaping movement for the biceps and a very good one to do at the end of your arm workout. This wouldn’t be an exercise that you would want to do at the start of your arm workout because you want to focus more on mass building exercises when you have maximum energy and strength reserves available which allows you to lift the heaviest amount of weight possible and overload the muscle group you’re training. These types of mass building exercises would be ones like barbell curls or alternating dumbbell curls for the biceps. So, keep the heavy mass builders for early on in your workout and then finish up with a nice shaping movement at the end to really burn out the muscle group!
2 Comments
ShapeFit, as usual, is providing us with excellent information. Many thanks for all the hard work you all do! I need a little help. During the holy month of Ramadan (fasting month for Muslims), I was going to the gym in the evenings, but I was unable to reduce my weight or lose any belly fat. Instead, I actually gained 3kg! I am facing an uphill battle to get rid of this extra body fat. Do you have any advice for me?
Hi Anwar – You might try cutting back on your starchy carbohydrate intake to reduce excess body fat. Carefully watch your intake of breads, cereals, pasta, rice and potatoes since these foods can wreak havoc on your insulin levels and promote fat gain if they are consumed in large amounts.