Muscles Targeted: The incline bench alternating dumbbell curls primarily targets the biceps muscles along with the forearms as a secondary muscle group. This exercise is great because of the angle of the incline bench which allows your arms to really stretch out and it elongates the biceps during the movement. This allows the biceps muscles to really work hard during the exercise.
Exercise Advice: Take an adjustable bench and adjust the angle at a slight incline of around 45 degrees. Safely position yourself on the bench and place your feet flat on the floor. Since this exercise is a little more difficult to perform than the traditional seated curls, make sure to start out using very light dumbbells to get the feel of the exercise and to master the technique before going to heavier dumbbells. While laying back on the bench, let both dumbbells hang down to your sides with your palms facing in towards you. Using one arm, slowly raise the dumbbell up while curling or supinating your wrist. Curl the dumbbell up the top position and then slowly lower it back down to the starting position. Repeat with the other arm to complete one full repetition. The incline angle of this exercise allows a very good stretch in your biceps since your arms will be hanging from a 45 degree angle. You will really be able to feel the stretch once you sit on the bench and perform the exercise.
Things To Avoid: Due to the angle of the bench, your arms will be stretched out on this exercise, so you really want to avoid a jerky or quick tempo on this exercise since it could result in an injury. The best thing to do is grab very light dumbbells and see how this exercise feels before going heavier with the weight. Make sure your feet are placed firmly on the ground which will help stabilize yourself during the exercise. Also avoid raising your back off the bench when you curl the dumbbells up and down. You want to keep your back in a fixed position flat on the bench to ensure safety and proper exercise technique.
Reps and Sets: The best repetition range for building muscular biceps is between 8-12 reps per set. On this exercise, you do not want to go too low with the reps and heavy with the weight since the angle is a little different and the stretch in your biceps is intense. To get a great biceps workout, your overall number of sets should be around 4-6 total. Since the biceps are a smaller muscle group, you don’t need to blast them with 12-15 sets or this will most likely result in overtraining issues which will quickly put a stop to your gains since your muscles will be too overworked. Only train your biceps once per week for the best results. You will also be working your biceps during back day, so they will get sufficient stress during the week. Hit your arms with short and intense workouts and let them rest, recover and grow!
Other Exercises To Use: A couple of other great muscle building exercises to combine the incline bench alternating dumbbell curls with include Barbell Curls and Cable Curls. This will allow you to really hit the biceps from all different angles and shock your muscles into growth!
