Muscles Targeted: The standing dumbbell hammer curls is a great exercise not only for your biceps but also for your forearms. The great thing about this exercise is that it really targets the brachialis muscle which is the knotty muscles on the outside of the arm. The brachialis is a key muscle group to work to really develop impressive arms and the hammer curls is a great exercise for this. Make sure to start with a very light weight in order to properly perform the exercise technique correctly. Since you will be lifting both dumbbells up at the same time, its important that you take a shoulder width stance with your knees slightly bent to give yourself a solid foundation. Perform the movement in a slow and controlled fashion in order to really feel the burn in the biceps muscles. You might even want to count while performing this exercise to ensure you are doing your repetitions slow enough by lifting the weight in 4 seconds and lowering the weight in another 4 seconds.
Exercise Advice: Grab two dumbbells while standing and position your feet at a shoulder width stance. Let both dumbbells hang to your sides with your palms facing in towards you. Lift both dumbbells up to the top position while keeping your palms facing in. Do not curl or supinate your wrists on this exercise. Not allowing your wrists to twist is the key to working your brachialis muscle on this exercise. From the top position, slowly lower the dumbbells down to the starting position. Make sure to warm-up with very light dumbbells to get your muscles warm and to also get the movement perfected if you have never performed it before.
Things To Avoid: As mentioned above, the key thing on this exercise to avoid is curling your wrists while lifting the dumbbells to the top position. Keep your palms facing in throughout the entire range of motion from start to finish. Also, make sure to avoid jerky or fast movements. You really want to focus 100% of the movement on your biceps, forearms and brachialis muscles. If you swing the weight with your back, you’re only cheating yourself so make sure to always use strict form.
Reps and Sets: For overall muscle growth, focus on 8-12 reps per set for this exercise. You can actually go higher on the reps and lighter on the weight if you have never performed this exercise. This will allow you to learn how to practice strict exercise technique to ensure you are performing it correctly. Shoot for 2-3 sets for the standing dumbbell hammer curls exercise and limit your overall total sets for your biceps workout to around 4-6 sets for optimal growth. Since your biceps are a smaller muscle group, you want to avoid hitting them with too many sets in order to avoid overtraining them.
Other Exercises To Use: A few other great exercises to combine the standing dumbbell hammer curls with include the Incline Bench Alternating Dumbbell Curls and the Cable Curls. This will allow maximum coverage of your biceps muscles along with targeting your forearms and the often neglected brachialis muscle.
