Muscles Targeted: The seated dumbbell bicep curls exercise is another great movement for building overall mass in the arms. This exercise targets the biceps as the primary muscle group involved and also hits the forearms very well. The great thing about using dumbbells on this exercise is that you can twist (supinate) your wrists as you curl the weight up. This allows you to really place maximum tension on the biceps and hit the peak at the top of the movement. If you were using a barbell, you would not be able to twist your wrists like this, so its very beneficial to incorporate dumbbells into your overall biceps workout routine in order to target the muscle from all different angles.
Exercise Advice: While sitting on a bench, grab 2 dumbbells and let them hang down at your sides. While keep your back straight and your head looking forward, slowly curl both of the dumbbells to the top position at the same time while keeping your elbows tucked into your sides. At about the half way point during the upward movement, you will supinate or curl your wrists so your palms face up at the top of the movement. This curling of the wrists allow you to focus more tension on the biceps muscles. For another variation of this exercise, you can keep your palms facing out and up throughout the entire range of motion. So, at the start position with the dumbbells hanging at your side, simply turn your wrists so your palms face out (instead of into your sides) and then simply curls the dumbbells up.
Things To Avoid: Make sure you use the right amount of weight on this exercise. Many times, you will see people using way too much weight and they will be using their back to swing the dumbbells up to the top. This is basically cheating and is very poor technique. You want to make sure that you use strict form throughout the entire range of motion. Any type of swinging will only cause possible injury and will not help you in building well-developed arms. Make sure to also keep your elbows close to your sides on this exercise. If your elbows are coming away from your sides, you’re most likely using your shoulders to move the weight up to the top position, which is something you want to avoid. Remember, strict and controlled form throughout the entire movement.
Reps and Sets: Shoot for 8-12 reps for a total of 2-3 sets for this exercise. If you’re overall goal is to build muscle mass, you can go a little heavier with the dumbbells and lower the reps down to 6-8 per set but make sure to always use strict form since going heavier has a tendency to allow a higher change of cheating on your form.
Other Exercises To Use: A few other great exercises to combine with the Seated Dumbbell Bicep Curls for a solid mass building bicep workout, is the Standing Dumbbell Hammer Curls and the Cable Rope Curls.
