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HAMMER CURL: FEATURES, CORRECT TECHNIQUE, MUSCLES WORKED

By Kendall Jenkins on 2020-08-06 08:55:00

You can be almost sure that if you are actively training, but do not get the desired amount of arms, then you are not doing the hammer exercise for biceps. This is the ultimate movement for developing peak and volume biceps and increasing the total muscle mass of the arms. By following the correct technique, you can progress significantly every 2 months. In this article, you will learn how to perform hammers, what subtleties and features this exercise has, and how to make it as effective as possible.

Advantages and features of hammer curls

To begin with, hammer curls are simply ideal for beginners, although even pros perform them on the day of training hands without fail.

Unlike ordinary lifts with supination of the hand or lifts with a barbell, hammers best develop a mass of biceps.

Only when the arm is large and voluminous will it be possible to begin working on the shape of the biceps, including additional exercises for this purpose. Nevertheless, the first 2–3 years in terms of efficiency, the hammer will be able to yield only to lifting with the barbell while standing, and only then because the second exercise includes more muscle fibers in the work. This means that the anabolic response will be higher. Why is the hammer or hammer so useful? That provides a uniform load on the biceps. If you consider what muscles work with various exercises for the hands, then you need to highlight the following rules:

  • Reverse grip (palms pointing down) - shoulder muscle;
  • Direct grip or supination (palms pointing up) - biceps;
  • Neutral or classic grip - both the shoulder muscles and biceps are included.

Simply put, when performing a hammer with dumbbells, you simultaneously load all the muscles that allow you to increase the volume of the arm. In the early years, when an athlete does not have big hands, such a technique will ensure the fastest possible growth. Over time, you will have to move on to focused work, where attention is paid to each grip: direct, reverse, and neutral. It is important to consider that due to such specifics of performing and turning on the brachial muscle and biceps, athletes can take dumbbells with a lot of weight, which will have a beneficial effect on the speed of progression, and will also increase the weight growth of the arms even more. In general, without this exercise it is very difficult to achieve a stable increase in the volume of biceps, therefore it must be included in the arm training.

Also, do not forget that the triceps play a huge role in increasing volume, because this muscle needs to be paid even more attention than biceps.

Seated dumbbell curls correct technique

As in any other exercise, its effectiveness will depend on the correct execution of the hammer. In contrast to the bar, which is quite simple to raise to the desired level with a fixed body, when working with dumbbells, you need to carefully follow all the rules and important technical points. Therefore, let's start with the most important rules that make a hammer so effective:

  • It is undesirable to perform the exercise with both hands together. With one hand, the hammer is much cleaner, which makes it more efficient;
  • Hammers need to be made with a fixed body. To do this, firmly grasp the machine or any support. If there is no such possibility, then take dumbbells in both hands (for counterweight), but do hammers either alternately or the whole approach on one hand, and then on the other hand;
  • The housing must always be locked and in the same position. Rocking, squats and any inertia should be excluded;
  • The negative phase of the movement (return of the dumbbell to its original position) is equally important. You can’t just drop the weight down, making it easier for yourself;
  • At the lower point, you can and should fully extend your arms to increase the amplitude;
  • At the top point, you need to lift the dumbbells not to the very top, but about ¾ of the total amplitude. This is the most natural position of the hand in this exercise.

Now consider the execution technique itself, which will look like this:

  • Take a dumbbell (or dumbbells), stand upright. The back should be straight, the lower back slightly bent. This is the starting position;
  • Slowly raise your hand so that it moves at the level of the width of the shoulder, that is, exactly forward and upward;
  • Make a slight delay at the top point, then return your hand to its original position.

In the classic embodiment, the hand rises straight, this is the optimal technique for the hammer. Nevertheless, there is an alternative form of performing the movement, which, according to professional athletes, stretches the biceps better. This makes exercise more effective.

Conclusion

In bodybuilding, the hammer refers to those exercises without which the training of the hands is simply impossible. You can do it every week, or alternate weekly with the usual lifting of dumbbells with supination of the hand, but the absence of this movement will greatly reduce the rate of progression of the hands. If you visit dianabol.fit official website you can find many recommendations regarding workouts and anabolic steroid usage tips. In general, if you are doing the first exercise lifting with a barbell, then it is optimal to put the hammer immediately after it. If at the same time as lifting the barbell and dumbbell to the biceps, then the hammer must be placed third in a row.

 

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