Lets talk about the right and wrong ways to do hammer curls. Hammer curls work the biceps, forearms and give you a pump so amazing you wont be able to reach your mouth to brush your teeth.
Before we get started though, a word of warning – DONT BE A CURL-MONKEY! Many beginners make the mistake of just focusing on arms and they end up looking like a crab, little itsy-bitsy body with huge claw-arm. Arms should take up at most 10% of your weekly workout time. In fact, if you are a beginner you shouldnt be doing curls at all, you should be doing compound exercises like pullups for your biceps and you should be doing pushups for your triceps. If you are a complete beginner, please watch this video on pullups for beginners and this video pushups for complete beginners and read about my suggested home workout for beginners.
- sit down or stand with knees bent. If standing, do not bounce – hold legs motionless.
- keep thumbs up at all times
- lift weights simultaneously, this keeps you from using a swinging motion
- elbows stay pinned at your side slightly forward of your centerline during the whole exercise, dont let your elbows wander fore and back.
- keep your shoulders motionless, dont let them rock fore and back in sync with your lifting. Pretend you are taking a time lapse photo and you dont want your shoulders to be blurry.
- Keep your entire torso motionless, only your arms from your elbows outward are moving.
If you cant do the hammer curls this way then you are doing TOO MUCH WEIGHT! I suggest doing these at the end of your workout because they can be pleasantly crippling. For more arm exercises or information on how you incorporate these hammer curls into a complete workout, please check out my home workout plans.
Alles Klar?
Auf Wiedersehen!
