Standing Barbell Bicep Curls

Muscles Worked: Biceps, good for building overall size in the biceps

Spotter Required: No

Minimum Equipment required: Standard spinlock barbell with weights

The Best Equipment to Use: Olympic barbell with weights

Warming up: To warm up, perform 1 set of 15 - 20 repetitions of the exercise with minimal weight, typically half you 1 rep maximum.

How often should I perform this exercise: Standing barbell curls are a great bicep exercise to really add size to your biceps, standing barbell curls can (and should be) performed with every bicep workout.

When should I perform this exercise: Standing barbell curls can take some energy and also allow you to lift heavier weights they should be performed near the beginning of your biceps workout.

How to do the exercise: Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and grasp the bar with an underhand grip, your hands should be about shoulder width apart.

The bar should hang down in front of you, now curl the bar up using your bicep muscles and bring it as close to your body as possible, making sure your elbows are close to your body and your head is neutral with your spine.

When you get to the top of the movement squeeze your bicep for 2 seconds, this helps contract the muscle to increase muscle gain.

Variations:

Outer Bicep: To target your outer biceps (which helps give them height) hold the barbell with a narrow grip, around 5 – 8 inches apart.

Inner Bicep: To target the inner biceps muscle hold the bar with a wide grip, the wider the grip the better you will target your inner biceps.

Mentality: Barbell curls can take a lot of energy from you so make sure you have full concentration on this movement. Remember to keep your elbows in the same place and always use your biceps to lift the weight, if you are leaning back or swinging the barbell to perform the curl the weight is too heavy or you have reached temporary failure, stop at this point or it could result in injury.

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