Hammer Curls Vs. Biceps Curls – Effective Ways To Build Bigger Arms
Big biceps. This is one of the features of a man that a woman is often attracted to! Whether it’s to impress a certain someone or you simply want to fill out your T-shirt, you’ll need a vigorous fitness plan. However, when it comes to building your biceps, you may have to face the hammer curls vs. bicep curls debate.
If you are confused as to which exercise will help your arms look bigger, don’t worry! In this post, you will find out all about hammer curls vs. biceps curls and more. Keep reading!
The Difference Between Hammer Curls and Bicep Curls
When you try to differentiate hammer curls vs. bicep curls, you will find out that there is only a slight difference between the two.
In fact, the former is nothing but a variation of the latter! The key difference is that both work the bicep at varying angles. This, in turn, helps in building up strength in different bicep parts.
If you are a beginner, you will have no difficulty acing the hammer curl! When you go for this exercise, you will be able to target the bicep’s long head along with the brachioradialis, a key forearm muscle, and brachialis, an upper arm muscle.
You need to keep in mind that this kind of exercise is an isolation movement. This means that the target area will only be the biceps.
Bicep curls are also isolation movements that help in building the biceps. The hammer curls vs. bicep curls debate is that bicep curls help in the activation of the bicep’s shorter head. This part of the bicep helps in peaking the muscle, especially when you want rippling biceps!
How Do You Perform Hammer Curls?
Whether you are a beginner or experienced, performing hammer curls is quite easy and will help in the thickening of your forearm and its development. While maintaining a strict form, you can go ahead and perform these steps for hammer curls:
- While standing upright, hold a dumbbell in both hands.
- Ensure that your palms face your torso while your elbows remain close to your body.
- With your right arm, curl the dumbbell forward. Do it in such a way that you squeeze your biceps until the forearm is in a vertical position.
- Ensure that your upper arm remains still while controlling the movement. At this point, your elbow should be stationary.
- Maintain this position for two seconds. You can then slowly lower the dumbbell back to its starting position.
- Repeat the action with your left arm.
Keep in mind that you can perform curls simultaneously with both arms!
How Do You Perform Bicep Curls?
Being a basic exercise, this is ideal for those who are just starting out. Once you begin this exercise, you can go ahead and start experimenting with different variations or even change the resistance type. In order to perform the bicep curl, you can perform the following steps:
- While standing straight, hold a dumbbell on both hands. Ensure that your arms are straight while your palms face in. Also, the elbows should be close enough to your torso.
- As you breathe out, curl the dumbbells right to your shoulders. Make sure that your forearms remain perpendicular to the ground. Now squeeze your biceps and hold for two seconds.
- Breathe in and slowly lower the dumbbells in a controlled motion.
- You can repeat the same steps.
Note that you can perform bicep curls an arm at a time while paying close attention to how you lift the weight.
Benefits of Hammer Curls and Bicep Curls
By now, you know the difference between hammer curls vs. bicep curls. So, let’s look at the benefits of both. First, we’ll talk about hammer curls.
Being a very popular exercise, hammer curls can help in the increase of bicep strength and size. When you do it correctly, it can also improve the stability of the wrist, boost the endurance of the muscle, and strengthen grip.
This kind of exercise is ideal for lifting techniques that are advanced, like pyramid sets, supersets, drop sets, and more.
The fact that this exercise helps in the build-up of grip strength and forearm will help in the boosting of your physical performance. Whether you are a bodybuilder or fitness enthusiast, you will reap the benefits of hammer curls to their fullest!
When it comes to bicep curls, you need to know that they have almost the same benefits as hammer curls. This is owing to the fact that they are simply variations. The biggest benefit of this kind of exercise is that it is very easy to learn and hence, perform.
While doing the bicep curls, your bicep muscle will work with deltoids, traps, lats, and triceps. This will, in turn, allow your shoulders and elbows in optimal functioning.
Not only that, but this kind of exercise will also help in building arm strength while increasing shoulder stability. This will provide a boost in your athletic performance and help in the reduction of injury risks.
The Verdict for Hammer Curls vs. Bicep Curls
Now that you have everything laid out in front of you, you might want to know which exercise wins the debate for hammer curls vs. bicep curls.
Truth be told, both of these exercises are great when it comes to the isolation and activation of the biceps. You can perform them both in the gym or at home with tons of variations!
Although it’s ideal to pick both these exercises for your routine, you might want to opt for bicep curls if you had to choose one. The reason is simply that this exercise is reasonably more effective for the building up of the wrist and forearm while strengthening grip.
The only downside is that you would have to use dumbbells when you perform this exercise. Nevertheless, we hope the whole confusion between hammer curls vs. bicep curls is all clear for you now!
