Thread: Bicep Curling and elbows

Originally Posted by Alaric

I read somewhere (I think it was on this site), that when you do any type of bicep curl movements, you're elbows should be at your sides, if not touching??

However, I have never actually seen someone follow this rule when coming to curling so I'm getting confused now?? Does the elbow have to be at your sides (touching or slightly off) when curling??

I always keep them close to my sides. When I don't its because I either am doing them too sloppy or I using too much weight.

the idea of the elbow to the side is to eliminate using leverage by bringing your elbow infront of your body and forcing momentum to lift the dumbell.

so basically dont use momentum, its not working.

I find the exercise harder if my elbows are just slightly in front of my body, and my biceps work harder. With the elbows at the side it's tempting to flare the lats and use them to assist the arms.

I find it works better when you swing the dumbell up like a one arm hang-clean. Hits the bi's hard.

Don't forget this important corollary: The last rep should be all you can do with good form. Squeezing out a few extra reps after your form has fallen apart sets you up for injury and doesn't work the targeted muscles anyway.
You know you've lost your form on a bench press, for example, if you arch your back on the lift, says eFit fitness expert Joseph Quatrochi, Ph.D.
On a biceps curl, if your upper body rocks or you move your elbows away from your torso, it's time to put the weight down.

i allways keep them close to my sides only time they have ever drifted from my sides is usually when im trying to push to much weight and occasionly when im not paying attention to my form

Neo

Originally Posted by BigDyl

I find it works better when you swing the dumbell up like a one arm hang-clean. Hits the bi's hard.

I'll definately be doing that from now on then!

Well usually when i'm standing doing a curl, I just keep them at my sides. How else would ya wanna do a curl standing up anyway. I know if I had to do curls with my elbows spread far apart, that wouldn't be my fav exercise anymore. That would be the most uncomfortable I think.
Then for preacher curls, I just keep my elbows at like shoulder width....well in a little bit actually. I'm guessing that for this it depends on the comfortability with people and how they react to certain exercises. For example, i've read on here before that people have had pain in the knee when doing leg extensions.....well I've never had that problem. So I'm guessing it's different for everyone.
Then there's incline dumbell curls. For those when the arms are down, I bring them right back to the bench, but when i'm actually CURLING the weight, I keep them a little bit away from the bench. It works

i posted a thread on this a little while back.

the whole idea was that for some people, keeping your arms at your sides isn't good enough. You actually hafta put your elbows sorta in front of you, meanwhile twisting your rotator cuff as wide as possible.

this places all the emphasis on the bi's. don't ask me why, but alls i know is my bi's sucked my whole life, then the last couple months they're growing cuz of this...

well is he talking about how far back or forward the elbows are, or is he talking about how far from your body they are at the sides?

If it's the latter, then I already talked about what I want to.
If it's not though, then for some of them, I keep my elbows like right in front of my torso. So it's actually the part of the tricep going into the elbow that I keep right in front of the torso. That seems to work great for me. Haven't had a problem with it.

Originally Posted by Flex

You actually hafta put your elbows sorta in front of you, meanwhile twisting your rotator cuff as wide as possible.

By this (twisting rotator cuff as wide as possible, do you mean that we must use a wide grip?

To explain that a bit better....keep the elbows slightly in front, and your forearms are angled off say 45 degrees, so that you use a wider grip. Would that be considered "twisting the rotator cuff as wide as possible"?

Flex.. i do remember reading your post about what you just mentioned..AND IT WORKS!!.
after i read it.. next day i went to the gym and i have noticed a whole new change.. like you said in the original post " my arms look they get bigger with every rep i do" and i totally noticed it with my bi's too..
i think someone compared it to.. as if you were handcuffed and you were trying to break them apart by pulling your arms from each other while your elbows are in front of you or something to that effect.

Originally Posted by j rizz

i think someone compared it to.. as if you were handcuffed and you were trying to break them apart by pulling your arms from each other while your elbows are in front of you or something to that effect.

that was me, and that's exactly what i was talkin' about

Originally Posted by j rizz

Flex.. i do remember reading your post about what you just mentioned..AND IT WORKS!!.

happy to hear it works for ya, bud

Originally Posted by Flex

that was me, and that's exactly what i was talkin' about
:

How would you do that with DB's? would you do it at a 45 deg angle as suggested by Alaric?

Elbow shoul be locked by your side.

Originally Posted by BulkMeUp

How would you do that with DB's? would you do it at a 45 deg angle as suggested by Alaric?

You'd put your arms towards the front so the inside/back of your tri's are against the front of your obliques (if that makes sense).

then you curl the db's as far apart as you possibly can (if it were a barbell, it'd be analogous to taking as wide a grip as possible).

i know its confusing, but it works...

Thanks Flex.. will give it a try.