Having a curl into your program is crucial for the size of your arm and strength of your tendons. If you have been in gym for quite some time you most definitely heard of preacher curls or incline curl. In this blog I’m going to tell you what they are like, what part of the bicep they train and if you should implement them into your workouts.
Bicep curl
But first, let’s quickly get into the bicep curl. They obviously target the bicep, but they target the entire muscle. Preacher and Incline curls do target the entire bicep but they target the long head of the bicep a bit more which is where your bicep peaks.
Preacher curl
Preacher curls are a variation of the bicep curl where you curl with your elbow placed on a bench that is facing 55 degrees downward. It puts more emphasis on the long head of the bicep. It is an excellent bicep builder but you should know that you shouldn’t fully extend your arm when performing it or it can lead to some nasty tendon injuries.
Incline curls
Incline curls are another variation of a bicep curl where you sit on a bench and have your shoulders placed behind your body to curl. This variation provides a very good stretch on your bicep at the end of the movement which is crucial for hypotrophy and strength gains. This exercise also puts more emphasis on the long head of the biceps.
Conclusion
As a beginner lifter you shouldn’t be worrying about which variation to do. You should just stick to the normal bicep curl to not overcomplicate your workout plan. Also doing one of these variation may lead to a muscle imbalance between and long head and short head of the bicep which can cause injury later in the future. However, you can do any variation if you enjoy it. These variations start getting important when you get more advanced into your gym journey. You may pick the preacher curl to simulate your arm wrestling hold or you can do the incline curl to get a maximum stretch emphasizing on more hypotrophy. They both are equally good.
Done building your bicep? Come build a fishing rod.
You can visit this blog post for more in depth explanation and the pros and cons.
Leave a Reply