Straight bar curls, commonly known as barbell curls, are one of the best bicep exercises in existence. More so than other movements, the standing barbell curl enables you to overload your biceps with plenty of resistance so that you can rapidly increase the size of your arms.
This guide draws on expert advice to show you how to do barbell curls with the proper bicep-building form. We’ll also go through three different straight bar bicep curl variations that you can include in your workout routine for more variety.
How To Do Barbell Curls With the Proper Form
- Hold a barbell with an underhand at a shoulder-width grip.
- Curl the bar towards your chest while keeping your elbows and shoulders stationary.
- Keep lifting the bar until your lower arms touch your biceps.
- Squeeze your biceps forcefully at the top of the rep.
- Lower the weight in a controlled manner until your arms are locked out.
- Perform 3-5 sets of 6-12 reps.
Barbell Curl Muscles Worked
Straight barbell curls work both heads of the biceps brachii, the long head, and the short head reasonably evenly. This is because standing barbell curls train elbow flexion and forearm supination, which are the two primary functions of the biceps brachii muscle.
The barbell biceps curl also trains the forearm flexors as well as the brachioradialis and brachialis muscles. The latter two muscles, like the biceps themselves, are powerful elbow flexors and are most active during the first part of BB curls.
Benefits of Barbell Bicep Curls
The barbell bicep curl does more than just bulk up your biceps. Here are the other bicep curl benefits that you can enjoy when you perform straight bar curls on a regular basis.
Bigger Biceps
No other exercise enables you to overload your biceps with more resistance than the straight barbell curl.
Dumbbell curls, which are obviously effective for developing muscle symmetry, require more stabilization than barbells and thus aren’t as good for lifting heavy weights or building mass.
You can increase the straight bar curl weight in very manageable increments, too, which enables you to gain strength on a consistent basis. This extra strength leads to more hypertrophy because the biceps is a fast-twitch muscle group that responds well to heavy lifting and low repetitions.
Building bigger biceps will help you to fill your sleeves and develop a better upper body, especially if you already have good triceps from years of bench press.
Stronger Compound Lifts
The biceps are a crucial component of so many compound lifts.
Chin-ups, rows, and lat pulldowns all rely on your biceps and other elbows flexors (the brachialis and brachioradialis) to a large extent.
As such, it’s essential to strengthen your biceps if you want your arms to be able to keep up with your back during your compound pulling exercises.
Oftentimes, people think that they need extra lat or trap development to gain strength on such exercises.
And sometimes, that’s the case.
However, having lagging biceps is also a reason why you might not be able to do many chin-ups and pull-ups. So make sure to do some barbell curls after your back workout.
Thicker Forearms
Olympic bar curls are an excellent exercise for building thick and vascular forearm flexors because they have you curl with your hands in a fully supinated position.
So while the biceps is the prime mover, your forearms still play a significant role in the barbell biceps curl because they’re crucial for keeping your wrists straight.
On the other hand, if your forearms fatigue before your biceps, you can extend your wrists slightly to take them out of the movement to a greater extent.
Standing Barbell Curl Variations
There are so many ways to do a barbell curl (bodybuilders are very inventive). But often, getting strong at the regular standing barbell curl is your best bet for gaining size. Nevertheless, here are three barbell curl variations that you can do to work your muscles from different angles.
Close-Grip Barbell Curl
The close-grip barbell curl emphasizes the long head of the biceps brachii and gives your arms a great muscle pump because the peak contraction is really intense.
For best results, however, make sure that your hands are at least a few inches away from each other. In other words, you don’t want to curl with your hands together because that will impair your range of motion.
The long head of the biceps is also known as the outer biceps, so if your biceps look good when flexed but underdeveloped from the side, then close grip barbell curls are an excellent exercise that you should include in your routine.
Wide Grip Barbell Curl
Wide grip barbell curls are the exact opposite of the close grip variation; they focus on the inner part of your biceps, which is known as the short head of the biceps brachii.
Wide grip curls are great for lifting heavy and can really add the overall mass to your biceps that dumbbell and cable exercises just can’t compete with.
As with the close-grip version, you should avoid using extreme hand positions so that you don’t hurt your wrists and so that you can achieve a full range of motion.
Curl with your hands a few inches outside shoulder width rather than at the end of the barbell.
Barbell Cheat Curl
Cheat curls are a bicep exercise that was popularized by Arnold Schwarzenegger (and he certainly had the bicep size to back up his theories).
The idea is that you use some momentum to swing the weight up but then lower the bar purely with your biceps.
In practice, this means bending your knees and hips and then leaning back slightly in order to lift heavier weights. The theory is that overloading your biceps during the eccentric portion of the rep leads to more hypertrophy because the lowering phase of the rep is where most of the muscle fibers get broken down.
Just make sure that you restrict the cheating to a moderate level. It’s ok to use your other muscles for assistance, but your biceps should still do most of the lifting.
Conclusion: Who Should Do the Standing Barbell Curl?
If you want to bulk up your biceps or get toned arms, then standing barbell curls are great exercise. And you don’t even need to go to the gym to do them.
With just a basic barbell and a few weights, you can blast your biceps with straight bar curls and a variety of other muscle-building movements.
Choose a weight that you can lift for between 6 and 12 reps, and do around 3-5 sets per session. Also, make sure that you do plenty of work for your triceps as well because they contribute even more mass to the upper arms.
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