We all love doing it. Simple dumbbell curls. I see people in the gym do chest for 5 min and then go back to their thousand biceps curl routine.
However, there is a small muscle under your biceps, a muscle often ignored, which can lift your bicep and can make your arm thicker and improve your arm’s shape. It’s the brachialis muscle.
This muscle is located just under your bicep. When you work it, you really feel the inside of your upper arm working. The thing is, is that your biceps work well and are strong when your palms face upwards (just like in a regular bicep curl). However, they are weaker when your palms are facing each other (like in a hammer curl), or even more so when they are facing downwards. Specifically targeting the brachialis can peak your biceps better, give your arms an improved shape, and increase your strength.
Before moving on to the exercises, remember that the brachialis muscles are small, and do not need to be worked like your biceps. Adding ten minutes to your biceps workout with a few sets of brachialis training should give you good results.
Below are a couple of example workouts which can be effective to work the brachialis. You will most likely need to use less weight then when working your biceps.
Reverse grip curls:
Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Grab a barbell and grip it with palms facing down. Keep your elbows tight at your sides (your grip will also be quite narrow) and lift with the same range of motion as you would for a barbell curl.
Go slow both on the positive and negative, with controlled motion. When lowering the barbell after one rep try to go as low as you can to stretch the muscle completely.
You might also feel your forearms being worked, another advantage of the exercise.
Other variations:
Using an EZ curl bar, or dumbbells. Can also be performed on a preacher curl bench.
Incline hammer curls:
Sit on an incline bench at just over 45 degrees. Grab a couple of dumbbells and with a hammer grip. Having your feet planted on the floor shoulder width apart, let your arms fall to your sides. Slowly lift the dumbbells to when you feel maximum tension. Hold and lower slowly. In this exercise it is very important to let your elbow straighten (but not lock) before moving on to the next rep. This will give you a great stretch and will really work your brachialis muscles for great results.
So that’s it! A small bodybuilding secret revealed! Get great arms with your brachialis!!
