Goad a man into “showing his muscles” and undoubtedly
he’ll give you the good ol’ double biceps pose. “Where’s the
gun show?” “It’s thatta way!”
We asked Young what he thought were the most popular
biceps exercise at his gym: “I would say the standing dumbbell
and barbell curls and the preacher curls seem to be really
popular because people can turn and look at their left or right
arm while they’re doing it,” says Young. “And in their head
they’re thinking, ‘I’m getting bigger, I’m getting stronger’—
that type of thing.” With so much time and attention given to
the glorious biceps, it’s surprising that there has been no real
conclusive research to determine which is the most effective
exercise for targeting the biceps.
So the American Council on Exercise, America’s Workout
Watchdog, commissioned the exercise scientists at the
University of Wisconsin–LaCrosse and its Clinical Exercise
Physiology program to find an answer. Young, now a graduate
student at UWLAX, would help shepherd the study along
under the guidance of department head John
THE STUDY
To determine which exercise is the most beneficial for activating the biceps brachii, researchers compiled a list of the eight most commonly used exercises for targeting the biceps:>
• Cable curl
• Barbell curl
• Concentration curl
• Chin-up
• EZ Curl (with both wide and narrow grip)
THE STUDY
To determine which exercise is the most beneficial for activating the biceps brachii, researchers compiled a list of the eight most commonly used exercises for targeting the biceps:>
• Cable curl
• Barbell curl
• Concentration curl
• Chin-up
• EZ Curl (with both wide and narrow grip)
THE RESULTS
Immediately following both testing
sessions, researchers crunched the
numbers. When compared to the other seven
exercises, the concentration curl came out
on top, eliciting significantly higher muscle
activation of the biceps than any other
exercise tested (Figure 1).
According to Porcari, it’s important to note,
that when training the biceps, other muscles,
such as the AD and BR, can become involved
in the lift, effectively taking a portion of the
load away from the biceps, and thus reducing
the relative effectiveness of that lift.
With that in mind, researchers found that for the AD, the incline curl,
concentration curl and the chin-up had significantly less muscle
activation than the barbell curl. The incline curl and preacher
curl elicited significantly lower muscle activation of the BR
compared to the EZ curl (narrow grip).
THE BOTTOM LINE
“When you look at it, the concentration curl was significantly better than anything else. And I think the reason is that you’re really isolating the biceps muscle more so than in any of the other exercises,” explains Porcari. “Some of the other exercises called into play the anterior deltoid or the front of your shoulder more, and for a lot of those, it’s almost natural to just swing your whole arm or shoulder forward to stabilize before you lift.” Not only did the current study show that the concentration curl had the greatest biceps activation, but that the activation of the AD was significantly less than most of the other exercises. This may be because during a concentration curl, the humerus is pressed against the leg and does not allow the upper arm to sway, which isolates the biceps. According to Young, there may also be something mental going on with the concentration curl (it may be aptly named, after all) to make it markedly more effective. “Motivation-wise, it always helps when you can see results,” notes Young. “So when you look down and can see the muscle working it helps with your focus. Whether it’s subconscious encouragement or whatever, I think that helps.” That said, Porcari puts the relative effectiveness of the concentration curl into perfect context with this comment: “The upside of doing a concentration curl is that you pretty much totally isolate the biceps. The downside of the concentration curl is that you pretty much isolate the biceps.”
So if you’re bodybuilder, or a lover of the mirror, and you want to really work your biceps, then there’s one clear choice: the concentration curl. But if you want to strengthen your biceps and other muscles of the arm for functional fitness, to make yourself better at the everyday movements we encounter in daily life, then you have more options. For sure, every arm workout should include the concentration curl, but the best way to ensure that you activate other key muscles of the arms is to sprinkle a couple of the other seven biceps exercises into your routine as well.
“Definitely don’t skip the concentration curl if you want to get stronger biceps,” says Young. “But variety is the spice of life. And you should mix it up and choose from any of the other exercises we tested because they’re all pretty much just as good one another.”
THE BOTTOM LINE
“When you look at it, the concentration curl was significantly better than anything else. And I think the reason is that you’re really isolating the biceps muscle more so than in any of the other exercises,” explains Porcari. “Some of the other exercises called into play the anterior deltoid or the front of your shoulder more, and for a lot of those, it’s almost natural to just swing your whole arm or shoulder forward to stabilize before you lift.” Not only did the current study show that the concentration curl had the greatest biceps activation, but that the activation of the AD was significantly less than most of the other exercises. This may be because during a concentration curl, the humerus is pressed against the leg and does not allow the upper arm to sway, which isolates the biceps. According to Young, there may also be something mental going on with the concentration curl (it may be aptly named, after all) to make it markedly more effective. “Motivation-wise, it always helps when you can see results,” notes Young. “So when you look down and can see the muscle working it helps with your focus. Whether it’s subconscious encouragement or whatever, I think that helps.” That said, Porcari puts the relative effectiveness of the concentration curl into perfect context with this comment: “The upside of doing a concentration curl is that you pretty much totally isolate the biceps. The downside of the concentration curl is that you pretty much isolate the biceps.”
So if you’re bodybuilder, or a lover of the mirror, and you want to really work your biceps, then there’s one clear choice: the concentration curl. But if you want to strengthen your biceps and other muscles of the arm for functional fitness, to make yourself better at the everyday movements we encounter in daily life, then you have more options. For sure, every arm workout should include the concentration curl, but the best way to ensure that you activate other key muscles of the arms is to sprinkle a couple of the other seven biceps exercises into your routine as well.
“Definitely don’t skip the concentration curl if you want to get stronger biceps,” says Young. “But variety is the spice of life. And you should mix it up and choose from any of the other exercises we tested because they’re all pretty much just as good one another.”