How to Build Bigger Arms with Hammer Curl Exercise?

Hammer curl exercise is a variation of the bicep curl, but with a neutral grip. This enables the isolation and activation of the bicep long head while helping the biceps become thicker and fuller.

Additionally, the hammer curl exercise focuses on strengthening the forearms as well.

While you should have traditional bicep curls in your workout routine, you should add variations to the exercise as well.

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Difference between bicep curl and hammer curl exercise

As mentioned, bicep curls use a supinated grip (palm facing outwards) while hammer curls use a neutral grip (palms facing each other). Different grips help with activating and focusing on different parts of the biceps.

To understand this better, you need the anatomy of the biceps.

The muscle group is divided into two parts - short head and long head.

The long head stretches from the shoulder joint all the way to the elbows and helps with improving the bicep peak. On the other hand, the short head helps with making the biceps thicker and fuller when flexing.

It’s important to work on both the long head and the short head to create a well-developed upper arm.

Coming back to hammer curls, this exercise allows you to isolate (if not completely, have more impact) on the long head. This results in a better bicep peak as well as making the arms thicker!

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How to do the hammer curl exercise?

Hammer curls, being a variation of bicep curls, require a pair of dumbbells.

To exercise:

Step 1: Take a dumbbell in each hand and sit on a bench (or you can do standing hammer curls as well).

Step 2: Turn the palms towards each other (replicating a neutral grip).

Step 3: Keep your elbows and upper arm stable and pull the dumbbells towards your upper body. It’s important to engage your biceps for this exercise and not use your body/hand’s momentum for the exercise.

Step 4: Squeeze the biceps at the top of the motion and control the movement while lowering the dumbbells.

You can do hammer curls one arm at a time, alternate arms, or both arms together. However, it’s important to feel the complete stretch in the muscle during the exercise.

Even though cheat reps are a proven way of forcing the bicep muscles to grow, it’s never smart to ignore the full range of motion.

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Benefits of hammer curls

As already mentioned, the hammer curl exercise helps with improving the thickness and peak of the bicep. However, there are other benefits of doing the exercise as well.

Hammer curls help with strengthening the forearms.

It acts as a functional exercise by replicating the motion of various daily movements.

The exercise helps with adding mass to your biceps and helps the short head too.

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Bottom line

The hammer curl exercise shouldn’t be neglected or discarded from your bicep workout routine. It’s important to add variations to your routine to enable bicep activation from various angles.

Furthermore, it’s not entirely possible to isolate the short head from the long head. As a result, hammer curls will work on both heads, while putting more emphasis on the long head. It’s unwise to assume that hammer curls only focus on the bicep long head.

Finally, you can do hammer curls using dumbbells. The cable and barbell alternatives are reverse grip curls, which is helpful for the muscle group as well!