Everyone’s having dream of a strong and big biceps. The youngster or gym freak also works hard for attractive biceps. After a tone biceps, everyone became a fan of your body that appears while you wear T-shirts. There are many exercises to tone the biceps. One of them, preacher curl workout. It is a very good exercise that makes tension on your biceps. It focus on the muscle which shape the biceps.
Today, we will tell you the right way of preacher curl exercise and all the related information, by which you can also include this exercise in your workout plan.
What is Preacher Curl Workout?
Preacher Curl is a classic and isolation exercise for large biceps. By doing this, the biceps are pumped in and their size are also increased.
Preacher curls mainly targets brachialis muscles of the biceps and this muscle is found in the lower part of the biceps.
Affected Muscle Groups.
- Main Muscle – Biceps.
- Other Muscle – None.
Machine for Preacher Curls Exercise.
It required a bench, where you can place your biceps or armpits with the help of barbell or dumbbells.
In advance gyms, there is a separate machine for preacher curls, which have coated plates and are attached to the barbell cable.
If you have neither of them in your gym, you can also make a preacher curl exercise with the help of the movable bench at 70 degrees.
Types.
Preacher curl workout is the isolation exercise for biceps. In this exercise, all the tension is put on the biceps.
Beginners can do it with a single hand dumbbell, single hand cable, resistance band or empty barbell. You can increase the weight and then do it on the preacher curl machine. The types are:
- Biceps Curl.
- Dumbbell Curl.
- Hammer Curl.
- Kettlebell Curl.
- Cable Machine Curl.
Alternative Exercises.
- Standing Dumbbell Curl.
- Standing Barbell Curl.
- Incline Dumbbell Curl.
How To Do?
Step 1.
Adjust the bench according to your body structure, so that your armpits are adjacent to the upper end of the bench.
Step 2.
Now hold the barbell or handle from the underhand grip (palms facing up) while keeping your hands on the bench.
Step 3.
Now lift the weight up by focusing on your biceps. But keep in mind that, do not rise your upper arm above the bench.
Step 4.
After contact the forearm and biceps, stay up for a second and then gradually bring the weight down.
Step 5.
After holding 2 seconds, take the barbell or dumbbell up again. Place your feet on the ground well at the time of exercise.
Sets.
3 – 4 sets.
Repetitions.
10-12 reps.
Benefits.
- The biggest advantage of the preacher curls exercise is while taking the rod down, it puts lot of stress on the biceps which helps to increase the muscles. In addition, it reduce the scope for mistakes while doing the exercise, such as shaking hands.
- E-Z bar or rod is one of the effective options to train biceps. Especially with the preacher curl workout, this activity not only eradicate unnecessarily strain on your wrists but also gives you a good grip.(1)
- However, it is difficult to do this exercise at the home because equipment used in it is available only in the gym.
- Preacher curl exercise gives you a toned bicep along with an attractive shape.
- This workout emerge the long head of the biceps.
- The size of the biceps increases or burns extra fat.
Common Mistakes.
- Many people try to lift heavy weight at the beginning while doing the preacher curl exercise, which is wrong. So take weight according to your capacity.
- If you do not lift the hands above the pad while bringing the weight up, the target will change.
- Many people send the bench pads far away, which can cause pain in the lower back. So, try to sit as near as possible.
- Keep the legs slightly wider, which will give you a lot of support.
- Always do this exercise with full focus and see the biceps pumped.
Precautions.
While doing this exercise, there is no need to take more precautions, just take special care of the following things;
- The intensity of weight is very high, so keep the hands straight to lift the weight and don’t let them move.
- Do not overweight your capacity and pay more attention to the right activity.
- Instead of lifting heavy weights in this exercise, give more attention to the technique.
- Use less weight at the beginning to enable you to extract 10 to 12 repetition.
- Raise the rod in the sitting state. Standing to lift weights can cause unnecessary stress on the waist.
Frequently Asked Questions.
1. Do we need to retract scapula while doing preacher curl?
Scapula which is also known as shoulder bone or shoulder blade. At the time of preacher curl workout we mainly focus on our bicep muscles and also put lots of emphasis on lower and upper head of biceps. However, retraction of scapula or shoulder muscle can reduce the impact of this exercise and also puts unnecessary pressure on your shoulders. So, it is better to avoid retraction of scapula while doing preacher curl exercise.
2. How to do preacher curl at home if you don’t have preacher table?
If you want to do preacher curl at your home then you may use a regular bench which can be adjust at angle. With the help of that bench at first you have to adjust the bench similar like preacher curl table and thereafter, adjust your dumbbell or barbell and start the exercise with proper form. If your table have sharp edge then you must use a towel for more comfort and stability.
Bottom Line.
Now, you may understand that how biceps can be shaped with the help of the preacher curl exercise. Keep in mind that in the beginning, take the advice of a trainer and do this exercise so that he can tell you the right posture.
In the gym you may have seen many people bending the muscles and elbows of the body during curling exercise, while there is no need for these unnecessary activities in the preacher Curl exercise.
You can go to a gym to adopt this exercise or you can also bring equipment at home, but the effect may not be as effective as the gym.
Before adopting all workouts, do warm-ups such as stretching, races or cycling. In addition, also focus on your diet for effective results of the exercise.
+3 Sources
Freaktofit has strict sourcing guidelines and relies on peer-reviewed studies, educational research institutes, and medical organizations. We avoid using tertiary references. You can learn more about how we ensure our content is accurate and up-to-date by reading our editorial policy.
- Differences in electromyographic activity of biceps brachii and brachioradialis while performing three variants of curl; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6047503/
- Brachialis muscle; https://www.kenhub.com/en/library/anatomy/brachialis-muscle
- How Long to See Results from Working Out and Dieting; https://www.jikonitaste.com/how-long-to-see-results-from-working-out-and-dieting/