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Hammer curls tend to be a variation of the traditional biceps curl. Both the exercises target different muscles in your arms. The hammer curls predominantly target the long heads of the brachii and the brachialis.
Incorporating this exercise into your workout routine can provide various benefits, including building muscle mass and strength in your arms. It can also help you in doing the more advanced compound exercise.
Let's gain a deeper understanding of the techniques and benefits of this exercise:
How to Do Hammer Curl?
There are various modifications to this exercise, such as incline curls and preacher curls that can effectively align with your fitness goals. However, in this article, we will discuss about the standard form of hammer curl.
Hammer curl is an intermediate level exercise with dumbbells, therefore, it's important to follow the proper technique for effectively doing this exercise. Here's how it's done:
- Initial position – Start off with standing in an elongated posture while keeping the knees in alignment underneath the hips. Your hands should be beside your body, with dumbbells in both hands resting on the side of your outer thighs. Your palms should be facing the thighs and keeping your shoulders in a relaxed position.
- Start the movement by bending the elbows and lifting the lower hand with the dumbbells towards the shoulders. Your hands above the elbows should remain in a stationary position while keeping the wrists lined to the forearms.
- Hold the weights in the upper position for a moment before slowly bringing the dumbbells to the lower position.
- Repeat. Be sure to engage the abdominal muscles throughout the movement, otherwise, it can strain or injure your lower back.
Tips and Techniques for Hammer Curl
Follow these tips and techniques to effectively do the exercise along with maximising its benefits:
Keep elbows in stable and fixed position – While doing this exercise, your elbows might drift away from the body. That will engage a greater number of muscles in the upper arm. The greater the number of muscles engaged, the less you will work on the biceps. Therefore, complete the movement of the exercise while keeping the elbows in a stationary position.
Health Benefits of Hammer Curl
Muscular Appearance
Hammer curls can be considered effective, as they help you build bigger and stronger muscles in your arms. They can add greater definition and muscular appearance to your biceps along with building better strength in the forearms.
Additionally, incorporating the hammer curl in your workout circuit can also enhance your grip strength and wrist stability.
Functional Movement
Besides the biceps, this exercise also targets your elbow flexor, which plays a primary role in the bending movements of the elbow joints. Building stronger arms by doing this exercise can help you in daily movements, such as heavy lifting or carrying of objects. Moreover, this exercise can assist in various arm-based movements of everyday life.
Better Strength
Hammer curls can help in increasing the strength of the arms along with improving muscle gain. That will prepare you for advanced compound exercises, such as wide grip pull ups.
Common Mistakes While Doing Hammer Curl
You should avoid these mistakes while doing the hammer curl to keep the exercise safe as well as to maximise its effectiveness:
Lifting too much weight – If you use more weight than your natural capacity, your body will use the momentum, reducing the ability of your body to build strength. It will also put you at greater risk of injury, as your body might lose control when momentum takes over.
If you feel too winded up before the repetition of the exercise, correct the form of exercise, and decrease the amount of weight that you are lifting.
Too quick movements – As the range of motion for this exercise is relatively small, you might end up using very quick movements for the completion of the exercise. That might also mean you are not lifting enough weight.
So, take your time and complete the movement of the hammer curl in a slow and deliberate manner. That will add a greater challenge to the exercise along with enabling you to build bigger muscles.
Bottom Line
The Hammer Curl is a dynamic exercise you can effectively incorporate into the training circuit to work on the upper arms and enhance the curling strength of your arms.
It can be considered a good alternative to traditional biceps curls, as it targets your muscles differently. However, people suffering from lower arm injuries should steer clear of this exercise.
