Straight Bar or E-Z Curl?

T

thehamma

New Member
According to John Little and Mike Mentzer:
"the primary function of the biceps is to supinate the hand, that is, to turn the palm upward.  Only after the palm has been supinated will the biceps be able to contract maximally while fullfilling its secondary function/flexion of the forearm.... This fact points to the necessity of keeping your palms up while doing any type of biceps exercise.  The importance of keeping the palms facing up to activate the biceps while curling contraindicates the use of the E-Z curl bar for biceps training, as it places the biceps in more of a pronated position, thus denying its primary function."
(Bryan) Do you know of any scientific evidence to prove or refute this statement?  If this is true then it would render hammer curls inefficient for bicep training correct?
hamma
 
I can tell you that the primary function of the biceps brachii is NOT to supinate. It is a prime mover in elbow flexion. It assists in supination. In fact, there is a muscle deep in your forearm called the supinator muscle. THAT is the prime mover for supination.
 
Hey, thehamma :)

You'll find that most vets here actually never do the regular curl anymore. They either do the EZ-curl or hammer or incline hammer curls.

I myself gave up regular curls in favor of incline hammer curls.

But you might be missing an important point here: if you want bigger arms, you really have to do the heavy compound exercises. You also need the isolation exercises to help, but arm size increases chiefly because of the heavy compounds.

So if bigger arms is really your concern, then don't fret too much about the isolation exercises. Just pick one you like.  :)

(oh, wait, it just hit me right now: with a username like yours, you ought to prefer hammer curls as well! :) )

Regards!  :)
- JV
 
Why not give curls on the low-pulley (with the triceps pushdown rope) a try... Lying down using both hands - supinating as you reach peak contraction or standing single arm hammer style; both provide constant tension and allow a more natural grip.
 
Thanks for the replies.
I do heavy compound exercises for biceps like standing barbell curls.  
I was just wondering which bar is a more efficient choice as far as bicep training is concerned.(and why?)
Thanks for the tips they are appreciated and I will keep them in mind- and I do like hammer curls too. LOL
 
Hello :)

Yup, pretty much what Totentanz said. Just like what years of benchpressing will do to your rotator cuffs.

Anyhoo... wait a sec...
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]
I do heavy compound exercises for biceps like standing barbell curls.
Click to expand...

Err... actually, i was thinking more of the core lifts as the heavy compounds. Like incline benchpress. And chins / latpulldowns. Stuff like that.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Err... actually, i was thinking more of the core lifts as the heavy compounds. Like incline benchpress. And chins / latpulldowns. Stuff like that.
Click to expand...
Interesting that you would recommend incline bench press for maximal stimulation for the biceps. Personally I prefer curling to stimulate my biceps. I have noticed Incline Bench Press stimulates my triceps, front delts, and chest. :D I think that is what the hamma is lookn for. I have definitely noticed that straight bar preacher curls are much more difficult than E-Z bar curls hamma I would also like to know which of the two are MOST efficient for stimulating the biceps. Good question maybe a physiologist ;) would have some insight on your question.


Joe G
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Interesting that you would recommend incline bench press for maximal stimulation for the biceps. Personally I prefer curling to stimulate my biceps.
Click to expand...

Hahaha, yeah, that is funny. Again, my bad, that's why I hate giving shortcut replies like that. Sorry!

I didn't mean do bench press to stimulate biceps. I meant that arm size will increase due to the heavy compound exercises like the core lifts which is always the center of a workout. Isolating the arms will help (although I think that is also debatable as some vets like O&G I think went so far as to say all the isolation in the world won't give you big arms), but arm size would really chiefly grow due to all the heavy compounds you do, not by directly isolating arm muscles with tons and tons of heavy curls. That's why if you'll notice the basic HST articles would just tell you to practically pick whatever arm (bicep and tricep) exercise you want, just pick one and do it. They'll grow huge because of the heavy compounds, the core lifts, and not really because of the direct arm work you do.

I hope that cleared it up, hehehe, again, sorry, I promise to stop with the shortcut responses and avoid possibly ambiguous sentences. :)

-JV
 
Now here's a quote from Dan about the same thing, when asked what will make arms grow bigger:

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]
Pull Ups, Rows, Dips, Presses

All the Isolation in the world is not going to help unless you can serioulsy load the bicep and tricep, the best and easiest is Heavy Compound movements. When you can start loading serious weight in these movements your arms will grow. When your strength is maxed in these then add in some good stretch movements, Incline Curl, Tricep Ext or others.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I meant when I said heavy compounds / core lifts (like incline bench presses) to make the arms grow bigger. I may have made it sound funny, thanks to a shortcut reply, but I promise I didn't just make it up from out of nowhere :)
 
First, let me re-emphasize my question, I may have made it seem a little confusing. Hypothetically speaking, in a world where only two exercises exist: The straight bar curl and the E-Z Bar curl. Which of the two exercises is more efficient for biceps growth? The emphasis on efficient meaning the best for building biceps mass. All other variables not taken into consideration. The fundamental question is are the biceps better stimulated with the palms up (straight bar) or the palms facing one another (EZ curl bar) physiologically speaking?

the hamma

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The right answer, of course, is heavy deadlifts. ;)

Straight bar curls are slightly better (and dumbbells slightly angled away from the body are better than straight bar), but EZ-bar is much more comfortable with the wrist. The difference isn't all that much.

What's actually more important is the relative angle between the elbow joint with your body. The farther the elbow is behind you, the higher the stretch, and thus the higher potential strain component given the same load.

cheers,
Jules
 
There's practically no difference, between the two, if you only rep within the zone where you maintain constant tension (arm neither fully extended/flexed) unless you're doing another variation such as Gironda style or incline preachers...
 
in target bodybuilding (by per a tesch) he recomends close grip barbell curls (not to close) and seated slight decline hammer curls,apparently they hit all the heads.
 
i'd recommend dumbell curls on a incline bench

but i don't like hammer curls...i simply don't feel the biceps over its full rom...maybe just psychological - but hey...training needs to be fun and the biceps needs to be PUMPED
 
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