EZ bar preacher curls are an effective exercise used by bodybuilders to develop their anterior upper arm muscles or biceps brachii. Usually referred to simply as biceps, these muscles are responsible for bending your elbow and turning your palm upwards -- a movement called supination. The preacher curl bench is so-called because when viewed from the side, you look as though your are leaning forwards in prayer. An EZ bar has curves in it to allow you to position your hands and wrists in comfort while working out.
Keep Wrists Straight
Your biceps muscles cross your elbow and shoulder joints but it is not uncommon to see people flexing their wrists when they perform EZ bar preacher curls. Flexing the wrists during this exercise will not make the exercise more productive and may actually increase your risk of injury. Keep your wrists straight and focus on bending your elbows to maximize the effectiveness of this exercise.
Avoid Elbow Hyper-extension
As your arms near full extension there is a danger that you may lower the weight too far and over-straighten your elbows. This is called hyper-extension, which may result in serious injury to your biceps tendons and the ligaments in your elbows. Always stop a few degrees short of full extension to minimize your risk of injury and ensure that the tension generated in the EZ bar preacher curl exercise remains on your biceps.
Keep Upper Arms Still
Preacher curls are an isolation exercise for your biceps. To ensure your biceps are doing as much work as possible, you should endeavour to keep your upper arms fixed to the pads of the preacher bench. Although moving your upper arms may allow you to lift greater weights, this will not necessarily increase the load on your biceps. Keeping your upper arms still will make this exercise much more effective for developing your biceps muscles.
Use Variety of Hand Positions
EZ bar preacher curls can be performed with a variety of hand positions. Each grip will slightly change the affect of the exercise on your arm muscles. You can use a wider hand position to emphasize your inner biceps or a narrow hand position to focus more on your outer biceps. If you perform this exercise using a palms-down or pronated, you place a significant load on your lower biceps and forearm muscles.
Use Collers of Safety
To minimize your risk of injury, always use collars on each end of the EZ curl bar to ensure the weight discs will not slip off of the bar. If the bar should become unbalanced suddenly, injury may result.
References
- "Anatomy of Exercise: A Trainer's Inside Guide to Your Workout"; Pat Manocchia; 2009
- "ACSM's Resources for the Personal Trainer"; American College of Sports Medicine; 2009
- "Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding: The Complete A-Z Book on Muscle Building"; Robert Kennedy; 2008
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