The bicep muscle is comprised of a short muscle head and a long muscle head. Dumbbells provide an effective and easy way to strength train these muscles, according to the American College of Sports Medicine. Using different hand positions and movement patterns when you perform bicep exercises will help you train both bicep heads and contribute to a complete bicep workout.
Concentration Curl
One bicep exercise you can perform with a dumbbell is a single arm concentration curl. First, sit in a chair or on a bench. Grab a dumbbell in one hand and lean over at the waist, allowing your arm to extend toward the floor. Place the elbow of that arm directly against your thigh. This will keep your shoulder from getting involved during the lift. Bring the weight up toward your shoulder by contracting your bicep muscle. Repeat up and down movements on one arm and repeat the same number on the other arm for the desired number of repetitions.
Hammer Curl
The standing dumbbell hammer curl is performed by gripping a pair of dumbbells and standing tall with your feet shoulder-width apart. Allow your arms to extend toward the floor with your hands and arms positioned beside your body. As with most curl exercises, you will try to bring the weights toward your shoulders by bending at your elbows. Perform this with both arms, at the same time.
Dumbbell Preacher Curl
Although a preacher bench is normally used for barbell or EZ bar preacher curls, it can be effectively utilized by using dumbbells. This exercise trains the biceps at a much different angle than the other two exercises. Also, like the concentration curl, it isolates the bicep by limiting your shoulder involvement. Set up the preacher bench so that when you sit on it, your feet are on the ground; when you lean over the bench with your arms, your elbows should be in the middle of the arm pad. Grab the dumbbells with an underhand grip. Bring the weights toward your shoulders by flexing your arms.
Twisting Incline Curl
The twisting incline curl takes the benefits of the hammer curl exercise and mixes it with the shoulder stabilization components of a concentration curl and preacher curl. Set up a bench so that it has a 45-degree incline. Grab your dumbbells and lay back on the bench allow your arms to hang toward the floor. Gravity and body weight will help keep your shoulders in place because your back will limit their movement on the bench. Your palms should be facing each other, in a similar manner to the hammer curl. Now bend at the elbows bringing the weight toward your shoulder. At the half-way point, twist your wrists so that your palms face you, much like the underhand grip of the preacher curl. When you lower the weight, remember to twist your hands back to the hammer-style grip halfway down.
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