Though relatively a small muscle group, the biceps have gained publicity and controversies as to whether you should give more focus to these muscles. The debate is much dwelled on the muscles appearance and their importance to other relative muscles. A Coquitlam personal trainer can help you gain more understanding on how important these muscles are to the body.
Biceps exercises are made to strengthen the muscles located in front of the upper arms. The name given to these muscles in your upper arm is biceps brachii. There are two main strands of muscles in biceps brachii and they include the long head that is located on the outside of upper arms and the short head muscles located on the inside of upper arms.
Whenever you want to do some pulling motion and you need to curl the elbows, these muscles are solicited to help. When you engage in rotation of the forearms, you also use these muscles. Therefore, biceps exercises need the use of neighboring muscles and particularly those inside forearm muscles and the rear deltoids at the back of the shoulders.
Since upper arms are positioned notably on your body and are quite visible, they are muscles that receive a lot of attention. Bicep muscles may be performed using different fitness equipment but to the least, they can be done using a set of dumbbells. One of the most known form of bicep exercises is actually the dumbbell bicep curl. In this exercise, you use a pair of dumbbells and try to pull them up while curling your elbows.
In order to target the biceps, you need to perform arm curls. For instance, you can perform a basic dumbbell curl exercise by standing and holding the dumbbells in both hands with the arms hanging at sides and palms facing the body. Then you flex the elbows so that you raise the dumbbells. Now, you rotate the forearms as your dumbbells begin to ascend so that your palm faces the shoulders at peak of the movement. Then you now return the weight to the starting point slowly.
During the time you are performing this exercise, avoid moving your upper arms. With standard curls, they will mostly target biceps brachii. When they are performed appropriately, arms curls can help in strengthening the three muscles located in front of upper arms but they might not have an impact on other muscles. Others muscles may typically be engaged as stabilizers during the exercises such as the anterior deltoid.