The dumbbell reverse curl is a resistance weight training exercise whereby you grip the dumbbell with a pronated grip.
This means that your wrist is facing away from you.
To do this exercise:
- Stand with a slight bend in your knees with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Hold two dumbbells in each hand with your knuckles facing up.
- Keep your elbows drawn into your torso as you bring the weight up. Squeeze your shoulder blades together.
- With controlled motion, lower back to the starting position.
- Do two to three sets of up to 20 reps.
WHAT MUSCLES DO DUMBBELL REVERSE CURL WORK
The dumbbell reverse curl predominantly targets your biceps.
1. BICEPS BRACHII
These are the muscles found on the upper part of the upper arm.
The biceps are involved in the movement of the elbow and the shoulder. It is a double-headed muscle.
The short head originates at the top of the shoulder blade. The long head originates just above the shoulder joint. They both join at the elbow.
The biceps help with lifting weights with the forearm.
2. BRACHIALIS
It is located in the upper arm, and lies beneath the bicep muscle.
It connects the bone of the upper arm, the humerus and one of the forearm bones, the ulna.
The main function of the brachialis is to flex the forearm muscles at the elbow.
The dumbbell reverse curl activates the brachialis during the lift.
3. BRACHIORADIALIS
The brachioradialis muscle is located in your forearm.
It enables the flexion of the elbow joint, and also helps with pronation and supination of the forearm.
It originates from the humerus and travels down the length of the forearm.
DUMBBELL REVERSE CURL BENEFITS
There are multiple benefits to strengthening your arms with the dumbbell reverse curl.
1. IMPROVED SHOULDER STABILITY
As mentioned earlier, the biceps is a double-headed muscle originating from the scapula.
It provides stability for the rotator cuff through the front deltoid.
The biceps secure the humerus to the scapula while the rotator cuff secures the humerus to the shoulder joint. This double compression increases your shoulder stability when you have strong biceps.
2. IMPROVED ATHLETIC ABILITY
Exercises that involve elbow flexion help make your biceps stronger. This enables you to lift heavier weights.
This improves your athletic ability for sports that require arm strength such as gold of tennis.
3. SHOULDER REHABILITATION
If you have recently injured your shoulder and need to introduce exercises to help treat the shoulder and improve shoulder mobility, this exercise is perfect for you.
Biceps play a role in shoulder flexion. When you flex your shoulder, you engage the biceps and the anterior deltoid.
When doing reverse curls, the rhomboids and traps contract to keep you in good posture to prevent the shoulders from rolling forward.
The dumbbell reverse curl helps strengthen the rotator cuff.
4. REDUCE THE RISK OF INJURY
Keeping your biceps strong helps keep your elbows stable when you’re doing power-based lifting exercises such as deadlifts.
Biceps tendon rupture is a common injury that happens to professional lifters.
Keeping your biceps strong helps reduce the risk of this happening.
5. IMPROVED GRIP STRENGTH
This exercise activates forearm muscles responsible for grip strength. Dumbbell curls are a useful isolation exercise that can help improve your grip strength for other exercises such as deadlifts.
The curls can also help prevent tendinitis, lower the risk of carpal tunnel syndrome, and lower the chance of developing arthritis.
ALTERNATIVES TO DUMBBELL REVERSE CURL
1. STEP BACK BICEP CURL
Adding a small step back to your bicep curl adds extra tension to your biceps. It is a great alternative to the dumbbell reverse curl which also trains your coordination, balance and core stability.
To do this exercise:
- Hold a pair of dumbbells by your side while standing up straight.
- Curl up with your preference while taking a step back with your right foot.
- Return your arms to the starting position by stepping back to your feet together.
- Switch to the left foot stepping back while curling.
- Return to the starting position.
- Alternate sides for 2-4 sets for up to sixteen reps.
2. BICEP 21S
You can do bicep 21s while standing or sitting.
To do this exercise:
- Hold a pair of dumbbells by your side and stand tall.
- Curl the dumbbells to your elbows at 90 degrees and return to starting position after seven reps.
- Move your elbows to the 90-degree level and curl the dumbbells to your shoulders. Return to the 90-degree position and perform seven reps back and forth.
- Straighten your arms and perform 7 full-range motion reps.
- Repeat up to two times.
3. FAT GRIP BICEP CURL
This includes using a barbell or dumbbells with an increased diameter in the grip. This increases the workout for your forearms.
To do this exercise:
- Wrap a towel on the handles of a pair of dumbbells.
- Grip the dumbbells with a supinated grip.
- Curl the dumbbells up to your shoulders until you feel your squeeze in your biceps.
- Hold that position for a second then return to the starting position.
- Repeat for 2-4 sets of up to 15 reps.
DUMBBELL REVERSE CURL MISTAKES TO AVOID
To make the dumbbell reverse curl effective, ensure that you focus on tension rather than weight. You can’t successfully make your biceps stronger by using forced reps. Focus on good form.
Don’t do the curls before doing compound exercises like chin-ups. These exercises use the most weight. Do the curls after to fully exhaust and build your biceps. If you start with the curls, you risk using less weight in your compound exercises.
Use tempo to do as many curls as possible. Don’t do unfocused sequential lifts. Lifting the dumbbells with tempo puts the biceps under tension for longer. This will help build your biceps more effectively.
Try sitting down while doing reverse curls. Sitting helps you use more weight. You utilize less of your stabilizing muscles and provide more tension for your working muscles.
Try mixing sitting and standing reverse curls to develop your biceps better.
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