Are barbell curls good?

Curls are good for your biceps. Barbell curls are bad for your wrists. Therefore do curls, but with an EZ bar or dumbbell.

What is your why

Before we go into the details of whether barbell curls are good, let me ask you a couple of questions:

Why do you want to barbell curl?
Why do you want to get stronger?
Why do you want to build muscle?
What happens when you do?
What happens if you don’t?

These questions are important for your long term success. Life will get in the way of your ambitions and dreams. You better have some good reasons to keep pushing. Most people go about their life’s in this fashion:

What do I want
How do I get it
Why do I want it

Almost everyone knows what they want. Fewer make a plan of how to get there. Almost none think about why they want certain things. The challenge with following what you want is that it changes hundreds of times in a day. It depends on whom you see, how you do things and simply what happens around you. If you let what you want be your guiding principle you will have a hard time feeling fulfilled and happy. Something interesting happens when you flip it on its head:

Why do you want something
How do you get it
What do you need to do to get it

With this change of order, you will focus on your most inner motivator and desire. Your actions and thought will become connected instead of disjointed and cluttered. In this process, you might also bang out some good curls. If you want to know how this works on a psychological level read Daniel Kahneman's thinking fast and slow. Simon Sinek explains this very good in his TED talk on the golden circle. He tells the very compelling story of the Wright brothers.

Barbell curls

Barbell curls start from the hip and end at your chin. You move the barbell by curling your arms upward and inward. Curls are a great way to train your biceps.

Barbell curls are not classified as compound exercises and are usually used as accessory movements. Powerlifters usually will do curls on squat or bench press day. It is also a movement that is usually done for repetitions rather than maximum weight.

The biggest discussion about barbell curls is usually whether you should body English during the movement or not. Body English basically means how much you bring in the rest of the body to move the weight rather than the primary targeted muscle. If you minimize body English the biceps has to work harder and you use less weight. The more body English you use the less targeted the curl becomes.

Pros of the bar bell curl

The barbell curl helps to keep training symmetrical. You can also load the barbell quite heavy. You will also mimmick the grip that you have in most other barbell movements.

Cons of the barbell curl

The biggest con for the barbell curl is that it is very taxing on your wrists. Curling a king piece of metal that does not bend Doesn’t sit well with the wrists. They want to turn inward when you near your face and the stiffness of the bar prevents this.

Alternatives to the barbell curl

EZ bar curl
Dumbbell curl
Kettlebell curl
Hammer curl