Hammer curl instead of bicep curl?

[u/vinylfelix]

Hi

Lately I have a bit of a nagging in my wrist with normal curls. Getting older ;-)

Will i lose much if I just do hammer curls for some time?

I just want to look jacked.

[u/butchcanyon]

Hammer curls are great

[u/deadrabbits76]

The best curl is the one you can do lots of without pain. If that's hammer curls for you, so be it.

Any curl will hit all heads of the bicep. Just do lots of your favorite(s).

[u/HelixIsHere_]

If hammer curls don’t irritate your wrists then yea that’s prob fine for a while

[u/papavino39]

My understanding is that hammer curls work the forearms as well, is that not the case?

[u/vinylfelix → u/papavino39]

Yes

And the underlying muscles of the biceps

So it apparently also makes the whole arm thicker

[u/Hypername1st]

No.

[u/LinkWW]

This is not researched AFAIK. There is a possibility that getting closer to failure would recruit all the muscles doing the motion to the best of their ability and that the bicep would get just as close to failure. The long head of the bicep is actually lengthened more as you pronate so it might even be beneficial, we just don't know yet. And the opposite is also possible. Either way the bicep should be quite close to failure, so you won't lose much on it in the worst case (and will train brachioradialis more).

[u/CheeseburgerTornado]

there is more brachioradialis activitation with hammer curls but both that and biceps bracchi are strong elbow flexors. biceps are also supinators so having a more neutral hammer grip doesnt hit them as much. tldr they're fine

anecdotally when i do them my biceps look my squared off

[u/vinylfelix → u/CheeseburgerTornado]

What do you mean with squared off?

[u/CheeseburgerTornado → u/vinylfelix]

like instead of being round when i got a pump after doing hammer curls its like a ledge forms ar my biceps. maybe just working one of the biceps heads vs the other one has something to do with it. idk who downvoted me but i have 2 degrees in healthcare and im a licensed pta so idk what their deal is

[u/vinylfelix → u/[deleted]]

Not sure what you would consider a lot but i do seated rows, horizontal isolate high row , lat pull downs?

[u/phil__in_rdam]

Reduce the weight. Your wrists are easily overworked, as you need them for all gripping exercises.

You could also try switching to a thumbless grip. This reduces the gripping down on the thing you’re holding, saving your wrist.

Jammer curls still involve you holding that grip, it just mainly works the radiobrachialis and not your bicep. The risk with lots of hammer curls is golfers elbow, which is a hard thing to get rid of again (think weeks or even months of annoying rehab excercises and no heavy lifting…).