You've Been Doing Bicep Curls Wrong Your Entire Life

According to Kim Kardashian's personal trainer, Melissa Alcantara — also known as "fitgurlmel" on social media — bicep curls are simple, but she sees many people doing them incorrectly. She's talking about bicep curls with a bar, not dumbbells, often called barbell bicep curls. Poor form can cause injuries, and nobody wants that. 

There are many benefits of doing barbell bicep curls, so if you want these results, add them to your workout routine. Just take Melissa Alcantra's advice on proper form, so you don't get injured. According to BarBend, bicep curls can help with grip strength, overall arm strength, and of course, stronger bicep muscles. 

Bodybuilding adds that bicep curls are a pull exercise that targets your biceps, also known as the biceps brachii. Bicep curls also work your brachialis, a muscle near the elbow; the brachioradialis, a muscle in your forearm; and your deltoids, trapezius, wrist flexors, and levator scapulae — muscles that run from your neck to your shoulder. 

Ready to reap all of these benefits and target those biceps? Here's what Melissa Alcantara has to say about it. 

Melissa Alcantara shows you exactly how to do these barbell bicep curls properly. She explains how to have proper form by keeping your shoulders back and chest up. No slouching or curving back. No swinging the bar back and forth. That's how you'll get injured and not gain the full effects of the exercise. Sit into your hips with your knees slightly bent. Make sure your hands are gripping the bar correctly. Alcantara says, "you should feel the bar in your entire hand." Grip with all of your fingers, including your ring and pinky fingers. Keep your wrists straight. Avoid flexing them or curling them. 

Focus and move slowly throughout the curl. If you need to go down with the weight you're using for your bicep curls, do it. No shame in that as long as you're doing the exercise correctly, especially since you'll be reaping all the benefits of the barbell bicep curl and not getting hurt doing it. Keep those wrists straight throughout the move and avoid swinging. The only thing moving is your elbows. 

SportsRec recommends doing 6 curls for 2 to 6 reps for building bicep mass, resting 2 to 5 minutes between sets. Do 1 to 3 sets of 12 to 20 reps for better muscle endurance, with 30-second or less rest periods in between sets.