I’m usually a pretty big stickler on form, but I was wondering if anyone had a fairly ‘generic’ answer to the complete range of motion for a reverse barbell curl (with an ez grip bar no less). I always look to get the damn thing up as far as possible, but it seems like a lot of different descriptions offer a lot of different ROMs on the exercise. Given my almost 38 inch arms, that tends to be a long distance to travel, and I do notice slight pain when I go completely up (as in almost touching the bar to my chest)… anyone with a better idea on the ‘right’ ROM for a reverse curl?
Reverse curl (all bicep curling exercises for that matter) ROM is a strong function of bicep and forearm size. Since the biceps and forearms jam together at the top position, you’re going to experience limited ROM if you’ve got beefy arms. Try using a wider than shoulder grip to eke out slightly more ROM. I don’t know about the pain though. Maybe a training guru can chime in here.
Sorry, guru I’m not, but maybe I can help. As you probably already know, if your elbows are stuck to your sides, you can’t touch your chest. Keep your elbows stationary, and go as high as you can w/o letting them move forward. Depending on the size of your arms, your forearms should be around 45 to 75 degrees to the floor. Poliquin advocates doing these one and a half with a pause in the middle. As for the pain, sometimes a new movement will give you slight problems. It should go away after a w/o or 3. Only you know how bad the pain is and if you should work around it. Oh, keep your wrists in a neutral position. Hope this isn’t too generic for you. Good luck, may your brachialis grow huge!
Thanks for the info guys - actually reverse curls have been a staple (in one form or another) of my workouts for the last few months, but lately they’ve been bugging me. Of course, it could be from overuse (i’m generally swinging my arms about 8 hours a day as a musician).
Sergio, those angles sound about normal - i’ll toy with it and see whats happening… usually I’m pretty planted in the ground with my elbows stuck… actually maybe the pain is coming from squeezing my forearms against my elbows so hard… who knows?