Stimulate Bicep Growth with Spider Curls
Mastering Spider Curls: A Guide to Impressive Biceps
Are you ready to sculpt your biceps into powerful, sleeve-stretching muscles? Look no further than spider curls—a simple yet highly effective workout for building massive biceps. Let's dive in!
What are Spider Curls?
Spider curls are a targeted arm workout specifically designed to isolate the biceps. To perform them, position your upper body against a surface, such as a bench inclined at a 45-degree angle. Alternatively, you can use a specialized spider curls bench tailored for this exercise. Similar to concentration curls, spider curls demand a slow and controlled motion throughout each repetition.
As you progress with spider curls, focus on refining your form and gradually increasing the challenge. Begin with dumbbells, which offer freedom of movement and comfort. Once comfortable, you can advance to using a barbell for added resistance. For an intermediate challenge, incorporate an EZ bar into your routine.
Spider curls are a valuable addition to any training regimen, offering a pathway to enhanced bicep size and strength. Consider integrating them as a warm-up exercise before engaging in workouts targeting the biceps, such as bench presses, chin-ups, and deadlifts. With consistent practice, spider curls will become a seamless and effective component of your routine, leading to impressive bicep gains.
How to Perform Spider Curls
But how do you do spider curls? It’s simple, choose lightweight dumbbells you can comfortably lift and control. 2 to 3 sets are enough for a beginner. And in each set, do at least 8 to 12 reps for better impact. Remember, a comfortable weight is essential in developing good techniques and strict form before you start tackling heavyweight. That said, let’s begin:
1. Get an adjustable flat bench and set it at a 45o angle. Alternatively, you can use a spider curl bench if it’s available at the training facility.
2. With your chest facing down, lie on the bench while your feet rest on the ground. Straighten your leg and allow a slight arch at the knees.
3. Now take the dumbbells and grasp them with your palms facing forward.
4. With your shoulders facing outwards and lats engaged hang your arms freely in the air with a slight arch at the elbow.
5. Now tuck in your chin as if grasping an egg with it. And then brace your core and from this point, you can start your reps.
6. With your arms still and dumbbells well grasped, lift them from your biceps. Your first rep is complete when the lower and upper arm comes into contact. Also, you can complete it when the dumbbells are almost touching your shoulders.
7. Before descending your arm, firmly squeeze the biceps and pause with the weight for a few seconds. Thereafter, gently lower your arm with the weights to the initial position. And from the starting point, you can perform the second rep and a few after. As mentioned before, 8 to 12 reps are enough at the beginning.
Common Mistakes when Performing Spider Curls
Like any other workout or exercise, there are several ways we do spider curls wrongly. And because of that, it takes one more time to achieve their target. Luckily, we’ve got tips for you on common mistakes you should avoid to get better results. Let’s start:
Since your body is pressed against the bench with your arms at the mercy of gravity, cheating is minimal. But even so, there’s still room for mistakes. And in this case, the problem is not using your muscles effectively to lift the weight, especially if they’re heavy. Because of that, you end up relying on swinging momentum to lift the weight instead of muscular contraction.
Spider Curls Target Muscles
Being an isolation workout, there are no other muscles engaged except the biceps when you’re doing spider curls. And more precisely, spider curls focus on the short-head more than other muscles that form the biceps. And through working this part of the bicep, you’re able to balance the shoulder joint properly during heavy weight training.
Spider Curls Benefits
· It targets specific muscles. Oftentimes, we neglect the shorter head when working out the biceps. As a result, we end up with an incomplete bicep form. But through spider curls, this muscle receives the perfect focus it deserves.
· Fixing imbalances – when doing arm workouts for instance using other techniques, you might be overcompensating for the weaker arm. And that’s because they allow for cheating. However, spider curls in this case is another story, especially when you use dumbbells. Each arm works independently and strives to build muscle and strength. As a result, you end up fixing the imbalance that might exist.
· More effective- since your arms are hanging throughout, they end up experiencing greater tension. The tension leads to metabolic stress and metabolic stress translates to bigger gains.
Expert Recommendation on Rep Range and Weight
· Being an isolation workout, incorporate it into your fitness routine as a finisher or a warm-up.
· Next, always start with lightweight, this will warm up the muscles and protect them from excess stress.
· Still, on weight, choose a size that you can manage over 10 reps without straining.
· Lastly, starting with eight to twelve reps in three sets is enough. However, if you still have strength, you can add more reps and sets.
Spider Curls Alternative Exercises
· Preacher Curl on a chair
· High-cable curls
· Band curls
· Drag Curls on Smith Machine
· Couch Curls
Final Take
Are you ready to double the size of your biceps? Well, it’s time to fix spider curls into your workout routine. To avoid unnecessary injuries, begin with a small or lightweight dumbbell. After a while, you can begin increasing the amount of weight you’re using in this technique.
For those who find it hard to do spider curls, there are alternatives to try out. Lastly, the above steps are enough to guide you through. Therefore, master each step and try out with actual weight. Remember, spider curls are the key to bigger and stronger biceps.
