We’ve all been there—lost in the endless scroll of TikTok or Instagram—until we stumble upon a fitness influencer flexing their chiseled biceps and jacked upper body.
Wondering, ‘Man, I wish I could achieve that kind of muscular definition and strength.’
Well, with the wide grip barbell curl, you can start sculpting your own set of enviable biceps and upper body strength right from the comfort of your gym, or even better, just with a barbell at home.
With proper instructions and form, the barbell wide grip curl becomes an effective exercise and could be a perfect starting point for your fitness journey.
And it all starts with picking up that barbell and giving the wide-grip barbell curl a try.
Wide Grip Barbell Curl Muscles Work
The wide grip targets your arm muscles from different angles, giving your arms the potential for optimal activation and growth.
The primary muscle activated during the movement is the short head of your biceps.
Because you are holding the barbell outside of your shoulder width, the short head is more actively engaged.
The secondary muscles that engage are the long head of the biceps brachii, the brachialis, and the brachioradialis.
These muscles are slightly outside the radius of the movement, so they don’t receive as much tension, but they still get enough to contribute to growth.
Incorporating wide grip barbell curl into your routine can enhance overall arm development by ensuring comprehensive muscle activation.
How to Do Wide Grip Barbell Curl
- Start by standing with a proud posture, holding the bar wider than shoulder-width.
- Lift the barbell to the top, making sure your elbows stay close to your torso.
- When you reach the top, squeeze your biceps as hard as you can before lowering the bar to the starting position.
- Aim for 10–13 reps across 2-4 sets.
Equipment: Standard Barbell
Primary Muscle Work: Short Head (Biceps Brachii)
Grip: Wide Grip (outside shoulder width)
Benefits of the Wide Grip Barbell Curl
Here are three compelling reasons why you should consider adding wide grip barbell curls to your arm-day workout routine:
Targeted Muscle Symmetry
Performing wide grip curls with proper form helps maintain alignment between the wrists and elbows, distributing equal tension to both biceps. This can promote muscle symmetry and balanced development between the arms.
Increased Muscle Growth Potential
Using a wide grip instead of a close grip when curling works your biceps from a different angle.
This means different muscles in your arm come into play, potentially spurring more muscle growth by activating multiple areas all at once.
Improved Grip Strength
Unlike other bicep exercises, wide grip curls specifically challenge your grip strength.
They require more grip strength than any other exercise, which puts additional pressure on your wrist to lift the bar, leading to enhanced overall grip strength.
Improving grip strength can help individuals, in the long run, do daily activities more easily as they age.
Wide Grip Barbell Curl Tips
- Thumbless Grip: Try a thumbless grip for increased bicep activation. This forces your forearms to stay engaged and takes some stress off your wrists. However, start lighter and master the technique before adding weight.
- Full Range of Motion: Aim for a full range of motion by completely extending your arms at the bottom of the rep and fully contracting your biceps at the top. This ensures you’re working the entire muscle throughout its entire range.
- Tighten Your Core: A lot of us forget to engage our core during the reps. You should keep your core engaged throughout the exercise to maintain stability and prevent your lower back from arching.
Common Mistakes
Common mistakes to stay away from while performing wide grip curl:
Incorrect Elbow Position
The elbow position is the main component of wide grip curls as it determines muscle activation.
Keeping your elbows too close or too far away can fluctuate the tension between muscles, which may cause less activation of the main muscle, which is the biceps.
This could also result in elbow joint pain or worse injuries.
Neglecting Wrist Alignment
To lift heavy weights, we often neglect our wrist alignment. Either we bend our wrist upwards or downwards to curl the weight up forcefully.
While this might seem normal because you’re getting the pump you need and fishing with either set, But in the long run, this could potentially damage your wrist joint, and you might end up quitting fitness.
Research shows the wrist or hand is a commonly injured area in weight training. (1)
There could be many other reasons you can keep your wrist straight; it’s not just heavyweight. But most of the time, improper wrist alignment occurs because of heavyweights.
Using Momentum
Lifting the bar using body weight is common in the wide grip curl, given its standing position.
Sometimes we cheat without knowing what is going on.
One of the common signs of using momentum is when you bend your upper body slightly forward to curl the weight up.
To avoid this, focus on lifting the weight slowly and with control.
Consider starting with just the barbell before adding any additional weight to ensure proper form and technique.
Wide Grip Barbell Curl Alternatives and Variation
Barbell Curl
One of the popular biceps exercise which helps with the development and building strength of the biceps.
By isolating the biceps brachii and engaging forearm muscles, this exercise delivers effective results for your biceps.
Ez Bar Wide Grip Curl
The wide grip curl with an EZ bar is an excellent variation, especially for those with difficulty gripping a barbell.
Although the muscle activation with the Ez bar is similar to the barbell, the EZ bar makes wide grip curl slightly easier than a bar as the zigzag shape lets you hold it with a more comfortable grip, which puts less tension on your wrist.
Close Grip Barbell Curl
Performed with a 6-inch supinated grip, the close grip barbell curl is another excellent variation of the wide grip curl.
This exercise helps with biceps growth by specifically targeting the long head, located on the outer side of the biceps.
Final Thoughts
The barbell wide-grip curl is an excellent variation of the barbell exercise for the biceps.
Engaging in this workout not only enhances muscle growth potential but also strengthens those bicep muscles.
With the right form and guidance, anyone can tap into the full benefits of wide grip curls and maximize their bicep growth.
Reference
- Keogh JW, Winwood PW. The Epidemiology of Injuries Across the Weight-Training Sports. Sports Med. 2017 Mar;47(3):479-501. doi: 10.1007/s40279-016-0575-0. PMID: 27328853.
Featured image by Getty Images edited by SA
