Nothing quite says ‘I workout’ like a good pair of biceps – does it?
However, if you’ve been doing endless curls and your arms are still looking like little hills compared to mighty mountains – at least when you’re not flexing them – then Strength Coach, Jeff Cavaliere, says there are two exercises you need to start prioritising.
“It has nothing to do with the biceps and everything to do with this hidden muscle underneath them called the brachialis which, when developed, lifts the biceps up and out, increasing visible arm width,” he says in his latest Instagram post.
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It’s easy to get carried away with exercises that just focus on building the peak of the bicep, rather than the overall width of the arm. But, if you want them to look well-rounded (even when they’re not flexed), then you need to focus on both.
“The good news? You only need two exercises to build it [the brachialis],” he adds. Let’s see what they are…
How to perform:
Grab your dumbbells but this time with your palms facing each otherLift your chest up, pinch your shoulder blades back together and position your elbows directly below your shouldersBend at the elbow and curl one dumbbell up towards your shoulders, trying to get your thumb to as close to them as possiblePause at the top and squeeze your bicepsReturn to the start position and repeat on the opposite side
Cavaliere’s words of wisdom: “Don’t forget to load it up heavier than your typical dumbbell curl and use a little momentum to drive higher tension and overload. This exercise should be a little less pretty and more powerful to make the best gains from it.
Cross Body Hammer Curl – YouTube
How to perform:
Set up exactly as you do for the hammer curl aboveThis time, instead of curling the dumbbell up towards your shoulder, curl it across your body to the opposite shoulder, making sure your palms remain pronated (facing down)Lower the arm back to the starting position and repeat on the opposite side
Cavaliere’s words of wisdom: “Perform your reps much slower and deliberate using lighter weight. The speed of the movement is important here too in order to minimize the shift away from the brachialis to the brachioradialis.”