+ 3 Barbell Curls vs EZ Bar Curls
Barbell Curl
Worse for wrists.
More balance required.
Slightly more bicep activation.
Great for building biceps.
EZ Bar Curl
Better for wrist.
Less balance required.
Slightly less bicep activation.
Great for building biceps.
How many of you have noticed a massive difference between the two handles? Certainly the most common news is always to vary the two exercises, but is there a real biomechanical explanation?
The straight barbell is probably the first gym equipment that ever existed, is this perhaps the reason why the old school prefers it to the EZ one?
Personally I prefer the straight one because it forces the biceps to supinate (i.e. with the hands pointing forward in the lower position) throughout the whole range of motion. In this way I can activate both the short point and the long point of the biceps, lifting a greater load.
With the AZ rocker arm, however, I feel my forearms working too hard. I recommend a nice Curl with a straight barbell, increasing the time under tension (T.U.T.), no more than ten repetitions for four series.
What are your experiences?
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you nailed it for me i prefer the straight bar because it forces your wrist parallel with the ground and you can kinda slack on supinate with the ez curl depending on where you hold it
I like to use a straight bar but the EZ is definitely easier on my wrists. I get a way better squeeze and pump with a straight bar with a fat grip.
I like cambered grip with fat gripz attached, Could be EZ bar or the cambered cable attachment. As my arms grew, I lost some wrist mobility and now straight bar supination is just a lot ask of my arms these days. They'll do it, and it'll feel really good on the biceps, and technically it suits my training philosophy better than cambered, but still I end up using cambered 95% of the time.
StevebThey both hurt my wrists so I use dumbbells
I use both but I think the straight bar hits better.
AnonThe diameter of the bar makes a big difference on the wrists. Some bars are too skinny for my hands.
Well said, the same thing happens to me with pull up. I think the standard barbell is 28mm for everyone.
AnonI don't like small diameter grip on anything really. The typical single hand handles for cable machines are about the size of a roll of dimes.
AnonWhat about deadlifts? Have you tried them with a smaller diameter bar?
I actually love these. Less worry about grip. I am going for a huge dead this winter.
AnonNot sure brother. I got a fracture of the L3 disc (lower back) years ago. Sports related. I believe I fully recovered but I don't deadlift much or often enough to be able to tell how much the bar diameter matters on my hands or wrists. I don't ever deadlift or bentover row with more than 200lbs. Call me a pussy if you want, but I don't wanna find out if that disc is vulnerable to re-injury or not. Sitting in snap city when I could be doing my thing sucks balls yah know.
Brother, two hundred pounds of deadlift performed correctly is no joke, in bodybuilding theme. Especially if your weight is less. A 5x5 is challenging.
Anon200 is just where I draw the line when I do them "heavy" (for me), I have no idea what my max deadlift could be. With barbell rows I like to first barbell curl 80 to 120lbs then without putting the bar down do a set of bentover rows. I like the classic routine of pairing back and biceps or chest and triceps on the same day.
AnonYeah fuck that I wouldn't either..why risk a spinal injury again. Noooope.
Unfortunately for me I’m not able to do either without causing tendinitis in my left inner elbow... always had a smaller left bicep due to having shit grip in my left hand which also impacts my curls.
I mainly stick to dumbbells and cables now as it really seems to eliminate pain.
I also like to mix the reps and TUT up too. A lighter weight with higher reps helps me get my biceps fired up and gets me in the mind muscle connection, then I like to lower the rep range and slow the movements to really focus on the stretch and contraction.
Sounds like what I’ve got going on, golfer’s elbow. I’m using a compression sleeve and a band-it wrapped over the top of it. It really squeezes the tendon and makes some arm work bearable. My is finally slowly starting to get better. You might want to try that. Put the band-it two fingers down from the joint on the inside.
It appears to be the most common injury along with the shoulder. For this reason I preferred to train the biceps together with the chest, but if I exaggerate with the load the pain returns quickly.
Thanks for the tip mate. Honestly willing to try anything at this point because I will be half way through a session and then the aching pain comes out of nowhere and I can hardly stretch my arm out!
That’s how I was. About ready to give up and assume it was torn, but in the last two weeks it has gotten better. Don’t do narrow grip perpendicular last pull downs. That’s what really set mine off to start with.
I also had tendinitis in my left arm at one time. Try separating the training of the biceps from the back. There is no need to do dozens and dozens of series for a small muscle which, in turn, is quite stressed in other movements.
I have thought about splitting it up but not actually tried it yet. I think I might change my routine and maybe have a dedicated arm day instead and see how it goes! Thanks for the advice buddy!
AnonI primary use dumbbells, varying angles and utilizing different tempo's with high volume days or heavier days if they've not been used the same session, like chest day..on back days I'll use light weight and hit hammers, preacher and the twisting variation whatever that's called. Light weight with a good hard squeeze really gets the upper inner/middle cut burning.
Concentrated Hummer Curl is my favorite exercise to hit the biceps hard, and feel a big pump, increasing the T.U.T.
When I use to do a lot of bicep work I always preferred the EZ bar, got too much wrist pain from the barbell and I just felt it working the arms and forearms so much better. Curling the barbell with a plate either end does look more impressive though lol I'd generally do 6 to 8 reps or heavy 4's then do dumbell preacher curls after and found that to be the best combo for strength and size.
Some of the pain in my wrists and elbows was eliminated (although not completely) by training my biceps away from my back, although I preferred to do all the pulling exercises in one session.
Heard this trick to let your wrists hang back to take some tension off the forearms as mine normally fatigue before my biceps. Seems to help with both straight and ez bar variations but there’s too much strain and not enough power for heavier curls.
Have you ever tried to use this?
Not a fan, personally. I like certain types of supported movements, but this one I think is too much of a crutch. Not using one of these is a valuable lesson in training with purpose, to keep the elbows slightly in front of the body to purposely increase the tension, and not to let it waver even slightly as the reps get closer and closer to failure. I feel people who view training as work, are the people who need this type of tool.
Yeah, it improved the suspension on my truck
Never used anything but a basic wrist wraps. I found I relied on them too much and when not using them I couldn’t keep my wrists in line with my forearms in any direction causing more pain. I’m an all or nothing kind of guy so I easily end up overusing them as a crutch instead of just as needed. Do you feel they help a lot? May give them another go
In addition to keeping your elbows resting on them, they force you to keep them firm and solid. With the load on top they do their duty. I use it often. Try it.
I’ll take a look into it maybe I just needed a better brand than whatever I could get at the store. Thanks for the tip.
I get much better development with the straight bar. It activates my bicep much more. However if I’m dealing with elbow problems, which I am right now, I switch to EZ curl bar. It is much easier on my elbows and allows me to still train the bicep with hammer curls as well. Just started back with the straight bar as my elbow pain has diminished somewhat
I prefer the EZ bar.. much easier to curl.
I see what you did there.
Molinin302Used to always use the straight bar, now its only EZ bar. I hit the short head with dumbells, alternate with concentration curls added sometimes. Its not my wrists as much as my elbows though.
I prefer the EZ bar to make the triceps work, while as a basic exercise I use the straight bar. I perform instead Curl Hummer with concentrated dumbbells, with elbows in support. I feel my biceps explode.
Good points. One thing regarding the activation - an advantage for the ez curl bar is the increased activation of the long head. The straight bar will def activate the short head better as you mention because of the supinate position but to hit both heads I prefer the ez curl bar. Although I do both as well... ;)