Preacher curls are another great bicep exercise that will really isolate your bicep muscle. Preacher curls are performed on a preacher curl bench. If you workout at home and you don’t have one, then it may be worth the small investment. The preacher curl bench is basically a bench with a tilted arm rest on.
The seat will also be adjustable in order to get you into the appropriate position for the movement. Most gyms will have a preacher curl bench. If they don’t then you can also perform this movement using dumbbells. If your using dumbbells and there is no preacher curl bench in your gym use a standard bench.
Stand behind it, adjust it to a high incline position and you have everything you need to perform the dumbbell preacher curl. Anyway back to the barbell preacher curl. Here is how to perform the preacher curl using a barbell.
Find a preacher curl Bench. Sit on the preacher curl bench and adjust the height of the seat. Seat position is important in order to make the most out of this exercise. If the seat is too low your arms will not be in a comfortable position to perform the exercise. Alternatively you can stand up and lean against the preacher curl bench instead of sitting down. Whether you sit down or stand up is entirely up to you.
Grab a weight. Pick a weight where you think you will be able to perform at least 8 reps. If you are more experienced with this exercise then feel free to go heavier but I feel the preacher curl is most effective in a 8-12 rep range. Now we need to get into position.
The ideal way to get the weight into position is to have someone hand it to you once you are standing or seated in the preacher curl bench. However, if you are training on your own the barbell preacher curl can prove a little tricky to set up.
Try picking up the weight away from the bench. Walk across to the preacher curl bench with the weight down in front of you at arms length. If you can, walk behind the arm pad while keeping your arms in front of the pad. This way the weight should be positioned out in front of the pad, allowing you to place the back of your arms on the arm pad. You should now be ready to perform your first rep.
Another way to get the weight into position for your first rep is to perform a bicep curl near the preacher curl bench. Maintain the position at the top of the bicep curl so that the weight is positioned up by your chin. Now walk carefully into the preacher bench and position the back of your arms behind the pad. You should now be in position to lower the bar and perform your first rep of the preacher curl.
Lifting. Now, depending on how you have started the rep (this example is when starting from the bottom of the movement) you now need to curl the weight up towards your forehead. It’s not ideal to curl the weight all the way up.
Ideally you will want to stop at the point when your palms have just started facing you. The bar should also be around chin height or slightly above. Once you reach this point you will want to lower the bar back down in a controlled fashion.
When lowering, you do not want to lower the bar all the way down as this will make the next rep extremely hard and awkward and can take stress away from the targeted muscle. Lower to just below vertical. Ensure you maintain a tight grip on the bar and do not allow your wrists to bend back during the bottom phase of the movement.
Releasing the bar. If you have a spotter or workout partner with you then this is easy. Simply lower the weight down and let him/her take the bar and place it on the floor. If however you do not have a workout partner you will need to find a way to place the bar on the floor yourself. Now, if you have gone to failure and there is no way you can get the weight back up for one more rep then you don’t have much choice than to drop the weight onto the floor and make a bit of noise.
If however you complete your final rep and have the bar positioned at the top of the movement, then you can slowly move out of the preacher curl bench and lower the weight back down to the floor.
How to do Preacher Curls – A Few Pointers
Moderate weight. Use a weight that you know you can handle and have a good chance of getting 8-12 repetitions with. The preacher curl is a strict isolation movement of the biceps and minimizes any use of other muscle groups and body movement so its important your muscles can handle the weight. Get use to the exercise before going too heavy.
Squeeze the bar. To make the lift more comfortable and less awkward you will want to squeeze the bar firmly, especially on the lowering phase of the movement. This will also help to ensure your wrists do not roll backwards slightly when lowering the bar.
Have a workout partner handy. It’s extremely useful for this type of exercise to have a workout partner on hand to pass you the weight and lower it back down to the floor instead of trying to do it all yourself. It’s also safer. Alternatively you could switch to dumbbells and use a traditional bench in order to perform the preacher curl.
