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I began wondering this afternoon if a supinated grip is really the best for curls. Supposedly they put the biceps in a position of more advantage for strength. But in reality, is this REALLY what we would want? It would seem this would lead to the upper forearm muscles doing more work because they were weaker in that position. The biceps have already supinated the forearms, so they will have leverage advantages.

It almost seems to me that a PRONATED position would actually work the biceps more because they would have to work harder to try and supinate the forearms! Any thoughts on this?

Darrell

Interesting…

What is weird though, is if I do reverse curls, my forearms take all the load and get very sore, but if I do regular curls, my biceps take the load.
Maybe it′s because the forearms are put into such a WEAK position that you cannot use enough weight for the biceps to really be stimulated?

"What is weird though, is if I do reverse curls, my forearms take all the load and get very sore, but if I do regular curls, my biceps take the load."

But wouldn′t that just mean the forearm muscles are doing more work on the negative? Negatives is what gives the most soreness. On the way down, maybe the forearms are pronating more to cause the forearm muscles to take it there, but not on the positive? I don′t know. My biceps NEVER get sore, no matter what, so I can′t use curls as a test for me. Do you biceps get sore from the regular curls, or just FEEL like they′re working more?

"Maybe it��s because the forearms are put into such a WEAK position that you cannot use enough weight for the biceps to really be stimulated?"

But that′s where I was thinking maybe we′re thinking about it backwards. If they couldn′t use much weight there, they would have to be firing more fibers at a higher rate to handle it.

I don′t know. It just seems as though when I do rows with a parallel grip or even pronated grip, my biceps get totally pumped. I know a pump isn′t an indication of growth or anything, but it at least proves they are really working. My forearm muscles responsible for pronating never get pumped.

Darrell

I think it comes down to individual leverage factors and tendon attatchments more than anything. For me, I have the same experiences as AZ, but I have heard of other people swearing by other grips. It is just like the bench press, some like a closer grip, some like it wider. Strange.

"But wouldn′t that just mean the forearm muscles are doing more work on the negative? Negatives is what gives the most soreness. On the way down, maybe the forearms are pronating more to cause the forearm muscles to take it there, but not on the positive? I don′t know. My biceps NEVER get sore, no matter what, so I can′t use curls as a test for me. Do you biceps get sore from the regular curls, or just FEEL like they′re working more?"

I have to use so much less weight with reverse curls compared to regular curls it shows me there must be less load on the biceps. I can really feel the forearm muscles contracting during the positve also, with reverse curls.

My biceps don′t get sore much anymore, but years ago they sure used to.

"But that′s where I was thinking maybe we′re thinking about it backwards. If they couldn′t use much weight there, they would have to be firing more fibers at a higher rate to handle it."

What I meant though was that the forearms were limiting the weight so the biceps were used less.

Maybe your forearms are a lot stronger than mine or have much better leverages?

Az