Arm workouts have several benefits, from making daily tasks to improving posture by working the muscles in your upper body.
If you're like most people, you're probably used to doing certain movements on a regular basis. Working your biceps and triceps makes you stronger, which will allow you to perform better in activities that involve more complex exercise variations.
In this article, you will find a list of the most effective exercises you can do with the Bells of Steel EZ curl bar, along with detailed instructions on how to perform each one efficiently and successfully. If you have access to or own an EZ curl bar, you're going to love this!An EZ curl bar is a specialty barbell with a wavy (angled, zig-zag) shape that allows your wrists to be in a more natural position than a straight barbell. It can vary slightly in diameter and weight. One thing you'll notice about the EZ curl bar is that it's much shorter than a standard Olympic barbell.
If you want to know more about specialty bars, then check out our blog: Best Specialty Barbells for Strength Training.
With the Bells of Steel EZ curl bar, you can do exercises that help strengthen your arms and shoulders while improving flexibility and range of motion. The bent shaft makes arm exercises easier on your wrist than a straight barbell. Although not rackable, the shorter length makes this bar useful in home gyms with limited space.
The shaft of the EZ Curl Bar has a rust-resistant black phosphate finish. The black-silver combination not only gives the appearance of a high-end barbell but also helps to reduce rust buildup.
Here are four arm workouts to get that quick pump. A drag curl is a type of isolation exercise performed with the bar close to your body. Rather than curling up toward your shoulders, you're dragging the bar to your body with your elbows behind you. The restriction and shorter range of motion isolate the shoulders to focus on the biceps.
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, your knees slightly bent, and your abs are drawn in.
- With your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, take a double underhand (supinated) hold of the EZ curl bar.
- As you curl upward, slightly reposition your elbows and shoulders. The EZ curl bar should feel like it is being "dragged" toward your body.
- Squeeze your biceps hard at the top and slowly return to the starting position.
The 21s exercise is a weightlifting technique known as partial reps. It blasts the biceps muscles with a 7-7-7 sequence of the bottom half, top half, and then full rep curls without rest.
Note: Pick a much lighter weight than your usual.
- Perform 7 partial curls in the bottom half of the range of motion with the bar resting on your thighs (stop just before your elbows reach 90 degrees).
- Then perform 7 curls in the upper half of your range of motion (start at 90 degrees and curl up).
- Complete the set with 7 full-range-of-motion curls.
- Perform 2-4 sets in total (one set is equal to 3 x 7 reps).
The close grip bench press is a compound exercise that involves lying on a flat bench and lifting a weighted barbell. This type of bench press uses a narrower grip than a traditional one which puts special emphasis on the triceps.
- Position yourself by lying on a flat bench back and holding the EZ curl bar close to your chest with a neutral grip.
- Lift the bar with a narrow grip and hold it straight over your torso, elbows in.
- As you breathe in, lower the bar to your lower chest. Keep the elbows in as you perform this movement.
- Use your triceps to push the bar back up, exhale and return to the starting position by extending the elbows.
Skull crushers or lying tricep extension is a type of strength training exercise that involves lying on your back using dumbbells or an EZ curl bar which allows you to build the triceps muscle group in the back of the upper arm.
- Lay on the weight bench while holding an EZ curl bar. Use an overhanded grip to hold it. Your lower arms with the bar can hang down behind your head, and your upper arms should lean slightly more back than vertical.
- Fully extended your arms as you gradually raise the bar. Throughout the exercise, keep your wrists fixed and your upper arms and body in the same position.
- In a controlled motion, lower the EZ curl bar into starting position.
- Continue the movement until all reps are completed.
The EZ bar is a special barbell with a curved bar that allows you to grasp it with your palms in a more natural, less supinated (upward) position. While you can do arm workouts with a conventional barbell, the EZ curl bar can help maximize your bicep and tricep activation and growth more than a standard barbell does.
Incorporate an EZ curl bar in your workout program and your arms will quickly go from being unremarkable to legendary!
