Free Weights - The Basic Flat Curl

Michelle Beaumont: Hi I'm Michelle Beaumont with michellefitness.com and Body Mind Fitness Solutions. I'm demonstrating how to do a total bicep workout. You should consult with your physician before starting any workout program. I'm a nationally recognized fitness and figure competitor. I write for magazines and publicly speak. We are going to begin today with some bicep exercises that can tone and shape your arms and add strength. In order to strengthen your arms or develop muscle you should go with heavy weight and low repetitions. In order to tone or lose some weight around the bicep and shape the muscle slightly, you would go with higher repetitions and lower weight. The weight you choose is up to you, you should be at failure by the end of the last repetition. So, let's begin.

I'm going to be demonstrating a basic flat curl with dumbbells. This exercise will strengthen this part of your muscle. When you are curling you want to make sure that you contract the muscle fully. There are other exercises that I will also perform that will help shape the head of the muscle. So, let's begin by picking up dumbbells, again considering whether you want to strengthen or just tone, strengthening you are going to go with heavier weight and lower repetitions, for toning let's go with higher repetitions and lower weight. Let's begin. So keep your elbows tight to your ribs, right above your hips and you are going to come up and lower down. Now, if you are going with heavier weight, you want to go nice and slow and really squeeze leading with the pinkies, as they come in, it's a subtle movement, just turn it in a little bit nice and flat. If you are going with higher reps and lower weight, you may want to pick your speed up a little bit, Make sure you are breathing throughout the entire routine, deep breathing, inhaling and exhaling. Don't think too much about breathing, just inhale and exhale and that's it for the bicep curl with the free weights.