Have you ever wondered why the sleeves of my T-shirt are not blossoming with the muscle of my arm, even after hundreds of curls? why this part not getting wider even after working so hard on arms development? A big reason for this is a hidden muscle that you may not know about or are ignoring. Yes, I’m talking about the brachialis muscle.
The brachialis muscle transforms your arm into a powerful, well-defined masterpiece. However, due to the fact that this model is hidden, most people ignore this muscle. As a result, 100% of their potential does not come out.
This article will describe the function and what are the exercises that help to grow that hidden stubborn baby.
What is brachialis?
The brachialis muscle is situated beneath your upper arm’s biceps. basically, it begins from the center of your upper arm and ends at the bottom with the forearm bone. This muscle’s primary function is to bend your elbows. This muscle is the reason your upper arm seems bigger and more powerful.
It pushes your bicep higher, increasing its size and also increase its strength. It helps you when you lift or pull something. By building a strong brachialis muscle, you’re adding more definition to your arm, which helps make your bicep look bigger and more sculptured. Also, brachialis increases the strength of your overall arm. As a result, when you go for an exercise where you have to band your arm, such as lifting and carrying, it helps to improve your performance.
1. Cross-body hammer curl
This exercise is a different variation of our traditional hammer curl that specifically targets the brachialis muscle.
How to perform
- Stand up straight with a dumbbell in both hands. Select a little heavyweight.
- Keep your elbows close to both bodies.
- Then start curling the right dumbbell across your body towards your shoulder.
- Then lower the dumbbell to the starting position and perform the same thing with the left dumbbell.
How it’ll help
Through this exercise, the size and appearance of your arm will be enhanced from every angle. Not only this, but performing this exercise in the neutral grip position will also increase our grip strength. As a result, it ensures better performance during our upper body exercises.
2. Reverse Barbell Curl
This exercise targets the brachialis and brachioradialis muscles perfectly.
How to perform
- Stand straight with a dumbbell or barbell in an overhand grip with the shoulders wide apart.
- Keep your elbows close to both sides.
- Then take it out and bring it to the solder.
- Then slowly lower the weight back to the starting position.
How It’s Helping
By focusing on the brachialis and forearm muscles, this workout ensures a balanced growth of our arms. Compared to traditional exercise, there is much less stress on the wrist.
Because it builds wrist stability and strength, this exercise is highly beneficial for people who play sports or work in the sports industry, like tennis or rock climbing.
3. Zottman Curl
This exercise is basically a combination of two exercises, the bicep curl and reverse curl, which makes it a comprehensive arm exercise.
How to perform
- Stand on your feet, shoulder-width apart, with two dumbbells in your palms facing up.
- Then roll the dumbbells and bring them to your shoulder.
- At the very top position of this movement, rotate your wrist, which means pump face down and lower the weight.
- Bring your leg back to the starting position and repeat the process.
- Aim for 12-15 reps with 3 sets.
How It’s Helping
This is a complete arm workout in one movement. When you lift the weight upwards, it basically targets your biceps and forearm muscles, and when you lower it targets your brachialis muscle. This is a very effective exercise that increases the muscle endurance and strength of your biceps and forearms.
4. Neutral Grip Concentration Curl
Having a neutral grip, this neutral grip concentration curl isolates the brachialis muscle, as well as, it helps you focus on muscle activation.
How to perform
- Sit on a seat with your legs spread apart with a dumbbell in one hand.
- Put one of your hands on top of the other and extend your arms down.
- Keep your upper arm stable and lift the dumbbell towards your solder by curling it, and breathe out.
- Hold for a second at the top, then slowly lower the dumbbell to the starting position and breathe in
- Aim for 12-15 reps with 3 sets.
How it’ll help
This exercise provides maximum isolation to your brachialis muscle. This will help you in better muscle development and strength gain. It gives a fuller look to your upper arm by activating the overall muscles of your upper arm.
This is one of the best exercises where the entire focus of your mind-muscle connection is naturally very strong.
5. Cable Hammer Curl
This exercise is mainly performed on the cable machine. As a result, constant tension is maintained in your muscles throughout the movement.
How to perform
- Simply set the pulley at the lowest position on the machine and attach a rope.
- Then just stand facing the machine and hold the rope in a neutral grip (palms facing each other).
- Then curl the rope up to your solder, but keep your elbows close to your body.
- Then slowly lower the body back to the starting position.
- Aim for 12-15 reps with 3 sets.
How it’ll help
This exercise targets the brachialis and brachioradialis muscles of both your biceps and forearms. By using a cable machine to maintain tension, your chances of muscle strain or injury are greatly reduced and perform it very well in a very controlled way. This makes it safer for your joints.
6. Dumbbell reverse grip curl
It’s a very simple and traditional exercise, yet it’s still very effective in targeting the brachialis and forearm.
How to perform
- Stand shoulder-width apart with two dumbbells or a barbell in your hand.
- Then keep your elbows closed on both sides
- Then leave the dumbbells or the barbell up towards your shoulder and breathe out at the top position.
- Then lower the dumbbells to the starting position and breathe in.
- Aim for 12-15 reps with 3 sets.
How It’s Helping
By focusing on your brachialis and forearm muscles, it ensures the strength and stability of your entire arm development. You can improve your lifting performance by incorporating this exercise into your arm routine. This will make your forearm stronger, which will allow you to perform exercises like deadlift better.
