For those of you that do Curling, do you use a Straight bar or a Curl Bar? At my age its easier on my wrists to use a Curl bar.

Team Keine Ausreden = No Excuses
mein scheinehund ist daheim
48 yrs young
6'5" 270 Lbs

Same here.

i use the curl bar its a lot easier on my wrists and technically it engages the brachioradialis more making you stronger

I use the EZ curl bar.  My gym doesn't have any straight short bars.  I've used a 7 ft, 45# bar to do curls but it looks a little silly.
 
I've been doing a wide grip and a narrow grip set on the EZ curl bar.  Wide grip is supposed to work the short head (nearest ribs) of the biceps whereas narrow grip works the long head (away from ribs) more.  Looks pretty cool too!

If you have wrist problems, go with the EZ bar.  But if you want to work your biceps as much as possible, use the straight bar.  The more supine your arm is, the more your biceps are involved.

The curl bar is superior. It recruits more of the brachioradialis and it is easier on your wrists. Unfortunately, I don't have access to one at the moment but they are preferred much more than an Olympic barbell or straight bar.

ACE-CPT, NASM-CPT, AFPA-Nutrition Consultant 

curl bar.

219 weight trying to lower 217 now. 2 months later. lol.
250 bench
305 squat
345 deadlift

Straight bar. I dont even have a curlbar. And even though being harder on the wrists, you know what they say: no pain no gain!

Bench: 70 Squat 135 Deadlift: 1??s 
Supps: Creatine, Multi, Fish Oils 

Jones's Log

Curl bar, alot less stress on wrists, although sometimes I use a straight bar, because I don't feel like walking 10 feet to the EZ curl bar.

Goals by end of 2009:
Bench 205
Squat 255 ATG
Squat Clean 185

"There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs."

MVP


The curl bar is superior. It recruits more of the brachioradialis and it is easier on your wrists. Unfortunately, I don't have access to one at the moment but they are preferred much more than an Olympic barbell or straight bar.

Is this true? I swear in Rippetoe's book he said to use a straight bar because your arm is fully supinated whereas it isn't with a curl bar.

PK,
   MVP will know this, but I'll try:  With the BB the wrists are locked in place:  There's no give and if your arms decide they want to pronate under the load they'll compensate by doing what they need need to do, wrists be damned.  The forearms will attempt to pronate but the wrists are locked, hence too much stress.  If you were to perform curls with DBs in a supinated position it's probably safer because your wrists will move if your arms decide to pronate from a supinated position.
    Did I do okay, MVP?
 
And with DBs, going from a pronated (thumb fwd) to supinated (thumb lateral) on the concentric phase focuses on the biceps.  Maintaining a continual pronated grip (hammers) on the travel up works the brachioradialis (forearm) muscle intensely.  Keeping a steady supinated grip (thumb lateral, pointing out) on the travel works mainly the biceps and the brachialis (lateral upper arm muscle).

If your arms want to pronate under the load doesn't that simply mean you are using too much weight/improper form? This just confuses me as i'm fairly certain that the more supinated your arm is, the more graded the contraction of the muscle, thus a greater stimulus?

Anyhow barbell curls never hurt my wrists anyway so i guess im lucky in that respect. I used to do preacher curls with an EZ curl bar though and it gave me unbearable pain in the forearms. It wasn't a muscle pain either felt like my bones were bruising.

JMBS


PK,
   MVP will know this, but I'll try:  With the BB the wrists are locked in place:  There's no give and if your arms decide they want to pronate under the load they'll compensate by doing what they need need to do, wrists be damned.  The forearms will attempt to pronate but the wrists are locked, hence too much stress.  If you were to perform curls with DBs in a supinated position it's probably safer because your wrists will move if your arms decide to pronate from a supinated position.
    Did I do okay, MVP?

Good work.

ACE-CPT, NASM-CPT, AFPA-Nutrition Consultant 

depends.. if I am holding it close to my stomach and blasting my forearms more then I use the straight bar.  If I am curling up arms to sides I am using an ez bar.

connelly


Curl bar, alot less stress on wrists, although sometimes I use a straight bar, because I don't feel like walking 10 feet to the EZ curl bar.

C,
   Lol.

MVP

JMBS


PK,
  MVP will know this, but I'll try:  With the BB the wrists are locked in place:  There's no give and if your arms decide they want to pronate under the load they'll compensate by doing what they need need to do, wrists be damned.  The forearms will attempt to pronate but the wrists are locked, hence too much stress.  If you were to perform curls with DBs in a supinated position it's probably safer because your wrists will move if your arms decide to pronate from a supinated position.
   Did I do okay, MVP?

Good work.

$50 and I'll take the test 4 ya!  ;)

PumaKrieg


If your arms want to pronate under the load doesn't that simply mean you are using too much weight/improper form? This just confuses me as i'm fairly certain that the more supinated your arm is, the more graded the contraction of the muscle, thus a greater stimulus?

Anyhow barbell curls never hurt my wrists anyway so i guess im lucky in that respect. I used to do preacher curls with an EZ curl bar though and it gave me unbearable pain in the forearms. It wasn't a muscle pain either felt like my bones were bruising.

PK,
   Na Na N Naa Naa!  My count's catchin' up to yours with all my bullsh!t posts.  When I get to 1000 I may use the handle "Just Mosty BS" (JMBS).  Wha da ya think?!  ;)

Looks like you passed me by quite a bit now. At least you could have a good nickname to put same as guys like MVP; most valuable poster is cool. I on the other hand am stuck with nothing.

Im surprised you guys said curl bar is superior. Its not.

All the ez curl bar does is make it easier on your wrists and keeps the biceps from being fully contracted.

The biceps cannot be fully contracted unless the forearms are supinated.

anyway if your looking to maximize Bicep involvement go with the straightbar.

6'3"  @213

Squat 1x20x275

press:200, Deadlift:475, Bench:300, P.clean:235, Squat:385

"The only failure that is final is to stop trying to improve"

Nm0ney34


Im surprised you guys said curl bar is superior. Its not.

All the ez curl bar does is make it easier on your wrists and keeps the biceps from being fully contracted.

The biceps cannot be fully contracted unless the forearms are supinated.

anyway if your looking to maximize Bicep involvement go with the straightbar.

This is what i thought. Gets confusing with all the different answers though. Guess i'll just stick to what i myself prefer.

PumaKrieg


This is what i thought. Gets confusing with all the different answers though. Guess i'll just stick to what i myself prefer.

isn't that what it's all about to begin with?     

Nm0ney34



anyway if your looking to maximize Bicep involvement go with the straightbar.

 

You learn something new everyday here,i didnt know that and was under the illusion the straight bar pinpointed bicep involvement alone.
Ive read alot of your advice here Nmoney so i'll be going with the straight bar from now on. (good thing i didnt vote before i read.ha)

I have actually started using both. At my age my wrists give me trouble with anything over 100 lbs. I warm-up with curlbar types to keep the pressure off the wrists, then finish with the straight bar. Best of both worlds seems to be working for me.

Team Keine Ausreden = No Excuses
mein scheinehund ist daheim
48 yrs young
6'5" 270 Lbs

seeing as the wrist has been mentioned alot here mine have been killing me the past couple days but ive just been battling on.
Im not too sure what it is though,maybe the lat pull down behind the neck or too much straight or curl bar?

Do you Supplement with fish oil? It helps in keeping the joints lubed. I down about 4 grams a day.

Team Keine Ausreden = No Excuses
mein scheinehund ist daheim
48 yrs young
6'5" 270 Lbs

I take a cod liver oil a day Wetdawg...time to up the dosage,thanks man.

If it still bothers you after 2 weeks, get some Super Cissus. It helps rebuild joints.

Team Keine Ausreden = No Excuses
mein scheinehund ist daheim
48 yrs young
6'5" 270 Lbs

fully supinating your wrists does not engage bicep any more than a slightly neutral grip position.  The bicep brachii in itself is a supinator and by holding the bar at a slight angle (which helps the wrists and actually the rotator cuff because you are no longer externally rotating you shoulder) you are forcing the bicep to attempt to supinate your hand more than it is which will put just as much if not more tension on the muscle because it is trying to preform two movements at once.  Now as your grip continues to move more neutral you become stronger as the brachioradialis becomes more engaged hence hammer curls usually being much stronger than a standard curl.  The straight bar has absolutely not benefit over a slightly neutral grip.

Isn't it wise to let prevention of injury trump better muscle development?  I think I'll stick with the EZ bar.

JMBS


Isn't it wise to let prevention of injury trump better muscle development?  I think I'll stick with the EZ bar.

yes it is but in this case there is no better muscle development