Equipment
EZ bar biceps exercises
The EZ bar is a simple answer to one specific problem: wrist pain in barbell curls. The waved bend lets you set your hands in slight pronation instead of full supination, so the wrist joint is never pushed into an end position under load.
Past that it behaves like a barbell. You will curl only a little less on it, you track progress the same way with plates, and every variation - preacher, spider, close grip and wide grip - works exactly as it does on a straight bar.
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About training EZ bar biceps exercises
Choose one movement, perform it well, then progress it over time.
When should you pick an EZ bar over a straight one?
When barbell curls give you a pulling feeling on the inside of the wrist or in the elbow. That is the most common reason and it is usually reason enough - swapping the bar fixes a problem that stretching and warming up do not touch, because the source is a forced joint position under load.
If your wrists give you no trouble, a straight bar stays a marginally better choice for strength, since full supination puts the biceps in its most favorable working position. The difference is small enough that it is not worth training in discomfort for.
Close grip or wide grip?
On an EZ bar the grip changes more than which head of the biceps does the work - it also changes the angle of your wrist. A closer grip sets the hands more vertical and tends to be kinder to a sensitive joint; a wider one moves the position back toward a straight bar. Try both for a few sessions and stay with the one that does not hurt, because with this bar that is the criterion that matters.
Spider curls and the preacher bench are worth adding for a reason other than comfort: both pin the torso, so heaving the weight becomes impossible and you see straight away how much your biceps actually lifts.
Progress the movement
Write the grip down
Same grip and same weight twice a week. Note which angle your hands sit on - it changes how the set feels more than you would expect.
Close out the range
Get every set to the top of the rep range before you start adding plates.
Add plates
2.5 kg is a sensible jump. After you add it, drop to the bottom of the rep range and build the reps back up.
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Add it to a plan or to your current session, log sets, weight and reps, keep the instructions and tips at hand while you train, and check your previous results, records and volume.
- Plan - add this exercise to a workout
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- Progress - history, records and volume