Incline Hammer Curl

The incline hammer curl combines two ideas that work well together. Sitting back on an incline bench lets the arms hang behind the torso, which puts the long head of the biceps on stretch before the first repetition begins, and the neutral hammer grip shifts a meaningful share of the work onto the brachialis, the muscle underneath the biceps that pushes it upward and adds thickness to the arm. Because the bench fixes your back and shoulders, momentum is effectively impossible, so the weights will be lighter than on a standing curl and the muscle will feel considerably more of what remains. Alternating arms keeps each repetition deliberate and gives the resting side a moment to recover. Set the bench at a comfortable angle rather than the most extreme one, since too much recline strains the shoulder before it helps the biceps.