Biceps Brachioradialis Workouts

The biceps brachioradialis is one of your forearm muscles. It sits on the outside of your forearm, running from your wrist to your elbow joint, and its main purpose is to flex your elbow when your palm is turned down. While any biceps move, such as curls, or even any exercise that works your grip will train the brachioradialis, adding specific moves into your workouts is useful for increasing specific size and strength.

  1. Reversing Forward

    • The simplest way to get more bang for your brachioradialis buck is to switch from an underhand to overhand grip when performing curls, according to trainer Jim Stoppani of Muscle & Fitness. Use a regular straight bar or an EZ bar for reverse curls. Keep your elbows back and the bar close to your body, advises Stoppani.

    Through Thick and Thin

    • Increasing the diameter of the weights you're working with -- be that a barbell, dumbbells or a cable machine -- is an effective way to target the brachioradialis. Having to grab a thick bar really tight increases forearm activation, according to trainer Lee Boyce, who recommends using specialist fat-grip attachments on curling exercises. If you don't have fat grips, wrap a towel or a couple of thick sponges around your bar and grip as hard as you can as you curl.

    Getting Specific

    • To finish off your brachioradialis training, add in one or two isolation exercises for the area. Any type of wrist curl -- performed by resting your forearm on your thigh or on a bench and curling your wrist -- works the forearms, but the best choice for the brachioradialis is the reverse wrist curl. You can do this with a barbell, a dumbbell or a cable machine by turning your palm to face the floor and cocking your wrist upward.

    Fast-Twitch Forearms

    • Your forearms are mainly fast twitch, or type one, muscle fibers, so exercise researcher Veeraj Goyaram of the University of Cape Town suggests training them in the six to 12 rep range. Train your brachioradialis directly once a week in the same session as you work the biceps and triceps of your upper arm. Pick a reverse-curl variation, a thick-grip exercise and a wrist curl and perform four sets on each.