curls

There's a video of Vanderbilts baseball team doing hammer curls, so they can't be that bad.

"Curls are for the girls"

You have to work the biceps and tricps equally. If either one is stronger than the other, the weaker muscle group will get injured.

Same thing with the quads and hamstrings...and the chest and back of the shoulders.

Shoulder injuries and hamstring injuries are more common with males because we concentrate on the front of our bodies...you know...the part we want the ladies to see.

So, make sure you work the partner muscle groups or you will be in for a world of hurt!

Actually, a perfect quad to hamstring ratio is between 2-3 to 1. However, most are around 4-6 to 1, so forcusing more on hamstring work will benefit most.

Curls are ok, but they should be done as a "bonus" after the compound work has been done.

Hopefully the curls do not make up a significant portion of your workout, else you are wasting your time....

Good in moderation. Dont simply isolate your bicep and do those nonstop though.Makes you look good,but it doesnt necessarily help you on the field. Hammer Curls are great too.

future- you can't isolate the bicep...

Aaron- think about how many pounds of muscle are in your body... then remember that your bi's only make up 1-3 of those pounds...

just a thought...

The Stanford strength coach says that the players insist on doing the curls otherwise they wouldn't be part of the program.

CA- Why? What is his reasoning... are you talking bicep femoris (leg)?

The players insist? or coach does? If players are overriding coaches that is a whole other can of worms...

To start, curls should not to be eliminated from a baseball strength program. Yes many athletes like curls because they are concerned about how they look. However performing curls in a variety of manners will help strengthen muscles that are involved with the elbow and shoulder. Many elbow injuries happen when the surounding muscles become fatigued and mechanices break down. By strengthening them, fatigue is less likely to happen.

Hammer curls isolate the brachioradials, regular curls isolate the biceps brachii,reverse curls engage the brachialis and high elbow curls engage the long head of the bicep brachii which is also active in shoulder flexion.

There are many variations and all are done for a reason. Tempo is also important when considering a strength program. The bicep is involved in deceleration of the elbow joint during the throwing motion. Some exercises should be done at a higher speed with focus being put on stopping the weight in a controlled motion (Drop Curls).

Just as we condition the shoulder and the rotator cuff we need to train the muscles that are involved in elbow flexion and extension as well as forearm pronation and supination. But yes there are more important core and multiplanar exercises that should be the main focus. Especially if one only has an hour or so to workout.

To comment on what the Stanford strength coach said. It is important to keep players happy. He might put in more bicep exercises than he wants because if the players like the program they will be more dedicated to it.

Last year I had the opportunity to visit with the trainer for a AAA club for an evening, and we got onto the subject of weight lifting. He said, in regard to curls, that their MLB club had a motto among the trainers at all levels for the lifts their players should be doing, it went "No Beach Muscles"

It is true you have to keep athletes happy, because bottom line is, wether you give them an exercise or not, if they want to do that exercise (or muscle group), they will.

So, it's better to have beach muscle exercises worked into a program properly because if you don't, before you know it they will be focusing on these muscles.

So bottom line is you give your athletes a few curls or bench presses per week and its enough to keep them happy.