In most sports the biceps is not a major player when it comes to execution of most sport skills. But it is an important exercise for overall strengthening and safety for the elbow joint. The elbow joint is involved actively, passively or in secondary actions in many sports skills.
In addition, the biceps muscle, or more specifically the biceps tendon is frequently injured in specific skills such as pitching and general throwing. Because of this it is it is an important muscle to strengthen.
It should also be noted that the biceps muscle is probably the most popular muscle to be developed by fitness buffs as well as athletes. Just look at most football teams To have well-developed biceps is often an indication of overall strength and fitness.
There are probably more exercises for the biceps muscle than any other muscle in the body. Because of this it is often difficult to determine which exercise should be done in order to get the necessary development.
The decision as to which is the best exercise should be decided by the effects that you want to produce. For example, do you want strength through the full range of motion or more strength in the last two thirds of the range of motion? Understand that strength is not equal throughout the full range of motion.
In addition, exercise effectiveness is usually determined by the positioning of the arm and especially the elbow. When the exercise is done with the upper arm held alongside or slightly behind the body you can get the most effective muscle contraction and resultant growth.
Exercises done in which the elbow is in front of the body (flexion in the shoulder joint) have greater slack in the upper tendons so that when you contract the muscle, it doesn’t fully kick in until you have gone through the first 10-20 degrees of motion.
This allows you to handle more weight, since the full contraction of the muscle occurs at a more mechanically efficient angle. As a result, you get effective muscle development in mid range or when the muscle is closer to its ideal shortening position. Typical exercises for this include the preacher curl and concentration curl.
However, to produce a strong contraction right from the very beginning and to tax the muscle through the full range of motion, you should position yourself so that there is extension in the shoulder joint, i.e., so that the arm is slightly behind the body.
In this case, the tendon of the biceps is placed on stretch in the shoulder joint, which creates a taut muscle so that when you begin elbow flexion, the muscle will be under strong contraction immediately.
Some of the best exercises in which the arms are positioned to the rear include the incline dumbbell curl and the dumbbell curl on a flat bench. In the latter exercise you start with the hands slightly below the body.
For more information on these and other exercises for the biceps as well as all the other muscles of the body, see Biomechanics and Kinesiology of Exercise.