The Brachialis

Back to curling stuff...

We all have our reasons for going to the gym, and for many it means having big mirror muscles. You gotta have a reason to put on a sleeveless shirt when you wake up in the morning. Sometimes I just like to go to the gym and pick things up and put them down. Not a lot of magic here. 

This week's muscle lies below the more famous biceps brachii, and does essentially the same action with a slight twist, or more accurately, a lack of twisting. While the biceps brachii is a strong supinator by pulling on the radius (think of turning your palm up while you curl a dumbbell), the brachialis just pulls on the ulna also flexing the elbow but not adding in the supination. In addition, while the biceps brachii, crosses the shoulder joint adding in some shoulder flexion, the brachialis only crosses the elbow joint, connecting the humerus to the ulna. This means that its only purpose is to flex the elbow. That's it! Nothing else. So...with any flexion of the elbow, you can't help but use the brachialis. Good news! No matter what way you curl, you're engaging your brachialis. 

Click the image to learn why Sean Nalewanyj wants you to work your brachialis (as if looking like Arnold wasn't enough)

So why do we care???? Well, if you're reading this you're a bit of a nerd as well as a muscle-head. Plus, the brachialis sits right under the biceps so if it gets bigger, your biceps will look all swoll. Like I said, who doesn't want to look good flexing in front of a mirror (or grandmas on park benches)???

Get some hypertrophy of that brachialis and it will push the puny biceps up making it look bigger! The almost hidden brachialis (although very clear on possibly juicing Arnold) is short and stalky compared to the long and lean biceps and in reality has more mass than its cousin it's propping up. It's like the strong foundation of a house that is barely seen in photographs.

So how do we get this oft-overlooked muscle bigger? Well, I've already mentioned it. Any resisted elbow flexion will engage the brachialis. In fact, it is the prime mover in elbow flexion while the biceps brachii, and the soon-to-be-discussed, brachioradialis are just synergists. There's a cool kinesiology fact for you. This strong but silent muscle is doing most of the work whether you are doing palm-up (supinated) curls to work the biceps, or palms-down (pronated) reverse curls until your brachioradials is screaming. This solid hunk of muscle just keeps working. When was the last time you felt the burn in the brachials??? It was probably your wimpy biceps or brachioradialis that crapped out first. 

Hmmm, not sure I'm going to go to the gym and do this exercise. 

From what I can tell, the jury is still out as to how to best train the muscle. There are a couple of different videos below with two different approaches. Personally, I don't think it matters. Being the prime mover, any resisted elbow flexion, like curls, chin-ups, etc. will engage and strengthen this muscle. Again, your smaller biceps and brachioradialis will probably fatigue out first, but that's ok you want to fatigue out those show muscles as well. Nobody has ever said, "Look at that brachialis!"