Brachioradialis

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Brachioradialis is located at the upper outer region of the forearm. Brachioradialis in Latin means 'brachio'- from the arm, and ‘radialis’-to the radius.

The brachioradialis is an elbow flexor muscle, which is recruited strongly during a pronated grip (palms down).

Unlike a lot of the other forearms muscles which have an abundance of type i fibres, the brachioradialis usually has a similar muscle fibre ratio of that of the biceps brachii. This likely as the brachioradialis is recruited during a lot of the elbow flexion actions, especially when the biceps brachii is mechanically weak such as during a pronated grip.

Exercises that require a pronated grip during elbow flexion will strongly recruit and stimulate the brachioradialis. These exercises can be viewed in the exercise section to the right.

For people who opt not to directly target the elbow flexor muscles such as the brachioradialis and the biceps brachii but instead rely on compound exercises, overhand rowing and pull-up exercises will involve the brachioradialis effectively during the movement.

For trainers who do want to directly target the brachioradialis then overhand curling variations will stimulate the brachioradialis.

For hypertrophy 6-12 reps will likely yield the best results, providing optimal time under tension, adequate stimulation for sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, and acute response to anabolic hormone concentrations, compared to that of lower rep ranges. This is ideal as the brachioradialis will likely respond in a similar way to that of the biceps brachii as fibre make-up is usually quite similar in nature. Adding an overhand pronated grip curl to the end of the bicep brachii session should provide effective.
If however strength and power is the primary goal then this elbow flexor will likely be best stimulated via overhand rowing and pull-up movements, where 1-5 reps can be incorporated more successfully. Lower reps don’t always suit isolation movements, as form may suffer, and increase chances of injury where excess load is often placed on one or two joints. These compound exercises that use more muscles groups and joints should also provide better overall neural adaptations of the nervous system.