Barbell Curl
Trains the Biceps.
- Equipment
- Barbell
- Mechanic
- Isolation
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
- Stand holding a barbell with an underhand grip, hands about shoulder-width apart and arms hanging straight down.
- Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart, and tuck your elbows in against your sides.
- Curl the bar upward by bending your elbows, keeping your upper arms still against your ribs. Only your forearms should move.
- Continue until your forearms are roughly vertical and the bar is near your shoulders.
- Squeeze at the top, then lower the bar under control all the way back to straight arms. The lowering half is worth as much as the lifting half; dropping the bar wastes it.
Common mistakes
- Swinging the bar up with the hips and lower back. Once the torso is moving, the weight is being thrown rather than curled and the biceps do less than they would with a lighter bar. Standing with your back against a wall for a set is a quick way to find out how much of it is swing.
- Letting the elbows drift forward. When the upper arms travel forward, the front deltoid raises the weight through the top half and the biceps get a shorter range. Keeping the elbows pinned at your sides keeps the movement at the elbow where it belongs.
- Stopping short at the bottom. Not straightening the arms keeps constant tension but removes the longest position of the muscle, which is where a lot of the growth stimulus lives. Full extension between repetitions.
- Training only with an underhand grip. A supinated curl gives the biceps the most work and the brachialis and brachioradialis the least. Since the brachialis is the stronger elbow flexor and sits underneath the biceps, adding hammer or reverse curls is one of the cheapest additions available to an arm routine.