Cable Wrist Curl

How to do it

1. Attach a straight bar to a low cable pulley and kneel or sit facing it.
2. Take an underhand grip and rest your forearms on your thighs or a bench, wrists just past the edge.
3. Let the cable pull your wrists back into extension and the bar roll toward your fingertips.
4. Close your fingers and flex your wrists upward as far as they will go.
5. Squeeze briefly, then let the cable draw your hands back down under control.

Common mistakes

• Positioning too close to the pulley, so the cable goes slack at the top of the movement. The constant tension is the advantage of the cable version.
• Lifting the forearms to help, which brings the elbow flexors in.
• Rushing the return. The cable will pull the hands open if you let it; resisting that is a large part of the work.
• Loading it heavily. Same as any wrist curl — short range, small muscles.

Muscles worked

Primary

• Forearm Flexors

Secondary

• Forearm Extensors