Close-Grip Standing Barbell Curl

How to do it

1. Stand holding a straight barbell with an underhand grip, hands closer than shoulder-width.
2. Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart and your elbows tucked against your sides.
3. Let the bar hang at arm's length in front of your thighs.
4. Curl the bar up, keeping the upper arms still.
5. Stop when the forearms are roughly vertical, then squeeze briefly.
6. Lower under control to straight arms.

Common mistakes

• Gripping narrow on a straight bar when the wrists object. A close grip on a straight bar holds the forearms in full supination with the hands together, which some wrists dislike — an EZ bar's angle is the usual answer.
• Expecting the narrow grip to build the outer part of the biceps. Grip width changes where the arms sit relative to the body; the biceps has two heads and neither is selected by hand spacing.
• Letting the elbows drift forward. Once the upper arms travel, the front deltoid raises the bar through the top half.
• Rocking the torso to start each repetition. A dead stop against the thighs is what keeps a light bar hard.

Muscles worked

Primary

• Biceps

Secondary

• Forearm Flexors
• Forearm Extensors