Dumbbell Curl
Trains the Biceps.
- Equipment
- Dumbbells
- Mechanic
- Isolation
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
- Stand with a dumbbell in each hand at your sides, palms facing forward.
- Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart and your elbows tucked against your sides.
- Curl both dumbbells up, keeping the palms facing upward through the movement.
- Continue until the forearms are roughly vertical, then squeeze briefly.
- Lower under control to straight arms.
- Keep the upper arms still — only the forearms move.
Common mistakes
- Letting the elbows travel forward. Once the upper arms come forward, the front of the shoulder raises the weight through the top half and the biceps get a shorter range.
- Rocking the torso to start each repetition. A backward lean at the bottom is a swing, and it is how a dumbbell that is too heavy still gets to the top.
- Cutting the bottom short. Full extension between repetitions is where the biceps are longest and least helped by anything else.
- Assuming a supinated grip trains the whole arm. It gives the biceps their best leverage and the brachialis and brachioradialis their smallest share, which is why hammer and reverse curls exist alongside it rather than instead of it.