Finger Curl
Trains the Forearm Flexors.
- Equipment
- A barbell and either a flat bench or an adjustable bench
- Mechanic
- Isolation
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
- Sit on the end of a flat bench holding a light barbell with an underhand grip, hands about shoulder-width apart.
- Rest your forearms along your thighs with your wrists just past your knees, palms up.
- Open your hands and let the bar roll down your fingers until it is held by the first joints of the fingers.
- Close your fingers to roll the bar back up into your palms, keeping your wrists still.
- Squeeze at the top, then let the bar roll open again under control.
Common mistakes
- Bending the wrists. This is finger flexion only — if the wrist moves, it has become a wrist curl and the fingers do less.
- Not letting the bar roll far enough open. The whole range is the point: the bar should travel from the fingertips into the palm.
- Dropping the bar when the fingers open at the end of a set. Keep the thumbs wrapped and lower it to your thighs.
- Treating it as a curiosity. Gripping is finger flexion, and the finger flexors have their bellies in the forearm — this is one of the few movements that loads them through a range rather than isometrically.