High Cable Curl
Trains the Biceps.
- Equipment
- A cable station
- Mechanic
- Isolation
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Intermediate
How to do it
- Set two pulleys above head height and take a handle in each hand.
- Stand between them with your arms out to the sides at shoulder height, cables taut.
- Stand tall with your stomach braced and your upper arms level with the floor.
- Curl both hands toward your ears by bending the elbows, keeping the upper arms where they are.
- Squeeze briefly with the hands beside the head.
- Let the cables draw the arms straight again without letting the upper arms drop.
Common mistakes
- Letting the upper arms fall as the set goes on. The whole point is elbow flexion with the arms held out at shoulder height; once they drop, this is a standing curl performed awkwardly.
- Choosing the weight by what you can curl standing. The arms held out to the sides is already work for the shoulders before the elbows do anything.
- Leaning to one side. Two cables pulling outward is a balance the trunk holds; leaning is that balance being lost rather than the arms working harder.
- Treating it as a peak-building exercise. Holding the arms high shortens the biceps at the shoulder, which changes where in its range the muscle is working — not the shape it grows into.