Incline Hammer Curl
Trains the Biceps, Brachialis and Brachioradialis.
- Equipment
- Dumbbells and an adjustable bench
- Mechanic
- Isolation
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
- Set an incline bench to roughly forty-five degrees and sit back against the pad.
- Let both arms hang straight down at your sides with the dumbbells in a neutral grip, palms facing each other.
- Curl both dumbbells up without letting the upper arms drift forward — the incline is what makes that tempting.
- Stop at roughly vertical forearms.
- Lower all the way to a straight arm before the next repetition.
Common mistakes
- Letting the upper arms swing forward at the bottom. Sitting back puts the arms behind the body, and the natural fix is to bring them forward, which removes the stretched starting position the incline was for.
- Setting the bench nearly upright. Past about sixty degrees the arms hang almost vertically and it becomes a seated hammer curl.
- Choosing the load from a standing hammer curl. Starting with the arms behind the body makes the bottom of the range much harder, and the weight has to come down to match it.
- Shrugging the shoulders up off the pad as it gets hard. The shoulder blades stay against the bench; when they start lifting, the set is done.