Training guide
A bicep curl is bending your elbows to lift a weight towards your shoulders, then lowering it until your arms are straight. Stand tall with your elbows by your sides, curl without swinging, and lower slowly. Pick a weight you can curl 10 to 15 times with good form, with the last set ending 0 to 2 reps short of failure.
Curls train the biceps and the two muscles that help it, the brachialis and the brachioradialis. Your grip and the type of curl shift the work between them, but in trials, curling with your arm behind you, at your side or in front built similar amounts of arm muscle overall, and in one trial swinging didn't stop growth.
This guide covers the steps on the 3D figure, how heavy, hammer, barbell, cable, incline and preacher curls, sets and reps, and how to keep your elbows comfortable.
Stand tall with a dumbbell in each hand, palms forward and elbows by your sides. Curl the weights towards your shoulders without swinging your body, then lower them slowly until your arms are straight. The NHS version uses light weights, even filled water bottles, curled slowly.
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The biceps bends the elbow and is the strongest muscle for turning your palm up when your elbow is bent. The brachialis underneath bends the elbow in every grip, and the brachioradialis in your forearm joins in, more with your palm down.
Biceps activity didn't change between palms up, palms in and palms down in 16 adults curling without a weight, and the hammer (palms-in) grip was about as strong as palms up in 11 men. Curling with your arm behind you, at your side or in front grew similar amounts of total arm muscle in three trials. We found no trial comparing hammer and palms-up curls for growth.
A weight you can curl 10 to 15 times without swinging, 2 or 3 sets, with the last set 0 to 2 reps short of failure, as in our workouts. Heavy and moderate loads built the same muscle when sets were hard, but very light weights built about half as much in one trial. Aim for about 10 or more hard sets a week for your biceps, counting each set of rows or pulldowns as half a set.
Curls through the stretched, straight-arm half of the lift built more muscle than the bent-arm half in one trial. Swinging curls built as much arm muscle as strict curls in 30 untrained people, but strict reps make your effort easier to judge.
Mild discomfort, up to about 3 to 4 out of 10 and settled within an hour, is fine, as our elbow guides say. A pop at the front of your elbow during a lift, with bruising and a bulge in your upper arm, needs checking the same day: a torn tendon is best repaired within 2 to 3 weeks.
A curl bends your elbow against a weight, a cable or a band while your upper arm stays still at your side or rests on a pad, then straightens it under control. Changing your grip, where your arm is and the equipment gives the variations. The NHS curl is done standing or seated, slowly, with light weights.
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The biceps has two heads that join and attach to the radius, a forearm bone, just below the elbow. It bends the elbow, and with the elbow bent it's the forearm's strongest palm-up turner. As our biceps page describes, the long head starts on the top of the shoulder socket and the short head on the front of the shoulder blade, so where your arm is changes how stretched the biceps is.
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The brachialis lies deeper than the biceps, at the lower front of the upper arm, and bends the elbow whatever your grip. The brachioradialis is the forearm muscle on the thumb side; it bends the elbow and helps turn the forearm both ways. It worked harder with the palm down in 16 adults curling without a weight, while the biceps worked the same in every grip.
In 11 men, the most force they could produce bending the elbow was 243.6 newtons palms in, 213.6 palms up and 113.6 palms down. So you can usually hammer curl about what you curl palms up, and reverse curl about half as much.
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Many curl comparisons use EMG (electromyography: electrodes measuring how hard a muscle works). EMG shows effort in a few reps, not what a muscle builds over months, so this page leans on the training trials.
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In 30 untrained men (24 finished), cable curls with the arm behind the body and with the arm at the side grew the biceps by about the same 7 to 9% over 10 weeks. In 15 young men, preacher and Bayesian (arm behind) cable curls grew the biceps and brachialis equivalently. In 21 untrained adults over 12 weeks, incline curls grew the biceps more than preacher curls (22.1 against 18.9%) and preacher curls grew the brachialis (21.1 against 17.1%) and brachioradialis (17.6 against 13.5%) more, with the same total. Each person trained one arm each way; the trials were small and mostly in untrained people.
In 32 untrained adults, curls through the straight-arm half of the range grew the biceps 8.9% in 5 weeks, against 3.4% for the bent-arm half. Half reps in the stretched position built as much arm muscle as full reps in 30 trained adults and in 13 trained adults on the preacher curl. A review of 11 studies found full range and stretched-position partials grew the biceps and brachialis more than partials near the top. Small trials, but they point the same way.
In 30 untrained adults, one arm did strict curls and the other swinging curls, using the hips and knees, at 4 sets of 8 to 12 to failure twice a week for 8 weeks. Both arms grew the same, the swinging arm lifted nearly twice the total weight, and no injuries were reported. It's one trial, in untrained people.
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In 19 trained adults, preacher curls stopped 1 to 3 reps short built as much muscle and strength over 8 weeks as curls to failure. Across 15 studies, training to failure gave a trivial growth advantage at most.
Across 28 studies of 747 adults, light (more than 15 reps), moderate and heavy loads built similar muscle when sets went to failure, and heavier loads built more strength. In one trial of 30 men, curls at a fifth of their maximum grew the elbow flexors 11.4% in 12 weeks, against about 25% at 40, 60 or 80%.
Each extra weekly set added about 0.4% growth across 15 studies, and the American College of Sports Medicine's (ACSM's) overview of 137 reviews found growth enhanced with 10 or more sets a week. In 34 trained men, 5 sets per exercise 3 times a week grew the arm flexors more than 1 or 3 sets, but in trained people 12 to 20 weekly sets grew the biceps as much as more than 20. The returns shrink as the sets go up.
In 10 untrained men, curls grew the arm flexors more than one-arm rows (11.1 against 5.2% in 8 weeks). But in 29 untrained men, pulldowns alone grew them as much as curls alone, and adding curls and triceps extensions to pulldowns and bench presses added nothing measurable over 10 weeks. Curls are useful for arm size; they aren't essential for health.
In an American Council on Exercise (ACE) study of 16 experienced 18 to 24 year olds, the concentration curl drew the most biceps activity of 8 exercises, about 97% of maximum, and the others fell between about 69 and 81%, figures read from ACE's chart. In 22 people, standing and incline curls kept the biceps working through the whole lift and the preacher curl hard over a short range near the bottom. The EZ bar drew more biceps activity than dumbbells in 12 people. None of this measures growth.
In 585 adults who trained one arm the same way for 12 weeks, biceps size changed by anything from a 2% loss to a 59% gain. Men and women grow by similar proportions; men gain slightly more in absolute size in the upper body.
Steps from our move page and the NHS strength routine; the count of 2 follows our arm workout. Lowering all the way keeps the stretched part of the lift, where trials found the most growth.
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The movement on the figure: Dumbbell biceps curl
Palms up uses the biceps' palm-up turning job. Palms in (the hammer curl) is about as strong and kinder to some wrists. Palms down (the reverse curl) is about half as strong and shifts work to the brachioradialis. No grip has been shown to build more total arm muscle.
Keep your upper arms still. If your elbows swing forward or your shoulders lift, the weight is too heavy, as our move page says.
Straighten your arms at the bottom of every rep. The stretched half of the curl built more muscle than the bent half in one trial, and a review favoured full range or the stretched half over the top half.
Swinging didn't stop growth in a trial of untrained people, so an occasional swing on your last rep is no disaster. Keep most reps strict: it's easier to see when you're ready to go heavier (our view).
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Between the EZ bar and the straight bar, the difference in muscle activity was small enough for the researchers to call it "a matter of subjective comfort". If a straight bar hurts your wrists, use the EZ bar or dumbbells.
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Without swinging, with the last rep or two hard. That's the range our arm and upper body workouts use, within our sets and reps guide's 8 to 20 for small moves; 12 to 20 with lighter dumbbells works as well.
Light and heavy loads build similar muscle when sets are hard, but in one trial curls at a fifth of the maximum grew the arm about half as much as heavier loads. Heavier loads build more strength.
The NHS suggests light weights, or filled water bottles, curled slowly: 3 sets of 5 with each arm, standing or sitting.
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Add reps first, then weight, as our plans' double progression does. Dumbbell jumps are large for curls (8 to 10 kg is 25% more), so you may need to reach 15 or more reps on every set before you move up. That's our editorial suggestion, within our progressive overload guide's smallest-step rule.
Start with the dumbbell curl at 2 or 3 sets of 10 to 15 (the seated curl if you're new); the EZ-bar curl takes 3 sets of 8 to 12 in our pull day workout, the incline curl 3 sets of 10 to 15 in pull day B, the concentration and spider curls 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12 (their move pages' editorial dose), and the reverse curl comes back last with tennis elbow.
3D demoDumbbell biceps curlBeginner · A dumbbell
3D demoSeated dumbbell curlBeginner · A dumbbell + A bench or box
3D demoHammer curlBeginner · A dumbbell
3D demoEZ-bar curlIntermediate · EZ curl bar
3D demoBarbell curlIntermediate · A barbell
3D demoStanding cable curlBeginner · A cable machine
3D demoBiceps curl machineBeginner · Strength machine
3D demoIncline dumbbell curlIntermediate · A dumbbell + A bench or box
3D demoPreacher curlIntermediate · A barbell + A bench or box
3D demoConcentration curlBeginner · A dumbbell + A bench or box
3D demoSpider curlBeginner · EZ curl bar + A bench or box
3D demoDumbbell reverse curlIntermediate · A dumbbellIn three trials, changing where your arm was made little difference to total arm growth. A standing dumbbell curl plus one other curl you like covers it (our suggestion).
Your arm hangs behind you, so the biceps starts stretched. They grew the biceps a little more than preacher curls in one trial. Ease off if the front of your shoulder aches in the stretch, as our move page says.
Your upper arm rests on a pad, which stops swinging. They grew the brachialis and brachioradialis more than incline curls in one trial, and they're hardest near the bottom.
Hammer curls are about as strong as palms-up curls and suit many wrists; reverse curls are weaker and work the forearm more. Both are good second curls, not secrets.
Cables and machines let you add weight in small steps; they suit people new to the gym (our view).
They topped one muscle activity study, but activity in a few reps doesn't predict growth. They're a strict one-arm curl worth having, not the one best curl.
2 or 3 sets of 10 to 15 per curl, 60 to 90 seconds' rest, with most sets stopping 1 to 3 reps short and the last 0 to 2 short, as our plans' notes for small moves say. In your first two weeks, leave 3 or 4 reps to spare.
About 10 or more hard sets a week, counting each set of rows, pulldowns or pull-ups as half a set. Someone doing 6 sets of rows and pulldowns a week gets about 3 biceps sets from them, so 6 to 8 sets of curls brings them to about 10 (our example).
Two sessions a week suits most people. For growth, the number of hard sets in a week mattered more than how often they were done.
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Pair each curl set with a triceps set and rest after the pair, as our arm workout does; pairing opposing muscles kept people's reps up, as our supersets guide explains.
Log the weight and reps for every set. A tape measure is a rough guide to size; the trials used ultrasound and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans.
Strength rises faster than size: the one-rep maximum (the most you can lift once) rose 28 to 37% in 10 weeks with cable curls, while the muscles grew about 6 to 10%. Mostly untrained adults grew their arm flexors by roughly 6 to 25% over 8 to 12 weeks across these trials, and people vary widely.
It didn't stop growth in a trial, but it hides how hard the set really is. Go lighter and keep most reps strict.
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The stretched half of the curl built the most muscle in one trial. Straighten your arms every rep.
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Your shoulders take over. Keep your elbows by your sides and stop when your forearms are about upright, as our move page says.
Reach the top of your rep range on every set first, as our plans' double progression does.
Weekly sets matter more than frequency, and sore elbows need recovery days. Two or three sessions a week is plenty.
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Use an EZ bar or dumbbells; the researchers found little to choose between the bars apart from comfort.
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Some discomfort is fine: up to about 3 to 4 out of 10, settling within an hour, with your elbow no worse the next morning. If it's worse, go lighter next time, not to nothing. That's the rule in our elbow guides.
The front of the elbow is usually the biceps tendon, the outside tennis elbow (often from palm-down curling) and the inside golfer's elbow; tingling in the ring and little fingers points to the ulnar nerve. Our elbow pain from pull-ups, chin-ups and curls guide has the plan for each.
Lighter weights and slower lowering, hammer curls instead of heavy or swinging curls, and mid-range curls before curls from a fully straight arm, as our distal biceps and tennis elbow guides suggest (editorial swaps).
A sudden pop and pain at the front of the elbow during a lift, then bruising, swelling, weak palm-up turning and a bulge in the upper arm, can be a torn biceps tendon. It's uncommon (about 3 to 5 people in 100,000 a year, mostly men over 30) but time-sensitive: repair is ideally done within 2 to 3 weeks. Go to an urgent treatment centre or A&E.
Each set of rows, pulldowns or chin-ups (which work the biceps more than pull-ups, as our biceps page notes) counts as about half a biceps set, and wrist curls, 15 reps in our arm workout's finisher, cover the forearms.
Or a heart or lung transplant: follow your surgeon's limits before lifting with your arms, as our move page and heart surgery guide say.
With de Quervain's, leave thumb-up hammer curls until it settles and curl palms up instead, as our move page advises.
Lighter weights and slower lowering suit long-standing elbow or biceps tendon complaints better than heavy reps, as our move page and elbow guides say.
If the stretch of the incline curl aches at the front of your shoulder, use standing or preacher curls instead, as our move page and biceps tendinitis guide suggest.
Start with the NHS curl: light weights or water bottles, 3 sets of 5 with each arm, seated if you prefer.
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Our home arm workout pairs curls with triceps work using a pair of dumbbells. The arm workout uses dumbbell and hammer curls at 3 sets of 10 to 12, the upper body gym workouts curls at 2 sets of 10 to 15, pull day the EZ-bar curl at 3 sets of 8 to 12 and pull day B the incline curl at 3 sets of 10 to 15.
A 30-minute arm workout at home with dumbbells: curls, hammer curls and concentration curls paired with overhead extensions, close-grip push-ups and kickbacks.
30 minBeginner8 movesA dumbbellBiceps, triceps and forearms: curls, hammer curls, skull crushers, pushdowns, concentration curls and dips.
35 minBeginner7 movesA dumbbell, A bench or boxA gym upper body workout for chest, back, shoulders and arms: bench press, rows, presses, pulldowns, raises, curls and pushdowns.
50 minIntermediate13 movesA band, A barbellUpper body workout B: overhead press, pull-ups, incline dumbbell press, chest-supported rows, face pulls, hammer curls and triceps extensions.
50 minIntermediate13 movesA band, Pull-up barChest, back, shoulders and arms with dumbbells: presses, rows, raises, reverse flyes, curls and extensions.
40 minIntermediate9 movesA dumbbell, A bench or boxDumbbell upper body workout B: incline presses, chest-supported rows, seated presses, lateral raises, reverse flyes, hammer curls and skull crushers.
45 minIntermediate11 movesA dumbbell, A bench or boxA pull day workout for back and biceps: pull-ups, barbell rows, chest-supported rows, face pulls and curls, with sets, reps and rest.
55 minIntermediate10 movesPull-up bar, A barbellPull day B: cable rows, lat pulldowns, one-arm dumbbell rows, reverse flyes, incline curls and back extensions, with sets, reps and rest.
50 minIntermediate10 movesPull-up bar, A cable machineA 20-minute drop-set finisher for shoulders and arms: lateral raises, curls and pushdowns, each one set with two drops, plus a push-up drop set.
20 minIntermediate10 movesA band, A dumbbellA 45-minute full-body gym workout on machines: leg press, chest press, machine row, leg curl, shoulder press and arms, with sets, reps and rest.
45 minBeginner14 movesCardio machine, A bandCurls come round once or twice a week in each of these plans; the bro split gives them a whole arm day.
A 4-day upper/lower split: two upper body and two lower body gym days, each muscle trained twice a week, with sets, reps and progression.
4 training days50 minIntermediate5 days a weekA 5-day gym split that trains every muscle twice a week: upper, lower, push, pull and legs, with an honest look at the bro split.
5 training days50 minIntermediate5 days a weekThe classic chest, back, legs, shoulders and arms week, built from our gym workouts, with what research says about training each muscle once.
5 training days45 minIntermediate6 days a weekA 6-day push/pull/legs plan for experienced lifters: two push, two pull and two leg days, with sets, reps, rest and lighter weeks.
6 training days55 minAdvanced4 days a weekA 4-day dumbbell-only plan for home or gym: two upper and two lower days, every set, rep and rest, and how to keep progressing when the dumbbells max out.
4 training days45 minBeginner4 days a weekA 4-day gym workout routine for men: upper and lower days, each muscle trained twice a week, with sets, reps, progression and the evidence.
4 training days50 minIntermediateIf arm pain comes on suddenly with pressure, heaviness or squeezing across your chest. During any exercise, stop and get help for chest pain, unusual breathlessness, dizziness or fainting, as our plans advise.
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If you have severe pain in your arm and it's difficult to move; you've injured your arm and heard a snap, or it has changed shape; or your arm tingles or feels numb. A pop at the front of the elbow with bruising and a bulge in the upper arm needs checking the same day. In the US, go to urgent care or the emergency department.
If your arm hurts when you exercise but the pain goes when you rest; if it's swollen and you have a very high temperature or feel hot, cold or shivery; or if you think you've torn a tendon. In the US, contact your doctor or urgent care.
If elbow or arm pain hasn't gone after a few weeks. In many areas you can refer yourself to an NHS physiotherapy service.
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Very painful, swollen, tight arms and dark urine after an unusually hard or high-rep session need medical help the same day: it could be rhabdomyolysis, as our elbow pain from pull-ups guide explains.
We found no trial comparing them for growth. The grip moves work between the biceps, brachialis and brachioradialis, and in one trial a different curl grew the biceps more and the muscles beneath it less, with the same total. Hammer curls are a good second curl, not a secret.
Where the arm was made no difference to biceps growth in two trials, and only a small difference in a third, where total arm growth was the same. Any curl you can do well, through a full range, works.
In 30 untrained people, swinging curls grew the arms as much as strict curls over 8 weeks. The case for strict reps is judging effort and load, not growth.
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They topped one muscle activity study, but muscle activity in a few reps doesn't predict growth.
Light, moderate and heavy loads built similar muscle across 28 studies when sets were hard; heavier loads built more strength. Only very light loads, about a fifth of the maximum, fell short in one trial.
Training one arm for 12 weeks didn't shrink the fat over it more than over the other arm in 104 adults, and across 13 studies, exercising a body part didn't reduce the fat over it.
Stand tall with a dumbbell in each hand, palms forward and elbows by your sides. Curl the weights towards your shoulders without swinging, then lower them slowly until your arms are straight. Lowering all the way matters: the stretched half of the lift built the most muscle in trials.
Heavy enough that 10 to 15 reps leave you within about 1 to 3 reps of failure, without swinging. Heavier and lighter weights build similar muscle if you work hard, but very light weights, about a fifth of your maximum, built about half as much in one trial. If you're new, start with light dumbbells or filled water bottles.
Two or three sets of 10 to 15, resting 60 to 90 seconds, with the last set 0 to 2 reps short of failure. Across a week, about 10 or more hard sets for the biceps builds muscle, and each set of rows or pulldowns counts as about half a set.
You can, but there's no need. For growth, the number of hard sets in a week matters more than how often you train, so two or three sessions a week is plenty. Hard sets every day also give sore elbows less time to recover.
We found no trial comparing them for growth. The hammer grip is about as strong as palms up, and in a muscle activity study the forearm's brachioradialis worked harder only with the palm down. Do whichever your wrists like, or both.
The biceps, the brachialis underneath it and the brachioradialis in your forearm. The biceps also turns your palm up, most strongly with your elbow bent, and your grip changes how much the forearm muscle helps.
All of them work. In trials, curling with your arm behind you, at your side or in front built similar total arm muscle. Choose by comfort: an EZ bar suits many wrists better than a straight bar, and cables let you add weight in small steps.
It didn't stop growth in one trial: 30 untrained people built as much arm muscle with swinging curls as with strict ones. Strict reps are easier to judge and progress, though, so save a swing for the odd last rep.
No. In three trials, changing your arm's position made little or no difference to biceps growth, and total arm growth was the same. A standing curl plus one other curl you like covers it.
Usually a tendon that has had more load than it's ready for: the front of the elbow is the biceps tendon, the outside is often tennis elbow and the inside golfer's elbow. Go lighter, lower more slowly and keep pain to about 3 to 4 out of 10. A pop with bruising and a bulge in your upper arm needs checking the same day.
Yes. The NHS suggests filled water bottles, 3 sets of 5 slow curls with each arm to start. A loaded backpack or chin-ups make it harder, and our home arm workout uses a pair of dumbbells.
Not for health, but they help if you want bigger arms. Pulldowns alone grew the arms as much as curls in one trial, while curls beat rows in another. If arm size is your goal, 2 or 3 sets of curls twice a week add direct work.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. Check with a GP before starting hard training if you have a heart condition, chest pain, dizziness or breathlessness when active, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
