Training guide
A preacher curl is a biceps curl with the backs of your upper arms resting on an angled pad. The pad stops you swinging the weight, and with a barbell or dumbbells the lift is hardest near the bottom, with your arms nearly straight: the stretched part of the curl, which grew the lower biceps more in trials. Sit so your armpits are near the top of the pad, curl up, then lower slowly all the way without dropping into the bottom.
Preacher curls aren't better than other curls, just different: over 12 weeks they grew the arm muscles by the same total as incline curls, with more growth in the brachialis and a little less in the biceps itself. Studies of where along the arm the biceps grows disagree, and no study has measured a "peak".
This guide covers the preacher curl step by step on the 3D figure, the set-up, the barbell, dumbbell, cable and machine versions, curls without a preacher bench, how heavy and how many, and looking after your elbows.
A curl with the backs of your upper arms resting on an angled pad, which stops any swing and holds your arms in front of you, at about 45 to 50 degrees in the trials. Our move pages cue you to keep your upper arms on the pad and not to let the bar drop into the bottom.
With a barbell or dumbbells, the weight is hardest to hold when your forearm is horizontal, which on a preacher pad is early in the lift, near straight arms, and biceps activity peaked near the start. A cable preacher curl is hardest further up.
Training the stretched, nearly straight-arm part of a preacher curl grew the lower biceps more than training the bent-arm part, and full-range curls built more strength than mid-range half reps. Use the full range.
In an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) trial, incline curls grew the biceps a little more and preacher curls grew the brachialis and brachioradialis more, with the same total. Two ultrasound trials found more growth near the elbow with preacher curls, one of them with no significant difference between the groups. Both are good curls.
2 to 3 sets of 10 to 15, resting 60 to 90 seconds, with most sets 1 to 3 reps short of failure and the last 0 to 2, as in our bicep curl guide; preacher curls to failure gave no more growth than stopping 1 to 3 short. Start lighter than your standing curl.
The biceps tendon at the elbow usually tears when the elbow is forced straight against a load, and one case report describes both tendons tearing in a preacher curl. It's rare, about 3 to 5 people in 100,000 a year, but don't let the weight drop or bounce into straight arms.
You sit or stand at a preacher bench with the backs of your upper arms on its angled pad, and curl a barbell, an EZ bar, one or two dumbbells, a cable handle or a machine's handles up towards your shoulders. The trials' pads held the upper arm about 45 to 50 degrees in front of the body.
The three elbow-bending muscles: the biceps (two heads, crossing both the shoulder and the elbow), the brachialis underneath it, crossing only the elbow, and the brachioradialis in the forearm. In a 12-week MRI trial, all three grew with preacher curls.
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Because the biceps crosses the shoulder, holding your arm in front leaves it a little shorter at the shoulder end than in an incline curl, where your arm hangs behind you.
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A review puts the barbell preacher curl's hardest point at about 45 to 50 degrees of elbow bend, early in the lift. In 22 people curling at 40% of their maximum, biceps activity peaked at 80% at the start of the preacher curl and stayed high only over a short range, while it rose to 95% late in standing and incline curls. A cable pulls along its own line, so the cable version is hardest further up.
Curl comparisons often use EMG (electromyography: electrodes measuring how hard a muscle works over a few reps), which isn't a validated predictor of growth. The trials below measured the muscle itself.
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19 young women trained one arm through the first part of a dumbbell preacher curl (from straight to 68 degrees) and the other through the last part, 3 times a week for 8 weeks: near the elbow, the first-part arm grew more, and the two sites added together grew about the same. On a preacher bench, 32 untrained adults trained the stretched range (straight to 50 degrees) or the bent range (80 to 130 degrees) twice a week for 5 weeks, and muscle thickness rose 8.9% against 3.4%. Across 11 studies, full range and stretched-position half reps grew the lower biceps and brachialis more than half reps near the top.
13 trained adults (11 men) did preacher curl half reps from straight to 70 degrees with one arm and full reps with the other for 8 weeks: growth was similar, with a trivial edge for the half reps near the elbow and a negligible strength edge for full reps. In 30 trained adults, half reps at long muscle lengths matched full reps in two other curls.
40 young men did full-range (straight to 130 degrees) or mid-range (50 to 100 degrees) preacher curls, as a review describes the trial, or none, twice a week for 10 weeks. Strength rose 25.7% against 16.0%, and muscle thickness 9.65% against 7.83%.
On MRI, 21 untrained adults trained one arm with each curl, 5 sets of 10 at 70% of their maximum, twice a week for 12 weeks: the biceps grew 22.1% with incline curls and 18.9% with preacher curls, the brachialis 17.1% and 21.1%, the brachioradialis 13.5% and 17.6%, and all three together 17.6% and 19.2%, with similar patterns along each muscle. With ultrasound, in 63 young women, preacher curls grew the lower arm more (by 0.10 cm) and incline curls the upper arm (by 0.08 cm); in 38 trained women, only the preacher group's lower site grew, but the groups didn't differ significantly.
15 young men trained one arm with preacher-position cable curls and the other with Bayesian cable curls (arm behind) for 10 weeks: growth (biceps 6 to 7% against 9%) and strength (28% against 37%) were judged equivalent. In 24 men who finished a 10-week trial, cable curls with the arm behind or at the side grew the arm 7 to 9% either way, and with blood flow restriction, 21 trained men grew similarly with the arm in front or behind.
35 young adults did cable or barbell preacher curls, 3 sets of 8 to 12, 3 times a week for 10 weeks: biceps thickness rose 7% and 8%, and strength near straight arms rose more with the barbell, 39% against 30%.
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19 trained adults did preacher curls to failure with one arm and 1 to 3 reps short with the other for 8 weeks, and muscle and strength changed by the same amount. Across 15 studies, training to failure added a trivial amount of growth at most.
In untrained young women, curls with both arms or one at a time, 2 sets of 8 to 12, 3 times a week for 8 weeks, grew the arm equally.
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In 10 young men, 24 maximal lowerings with the elbow muscles at long lengths caused more strength loss, soreness and swelling than the same work at short lengths.
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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 gained slightly more in absolute size, and women more in relative strength.
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Steps from our move pages; the armpit position, grip width and top position are coaching practice, and the 2 to 3 seconds' lowering is our suggestion.
Loading the 3D figure…
The movement on the figure: Preacher curl
Set it so your armpits rest near the top of the pad and your upper arms lie flat on it; too low and your arms hang off the end (coaching practice).
Underhand and about shoulder-width. An EZ bar, dumbbells or a palms-facing grip is kinder to many wrists, as our bicep curl guide says.
Let your arms get long, but under control: the stretched end is where the lower biceps grew most, and the biceps tendon tears when the elbow is forced straight against a load. Don't bounce.
Use a lighter weight than for standing curls, as our dumbbell preacher curl move page says.
In order from easiest to learn: 2 to 3 sets of 10 to 15, the last set 0 to 2 reps short (our editorial starting point, the curl dose in our bicep curl guide; these move pages give no dose). The barbell or EZ-bar version also suits 3 sets of 8 to 12, as our pull day workout uses for EZ-bar curls.
3D demoMachine preacher curlBeginner · Strength machine
3D demoCable preacher curlBeginner · A cable machine + A bench or box
3D demoDumbbell preacher curlIntermediate · A dumbbell + A bench or box
3D demoOne-arm dumbbell preacher curlIntermediate · A dumbbell + A bench or box
3D demoPreacher curlIntermediate · A barbell + A bench or boxThe preacher hammer and reverse curls, 2 to 3 sets of 10 to 15 (our editorial starting point; reverse curls at about half your palms-up weight, as its move page says). The Zottman preacher curl and the spider curl, 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12, stopping 2 or 3 reps short (their move pages).
Stand behind an incline bench with your upper arm down its back pad, or sit and brace your upper arm on your inner thigh: 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12 with each arm, stopping 2 or 3 reps short (their move pages).
Standing curls keep the biceps working later in the lift; preacher curls load the bottom more and stop the swing.
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With your arm behind you, the biceps grew a little more with incline curls on MRI, and the upper part of the arm more on ultrasound. Use both.
A cable curl with your arm behind you grew the arm about as much as preacher-position cable curls.
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The spider curl uses the steep side of the preacher bench with your arms hanging straight down, and the concentration curl braces your upper arm on your thigh. Neither has been tested against preacher curls.
Palms facing and thumbs up: our hammer curl guide compares the grips, and the preacher hammer curl puts the same grip on the pad.
2 to 3 sets of 10 to 15, with most sets 1 to 3 reps short of failure and the last 0 to 2, as in our bicep curl guide. Heavier EZ-bar sets of 8 to 12 work too.
Leave 3 or 4 reps to spare, as our plans advise: lowering at long muscle lengths causes more soreness at first.
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Lighter than your standing curl. Pick a weight you could curl about 12 to 15 times, do 10 to start, then adjust by how many you had left; people underestimate that by about 1 rep.
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60 to 90 seconds, as our plans give for curls; a review found nothing clear for growth past about 90 seconds.
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About 10 or more hard sets a week for the elbow muscles, counting each set of rows or pulldowns as half a set, as our bicep curl guide does, over two sessions a week.
Add reps before weight: with dumbbells, reach 15 on every set before you take the next weight, as our hammer curl guide suggests.
For comparison, not as starting points: 3 sets of 8 to 12, 3 times a week; 5 sets of 10 at 70% of maximum, twice a week; and 4 sets of 12 to failure, 3 times a week.
Slow the lowering and lighten the weight, as our move pages cue.
That's a swing. Lighten the weight and keep your upper arms down.
Use the full range: the bottom is the part that grew the lower biceps most.
Go lighter, as our dumbbell preacher curl move page says.
Use an EZ bar, dumbbells or a palms-facing grip (coaching practice).
If your arms hang off the end of the pad or your armpits sit far below its top, reset it.
Discomfort up to about 3 to 4 out of 10 is fine if it settles within an hour and your elbow is no worse the next morning; otherwise go lighter, not to nothing, as our elbow guides say.
Work in the middle of the range first, lighter and slower, before curls from fully straight arms, as our front-of-elbow pain guide does.
Tears of the biceps tendon at the elbow are uncommon, about 3 to 5 people in 100,000 a year, mostly men over 30, with smoking and corticosteroid or anabolic steroid use raising the risk. They usually happen when the elbow is forced straight against a load, and one case report describes both tendons tearing in a preacher curl; no study gives preacher curls an injury rate. After a repair, an NHS physiotherapy leaflet avoids resisted bending for 6 weeks and heavy lifting for at least 3 months.
Stop the set, and see our ulnar nerve guide if it keeps coming back.
Preacher curls are the swap, as our bicep curl and biceps tendinitis guides say.
Incline curls 3 sets of 10 to 15 (our pull day B workout), hammer curls 2 sets of 10 to 15 and EZ-bar curls 3 sets of 8 to 12 (our pull day workout), and standing dumbbell curls 2 to 3 sets of 10 to 15 (our bicep curl guide).
Go lighter, lower more slowly, or switch to hammer curls, as our bicep curl guide suggests; see our golfer's elbow and tennis elbow guides.
Try an EZ bar, dumbbells or the preacher hammer curl.
Follow your surgeon's limits before lifting with your arms, as our heart surgery guide says.
Breathe out as you curl and keep the weights moderate, as our breathing guide says. High blood pressure means readings of 140/90 or higher; with controlled high blood pressure, the American Heart Association considers low- to moderate-intensity strength training with proper breathing safe.
None of our workouts uses a preacher curl yet: swap one in for the first curl in our arm, pull day or shoulders and arms workout at the same sets and reps, and keep the incline curl in pull day B (our suggestion). At home, our home arm workout has curls, hammer curls and a standing concentration curl; the seated concentration curl on this page is the nearest thing to a preacher curl without a bench (our view).
Biceps, triceps and forearms: curls, hammer curls, skull crushers, pushdowns, concentration curls and dips.
35 minBeginner7 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 barbellA 45-minute gym workout for shoulders and arms: overhead presses, lateral raises with face pulls, then two biceps and triceps pairs, with sets, reps and rest.
45 minIntermediate11 movesA band, 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 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 dumbbellEach of these plans has a curl once or twice a week that a preacher curl can fill.
The 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 minAdvanced5 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 minIntermediate6 days a weekA 6-day Arnold split: chest and back, shoulders and arms, then legs, each twice a week, with paired sets, weekly set counts and shorter 3 and 4-day versions.
6 training days55 minAdvancedIf you get chest pain or pressure, feel faint or dizzy, are unusually breathless, or your heart races or beats irregularly during exercise, as our plans advise. The American Heart Association says these need immediate medical evaluation.
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If arm pain comes on suddenly with pressure, heaviness or squeezing across your chest, or for chest pain that feels tight or spreads to your arms, neck or jaw. Don't drive yourself to A&E.
For a pop or snap with sudden pain at the front of the elbow, with bruising, a gap at the front of the elbow or a bulge in the upper arm: don't wait for it to settle, because a torn biceps tendon is best repaired within the first 2 to 3 weeks, and don't be reassured if the pain eases after a week or two. Also for severe arm pain that makes it hard to move your arm, or an arm that tingles or feels numb after an injury. In the US, go to urgent care or the emergency department.
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.
If your arm hurts when you exercise but the pain eases when you rest, or it's swollen and you have a very high temperature or feel hot, cold or shivery.
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If elbow or arm pain hasn't gone after a few weeks. For tingling in your ring and little fingers that keeps coming back, see our ulnar nerve guide.
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No study has measured a "peak". Preacher curls grew the lower biceps a little more than incline curls in one ultrasound trial, but on MRI incline curls grew the biceps more, and people's arms respond to the same training very differently.
No trial measured the two heads separately. Curls with the arm in front and behind grew the arm equally, and preacher and incline curls gave the same total growth.
Tears of the biceps tendon at the elbow are rare and usually happen when the elbow is forced straight against a load; one case report describes one in a preacher curl. No study gives an injury rate: control the bottom, and the risk is the one any heavy curl carries.
The top half is the part that grew the biceps least. Training the stretched part grew the lower biceps more, and in a review full or stretched-position reps beat half reps near the top.
They're different, not better: in trials they grew about the same total muscle as incline curls and as Bayesian cable curls.
Not better; different. They're hardest near the bottom with your arms nearly straight, while in standing and incline curls the biceps worked hardest later in the lift. Over 12 weeks, preacher and incline curls grew the arm muscles by the same total, so use both.
No study has measured the two heads separately. Curls with the arm in front and the arm behind grew the arm equally, so choose curls you can do with good form.
No study has measured a "peak". Preacher curls grew the lower biceps a little more than incline curls in one trial, but incline curls grew the biceps more in an MRI trial, and how people grow varies hugely.
Not if you control the bottom. The biceps tendon at the elbow tears rarely, about 3 to 5 people in 100,000 a year, usually when the elbow is forced straight against a load, and one case report describes it in a preacher curl. Don't let the weight drop or bounce into straight arms.
They load the elbow hardest with your arm nearly straight, and new long-length work causes more soreness for a few days. Pain at the front of the elbow that goes above about 3 to 4 out of 10, or lasts more than an hour after training, is a reason to shorten the range and lighten the weight; see our front-of-elbow pain guide.
Lighter than your standing curl. Pick a weight you could curl about 12 to 15 times, do 10 to start, and adjust by how many you had left.
2 to 3 sets of 10 to 15, resting 60 to 90 seconds, with most sets 1 to 3 reps short of failure and the last 0 to 2. Training to failure gave no extra growth in a preacher curl trial.
All of them work: cable and barbell preacher curls grew the biceps equally in a 10-week trial. Machines and cables are the easiest to learn, the EZ bar is kinder to many wrists, and dumbbells let you train one arm at a time.
Stand behind an incline bench with your upper arm down its back pad, or sit and brace your upper arm on your inner thigh for a concentration curl. Both have 3D demos on this page.
Yes, under control. The stretched, nearly straight-arm part of the preacher curl grew the lower biceps more than the bent-arm part, and full-range curls built more strength than half reps.
Either: one-arm and two-arm curls grew the arms equally in a trial in women. One arm at a time helps if one side is weaker.
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.
