Training guide
A Zottman curl is a dumbbell curl with a twist: you curl the weights up with your palms facing up, turn your hands palms down at the top, and lower them slowly palms down. That makes one rep two curls: a normal curl on the way up and a reverse curl on the way down, with a weight you chose for the stronger grip. Start lighter than your usual curl, and do 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12.
It works the biceps, the brachialis underneath it and the brachioradialis in your forearm, as every curl does, and the turn brings in the muscles that rotate your forearm. Is it the best forearm exercise? Nobody has studied the Zottman curl itself, and the studies of curl grips disagree.
This guide shows the lift step by step on the 3D figure, what it works and why the lowering is the hard part, the preacher version, how heavy and how many, and how to look after your elbows and wrists.
Curl the dumbbells up with your palms facing up, turn your hands palms down at the top, lower slowly with your palms down, and turn them back at the bottom. That's the lift as our move page and the American Council on Exercise (ACE) describe it.
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Palms down, your elbow is roughly half as strong: 113.6 against 213.6 newtons palms up in 11 men, and 39% weaker than thumb-up in 85 students. But people can lower more than they can lift, about a third more in an arm curl. So you lower palms down a weight you couldn't curl palms down, and the lowering is probably still the hard part of the rep (our arithmetic across separate studies).
The brachialis, the biceps and the brachioradialis bend your elbow in every grip; in an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) study of 4 men they gave about 47%, 34% and 19% of the force. The turn at the top uses your forearm's turning muscles, and palms-down work brings in the wrist muscles on the back of your forearm (indirect evidence).
We found no study of the Zottman curl. Which grip works the brachioradialis hardest varies between studies, and while lowering, the grip made no difference to biceps or brachioradialis activity in 10 bodybuilders. Ordinary incline and preacher curls grew the brachioradialis 13.5% and 17.6% in 12 weeks in one trial.
Start at about two-thirds to three-quarters of the dumbbell you'd curl palms up: our editorial starting point, our arithmetic from strength studies in different people; nobody has measured it. End the set when you can't lower slowly palms down. Do 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12, stopping 2 or 3 reps short (the move page's dose), once or twice a week, counted with your other curls towards about 10 hard sets a week for the elbow muscles.
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Keep discomfort to about 3 to 4 out of 10, settled within an hour, as our elbow guides say. Tennis elbow is linked with gripping and twisting the forearm, so leave Zottman curls out until reverse curls are comfortable. A pop at the front of the elbow with bruising and a bulge in the upper arm needs an urgent treatment centre or A&E the same day.
A dumbbell curl in which your grip changes during each rep: up with your palms facing up (a normal bicep curl), a turn of the hands to palms down at the top, down slowly with your palms down (a reverse curl), and a turn back at the bottom. Our move page cues about three seconds on the way down and no swing of the trunk. The preacher version rests the backs of your upper arms on a pad, so they can't swing.
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A National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) technique column says it may help forearm and grip strength through extra lowering (eccentric) load on the forearm muscles; its summary offers no evidence. The logic is sound physics rather than a tested result: you're much weaker palms down, but stronger lowering than lifting, so the palms-down lowering gets a weight you chose for the stronger palms-up lift.
The brachialis lies deep under the biceps, attaches to the ulna and bends the elbow without turning the forearm. The biceps bends the elbow and turns the palm up, switching on as the palm turns up and off as it turns down. The brachioradialis is the long muscle on the thumb side of your forearm. In an MRI model of 4 men, the brachialis gave about 47% of the elbow-bending force, the biceps 34% and the brachioradialis 19%.
Turning your palms down at the top uses both pronator muscles of the forearm together, the pronator teres near the elbow and the pronator quadratus near the wrist, in a study of 12 people; our pronator teres page lists the Zottman curl for this. Turning back up at the bottom brings the biceps in again.
Palms-down elbow work and forearm turning bring in the wrist extensors on the back of your forearm, the muscles that hold your wrist straight. That evidence is indirect: we found no study of these muscles in a reverse or Zottman curl. Grip itself is mostly trained by wrist curls, carries and hangs, as our grip strength guide covers.
A controlled dumbbell curl (the move page's prerequisite), and wrists and elbows that are comfortable palms down. If reverse curls hurt your outer elbow, the Zottman will too.
Some people's elbows angle out more, so they can't hold dumbbells at their sides without bending their wrists, as ACE notes for the hammer curl: turn only as far as is comfortable. Palms-down strength varied a lot between people, women and men were both weakest palms down, and arms respond to the same training very differently, from a 2% loss to a 59% gain in biceps size in 585 adults.
Grip studies use EMG (electromyography: electrodes measuring how hard a muscle works over a few reps), which isn't a validated predictor of what a muscle builds over months.
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Muscle activity studies of 10 to 36 people, mostly young men; strength studies of 11 to 85 people; one growth trial of 21 untrained adults; and no study of the Zottman curl itself.
From our move page and ACE's description of the lift. The 3 seconds down is the move page's cue; how far to turn, and ending the set when the lowering speeds up, are our editorial advice.
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The movement on the figure: Zottman curl
Our move page's steps and cues: keep your upper arms on the pad. On a pad the bottom of the curl is the hardest part, so control it; the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) explains that the biceps tendon at the elbow tears when the elbow is forced straight against a load.
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The movement on the figure: Zottman preacher curl
Muscle activity studies found the biceps, brachialis and brachioradialis working in curls with the palm up, thumb up and palm down. How much each contributes is set mostly by its size and leverage: in the MRI model, the brachialis gave almost half the force.
Lifting their 8-repetition maximum on a cable, 10 bodybuilders' biceps worked 19% harder palms up than palms down. Holding 1 kg, 36 men's biceps were more active palm up at most elbow angles.
Without a weight and with 1 kg, the brachioradialis worked harder palms down; under an 8-rep maximum it worked slightly harder palms up (5% more than palms down); in three other studies grip made no difference. A curl that turns the palm up during the lift drew no more biceps or brachioradialis activity than fixed-grip barbell curls in 12 trained men. No grip has a proven edge for the forearm, as our hammer curl guide says.
Lowering their 8-rep maximum, the 10 bodybuilders' biceps and brachioradialis activity didn't differ between palms up, thumb up and palms down, and lowering drew less activity than lifting, as other curl studies also found.
In 11 men, maximal elbow-bending force was 113.6 newtons palms down, 213.6 palms up and 243.6 thumb-up. In 85 students, palms down was 39% weaker than thumb-up. Women and men were both weakest palms down.
Across 335 studies, people lowered about 40% more than they could lift. In an arm curl, 12 trained men lowered 19.3 kg against 14.6 kg lifted, about a third more; that curl figure comes from one small study.
Put together, a palms-down lowering should handle roughly 70 to 86% of what you can lift palms up. That's our arithmetic across separate studies in different people; nobody has measured it in a Zottman curl.
In small studies, the biceps switched on as the palm turned up and off as it turned down, and it turned the forearm as well as bending the elbow. The brachialis bent the elbow whatever the forearm did.
In 12 people, turning the palm down drew on the pronator teres and the pronator quadratus together.
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Wrist extensor activity rose with palms-down turning effort and during elbow movements. That's indirect evidence: we found no study of the wrist extensors in a reverse curl or a palms-down lowering.
In 21 untrained adults, 12 weeks of incline or preacher dumbbell curls (5 sets of 10, twice a week) grew the brachioradialis 13.5% and 17.6% on MRI. We could read only the trial's abstract, which doesn't say what grip was used. We found no trial comparing grips, or testing the Zottman, for forearm size or grip strength.
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Lowering-focused (eccentric) training builds strength and size: lowering-only training grew muscle 10.0% against 6.8% for lifting-only across 15 studies, a trend that wasn't statistically significant, and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) overview lists eccentric work among the few things that enhanced growth. But reps lasting from half a second to 8 seconds grew muscle alike, so the slow lowering is for control, not extra growth.
In 10 untrained men, maximal lowering with the palm up caused more muscle damage than with the thumb up, so the lowering grip matters for soreness. New lowering work makes muscles sore for a few days, and the next sessions cause much less.
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.
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113.6 newtons palms down against 213.6 palms up in 11 men, and 39% weaker than thumb-up in 85 students. That's why a reverse curl uses a much lighter dumbbell than a normal curl.
In an arm curl, trained men lowered about a third more than they lifted; across all kinds of muscle tests, about 40% more.
About half the strength, with about a third more for lowering, comes to roughly 0.7 of your palms-up curl; with the larger figures, up to about 0.86. So the palms-down lowering is still a little weaker than the lift, which is why it usually sets your limit. That's our arithmetic across separate studies, not a measurement.
About two-thirds to three-quarters of the dumbbell you'd curl palms up for the same reps: our editorial starting point. It's our arithmetic from strength studies in different people; nobody has measured it. Then adjust by how many reps you had left: people misjudge that by about one.
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When you can no longer lower over about 3 seconds with your palms down, or 2 or 3 reps short of failure, whichever comes first (editorial). If the curl up still feels easy but the lowering speeds up, the weight is too heavy for the lowering.
Neither has been shown to build more muscle. Hammer curls keep your thumbs up both ways and are about as strong as palms-up curls; the Zottman switches to the much weaker palms-down grip for the lowering. If forearm size is your goal, do both, as our hammer curl guide suggests.
A reverse curl stays palms down both ways, so the weaker grip limits the lift as well; the Zottman lifts palms up and only lowers palms down. ACE rates the reverse curl an intermediate exercise. Both load the forearm side of the elbow.
The way up is the same. A bicep curl lowers palms up; the Zottman lowers the same weight palms down, a grip about half as strong. Count both the same towards your weekly sets for the elbow muscles.
Those change where your arm is; the Zottman changes your grip. You can do a Zottman on a preacher pad (above), and our preacher curl guide covers the rest.
In learning order. The dumbbell curl, 2 or 3 sets of 10 to 15 with the last 0 to 2 reps short (our bicep curl guide; beginners at home can use the NHS routine's 3 sets of 5 with each arm, light). The reverse curl, 2 sets of 10 to 15, lighter than your hammer curls (our forearm workout). The Zottman and Zottman preacher curls, 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12, stopping 2 or 3 reps short (their move pages' editorial starting point). The reverse preacher curl, 2 to 3 sets of 10 to 15 at about half your palms-up weight (our preacher curl guide's editorial starting point). The curl and reverse curl move pages give no dose.
No 3D demo for these.
Sit on the end of a bench and do the same lift; it stops any help from your legs. The standing demo shows the movement.
One arm at a time with a single handle on a low cable, turning at the top as with a dumbbell. A cable lets you add weight in small steps.
Curls up palms down and lowers palms up. It reverses the logic, so the lowering is the easy half.
Two lifts that suit different weights. We'd keep them separate.
A standing dumbbell curl, then a light reverse curl, then the Zottman, then the preacher Zottman (editorial, from the move pages' prerequisites).
2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12, stopping 2 or 3 reps short of failure: the move page's dose, its editorial starting point. Keep even the last set 1 or 2 reps short, because the palms-down lowering is the weak link (editorial).
2 sets with 3 or 4 reps to spare, as our plans say. People misjudge the reps they have left by about one.
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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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Once or twice a week. Zottman curls count with your other curls towards about 10 or more hard sets a week for the elbow muscles, with each set of rows, pulldowns or chin-ups counting as half a set.
Add reps until you reach 12 on every set, then take the next dumbbell, as our curl guides do. Adding reps and adding load both worked as progression in a trial of 43 trained people.
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Our forearm workout pairs 8 to 12 Zottman curls with wrist curls for 2 rounds. ACE's biceps workout uses 15 reps for 2 to 3 sets, in a group of three curls.
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A few minutes of easy movement, then the wrist and forearm flow and a light set of curls, as the NHS and our plans advise.
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The NHS strength routine curls light weights for 3 sets of 5 with each arm. Learn that, then a light reverse curl, before the Zottman.
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Go lighter and keep your body still, as the move page's cue says.
Keep your upper arms by your sides; the preacher version stops the drift.
Go lighter and count 3 on the way down: the lowering is the point of the lift.
Keep each wrist straight, in line with your forearm.
Turn only as far as is comfortable; no study has tested a full half-circle.
Start at about two-thirds to three-quarters of it, and adjust.
Hammer curls, 2 or 3 sets of 10 to 15 (our hammer curl guide and forearm workout). Forearm rotations, 10 each way (our grip strength workout; the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy's elbow videos use the same turn with a hammer). Wrist curls, 2 rounds of 12 to 15, slow and light (our forearm workout), and reverse wrist curls, 3 sets of 12, slow and light (our grip strength guide). Farmer's carries, 2 walks of 30 m, and the wrist and forearm flow, 60 seconds to warm up (our forearm workout). The wrist extensor stretch, 30 seconds each side to cool down (our forearm workout); its move page gives 3 holds of 30 seconds for tennis elbow. None of the strength moves here has a dose on its own move page.
3D demoHammer curlBeginner · A dumbbell
3D demoDumbbell forearm rotationBeginner · A dumbbell + A bench or box
3D demoWrist curlsBeginner · A dumbbell
3D demoReverse wrist curlBeginner · A dumbbell + A bench or box
3D demoFarmer's carryIntermediate · A dumbbell + A kettlebell
3D demoWrist & forearm flowBeginner · No equipment
3D demoWrist extensor stretch (tennis elbow stretch)Beginner · No equipmentDiscomfort 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.
NHS inform's elbow exercises use a 0 to 5 scale with pain no worse the morning after; the two agree in practice.
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Tennis elbow is linked with gripping and repeatedly twisting the wrist and forearm, and our elbow guides bring palm-down curls back last. With pain on the outside of your elbow, leave the Zottman out until reverse curls are comfortable, and follow our tennis elbow guide. Slow lowering exercises for the wrist extensors are one treatment for tennis elbow, with a short-term benefit for pain, but they're lighter, with the forearm supported: not a Zottman. See a GP if it hasn't improved after 2 weeks of rest and self-care.
For golfer's elbow, NHS inform suggests changing how you grip or lift and reducing the weight, and seeing someone if it hasn't improved within 6 weeks. Our golfer's elbow guide has the plan.
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With de Quervain's, the palms-down half is usually the comfortable part. Leave out any turn that hurts, and see our de Quervain's guide.
Stop the set if your ring and little fingers tingle during curls: at the top of a curl the elbow bends most, which stretches the ulnar nerve. Shorten the top of the range, and see our ulnar nerve guide if it keeps coming back.
A torn biceps tendon at the elbow is rare: 1.2 to 5.35 per 100,000 people a year in US data, and up to about 10 per 100,000 men a year in recent Nordic registers. It mostly affects men in their 40s, usually when a sudden load forces a bent elbow straight, and smoking raises the risk. A pop with bruising, a gap at the front of the elbow or the biceps bunching up in the upper arm needs an urgent treatment centre or A&E: it's best repaired within the first 2 to 3 weeks.
After a recent shoulder dislocation, or shoulder or elbow surgery, follow your surgical team's limits first.
Our forearm workout is the follow-along: hammer curls, reverse curls, then 8 to 12 Zottman curls paired with wrist curls for 2 rounds, and a farmer's carry. The grip strength workout and the wrist and forearm routine train your hands and wrists. In the arm and bicep workouts, a Zottman can replace or join a curl at 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12 (our suggestion).
A 25-minute forearm size workout with dumbbells: hammer, reverse and Zottman curls for the big muscle on the thumb side, then wrist curls and a carry.
25 minBeginner7 movesA dumbbell, A kettlebellA 20-minute grip session: warm up the wrists and fingers, train the hand and forearm muscles, then carry and hang to load your grip the way everyday life does.
20 minBeginner10 movesOther / check instructions, A bandBiceps, triceps and forearms: curls, hammer curls, skull crushers, pushdowns, concentration curls and dips.
35 minBeginner7 movesA dumbbell, A bench or boxA 30-minute biceps session: an EZ-bar curl, an incline curl, a preacher curl and hammer curls, about 10 hard sets, in the gym or with dumbbells.
30 minIntermediate6 movesA dumbbell, EZ curl barWrist mobility and forearm strength for desk work, climbing, push-ups and handstands.
10 minBeginner7 movesA wall, A dumbbellThe bro split's arm day has curls a Zottman can replace.
If 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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For chest pain that comes on suddenly and doesn't go away, feels tight or like squeezing, spreads to your arms, neck, jaw, stomach or back, or comes with sweating, feeling sick, light-headedness or breathlessness; arm pain that comes on suddenly with pressure, heaviness or squeezing across your chest; severe difficulty breathing, or a chest that feels tight or heavy; someone who faints while exercising; palpitations that don't go away, or come with chest pain, shortness of breath or feeling faint; or a headache that starts suddenly and is extremely painful, especially while lifting or straining. The NHS says a bleed on the brain may be more likely when lifting something heavy. Don't drive yourself to A&E.
Ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111 for a headache that's triggered or made worse by coughing, sneezing, bending down or exercising.
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For a pop or snap at the front of the elbow during a lift, with bruising, a gap at the front of the elbow, weakness turning your palm up, or the biceps bunching up in your upper arm: a torn biceps tendon is best repaired within the first 2 to 3 weeks, and the pain may ease after a week or two, so don't wait. Also for severe arm pain that makes it hard to move your arm, a snap with your arm changing shape, or an arm that tingles or feels numb after an injury. In the US, go to urgent care or the emergency department.
If your arm hurts when you exercise but the pain goes away when you rest; if it's swollen and you have a very high temperature or feel hot, cold or shivery; if you think you've torn a tendon; or for severe wrist pain, a snap, grinding or popping when it happened, or lost feeling in your hand. In the US, contact your doctor or urgent care.
If elbow or arm pain hasn't gone after a few weeks; if tennis elbow hasn't improved after 2 weeks of rest and self-care; or if wrist pain hasn't improved after 2 weeks, or comes with tingling.
Very sore, swollen, tight muscles 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. Normal soreness peaks a day or two after a new exercise and fades.
See a GP if you think you have a hernia, a bulge or lump that may get bigger when you strain and smaller when you lie down. Get help from NHS 111 if you have a hernia and pain in or around it, a bloated tummy, you feel or are sick, you're vomiting blood or your vomit looks like coffee grounds, you're constipated, you have a high temperature or feel hot, cold or shivery, or you've suddenly become confused. Call 999 or go to A&E for a femoral hernia (a small lump at the top of your thigh, in your groin) with very bad tummy pain, sickness, being unable to fart or poo, a high temperature or sudden confusion.
The NHS lists lifting heavy weights among the causes of a femoral hernia. After an inguinal hernia repair, avoid heavy lifting or strenuous activity for at least 4 to 6 weeks.
Speak to your GP first if you haven't exercised for some time or have medical conditions or concerns, as the NHS advises. Get advice before hard or straining work if your blood pressure is uncontrolled (140/90 or higher at a clinic, or 135/85 at home), or you have heart disease or chest pain when you're active, a pacemaker or defibrillator, diabetic eye disease, glaucoma, a hernia, recent eye or tummy surgery, or you're pregnant, as our breathing guide lists.
With controlled high blood pressure, the American Heart Association considers low- to moderate-intensity strength training with proper breathing safe: breathe out as you lift.
After a recent shoulder dislocation, or shoulder or elbow surgery, follow your surgical team's limits first.
We found no study of the Zottman curl, and no trial comparing curls for forearm size or grip. Which grip works the brachioradialis most varies between studies, and ordinary curls grew it 13.5 to 17.6% in 12 weeks. The forearm's grip muscles need wrist curls, carries and hangs too, as our grip strength guide says.
Untested. The grip studies disagree about which grip works the brachioradialis most, and none measured growth. Mix grips if forearm size is your goal, as our hammer curl guide says.
While lowering, the grip made no difference to biceps or brachioradialis activity in 10 bodybuilders, and slow reps don't add growth by themselves. What the lowering adds is a heavier-than-usual lowering for the forearm side, because you chose the weight for the stronger lift: sound physics, but untested.
There aren't three biceps muscles: the biceps has two heads, and the brachialis and brachioradialis are separate muscles. Every curl works all three elbow benders, so it's true that the Zottman works them, but not that it's special.
Coaching pages disagree, and no study has tested it. Turn only as far as is comfortable; the biceps does its palm-up job as you turn up (our editorial advice).
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You are stronger lowering, but palms down you're about half as strong, so a weight near your normal curl maximum makes the lowering fall rather than slow (our arithmetic). Start lighter.
No study links them either way. Slow lowering exercise for the wrist extensors is one treatment for tennis elbow, but that's a different, lighter exercise with the forearm supported. Gripping and twisting the forearm are linked with tennis elbow, so bring the Zottman back last; our tennis elbow guide has the plan.
Hold a dumbbell in each hand with your palms facing forward, curl them up to your shoulders, then turn your hands so your palms face down. Lower slowly, over about 3 seconds, with your palms down, and turn them back at the bottom.
The three muscles that bend your elbow: the biceps, the brachialis underneath it and the brachioradialis in your forearm, as in every curl. The turn uses your forearm's turning muscles, and the palms-down lowering brings in the muscles on the back of your forearm.
They combine a normal curl and a reverse curl in one rep, so the forearm side of your elbow muscles gets a palms-down lowering with a weight you lifted on the stronger grip. That's sound mechanics, but no study has tested the Zottman itself.
They train the brachioradialis, the big forearm muscle, as other curls do; ordinary curls grew it 13.5 to 17.6% in 12 weeks in one trial. No study shows they build forearms better than hammer or reverse curls. For grip, add wrist curls and carries.
Neither has been shown to build more muscle. Hammer curls keep your thumbs up the whole way and are about as strong as palms-up curls; Zottmans switch to the much weaker palms-down grip for the lowering. Do both if forearm size is your goal.
A reverse curl stays palms down both ways, so you're limited by the weaker grip on the lift too; the Zottman lifts palms up and only lowers palms down. Both load the forearm side of the elbow.
Lighter than your usual curl: start at about two-thirds to three-quarters of the dumbbell you'd curl palms up, and adjust so you can still lower slowly with your palms down. That's our editorial starting point, our arithmetic from strength studies in different people; nobody has measured it. Palms down you're roughly half as strong, though you can lower more than you lift.
2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12, stopping 2 or 3 reps short, with 60 to 90 seconds' rest, once or twice a week. Count them with your other curls towards about 10 hard sets a week for your elbow muscles.
Because the lowering is done in the grip where your elbow is roughly half as strong, with a weight you chose for the stronger grip. The lowering, not the lift, usually sets your limit.
They aren't a treatment, and the palms-down half loads the outer elbow; tennis elbow is linked with gripping and twisting the forearm. Leave them out until reverse curls are comfortable, and follow our tennis elbow guide. See a GP if it hasn't improved after 2 weeks of self-care.
Yes: the pad stops your arms swinging, and the bottom of the curl becomes the hardest part. Lower under control, without dropping into straight arms.
Coaching sites credit a strongman called George Zottman. They disagree about when he lived, and we found no reliable history.
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.
