maratoolBicep Curl with Machine
How to do the bicep curl with machine
- Adjust the seat of the machine so your elbows are correctly aligned with the rotation axis.
- Press your arms against the pads and keep them stationary throughout the exercise.
- Curl your forearms until your arms are fully flexed.
- Slowly lower your arms back to the starting position.
Muscles worked
The prime mover is the biceps brachii, which bends the elbow and rotates the forearm palm-up.
Even with a single joint doing the moving, the muscle is not working alone — the forearms hold the grip, which is often what gives out first.
How this movement works
One joint changes angle and the resistance travels toward you along a single arc. Nothing is positioned to help, so tension stays where you aimed it and the usable load drops sharply against a multi-joint pull for the same muscle. Protect the range of motion; buying weight by shortening the arc defeats the point.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
The machine fixes the path, removing the balance demand and letting you train close to failure without a spotter. The cost is the stabilising work a free weight would have made you do.
Every exercise using:Machine
These train the biceps too, using equipment this one does not:
- Biceps Curl Reverse with Dumbbellsdumbbell
- Biceps Curls with Barbellbarbell
- Brachialis-SMRfoam roll
- Cable Hammer Curls - Rope Attachmentcable
- Close-Grip EZ-Bar Curl with Bande-z curl bar
Difficulty
Listed at beginner level: the pattern is simple enough to pick up without coaching, and a position that goes wrong mid-set is obvious enough to correct on the next repetition.
Of the 99 biceps exercises in this database, 38 are listed at beginner level.
Illustration: Everkinetic — CC BY-SA 4.0 — license. Modified versions are shared under the same license. Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.