maratoolHigh Cable Curls
How to do the high cable curls
- Place a flat bench next to a cable weigh stack.
- Attach a short bar to the high pulley.
- Lay on your back with your head towards the stack.
- Grip the bar with palms facing you)and extend your arms fully on a slight angle over your head.
- Pull the bar down towards you, curling your arms as much as possible.
- Slowly return to the starting position.
Muscles worked
The prime mover is the biceps brachii, which bends the elbow and rotates the forearm palm-up.
Because more than one joint is moving, the work does not stay in one place: the triceps straighten the elbow to finish the movement.
How this movement works
The load travels toward you and several joints bend to bring it there. The arms finish work the back starts, so grip and elbow flexors sit in the path of every repetition: when people stall on a compound pull, it is more often the hands giving out than the primary muscle running out of force.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
A cable holds tension for the whole range, including the point where a free weight would go slack. Moving the pulley changes the angle the resistance arrives from without changing the movement.
Every exercise using:Cable
These train the biceps too, using equipment this one does not:
- Incline Dumbbell Curldumbbell
- Lying High Bench Barbell Curlbarbell
- Machine Preacher Curlsmachine
- Medicine Ball Biceps Curl on Stability Ballmedicine ball
- Quick Alternating Biceps Curls with Bandband
Difficulty
Listed at intermediate level. It assumes you already own the underlying pattern and can hold position under load — if the position breaks before the target muscle tires, drop back to a beginner variation until it does not.
Of the 99 biceps exercises in this database, 14 are listed at intermediate 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.