maratoolSeated Palms-Down Barbell Wrist Curl
How to do the seated palms-down barbell wrist curl
- Hold a barbell with both hands and your palms facing down; hands spaced about shoulder width.
- Place your feet flat on the floor, at a distance that is slightly wider than shoulder width apart.
- Lean forward and place your forearms on top of your upper thighs with your palms down. Tip: Make sure that the back of the wrists lay on top of your knees. This will be your starting position.
- Lower the bar as far as possible while inhaling and keeping a tight grip.
- Now curl bar up as high as possible while flexing the forearms and exhaling. Hold the contraction at the top for a second and Tip: Only the wrist should move.
Muscles worked
The prime movers are the forearm flexors and extensors, which move the wrist and keep the hand closed around whatever you are holding.
Every exercise for:Forearms
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
A barbell locks both hands to one bar, so neither side can drift and the load climbs in plate-sized steps. That makes it the simplest way to add weight and the least forgiving thing to bail out of.
Every exercise using:Barbell
These train the forearms too, using equipment this one does not:
- Seated Two-Arm Palms-Up Low-Pulley Wrist Curlcable
- Wrist Circlesbody only
- Bottoms-Up Clean From The Hang Positionkettlebell
- Dumbbell Lying Pronationdumbbell
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 25 forearms exercises in this database, 18 are listed at beginner level.
Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.