maratoolSpider Curl with Barbell
How to do the spider curl with barbell
- This exercise uses the straight side of a Preacher Curl bench to increase the range of motion of the exercise.
- Turn a Preacher Curl bench around so you are leaning against the angled side.
- Grasp a barbell with palms up, approximately 6 inches apart.
- Leaning against the bench, lower the bar along the flat side of the bench fully extending your arms.
- Curl your arms up so your biceps are touching your forearms.
- Slowly lower the bar to the starting position.
- Note: Use a low weight to get used to the motion of this exercise.
Muscles worked
The prime mover is the biceps brachii, which bends the elbow and rotates the forearm palm-up.
Every exercise for:Biceps
How this movement works
Everything happens at one joint. That gives you direct control over where the tension sits; the trade-off is that the muscle gets no help, so the load that feels hard here is a fraction of what a multi-joint version of the pattern would take. Slow, complete repetitions beat heavy ones.
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 biceps too, using equipment this one does not:
- Standing Biceps Curl with Cablecable
- Standing Concentration Curldumbbell
- Bicep Curl Lunge with Bowling Motionmedicine ball
- Bicep Curl with Machinemachine
- Brachialis-SMRfoam roll
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.