Step Up Single Leg Balance with Bicep Curl using Dumbbells

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 abdominals brace the trunk so force can pass between the hips and the shoulders; the quadriceps straighten the knee and take load on the descent; the forearms hold the grip, which is often what gives out first.

The hamstrings, glutes and calves take a share of the work as well.

Every exercise for:BicepsAbdominalsQuadricepsForearmsHamstrings

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

Dumbbells let each side work on its own, surfacing a strength difference between limbs that a barbell would quietly cover for, and leaving the wrist free to rotate through the movement.

Every exercise using:Dumbbell

These train the biceps too, using equipment this one does not:

• Wide Grip Standing Biceps Curl with Barbellbarbell
• Bicep Curl Lunge with Bowling Motionmedicine ball
• Bicep Curl with Machinemachine
• Brachialis-SMRfoam roll
• Cable Hammer Curls - Rope Attachmentcable