Incline Hammer Curl

How to perform the Incline Hammer Curl

1. Set an incline bench to roughly 45 to 60 degrees and sit back so the arms hang behind the torso line.
2. Hold the dumbbells with a neutral grip so the palms face each other and the thumbs point up throughout.
3. Combining the stretched behind-the-body arm position with a neutral grip loads the long head and brachialis under a deep stretch.
4. Let the dumbbells hang fully with the upper arms held back, then curl them straight up keeping the neutral grip fixed.
5. Squeeze at the top without swinging the upper arms forward off the deep stretch.
6. Lower slowly to the full hang, keeping the back and shoulders pinned to the pad.

Suggested working range: 10–15 reps. Default progression: double progression.

Common mistakes

• •Sitting too upright so the arms never hang behind the torso into the long-head stretch.
• •Swinging the upper arms forward off the deep stretch to cheat the weight up.
• •Rotating the grip out of neutral, which loses the brachialis bias.
• •Cutting the descent short and never reaching the full behind-the-body hang.

Variations & alternatives

Swap in a related movement if equipment, recovery, or progression demands it.