Zottman Curl

How to perform the Zottman Curl

1. Stand holding dumbbells at your sides with a supinated grip, elbows tucked and the palms facing forward.
2. Curl the dumbbells up with the underhand grip exactly like a standard dumbbell curl, biasing the biceps on the way up.
3. At the top, rotate the wrists so the palms face down, switching to a pronated grip before you begin to lower.
4. Lower the dumbbells slowly in that pronated position, which loads the brachioradialis and forearm extensors on the eccentric.
5. The whole point is training the biceps concentrically and the forearm on the strong eccentric within one rep.
6. At the bottom, rotate back to the supinated grip and repeat the curl-up, pronate-down sequence.

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

Common mistakes

• •Forgetting to rotate to a pronated grip at the top, which skips the forearm-building eccentric.
• •Rushing the pronated descent, which is the entire point of the exercise.
• •Swinging the torso to heave the weight up on the concentric.
• •Going too heavy so the pronated lowering cannot be controlled.

Variations & alternatives

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