Wrist Curls
What Is A Wrist Curl?
Wrist curls are an isolation exercise that strengthens the muscles of your wrists and forearms, especially the wrist extensors and wrist flexors.
Wrist strength exercises are an important part of arm training workouts. Training forearms will not only balance out the look of your arms by adding muscle mass to the lower arms, it will improve your wrist and grip strength to improve pull ups and barbell exercises like bent over rows and can help to prevent injury caused from wrist and hand overuse.
Even though all dumbbell and barbell exercises work your forearms to some extent, it's a good idea to add specific wrist and forearm training into your workouts one to two times a week. Wrist curls and other forearm and grip exercises target your training by isolating the smaller muscles of the lower arms, which can often be underused in other arm exercises.
Adding a few reps of wrist curls into your arm training or back training days will directly translate to any exercise that involves holding a weight or a bar in your hands. Wrist curls will build muscular strength and endurance so your grip strength isn't a limiting factor in pulldowns, rows, and farmers carry exercises. Wrist curls can also help guard against overuse injuries if you use your hands a lot throughout the day.
To perform wrist curls all you need is a bench and two light dumbbells. Read our wrist curls guide to get set up and master the technique of this simple but important grip and forearm exercise.
Check out some other forearm and grip exercises: Farmers Walk, Plate Pinch, Wrist Extensions
Commonly Asked Questions About Wrist Curls
Wrist curls improve your grip strength and forearm strength by isolating the smaller muscles of the forearms that are responsible for flexing the wrist joint. Combine wrist curls with static grip strength exercises like plate pinch or farmers walk to build strength and muscle endurance in the wrists and forearms.
The wrist, hands, and forearms typically do a lot of work throughout the day, so you may need to use a high rep range to fatigue the target muscles. Wrist curls are performed with light to moderate dumbbells, so we recommend working in the 12-15 or 15-20 rep range if you can maintain good technique.
Wrist curls are a great way to isolate the forearms and build strength in the wrists and lower arms. Whilst these muscles do get worked during other weight training, it’s important to do specific grip and forearm training. Wrist curls are a simple and effective way to target the forearms to build strength which will translate into any other exercise that involves holding a weight.
Wrist Curls Tips
Use light dumbbells so you can perform high reps (12-15+) with good technique.
Perform wrist curls with a slow tempo to maximise time under tension.
Lower the weight back to the start position with control.
Use How To Do Wrist Curls
Hold a dumbbell in each hand and kneel behind a flat bench.
Rest the top of your forearms on the bench, with your hands off the front of the bench.
Your wrists and hands should be facing the ceiling throughout the exercise.
Keep your forearms flat on the bench as you curl your wrists to bring the dumbbell towards you.
Curl the dumbbell in as far as it will go, pause, then slowly release your wrists back to the starting position.
If you’re not sure if any of the above exercises are suitable for you, please consult your doctor before you start it. Need guidance on how to perform the exercise? Ask a personal trainer at your gym.