In virtually every exercise you perform, your wrists are in play, assisting with the stabilization of either the weight or your body, and helping to hold things together. Your wrists are paradoxical; elite weightlifters have the wrist strength to send impossibly-heavy weights soaring overhead, but left untrained and your wrists will crumble, sending all that weight crashing back down to Earth.
The moral of the story is that your wrist strength is a vital component of proper weight training. Not only that, but general wrist strength has proven to be an excellent predictor of overall health and vitality. (1)
The wrist curl is one of the few exercises that permits you to target and train your wrists directly. With that being said, there’s more than one way to curl your wrists, and we’re going to provide you with a comprehensive list of wrist curl variations. That way, you will have every opportunity to ensure that your ambitious attempts to train the largest muscles in your body aren’t derailed by your smallest.
Best Wrist Curl Variations
- Bent-Elbow Cable Machine Wrist Curl
- Hammer Wrist Curl
- Kneeling Reverse Wrist Curl
- Kneeling Wrist Curl
- Seated Reverse Wrist Curl
- Seated Wrist Curl
- Standing Behind-the-Back Wrist Curl
- Standing Reverse Wrist Curl
- Standing Wrist Curl
Bent-Elbow Cable Machine Wrist Curl
What Is It: With your elbow bent, grab one handle of a cable machine using a pronated grip, with your palm facing away from your face. Engage the muscles of your forearm to bend at the wrist and push the handle in the opposite direction of the resistance.
Why Do It: During standard free-weight wrist curls, the force of gravity is actually at its lowest at the point of peak muscle contraction due to the angle of the resistance. By using a cable and bending your elbow, your supportive muscles can’t take over as much, while the force acting on your forearms remains constant throughout the curling movement.
Sets and Reps: The upright and bent positioning of your arm enables your triceps to assist you with controlling the weight should you get in trouble, which makes using a relatively heavy amount of weight less risky. Three sets of eight to 12 repetitions with a challenging weight should be sufficient.
Hammer Wrist Curl
What Is It: While kneeling on the floor, grasp a pair of dumbbells with a neutral grip, with your thumbs pointed upward, and rest your forearms across a weight bench. From there, hang both of your hands over the edge of the bench and curl the weight from your wrists.
Why Do It: Most wrist curl variations neglect radial and ulnar deviation; the ability to tilt your wrists from side to side. This alternative grip addresses any weakness along an overlooked plane of movement that is common in many sports, like the follow-through in the swing of a baseball bat, a tennis racket, or a lacrosse stick.
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Sets and Reps: Because of the way your forearm is configured, your ulna will be driving right into the padding of the bench without it receiving much extra cushioning from your muscles. On top of that, you’ll probably have a shorter range of motion working the wrist through its lateral range of motion than you would working it vertically. Be very cautious with this exercise, and use light weights in two to three sets of 15 to 20 reps.
Kneeling Reverse Wrist Curl
What Is It: This is a wrist curl performed from a kneeling position with your forearms resting on a bench, your hands hanging over the edge holding a barbell in a supinated grip, with your palms facing away from you.
Why Do It: By resting your forearms on a weight bench, your biceps will be thoroughly unable to take over the exercise. This means much of the potential to cheat during your lifts will be negated, and you can be assured that your forearms will be doing all of the work. You also achieve a strong sense for the effects of gravity working on your hands during the lift.
Sets and Reps: Because of the position your hand is in, training with heavy weight could be somewhat dangerous if the weight isn’t carefully controlled. Keep your weights light and aim to complete three sets of 15 to 20 reps.
Kneeling Wrist Curl
What Is It: This is a wrist curl performed from a kneeling position with your forearms resting on a bench, and your hands hanging over the edge holding a barbell in a supinated grip, with your palms facing the ceiling.
Why Do It: By resting your forearms on a weight bench, you can train your wrist flexors to resist a force pressuring them to move down and back. This will prepare your wrists to remain still and motionless during pressing movements like bench presses and military presses.
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Sets and Reps: Lowering your hands over the edge of an object like the bench leaves them in a fairly vulnerable position. Keep the weight light, and shoot for sets of 15 to 20.
Seated Reverse Wrist Curl
What Is It: While sitting down, grasp a barbell or a pair of dumbbells with a pronated grip and rest one forearm on each of your legs. From there, you’ll hang one hand over each of your knees and lower and curl the weight from your wrists.
Why Do It: This reverse wrist curl variation can be performed while you sit on nearly any surface, whether it’s a weight bench, a couch, or a barstool because your legs provide a stable surface for your forearms to rest upon. This variation is terrific for strengthening your wrists for exercises where a weight is being held horizontally, like during a front or lateral shoulder raise.
Sets and Reps: You’ll have more control over the weight here than you would in a kneeling position, but your wrists are still somewhat vulnerable. Three sets of 15 to 20 reps with relatively light weight is an ideal range for this exercise.
Seated Wrist Curl
What Is It: While you’re sitting in a chair or on a bench, grasp a barbell or a pair of dumbbells with a supinated grip and rest one forearm on each of your legs. From there, you hang a hand over each of your knees and lower and curl the weight from your wrists.
Why Do It: This wrist curl variation can be performed while you sit on nearly any surface, whether it’s a weight bench, a couch, or a bar stool. This position is great for strengthening your wrists in a way that will prepare them to resist gravity during any form of biceps curl. You can also substitute the support of a bench for your own legs if all the benches in your gym are occupied.
Sets and Reps: As with kneeling wrist curls, the fact that your hands hang over a solid edge places them in a somewhat precarious position. Lighter weights are advised here and in a rep range of 15 to 20.
Standing Behind-the-Back Wrist Curl
What Is It: Assume a standing position while holding a barbell behind your body with an overhand grip. Allow your arms to hang loosely (don’t shrug) and curl your wrists upward.
Why Do It: This is another wrist curl variation intended to negate the ability of your biceps to assist with the movement because it’s essentially impossible to involve your biceps when your arms are pinned behind you and your palms are facing away from your body.
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As a bonus, if you’re a fan of classic exercises like the barbell hack squat, the behind-the-back wrist curl will acclimate you to applying load behind your midline.
Sets and Reps: The vertical alignment of your arms limits the shear force applied to your wrists. This should allow you to lift a bit heavier. Three sets of eight to 12 reps should do the trick.
Standing Reverse Wrist Curl
What Is It: Assume a standing position while holding either a barbell or a set of dumbbells in front of you with a pronated grip. From here, simply bend your wrists and lift the backs of your hands up toward the ceiling without moving your arms.
Why Do It: Like its supinated counterpart, this is also an excellent wrist curl variation to transition into after banging out a few sets of curls. The overhand grip will enable you to strengthen your wrists in the pronated position, which stimulates the small muscles that help you firmly close your hand.
Sets and Reps: The upright posture and vertical arm position should let you lift heavier weights safely. Feel free to complete three sets of eight to 12 reps.
Standing Wrist Curl
What Is It: Assume a standing position while holding either a barbell or a set of dumbbells in front of you with a supinated grip, palms facing forwards. From here, flex the insides of your forearms to curl your wrists upward.
Why Do It: This movement will strengthen your wrists to resist any force that would bend them back too far — think catching a jerk or snatch overhead. It will also prepare your wrists if you use a mixed grip during your deadlifts, as the muscles of your supine forearm must contract tightly to hold onto the bar.
Sets and Reps: Aim for three sets of up to 12 repetitions here. Your biceps may assist with the movement but try to keep the emphasis squarely on your forearms.
Wrist Anatomy & Training Tips
Your wrists may be small joints, but that doesn’t mean you should be careless about training them — quite the contrary, in fact. The muscles in your forearm and hand perform essential functions, so it’s essential that you understand their anatomy in the first place.
What Muscles Make Up Your Wrists?
There are dozens, literally, of small muscles that insert throughout your hand and wrist. Many of them function to stabilize the many small bones in your hand and aren’t tissues you can isolate.
There’s a similar story in your forearms. Over a dozen unique muscles attach across the two large bones in your lower arm, your radius, and ulna. These bones form a dual-column structure and rotate around each other to turn your palm upward or downward.
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The muscles on the insides of your forearms are your flexors, which serve to curl your wrist inward. Conversely, on the outside of your forearms are your extensors, which pull your wrists backward. You need to train both movements to maintain balanced, healthy wrists.
Wrist Training Tips
To get the most out of your wrist curl exercises, you shouldn’t be afraid to let the weight you’re holding move freely in your palm. Many of the muscles in your wrist and forearm also control your fingers.
So, when you’re performing wrist curling motions in particular, allow the handle of the weight to glide down into your fingertips and then curl it back into the base of your palm as you contract.
Regarding how many sets and reps, keep in mind that the musculature of your wrists is small, delicate, and intricate. Your wrists can withstand great force if they’re stable, but they lack the compulsive strength that you’d find in your quads or lats.
All that to say, you should opt for higher repetitions with lighter weights, aiming for a slow and controlled tempo to bolster your time under tension. When it comes to progressive overload, aim for amping up your rep count or reducing rest times rather than working with a heavier weight in most cases.
More Training Content
To be honest, unless you’re engaged in a very specific brand of physical therapy, you probably won’t be going to the gym exclusively to train your wrists. In the overwhelming majority of cases, you should probably train your wrists on the same days that you’re training at least one of the other muscle groups of your arms, like your forearms, biceps and triceps.
If you’re looking for more information about strengthening your wrists and their adjoining muscles, please peruse these other articles from BarBend:
- Strength Athletes: Don’t Overlook Your Wrists
- 12 Wrist Mobility Drills To Do At Work And Before Lifting
- Forge An Iron Grip With the 17 Best Forearm Exercises
References
- Bohannon RW. Grip Strength: An Indispensable Biomarker For Older Adults. Clin Interv Aging. 2019 Oct 1;14:1681-1691.
Featured Image: WESTOCK PRODUCTIONS / Shutterstock
