How to Do Strict Curls for Smarter Biceps Training

WE LOVE BICEPS curls. The weight room staple one of the simplest, most reliable exercises any given gym-goer has in their tool kit for building arm muscle (not to mention one of the quickest paths to a pump). But as much as we love the curl, there’s denying it’s also one of the most abused moves when it comes to form. Guys will swing, hike, and row the weights up to eke out reps—and that won’t result in the gains they want. To keep your form (and results) on point, add the strict curl to your routine.

The strict curl does what the name implies: Puts your body into a position from which you’ll be forced to move using only strict form. That might mean that you won’t be able to work with the same heavy weights you do when you’re using not-so-buttoned-up form—but the reinforcement will yield results.

There’s more to the strict curl that just backing up against a wall and raising weights up—there’s a whole second variation using a cable machine. Take these cues from Men’s Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S. and senior editor Brett Williams, NASM to learn how to strict curl for next-level gains.

How to Do the Strict Curl

There are two variations of the strict curl you can use to level-up your form.

The Wall Strict Curl

How to Do It:

• Grab a pair of dumbbells and stand against a wall, with your feet shoulder-width apart. Lean into the wall, maintaining three points of contact: squeezing the shoulder blades, driving the shoulders into the wall, and putting your butt on the wall.
• Squeeze your abs and glutes to create full-body tension. The back of your arms should be pressed against the wall.
• Moving only at the elbows, curl the weight up as high as you can. Pause and squeeze your biceps at the top.
• Lower the weight back down with control.

Cable Strict Curl

How to Do It:

• Sit down on the floor in front of a cable machine. Getting into the start of a situp position. Your feet should be flat on the floor, with your knees bent. Hold the machine’s handle in both hands so that there is some tension in the cable. You elbows won’t be in contact with the floor, but that’s okay.
• Moving only at the elbows, curl the weight up. Pause at the top and squeeze, actively squeezing the biceps.
• Lower the cable back down under control.

Benefits of Strict Curls

The strict curl reinforces good curl form, which can be important for beginners when they’re first learning and more experienced trainees who’ve lost focus. Far too often, exercisers get sloppy, and either swing or row the weights up to count heavier reps than they can handle with proper, fundamental form. The biceps curl should be all about elbow flexion, and that means moving only at the elbow joint. When you introduce the body positions of the strict curl, you’ll get closer to that ideal. And with better form comes better size and strength gains.

Which Muscles Strict Curls Work

Like other curls, you’ll be training your biceps. Your forearms will also be involved, especially if you focus on really squeezing the handles of the weights. The brachialis, the muscle that lies beneath the biceps that helps to give the arm muscles a “3D look,” are hit as well.

When you really dial-in your form, there are two muscle groups that you’ll contract isometrically. These are you abs and your rhomboids. Your abs will help you prevent arching your back and using your hips, while your rhomboids will keep your posture on point.

Common Curl Mistakes

You need the strict curl to address the major mistakes lots of guys use when they train the biceps from standard stances. The two most common of these are hinging at the hips, which often leads to using the lower body to produce power, and curling with the elbows behind the torso, which can turn the movement into a row.

How to Add the Strict Curl to Your Workouts

Add the strict curl to your arm day workouts when you need to reinforce good form. Start with 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps and emphasize the squeeze at the top of each rep.

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