Incline Hammer Curl
The incline hammer curl is a neutral-grip (thumbs-up) dumbbell curl done lying back on an incline bench, so your arms hang behind your body and the elbow flexors work from a stretched position. It trains the brachialis and brachioradialis, with the biceps assisting, and adds a loaded stretch that a standing hammer curl lacks.
Also called: Incline Dumbbell Hammer Curl, Incline Bench Neutral-Grip Curl, Seated Incline Hammer Curl · Equipment: dumbbell · Pattern: pull
Step by step
- Set an adjustable bench to an incline of about 45–60°. Sit back with your head, upper back and hips on the pad and your feet flat on the floor.
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand with your palms facing your thighs and thumbs pointing forward. Let your arms hang straight down from the shoulders, upper arms vertical and just behind your torso.
- Keep your wrists straight, in line with your forearms, and your shoulders back against the pad.
- Curl both dumbbells up by bending only at the elbows, keeping your palms facing each other the whole way. Your elbows keep pointing at the floor.
- Curl until your forearms are close to vertical, without letting your elbows or shoulders move forward.
- Bring the dumbbells down under control over about two seconds until your elbows are straight but not locked back.
- Start each rep from a still, straight-arm position with no swing. After the last rep, let the dumbbells hang, then sit up and set them down beside the bench.
- Thumbs up, palms facing each other all the way
- Arms hang straight down behind you, elbows pointing at the floor
- Bend only at the elbows
- Two seconds down to straight arms
- Wrists straight, in line with your forearms
- Head and shoulders stay on the pad
In VALDA, these cues are one tap away on the exercise while you train.
What it trains
| Muscle | Role | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Brachialis | Prime mover | C |
| Brachioradialis | Prime mover | C |
| Biceps brachii: long head | Secondary | C |
| Biceps brachii: short head | Secondary | C |
| Forearm flexors | Stabiliser | D |
Evidence grades: A = strong research base · B = good · C = limited · D = coaching consensus.
What goes wrong, and the fix
Elbows travelling forward as you curl
Fix: Keep the upper arms hanging vertical, elbows pointing at the floor, all rep.
Dropping into the bottom position
Fix: Take about two seconds on the way down and pause briefly with straight arms.
Cutting the bottom short of straight arms
Fix: Bring the dumbbells down until the elbows are straight, then start the next rep.
Palms turning up during the curl
Fix: Keep the thumbs pointing forward and the palms facing each other from bottom to top.
Wrists bending or curling
Fix: Hold the wrists straight, in line with the forearms, through the whole rep.
Head and shoulders lifting off the pad
Fix: Keep your head, shoulders and hips on the pad from the first rep to the last.
What the research says
Muscle growth · first choiceRehab & prehabGeneral fitnessEndurance
- Long muscle lengths — Trials on the elbow flexors find that training at longer muscle lengths produced greater muscle thickness and strength gains than training at shorter lengths. Those trials used palms-up curls; no study has tested the neutral-grip incline curl directly.
- Load and effort — Research finds muscle growth is similar across a wide range of loads when sets finish close to failure, and true failure adds only a small extra return. Many lifters finish most sets one to three reps short of failure.
- Volume — Research links more weekly sets for a muscle to more growth, with diminishing returns, and multiple sets out-performed single sets in trials that included the elbow flexors.
- Tempo — Studies show similar growth across rep durations of roughly 0.5–8 seconds when sets are hard. The two-second descent here is a coaching convention for control at the stretched bottom, not a research finding.
- Grip — Muscle-activity research finds a neutral grip draws less biceps activity than a palms-up grip. Many lifters use hammer and palms-up curls in the same week to cover both; there is no direct research on that combination.
Swap it mid-workout
With VALDA Pro, FLEX offers alternatives like these when you swap an exercise mid-workout.
Log the incline hammer curl in VALDA, with these cues one tap away while you train and your history for it in one place.
General information about exercise technique, not medical advice. If you have an injury or a health condition, your healthcare provider is the right person to ask.