Barbell Curl

Muscles worked

Effectiveness

★★★★☆ 4/5

Longitudinal trials of curl training found significant elbow-flexor thickness gains over 8 to 10 weeks, including with barbell-based curl variants. Evidence is specific to curl movements generally rather than the standing barbell curl alone.

How to perform

Standing upright, the lifter curls a barbell from hip height toward the shoulders by flexing the elbows while the upper arms stay at the sides. The biceps brachii is the primary mover, with the brachialis and brachioradialis assisting elbow flexion. It is a single-joint isolation movement for the elbow flexors.

References

1. Gentil et al., Asian J Sports Med (2015) - biceps curls and elbow-flexor thickness over 10 weeks
2. Nunes et al., Int J Environ Res Public Health (2020) - barbell vs cable preacher curl training and biceps thickness