Isolation · Intermediate
Zottman Curl
Isolation isolation exercise using dumbbell.
- Movement pattern
- Isolation
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Equipment
- Dumbbell
- Mechanics
- Isolation
- Sides
- Bilateral
- Main plane
- Sagittal
How to do the Zottman Curl
Setup
Stand holding dumbbells at your sides with a supinated (palms-up) grip.
Curl the dumbbells up with a supinated grip, same as a standard dumbbell curl.
At the top, rotate your wrists so your palms face down (pronated grip).
Lower the dumbbells back down slowly with the pronated grip -- this is a deliberately slow eccentric that trains the wrist extensors and forearms, not just the biceps.
Common mistakes
Lowering the pronated-grip portion quickly instead of slowly and under control -- the slow eccentric on the way down is the entire point of this exercise.
Skipping the wrist rotation and just doing a standard curl, which misses the real forearm-training benefit this variation is built around.
Muscles worked
Primary
Secondary
How the knowledge graph models this movement
Elbow flexion
Wrist extension