Bench Barbell Wrist Curl
Also known as: barbell bench wrist curl
In SetGrip: Barbell Wrist Curl (Bench)
Kneeling behind a flat bench with your forearms flat on the pad removes every source of slack the thigh-supported version allows: no knee bounce, no forearm slide, no elbow drift. Only your wrists move, which is exactly why the same barbell feels heavier here. Choose it when you want the strictest palms-up curl available.
How to do the Bench Barbell Wrist Curl
- Sit on a bench with your feet flat on the ground and hold a barbell with an underhand grip, palms facing up.
- Rest your forearms on the bench, allowing your wrists to hang off the edge.
- Keeping your forearms stationary, exhale and curl your wrists upwards as far as possible.
- Hold the contracted position for a brief pause, then inhale and slowly lower the barbell back to the starting position.
- Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
Tip: Use higher reps, 15 to 25, and lower the weight through a full three-second descent.
Muscles worked
Common mistakes
- Using the whole arm — the forearms should rest on a bench or your thighs with only the hands moving; if the elbows lift, you are cheating.
- Gripping hard on the descent — let the bar roll down to the fingertips at the bottom of a wrist curl for the full range before curling back up.
- Reverse curls too heavy — the wrist extensors are small, so use about half of what you use for regular wrist curls.
- Fast, short reps — go slowly through the full range and feel the stretch at the bottom, since jerky reps with a heavy weight are how wrists get irritated.
Where it fits in a workout
Wrist curls go last in a session after all the pulling and gripping work is done. Superset regular and reverse wrist curls back to back.
How many sets, how heavy and how hard: see what the ACSM position stands support.
Variations and alternatives
Similar exercises
Easier and harder
When to talk to someone
- Chest discomfort, feeling faint or lightheaded, or trouble breathing during or after exercise can be signs of a heart attack. In the US, call 911 right away; elsewhere, call your local emergency number.
- Heart, metabolic or kidney disease, or symptoms like these when you are active: talk to your doctor before you start or step up training.
- Pregnant: ask your obstetric care provider which exercise suits you.
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More exercises
Sources
- ACSM position stand on exercise quantity and quality (Garber et al., 2011)
- ACSM preparticipation health screening (Riebe et al., 2015)
- ACOG Committee Opinion No. 804 on exercise in pregnancy (2020)
- CDC: About Heart Attack Symptoms, Risk, and Recovery (2024)
Sources checked on October 17, 2026. Full citations are in the exercise library.
Animation and exercise data: ExerciseDB, licensed to SetGrip. General information, not medical or coaching advice.