Cable Curl

How to do the Cable Curl

1. 1Attach a straight bar to a low pulley and stand facing it, holding the bar with an underhand grip.
2. 2Step back slightly so the cable is tight at the bottom, with your elbows at your sides.
3. 3Curl the bar up toward your shoulders, moving only your forearms.
4. 4Lower it slowly until your arms are almost straight.

Muscles worked

Common mistakes

• Elbows drifting forward — keep them by your ribs so the biceps finish the curl, not the shoulders.
• Leaning back — stay tall; if you have to lean to finish, lower the weight.
• Letting the stack drop — control the lowering; the cable keeps pulling all the way down.

Where it fits in a workout

Use it at the end of a pull or arm day; the pin stack makes it quick to drop the weight for a last set.

How many sets, how heavy and how hard: see what the ACSM position stands support.

Logging the Cable Curl in SetGrip

SetGrip logs the Cable Curl as weight and reps. If you drop the weight partway through a set, mark that set as a Drop Set; your workout history shows it with a D badge.

Variations and alternatives

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.

More exercises

• All arms exercises
• All biceps exercises
• All cable exercises
• Cable biceps exercises
• Alternating Banded Biceps Curl
• Seated Banded Biceps Curl
• Banded Concentration Curl
• Single Arm Banded High Curl
• Seated Close Grip Barbell Concentration Curl
• Standing Barbell Concentration Curl

Sources

1. ACSM position stand on exercise quantity and quality (Garber et al., 2011)
2. ACSM preparticipation health screening (Riebe et al., 2015)
3. ACOG Committee Opinion No. 804 on exercise in pregnancy (2020)
4. CDC: About Heart Attack Symptoms, Risk, and Recovery (2024)

Sources checked on October 17, 2026. Full citations are in the exercise library.