The spider curl intrigues people as much as it hurts them. This isolation exercise, also called the prone incline curl, has you bending your arms while lying chest-down on an incline bench. It forgives no swinging at all. That is exactly what makes it such a good tool for building solid arms.
The spider curl leaves you nowhere to hide
The spider curl is done with your chest against an incline bench and your arms hanging free. That position kills any drive from the hips. The result: your body stays locked in place and the load falls entirely on the elbow flexors. Plenty of lifters find out their real strength level right there.
Setting the bench and placing the bar
Bench angle: 45 to 60 degrees
A bench set between 45 and 60 degrees suits most builds. The steeper the angle, the more your arms hang straight down. Your elbows should stay under your shoulders, never in front of them. Keep your back flat and your neck relaxed.
EZ bar, dumbbells or cable
The EZ bar is still the most comfortable option: its bends spare your wrists. Dumbbells let you work one arm at a time and fix side-to-side imbalances. The low cable, for its part, keeps tension constant from the first inch to the last. None of them really replaces the others: try each version for a few weeks.
Which muscles work during the curl?
The main target is the biceps brachii, especially its short head. The brachialis, tucked underneath the biceps, does plenty of the work too and thickens the arm as it grows. The brachioradialis muscle chips in more quietly, at the end of the range.
Spider curl or preacher curl?
The preacher curl puts your arms out in front of you on the sloped pad, supported along their whole length. Tension peaks at the bottom there. With the spider curl it is the opposite: the contraction gets brutal at the top. No, the two exercises do not overlap. Alternate them from one training cycle to the next.
Common mistakes to fix
Lifting your chest off the pad to help the weight up.- Cutting the lowering short: your arms should come back straight on every rep.
- Going too heavy, which makes your shoulders creep up.
Tensing your forearms by squeezing the bar too hard.
Common questions
How many sets and reps?
Three to four sets of 10 to 15 reps are enough. Put this movement at the end of the session, after pull-ups or rows.
Is the spider curl suitable for beginners?
Yes, as long as you stay light. Too much weight stops the lift dead. A slow tempo does far more for you than an extra kilo.
Do you need someone to guide you?
An outside eye spots sloppy positioning fast. On Koatcher, a personal trainer adapts the exercise to your build.