How to Do the Dumbbell Incline Curl to Build Big Arms Without Risking Your Shoulders

WHEN YOU WANT to push your arm workouts beyond the basics, you should be looking to add exercises that will help to challenge yourself in different ways. Take the incline biceps curl. Done correctly, the move can add another layer of muscle peak-building awesomeness to your arms workout. But if you do the exercise improperly, your shoulders may never forgive you.

This underrated curl will challenge your biceps in a whole new way by putting them in a unique stretched position, which will recruit more muscle fibers as you get a greater squeeze at the top of every rep, as Men’s Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S., and senior editor Brett Williams, NASM can attest.

Since you’re working in a different position than other lifts, it’s imperative that you get the technique right, the sooner the better. “Understanding how to do these is key, because if you don’t, you’re gonna damage your shoulders,” Samuel says. “We’re going to show you how to get it just right and really get that good bicep squeeze from it right now.”

How to Do Dumbbell Incline Curls the Right Way

• Set an incline bench to around 60 degree angle, so that when you sit in the bench your can hold the weight with your shoulders and arms perpendicular to the ground.
• Sit on the bench holding a pair of dumbbells, with your shoulders tight and your head up (not resting on the bench pad). Allow your arms to hang at that perpendicular angle, keeping your elbows back and in line with your shoulders, holding the dumbbells with your wrists facing out.
• Curl the weight up. Move under control, then pause and squeeze your biceps at the top. Don’t allow your elbows to shift forward until the very end of the motion.
• Lower the weight back down slowly to accentuate the eccentric.

Use these more detailed cues from Samuel to perfect your form.

Get Your Bench Angle Right

Setting up this curl variation starts by getting your elbows behind your torso. This will allow for more of a biceps stretch. What you don’t want, however, is wild, out-of-control elbow placement behind your torso, which will take your shoulder out of its natural position, leading to a possible injury.

Fixing this is as easy as setting the inline on your bench to around 60 degrees—anything lower can place undue stress on your shoulders while adding very little additional benefit to your biceps. You’ll quickly notice at this position how the weight hangs naturally with just enough stretch needed.

“If you do feel it in your shoulders, it’s more than likely you still have the bench too far back and your shoulders are under too much stress,” Samuel says.

Keep Your Head Up

Once you’re in the proper position, you still need to think of a few details before you begin to curl, and one of those is head positioning. You can lay your head back against the bench, but Samuel suggests keeping your head up, which may be a bit more comfortable, especially for your thoracic spine.

From there, keep the shoulder blades nice and tight, squeezing through them to create a little bit more space for your rotator cuff tendons to work. This will help keep your elbows from driving too far forward.

Elbows Behind Torso, Then Curl

The final form check key is making sure you maintain a perpendicular line from shoulder to elbow for the entire curl. Remember to keep your elbows behind your torso. Once you’re set, the incline curl is simple: Keep it nice and controlled—no need to “explode” during the movement. “That way you can feel your biceps working,” Samuel says. “When you get to the top, try to squeeze the heck out of your biceps on every single rep, because that’s what we’re working and you’re gonna get more out of it.”

Three sets of 10 to 12 reps works best for these. One final point to remember: As you’re curling up and fatigue sets in, fight off the urge to bring your elbows forward. This will more than likely happen toward the end of the set. Staying back on that curl for as long as possible is what’s going to allow you to get the most out of it for your biceps.

How to Add the Incline Curl to Your Workouts

The incline curl shouldn’t be the main event for your workouts. It shouldn’t even be the primary movements when you’re training arms. Instead, slot in your incline curl reps as a compliment to other curls. This should be the final move of arm day, with 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps.

Want to master even more moves? Check out our entire Form Check series.