The bicep curl is a very simple and straightforward exercise that can be done with either dumbbells or a barbell. However, it’s the dumbbell curl that seems to have people messing up more often than not. I want to make sure that you avoid a simple, but very common mistake that I constantly see people making when curling.

You might think that it’s impossible to screw up a biceps curl since you are simply bending your elbow to move the dumbbell up and down. Now, we know the major function of the biceps is to flex the elbow joint, but if you ignore one other significant function of the biceps, you are going to not only screw the exercise up, but you will be missing out on the best benefits of the curl.

The missing function of the biceps is supination. That is, the rotation of the forearm to turn the hands so the palms face up. Obviously the the forearm is supinated when curling, but actively supinating further while flexing the elbow is where the gains can be unlocked.

The act of turning the hands outwards while curling activates further supination of the forearm. This will engage the biceps even more when you curl allowing for greater activation of the muscles.

Simply put, curling without actively supinating means you are leaving gains on the table. To get bigger biceps and big arms overall, you need to make sure that curl properly. Avoiding this mistake means you will avoid doing this exercise with minimal gains.

Remember, it’s not just what exercises you do, but how you do the exercises that matters the most. If you make mistakes like this one on the curl, you are not getting the full potential available from each exercise. The details matter when you are trying to grow as much muscle as possible.

For more ways to make sure that you are getting every exercise right with proper form to build the most muscle while staying free of injury, be sure to stay tuned to this channel and remember to subscribe so that you never miss another video from a physical therapist with a pro sports background as a PT and strength coach.

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Jeff Cavaliere MSPT, CSCS served as both the head physical therapist and assistant strength coach for the New York Mets. Jeff earned his Masters of Physical Therapy and Bachelor’s of Physioneurobiology from the College of Health Sciences University of Connecticut Storrs. He is a certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).