Gyms are full of gleaming machines and AI-powered apps help you pick your ideal workout, but in a way, we haven’t gotten very far in training since the formative period of ’19.thecentury. One area in particular that has remained the same: forearm training.
Old-time strongman George Zottman was on to something in the late 1800s when he came up with his eponymous curl variant, one that targets the biceps on the concentric part of the lift, then reverses course and hits the forearms. during the eccentric phase.
Yet surprisingly in 2022, the forearms are still one of the least worked muscle groups. It’s about time to change that, starting with this last form check as men’s health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, CSCS and fitness editor Brett Williams, NASM-CPT re-introduce ourselves to this centuries-old forearm flexion movement.
How to do the Zottman curl
The Zottman curl allows you to target the forearms, but first we need to reacquaint ourselves with normal bicep curl form. Squeeze your glutes as you use your abs to lower and close your ribcage before finally squeezing your shoulder blades together. You also make this a true bicep isolation exercise: palms in neutral position, squeeze biceps to raise dumbbells, think rotate palms, rotate little fingers on top to get a good squeeze.
men’s health
men’s health
Now comes the twist to the exercise that makes it an effective forearm move. Instead of lowering the dumbbell like he normally would in a curl, he’ll rotate his wrists to rotate the dumbbells forward, making sure to keep his elbows in position on either side of his torso. Since his forearms aren’t normally that strong, he tries to lower the dumbbells for at least a count of two, really emphasizing the eccentric part of the lift. Don’t lower the weight quickly, lower it with good control after each repetition. That’s what makes the Zottman curl different from all the others.
“If people are going to curl up, they’re going to twist quickly, and they’re going to go down too quickly, then you lose that eccentric effect, you don’t take full advantage of the curl,” says Samuel.
Since this is a forearm-focused movement, don’t attempt to lift heavy objects with this accessory movement—perhaps about 10 to 15 pounds less than you’d normally do in a curl—for about eight to 10 reps.
“You don’t want to have to rush through a bunch of reps,” says Samuel. “I prefer that you do eight to 10 good reps and really appreciate that eccentric field in your forearms and feel it in your biceps.”
Want to master even more moves? Verify our entire Form Check series.
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