Zottman Curls Take Your Arm Training Back To Old School

Got some curl problems? After numberless years of countless reps of regular barbell curls, you want to try something new to beef up your arms. We’ve got your back if you are looking to spice up your limb life, try Zottman curl to maximize each lift.

How To:

1. Stand up with your torso straight and a dumbbell in each hand being held at arm’s length. The elbows should be close to the torso.
2. Make sure the palms of the hands are facing each other. This will be your starting position.
3. While holding the upper arm stationary, curl the weights while contracting the biceps as you breathe out. Only the forearms should move. Your wrist should rotate so that you have a supinated (palms up) grip. Continue the movement until your biceps are fully contracted and the dumbbells are at shoulder level.
4. Hold the contracted position for a second as you squeeze the biceps.
5. Now during the contracted position, rotate your wrist until you now have a pronated (palms facing down) grip with the thumb at a higher position than the pinky.
6. Slowly begin to bring the dumbbells back down using the pronated grip.
7. As the dumbbells close your thighs, start rotating the wrist so that you go back to a neutral (palms facing your body) grip.
8. Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.

Some Tips:

1. If you have weak wrists or elbows, start with lighter dumbbells and build your strength by doing both barbell curls and reverse barbell curls until you can perform Zottmans successfully.
2. If you can’t perform all of your reps using both arms simultaneously, finish your set by alternating arms on each rep.
3. Focus on keeping your elbows in tight to avoid any deviations in form.
4. You can mix this move into a tri-set. Try with the standing barbell curl, immediately move to the Zottman curl and finish with the reverse curl.
5. Do the Zottman curl at the end of your biceps workout Perform 3 – 4 sets of 8 – 12 reps with 1 – 2 minutes of rest between sets.

Watch the following video of Rich Piana:

In the above video, Rich Piana shows us an old school exercise called Zottman curls.

This exercise will definitely blast up your arms and give you the pump of a lifetime!