Seated Dumbbell Zottman Curl

How to Perform the Seated Dumbbell Zottman Curl

Sit on an upright bench with your back against the pad and feet flat on the floor.
Hold a dumbbell in each hand at arm's length with palms facing forward (supinated grip).
Curl the dumbbells upward by flexing at the elbows, keeping your upper arms stationary.
At the top of the curl, rotate your wrists 180 degrees so your palms face downward (pronated grip).
Slowly lower the dumbbells in this pronated position, resisting the weight on the way down to engage the brachioradialis.
At the bottom, rotate your wrists back to the supinated position (palms up) to prepare for the next rep.
Repeat for the desired number of repetitions, emphasizing the slow eccentric (lowering) phase.

Rushing the wrist rotation at the top

Pause at the top and deliberately rotate your wrists before beginning the lowering phase.

Dropping the weight quickly during the pronated lowering phase

The eccentric phase is the most important part of this exercise; lower the weight slowly for 3-4 seconds.

Using too heavy a weight

The pronated lowering phase is weaker than the supinated curl, so choose a weight appropriate for the reverse curl portion.

✓Trains both the biceps and forearm muscles in a single exercise.
✓The eccentric overload in the pronated position builds exceptional forearm strength.
✓Unique movement that provides a novel stimulus for arm growth when standard curls plateau.

●Start with a lighter weight than your normal curl weight, as the reverse portion is the limiting factor.
●Focus on squeezing the biceps at the top before rotating to the pronated grip.
●The seated position is key to preventing body swing on this challenging exercise.

Strength

4-5 sets of 3-5 reps at 80-90% 1RM

Hypertrophy

3-4 sets of 8-12 reps at 65-75% 1RM

Endurance

2-3 sets of 15-20 reps at 50-60% 1RM

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