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Zottman Curl: Form, Muscles Worked and Programming

November 6, 2026 · GymPilot Team

The zottman curl is a dumbbell curl that works in two directions. You lift with your palms facing up, rotate your wrists at the top, and lower with your palms facing down. The lifting half hits the biceps. The lowering half is the reason to do it, because it asks your forearms and brachioradialis to control the weight on the way down.

If you want the reference card first, the library has the Zottman Curl with photos and the basic steps. This guide goes further: how to do it well, what goes wrong, and where it belongs in a week of training.

Key takeaways

• The zottman curl combines a supinated curl up with a pronated lowering phase, so one rep trains your biceps and your forearms.
• The lowering half is the point of the exercise, so spend 3 to 4 seconds on it every rep.
• Expect to use lighter dumbbells than you would for hammer curls, because both grips are weaker positions for the elbow flexors.
• It works best as a second or third curl after your heavier biceps work, for 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps.
• Keep your elbows pinned and rotate your wrists at the top, not halfway up.

How to do the zottman curl

Pick two dumbbells that feel light. You will understand why in a minute.

1. Stand tall with a dumbbell in each hand, arms at your sides, palms facing forward. Feet about hip width apart, ribs down, shoulders back and relaxed.
2. Curl both dumbbells up with your palms facing the ceiling. Keep your elbows next to your ribs and let only your forearms move.
3. At the top, pause for a beat and rotate your wrists so your knuckles point toward the ceiling and your palms face down. Do this at the top, with the dumbbells near your shoulders, not on the way up.
4. Lower the dumbbells slowly with your palms facing down. Take 3 to 4 seconds to get back to straight arms.
5. At the bottom, rotate your wrists back to palms facing forward and start the next rep.

That rotation at the top is the part people rush. Give it a real pause. If you rotate while the dumbbells are still moving, you end up lowering with a half-turned grip and lose most of the reason to do the exercise.

Your wrists should stay straight through the whole rep. If the dumbbells bend your wrists backward when you flip your palms down, the weight is too heavy for the grip.

You can alternate arms or curl both at once. Curling both together is faster. Alternating gives you a little more focus on each side and makes it easier to spot a weaker arm. Pick one and stay with it for a few weeks so you can see progress.

Zottman curl muscles worked

The zottman curl is a curl, so the main movers are the elbow flexors. What changes is how the load is split between them across the two halves of the rep.

Biceps brachii. This is the muscle most people think of when they say "arms". It flexes the elbow and also turns your palm up. It does most of the work in the lifting half, when your palms face the ceiling.

Brachialis. It sits under the biceps and flexes the elbow no matter which way your palm points. Because it does not care about grip, it works hard in both halves of the zottman curl. If you want thicker upper arms, this is a muscle to train, and it is one reason people use curl variations at all.

Brachioradialis. This is the forearm muscle you can see on the thumb side near your elbow. It works best when your palm faces inward or down, so the pronated lowering phase puts it to work. This is the main reason to pick the zottman curl over a plain curl.

Forearm flexors and extensors. Your wrists have to stay stable while you rotate and lower, so the muscles on both sides of your forearm work to hold position. Your grip works the whole time too.

So the honest summary: the zottman curl is a biceps and brachialis exercise on the way up and a brachioradialis and forearm exercise on the way down. If you want to understand how those pieces fit into a full arm routine, the guide to bicep workouts covers the rest of the picture, and the forearm workouts guide goes deeper on the lower arm.

Zottman curl benefits

Here is what the exercise gives you, without any hype.

Two grips, one set. You train a supinated curl and a pronated lowering phase in a single set. That saves time when you are short on a session.

More forearm work than a standard curl. A regular dumbbell curl keeps your palms up for the full rep. The zottman curl adds a phase where your palms are down, which is where the brachioradialis and forearm muscles get involved.

Slow lowering is built in. Lowering under control is a well-known way to build muscle, and this exercise forces it. You cannot cheat the lowering half, because a pronated grip on a heavy dumbbell gives out fast if you let it drop.

Grip strength carries over. Pulling movements, carries and rows all depend on how well you can hold on. Time spent lowering a dumbbell with your palm down is time spent on the muscles that do that job.

It is cheap and simple. You need a pair of dumbbells. That is all.

Why the weight is lighter than a hammer curl

This is the part that surprises people. You pick up the dumbbells you normally use for hammer curls, try a zottman curl, and the weight feels far too heavy.

It is not your imagination. Each grip has a different strength:

• With a neutral grip, as in a hammer curl, your biceps, brachialis and brachioradialis all pull together, and you can lift the most weight.
• With a supinated grip, as in the lifting half of a zottman curl, the biceps takes more of the job. You are usually a little weaker than with a neutral grip.
• With a pronated grip, as in the lowering half, the biceps is at a disadvantage and the brachioradialis and brachialis carry more of the load. This is the weakest of the three positions.

A zottman curl uses the weakest grip for the lowering phase, and the lowering phase is where you are working hardest. A set ends when you cannot control the dumbbell on the way down, so the load you can use is set by the weak link, not the strong one.

So start with about half of what you use for hammer curls and adjust from there. The weight you pick should let you finish every rep with a smooth, controlled 3 to 4 second lower. If the dumbbells drop or your wrists bend, go lighter. Nobody gets extra credit for a heavy zottman curl with rushed lowering.

Common mistakes and how to fix them

Swinging the weight up. If your torso rocks back to start the curl, the dumbbells are too heavy. Stand with your back lightly against a wall for a few sets to feel what a strict rep looks like, then step away again.

Rotating halfway up. Flipping your palms as the dumbbells rise turns the movement into a mushy half-curl in two grips. Lift all the way with palms up, pause, then rotate.

Rushing the lowering. The lowering half is the point. If it takes one second, you have done a normal curl with a flip. Count to three or four on the way down.

Letting the elbows drift forward. When the elbows swing forward, your shoulders take over. Keep your upper arms against your sides.

Bending the wrists. A pronated grip makes it easy to let the wrists curl back, which turns the movement into a wrist extension and tires your forearm in the wrong way. Keep your knuckles in line with your forearm.

Not fully extending at the bottom. Stopping short makes the lowering half shorter, and the lowering half is where most of the value is. Lower until your arms are nearly straight.

Gripping too hard. A tight death grip makes the forearm cramp before the elbow flexors get a proper set. Hold the dumbbell firmly, but do not strangle it.

How to program the zottman curl

The zottman curl is a finisher or a second curl. It is not the first thing to do on an arm day, because your biceps will be fresher for heavier work early in the session.

Sets, reps and rest. Start with 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps, with 60 to 90 seconds rest. Use a lowering speed of 3 to 4 seconds.

Progression. Pick a weight you can handle for 8 reps with a clean lowering phase. Each week, try to add a rep to each set. When you reach 12 reps on every set with good form, increase the dumbbells by the smallest step you have and drop back to 8 reps. Repeat.

Where it fits. You can slot it into most weekly splits:

• Pull day or back day. After your rows and pulldowns, do a heavier curl first, such as the Dumbbell Bicep Curl or Incline Dumbbell Curl, then finish with zottman curls. The back and bicep workout guide shows a full session built that way.
• Arm day. Start with a heavy Preacher Curl or other biceps movement, then add zottman curls as the second exercise for 2 to 3 sets.
• Forearm emphasis. Pair it with Reverse Barbell Curl and wrist work for a lower-arm session. You will not need much volume, because both movements hit the brachioradialis.

How often. Once or twice a week is plenty. Because it taxes your grip and forearms, avoid stacking it right before your heaviest deadlift or row session.

A sample arm finisher.

Notice that the zottman curl sits in the middle. It is demanding enough that you do not want it last when you are exhausted and sloppy, and it is not strong enough to lead a session.

Variations worth knowing

Zottman Preacher Curl. The Zottman Preacher Curl puts the same movement on a preacher bench. The pad stops you from swinging, so it is a stricter version. The trade-off is that the bottom of the rep gets harder on your elbows, so go lighter than you would standing and keep the lowering slow.

Seated or incline. Sitting on an incline bench stretches the biceps at the bottom and removes any urge to swing. Use lighter dumbbells and keep your wrists straight.

Single arm. Doing one arm at a time lets you look at your wrist position in a mirror and fix mistakes. It also helps if one side is clearly weaker.

Mixing grips in a session. If you like the idea of the zottman curl but want to train the grips separately, you can use Alternate Hammer Curl for the neutral grip and a standard curl for the supinated grip. The zottman curl is the version that puts them in the same set.

Putting it in your week

The zottman curl is easy to love and easy to forget. If you already save workouts you like to use later, add this exercise to one of them and schedule it, rather than trusting yourself to remember on the day. Add it to a saved arm or pull session in the GymPilot editor with the sets, reps and rest from this guide, and then save your arm day in GymPilot and schedule the first session so it lands on your calendar.

Start light. Do the first week with weights that feel almost too easy, learn the pause at the top, and make every lowering phase slow. By week two you will know your starting weight, and by week four you should be adding reps.

Fitness content on this page is general information, not medical advice: consult a professional if you have a condition or injury.