EZ Barbell Curl
The EZ barbell curl is a standing biceps curl with the cambered EZ bar: you bend your elbows and lift the bar from your thighs to your shoulders. It trains the biceps and the muscles underneath that bend the elbow, and the angled grip is easier on the wrists for many lifters than a straight bar.
How to do the EZ barbell curl
Stand tall with your feet about hip width apart and hold the EZ bar in front of your thighs, palms forward, hands on the outer or inner bends.
Brace your trunk, pull your shoulders back a little and let your elbows rest against your sides.
Bend your elbows and curl the bar toward your shoulders while your upper arms stay where they are.
Squeeze at the top, when your forearms are close to upright, without letting your elbows travel forward.
Lower the bar under control until your elbows are straight again, then start the next rep from a still position.
Grip and stance for the EZ bar curl
Stand with your feet about hip width apart and soft knees. Pick up the bar with your palms facing forward and your hands on the angled parts: the outer bends put your hands at about shoulder width, the inner bends a little closer. The camber turns your hands slightly inward compared with a straight bar, a position many lifters find kinder to their wrists. Hold the bar firmly but keep your wrists straight, knuckles in line with your forearms.
Bracing and breathing
Brace your trunk before the first rep, as if someone were about to push you, and keep your glutes tight so your hips cannot help. Breathe out as the bar rises and in as you lower it. If you have to lean back to finish a rep, the set is over or the weight is too heavy.
Elbow position and bar path
Your elbows are the hinge of the curl and should stay by your sides. Let the bar travel in a smooth arc close to your body, from your thighs to just below your chin. Keep them there at the top too: end the curl before your elbows drift forward and your front delts start lifting the bar. A slight forward lean of the torso at the start is fine as long as it does not change during the set.
Tempo and range of motion
Curl the bar up with intent, squeeze briefly at the top and lower it at least as slowly as you lifted it. Straighten your elbows completely at the bottom, so the biceps work through their whole length. Use the same range on every rep: when your reps look the same, the numbers in your log tell you honestly when to add weight.
Muscles worked by the EZ barbell curl
- Primary
- Biceps
- Secondary
- Forearms
The biceps do most of the work: they bend the elbow and turn the palm up. Under them, the brachialis bends the elbow in every grip, and the brachioradialis on the thumb side of the forearm helps. In an EMG study, the EZ bar curl produced more biceps and brachioradialis activity than the dumbbell curl, while the straight bar and the EZ bar differed only slightly. Your forearm and grip muscles hold the bar throughout.
Common EZ bar curl mistakes
Swinging the bar up
A hip kick or a lean back lets momentum lift the bar past the hardest part of the curl. Stand tall, brace and pick a weight you can curl with a still torso.
Letting the elbows drift forward
When the elbows move forward at the top, the front delts join in and the biceps get a break. Keep your upper arms by your sides from the first rep to the last.
Cutting the bottom short
Turning around with bent elbows skips the stretched part of the curl. Straighten your arms on every rep without bouncing the bar off your thighs.
Dropping the bar on the way down
The lowering half trains the biceps too. Let the bar come down under control instead of letting it fall.
Bending the wrists
Curling the wrists in or letting them bend back hands part of the work to the forearms. Keep your knuckles in line with your forearms.
EZ barbell curl tips from the Muscla training logic
- Do curls after your rows and pulldowns. Muscla puts isolation exercises after the compound lifts and plans no warm-up sets for them.
- End each set with about one rep in reserve, two if you are new to training. Light and heavy loads build similar muscle when sets end at or very near failure, so higher reps work well here.
- Rest 75 seconds between sets when you train for muscle, 90 seconds for strength and 60 seconds for other goals.
- Earn the next weight with reps: when every set reaches the top of your range, go up one step and restart at the bottom; otherwise add one rep. On an EZ bar that step is 2.5 kg, because the smallest jump your plates allow beats 2.5% of a light curl.
- After three sessions without progress, Muscla lowers the weight by 10% and builds back up. After every third 4-week block comes a deload week at 90% of the weight with one set fewer.
EZ barbell curl sets and reps by goal
| Goal | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | 8–12 | 90 s |
| Muscle | 10–15 → 12–20 | 75 s |
| Lose fat | 10–15 | 60 s |
| Fit | 10–15 | 60 s |
| Comeback | 10–15 | 60 s |
An arrow marks the range for the next 4-week block.
The EZ barbell curl counts as isolation in the Muscla training logic: higher rep ranges and shorter rests than rows or presses. For muscle, start at 10–15 reps and move to 12–20 in the next 4-week block. Muscla does not ask “How heavy was that?” after isolation exercises; your reps tell it enough.
EZ barbell curl alternatives
- Dumbbell biceps curl
- Cable curl
- Dumbbell incline biceps curl
- Dumbbell Hammer Curl
- Lever preacher curl
- Barbell curl
- Band alternating biceps curl
- Biceps leg concentration curl
- Bodyweight side lying biceps curl
- Pull-Up
EZ bar curl questions
Is the EZ bar curl better than a straight bar curl?
For the muscles, they are close: in an EMG study the two bars produced nearly the same biceps and forearm activity. Choose the bar your wrists like; the angled grip of the EZ bar turns the hands slightly inward, which many lifters find more comfortable.
EZ bar curl or dumbbell curl?
Both build the biceps. In the same study, the EZ bar curl produced more biceps and brachioradialis activity than the dumbbell curl, while dumbbells let each arm work on its own.
Should I grip the inner or outer bend of the EZ bar?
Both work. Most lifters use the outer bends at about shoulder width; a closer grip is fine as long as your wrists stay straight and your elbows stay by your sides.
How heavy should an EZ bar curl be?
Light enough to reach the top of your rep range with a still torso. Muscla's first suggestion for a man new to training is about 0.2 times body weight, rounded down to your plates and never below the empty 10 kg EZ bar; for women it is about 30% lower.
How many sets of curls per week?
Muscla aims for 8–12 hard sets a week for the biceps if you are new or returning, 10–16 if you train regularly and 12–20 if you are experienced; with the goals fat loss, fitness or comeback it aims for 8–10, 10–13 and 12–16. Each set of rows also counts as half a biceps set. Up to a point, more weekly sets build more muscle.
Train it with Muscla
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Sources
- Marcolin G, Panizzolo FA, Petrone N, et al. Differences in electromyographic activity of biceps brachii and brachioradialis while performing three variants of curl. PeerJ. 2018;6:e5165. PubMed
- Schoenfeld BJ, Grgic J, Ogborn D, Krieger JW. Strength and hypertrophy adaptations between low- vs. high-load resistance training: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Strength Cond Res. 2017;31(12):3508-3523. PubMed
- Refalo MC, Helms ER, Trexler ET, et al. Influence of resistance training proximity-to-failure on skeletal muscle hypertrophy: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Sports Med. 2023;53(3):649-665. PubMed
- Schoenfeld BJ, Ogborn D, Krieger JW. Dose-response relationship between weekly resistance training volume and increases in muscle mass: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Sports Sci. 2017;35(11):1073-1082. PubMed