Holding a dumbbell in one hand, sit on the preacher bench with the back of your upper arm flat on the arm rest and your elbow flexed.
Rotate your wrist so that your palm faces away from you (pronation).
Execution
Keeping your wrist pronated, inhale as you lower the dumbbell until your elbow is almost fully extended.
Exhale as you bring the dumbbell back up to the starting position by flexing your elbow.
Hold for a count of two and squeeze your biceps.
Repeat steps 1 to 3 for the prescribed number of repetitions.
Repeat the exercise with your opposite arm.
Comments and tips
To reduce the risk of injuring your elbow, do not lock it out when lowering the dumbbell.
If you do not have access to a preacher bench, you may use an inclined bench by standing behind it and resting the back of your upper arm on the top of the bench. The top of the bench should be under your armpit.
Depending on your grip type and the position of your elbow, the target muscle in elbow-flexion exercises can be either your biceps brachii, brachialis, or brachioradialis. In this exercise, a pronated grip is used, which puts the biceps brachii at a mechanical disadvantage and makes the brachioradialis the target.
You may perform this exercise one arm at a time, as described, or with both arms simultaneously, as in the dumbbell reverse preacher curl.
