Lying dumbbell pronation
Exercise details
- Target muscles: Pronators (Pronator Quadratus, Pronator Teres)
- Synergists: Flexor Carpi Radialis, Anconeus
- Mechanics: Isolation
- Force: Push
Starting position
- Lie on your right side on the floor or on a bench with your head resting in your right hand.
- Using a supinated grip (palm facing upward), grasp a unilaterally loaded dumbbell with your left hand, with your pinkie closest to the loaded side of the dumbbell.
- Rest your upper arm on your side and flex your elbow 90 degrees.
Execution
- Keeping your upper arm locked against your side and your elbow flexed at 90 degrees, exhale as you raise the loaded end of the dumbbell by pronating your wrist (rotating it so that your thumb turns downward).
- Hold for a count of two.
- Inhale as you reverse the movement and lower the loaded end of the dumbbell back to the starting position.
- Repeat for the prescribed number of repetitions.
- Repeat the exercise on your left side.
Comments and tips
- Keep your upper arm locked against your side and your elbow flexed at 90 degrees.
- Keep the movement slow and under control.
- Elevating your upper arm by placing a cushion under it will increase the amount of resistance that you experience at the start of the range of motion.
- The lying dumbbell pronation can also be performed using your bottom arm. Please see the second video demonstration.
- Instead of lying down, you can sit on a chair and rest your forearm on a table with your hand and the dumbbell suspended off the end. However, your wrist/elbow should be a little higher than shoulder height. This exercise is called the seated dumbbell pronation.
- If you can’t unilaterally load a dumbbell, you can use a standard dumbbell. However, to increase leverage and thus resistance, you must grasp the handle at one side, with your thumb resting against the inside surface.
- See also the lying dumbbell supination.
- Other exercises you can use to build your forearms include the EZ bar reverse curl, the seated barbell wrist curl and the dumbbell one-arm reverse wrist curl.
Lying dumbbell pronation videos
This is the only video I could find of the lying dumbbell pronation. Notice that the elbow is elevated, which enables more resistance at the start of the range of motion. See Comments and tips.
As demonstrated in the video below, the lying dumbbell pronation can also be performed using the bottom arm.
