Lying dumbbell supination
Exercise details
- Target muscle: Supinator
- Synergists: Biceps Brachii
- Mechanics: Isolation
- Force: Pull
Starting position
- Lie on your right side on a bench or on the floor.
- Using a pronated grip (your palm facing downward), grasp with your left hand a dumbbell that’s loaded unilaterally (loaded only on one side). Your thumb should be closest to the loaded side of the dumbbell.
- Flex your elbow 90 degrees, and rest your forearm on your hip or on the side of your waist.
Execution
- Keeping your elbow flexed and your forearm locked against your hip or side, exhale as you raise the loaded end of the dumbbell by supinating your wrist (rotating it so that your thumb turns upward).
- Hold for a count of two.
- Inhale as you reverse the movement and return the loaded end of the dumbbell to the starting position.
- Repeat for the prescribed number of repetitions.
- Repeat the exercise while lying on your left side.
Comments and tips
- Keep the movement slow.
- Keep your elbow flexed at 90 degrees and your forearm locked against your hip or side.
- Place a cushion between your forearm and hip/side to elevate your arm. This will ensure that you experience resistance at the top of the movement.
- The lying dumbbell supination can also be performed using your bottom arm. Please see the video demonstration.
- You don’t have to lie down for this exercise. Instead, you can sit on a chair and rest your forearm on a shoulder-high table with your hand and the dumbbell suspended off the end. This exercise is called the seated dumbbell supination.
- If you can’t unilaterally load a dumbbell, use a standard dumbbell. However, to increase leverage and thus resistance, you must grasp the handle at one side, with your pinkie resting against the inside surface.
- See also the lying dumbbell pronation.
- 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 supination videos
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a video that demonstrates the lying dumbbell supination as executed with the top arm. I could only find the exercise as executed with the bottom arm.
