The Best Way to Do the Preacher Curl for Stronger, More Defined Biceps


Instructions

  1. Adjust a preacher curl station so the top of the pad sits in your armpits when you’re seated.
  2. Grab an EZ-bar (as shown in the videos above) or straight bar with your palms facing up and slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, rest your upper arms on the pad, and extend your elbows until your arms are nearly straight.
  3. Keeping your upper arms on the pad, curl the bar toward your shoulders until you can’t curl the bar any further.
  4. Hold this position for a brief moment, then lower the bar and return to the starting position.

Expert Tips

  • Make sure you keep the backs of your arms and elbows glued to the pad throughout the entire rep. Some folks cheat on this exercise by jerking their torsos backward and lifting up their elbows or pushing their shoulders forward, which defeats the point of using a preacher pad. Don’t do that.

    The entire point of the preacher pad is it prevents your upper arms from moving so your biceps are forced to do nearly all of the work.

  • Squeeze your biceps as hard as you can at the top of each rep. This ensures you’re maximizing tension in your muscle fibers (which is what makes them grow bigger and stronger) and moving the weights under control.

  • Don’t let the bar fall back to the starting position. Lower it under control, taking about a second.

  • Use a weight that allows you to maintain good form. It’s better to perform the exercise correctly with lighter weights than to perform the exercise poorly with heavier ones. The goal is to maximize tension within your muscles, not use the maximum weight possible.

  • Whether you use a straight bar or EZ-bar depends on your personal preference—both are equally effective at training your biceps. If a straight bar bothers your wrists or elbows, use an EZ-bar. The angled grip often feels more comfortable.

Workout Programming

Program preacher curls as part of a pull, upper-body, or full-body workout, after your rows, chin-ups, or pulldowns.

A good default is 3 sets of 8–10 reps. Take each set 1–2 reps shy of failure—the point where you can’t move the weight with good form despite giving your maximum effort—and rest 1–2 minutes between sets.

Mike’s Take

The preacher curl is one of my all-time favorite biceps exercises. It trains your biceps through a full range of motion, allows you to add weight in small increments, is easy to learn and perform, and allows you to safely take your sets all the way to failure.

The preacher curl’s main advantage over other biceps exercises is that it immobilizes your upper arms, making it almost impossible to use momentum to "cheat." This ensures your biceps are doing nearly all of the work.

The preacher curl also trains your biceps with your elbows in front of your torso, which changes which muscles are emphasized.

For example, a 2026 study conducted by researchers at Ritsumeikan University had 21 untrained adults train one arm with incline dumbbell curls and the other with dumbbell preacher curls for 12 weeks.

Incline curls produced slightly more growth in the biceps, while preacher curls produced slightly more growth in the brachialis and brachioradialis—two other muscles that bend your elbow. The total growth of these three muscles was similar between exercises.

A 2025 study conducted by scientists at the State University of Londrina had 63 untrained women train with incline or preacher curls for 8 weeks.

They measured the combined thickness of the biceps and brachialis. Incline curls produced slightly more growth nearer the shoulder, while preacher curls produced slightly more growth nearer the elbow.

While both of these studies used dumbbells, it’s reasonable to assume you’d see similar results with a straight-bar or EZ-bar.

My take on all of this research is this: In general, any decent biceps isolation exercise is going to effectively grow your biceps, brachialis, and brachioradialis, so long as you use proper form and sufficient intensity. Different exercises can subtly emphasize certain portions of the biceps, but it’s not like your brachialis won’t grow if you don’t do preacher curls.

That said, if you want to maximize the growth of every portion of all of these muscles (including the long head of the biceps), you want to ensure that you train your biceps in four general positions:

  1. With your elbows in front of your torso, as in the preacher curl, which emphasizes the lower portion of the biceps closer to your elbow and the brachialis and brachioradialis.
  2. With your elbows next to your torso, as in the standing barbell curl, which emphasizes all portions of your biceps more or less equally.
  3. With your elbows behind your torso, as in the Bayesian cable curl, which emphasizes the long head of your biceps and the upper portion of your biceps closer to your shoulder.
  4. With a neutral grip (palms facing each other), as in the hammer curl, which emphasizes your brachialis.

Note that many exercises train your biceps in several of these positions at once, so you don’t necessarily have to do different isolation exercises for each of these positions.

For example, the seated cable row and close-grip lat pulldown both train your biceps with your elbows in front of your body and at your sides, and with a neutral grip.

In this case, you’d just need to do some curls with your elbows behind your body, like a Bayesian curl or incline dumbbell curl, and you’d be set.

Thus, a good rule of thumb is to train your biceps with a few compound pulling exercises, and then one or two isolation exercises. My preference would generally be some kind of preacher curl variation and some kind of curl performed with the elbows behind the torso.

Preacher Curl Alternatives

  • Machine Preacher Curl. This is the same exercise as a regular preacher curl, but it’s faster to set up and, depending on the machine, can keep more consistent tension on your biceps throughout the rep than dumbbells. Some gyms don’t have these, though, and some machines force you into an awkward position, so make sure it works well with your anatomy.

  • Dumbbell Preacher Curl. The dumbbell preacher curl is very similar to the EZ-bar preacher curl, but you usually just train one arm at a time. It’s a good exercise, but it takes longer to complete and doesn’t offer significant advantages over the regular preacher curl, so I rarely recommend it.

  • Standing Single-Arm Dumbbell Preacher Curl. This is a good alternative if your gym doesn’t have a preacher curl station or someone else is using it. It works the same way as a dumbbell preacher curl, but you use a bench set to about 60–70 degrees instead of a preacher curl station, and you perform it standing instead of seated.

  • Barbell Curl. A good all-around biceps isolation exercise that you can do in nearly any gym in the world.

  • Alternating Dumbbell Curl. This trains each arm independently with your upper arms beside your torso. You don’t need a bench, but you’ll need to work to keep your torso still instead of relying on the pad for support.

  • Incline Dumbbell Curl. This puts your upper arms behind your torso, which helps emphasize your biceps’ long head, and lets you train both arms at once.

  • Bayesian Cable Curl. The Bayesian curl is basically the same movement as an incline dumbbell curl, but performed standing, with a cable, and is performed one arm at a time. It’s one of my favorite biceps exercises.

  • Dumbbell Hammer Curl. The dumbbell hammer curl uses a neutral grip (palms facing each other), which many people find more comfortable than the traditional palms-up (supinated) grip and also helps emphasize the brachialis.

4 Preacher Curl Workouts

Here are four sample workouts that show how to program the preacher curl into an arm, pull, upper-body, or full-body workout.

Arm Workout with the Preacher Curl

Preacher Curl: 3 sets | 8–10 reps | 1–2 min rest*
Cable Triceps Overhead Press: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 1–2 min rest*

Bayesian Cable Curl: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 1–2 min rest*
Seated Dip Machine: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 1–2 min rest*

*Alternate between the exercises in each pair: Do a set of preacher curls, rest 60 seconds, do a set of cable triceps overhead presses, rest 60 seconds, and repeat twice more for each exercise. This is a fantastic way to save time in the gym.

Then, you’d alternate between the Bayesian cable curl and seated dip machine in the same manner.

Note: I don’t typically recommend dedicating an entire day just to training your arms, but if you prefer to train this way, this workout is a time-efficient and effective way to do it.

Pull Day Workout with the Preacher Curl

Barbell Deadlift: 3 sets | 4–6 reps | 2–3 min rest
Seated Machine Row: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Close-Grip Lat Pulldown: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Preacher Curl: 3 sets | 8–10 reps | 1–2 min rest

Upper-Body Workout with the Preacher Curl

Dumbbell Bench Press: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Seated Machine Row: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Incline Barbell Bench Press: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Lat Pulldown: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Preacher Curl: 3 sets | 8–10 reps | 1–2 min rest

Full-Body Workout with the Preacher Curl

Barbell Back Squat: 3 sets | 4–6 reps | 2–3 min rest
Barbell Bench Press: 3 sets | 4–6 reps | 2–3 min rest
Chin-Up: 3 sets | 4–6 reps | 2–3 min rest
Cable Side Raise: 3 sets | 8–10 reps | 1–2 min rest
Preacher Curl: 3 sets | 8–10 reps | 1–2 min rest

To progress these workouts, use double progression: use a weight that allows you to work within the given rep range, take each set 1–2 reps shy of failure, and once you hit the top of the range for your first set, add weight.

More Biceps Exercises

The post The Best Way to Do the Preacher Curl for Stronger, More Defined Biceps appeared first on Legion Athletics.

https://ift.tt/HfuGOW5 October 15, 2026 at 06:00PM Legion Athletics

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