Zottman Curls
Jacked & vascular forearms seem to be a thing of the past, with very few gym-goers placing any emphasis on training their forearms directly. Sets of reverse grip curls and forearm isolation exercise are not only boring, they also hurt like hell...
When it comes to training biceps on the other hand, we're all ready to jump into set after set of bicep curls.
Enter the Zottman curl.
The Zottman curl, named after legemdary strongman George Zottman.
Born in 1867, Zottman was a strongman that set numerous world strength records, some of which still stand to this day (clean and pressing a 175lb dumbbell while seated on a chair!).
With 19" biceps and 15" forearms it goes without saying Zottman knew how to build beastly arms.
The Zottman curl is a variation of dumbbell bicep curl that obliterates your forearms on the negative portion of the repetition.
Zottman Curl Benefits
- Allows us to overload the forearms as we're lifting more weight than possible with a regular reverse grip curl
- Increases grip strength, this will bleed over into your deadlifts and weighted pull-ups etc.
- A time efficient curl variation that'll build both your biceps and forearms at the same time
- Far easier on the wrists than its barbell alternatives (i.e. the reverse grip bicep curl)
How To Perform The Zottman Curl Correctly...
Stand up straight with a dumbbell in each hand, rotate your palms until they're facing forward and tuck your elbows into your sides.
Curl the dumbbells up one at a time by contracting your biceps and moving your forearm, your upper arm should not move at all.
Curl until the dumbbell is at shoulder height.
Squeeze and hold this contraction for one second.
Turn your palm over and rotate you wrists so it is now facing away from you.
Slowly lower the dumbbell back down with your palms facing away from you (pronated).
At the bottom of the movement rotate your palms until they're facing forward again.
Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
