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Barbell Reverse Wrist Curl animation

How to do the Barbell Reverse Wrist Curl

ForearmsBarbellIntermediate

The barbell reverse wrist curl directly targets the often-neglected extensor muscles of the forearm, building the kind of balanced grip strength that translates to every pull and carry you will ever do. Developing these muscles protects your wrists and elbows while adding serious thickness to the entire forearm complex.

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Muscles worked

Primary
Forearms
Secondary
Grip

Step-by-step

  1. Sit at the end of a bench, rest your forearms along your thighs with your wrists just past your knees and grip the barbell overhand at shoulder width.
  2. Let the barbell lower by flexing your wrists downward until you feel a full stretch through the top of your forearms.
  3. Drive the back of your hands upward by extending your wrists as high as possible, squeezing the extensors hard at the top.
  4. Lower the bar under control back to the stretched position and repeat for the prescribed reps without letting your forearms lift off your thighs.

Common mistakes

  • Using too much weight and letting the elbows flare or the forearms bounce off the thighs, which removes tension from the extensors — drop the load and keep the forearms pinned flat.
  • Cutting the range of motion short by only moving the wrist a few degrees — commit to the full extension and full drop on every rep to actually train the muscle through its complete range.
  • Rushing the lowering phase and letting the bar crash down — control the eccentric for at least two counts, as that portion is where significant extensor strength is built.

Pro tip — At the top of each rep, pause for a full one-count and actively try to spread your fingers against the bar, which recruits the extensor digitorum alongside the wrist extensors and deepens the muscular stimulus across the entire dorsal forearm.

Sets & reps by goal

Build muscle3–4 sets × 10–15 reps
Get stronger3–4 sets × 6–8 reps
Lose fat / tone3 sets × 12–20 reps

Rest: 60–90 sec between sets.

More Forearms exercises

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