Home / Exercises / Cable Hammer Curl (With Rope Attachment) (Male)
Cable Hammer Curl (With Rope Attachment) (Male) animation

How to do the Cable Hammer Curl (With Rope Attachment) (Male)

ForearmsCableBeginner

The cable hammer curl with rope attachment keeps constant tension on your forearms and brachioradialis throughout the entire movement, making it one of the most effective tools for building dense, functional lower arm strength. Master this exercise and you will develop the kind of grip and forearm thickness that carries over to every pull in the gym.

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Muscles worked

Primary
Forearms
Secondary
Grip

Step-by-step

  1. Stand facing the cable stack, grip the rope ends with a neutral thumbs-up grip at hip height, and plant your feet shoulder-width apart.
  2. Pin your elbows tight to your sides and keep them locked there as you curl the rope up toward your shoulders in a smooth arc.
  3. Squeeze the forearms and brachioradialis hard at the top without letting your elbows drift forward or your wrists rotate.
  4. Lower the rope slowly under control for a full two to three count, letting the cable pull your arms to a complete extension before the next rep.

Common mistakes

  • Letting elbows swing forward at the top, which shifts stress to the front delts and off the forearms, so consciously brace your elbows against your ribs throughout the curl.
  • Allowing the wrists to supinate and rotate the palms upward during the lift, which turns it into a standard curl, so maintain a strict neutral grip on the rope ends from start to finish.
  • Using a weight so heavy that momentum does the work, which removes time under tension from the forearms, so choose a load that lets you feel a strong muscular contraction on every rep.

Pro tip — At the top of each rep, actively pull the two rope ends slightly apart as you squeeze, which increases muscle activation in the brachioradialis and forearm extensors that a fixed bar simply cannot replicate.

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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