How to Barbell Curl: Straight Bar Form, Grip & Technique

If you’re trying to work out how to barbell curl with a straight bar without turning it into a full-body swing, this is how I do it.

Barbell curls are probably one of my favourite bicep movements.

There’s just something about having a big, heavy weight in your hands, your biceps filling up, the veins starting to come through and getting that proper squeeze at the top of the rep.

For some reason, when I’m lifting heavy, I’ve got a vein right across the front of my forehead that decides to make an appearance as well, so by the time I’m halfway through a hard set I probably look like I’m about to burst.

But that’s part of what I like about barbell curls.

When the weight is moving well and you get that strong contraction at the top, there’s a proper sense of accomplishment to it.

It feels like a simple movement, but when you do it properly and you’re actually controlling the bar, it’s incredibly satisfying.

One of the main reasons I like barbell curls is because, for me, they’re one of the best movements for building overall size through the biceps.

You can get a decent amount of weight on the bar, you’re training both arms together, and if you keep the movement controlled you can really load the biceps hard.

That’s why I normally use barbell curls right at the beginning of my bicep workout.

I like doing them while I’m fresh and I’ve still got the most strength.

Then, as the workout goes on, I’ll start tapering the weight down and move onto different curl variations.

That might be hammer curls, dumbbell curls or something a bit more controlled where I’m concentrating less on how much weight I’m moving and more on getting a proper squeeze.

So for me, the barbell curl is the heavy movement at the start.

Then everything after that is about working the biceps in slightly different ways and finishing them off.

Over time, I still want that heavy movement to progress sensibly rather than just throwing more plates on for the sake of it. If you’re newer to that side of training, I break the basics down in my complete beginner’s guide to building muscle.

Everybody’s body is slightly different.

Arm length, shoulder position, wrist comfort and the way your elbows naturally sit can all change how the movement feels.

But the basic mechanics are still the same.

You’re bending at the elbow, shortening the biceps and bringing the bar upwards.

The important part is how you control that movement and whether you’re actually making the biceps do the work.

My basic barbell curl cues: even grip, elbows close, torso controlled, curl the bar without throwing it, squeeze at the top and control the way back down.

Barbell Curl Grip Width

The first thing I like to do is get my grip right.

If you experiment with different grip widths, you’ll notice pretty quickly that they can feel slightly different.

Moving your hands wider or narrower changes the position of your wrists, elbows and shoulders, so I’ve always found different grips give me a slightly different feel through the movement.

I don’t overcomplicate it though.

Where I normally start is around the knurling on the bar.

I’ve always used the markings on the bar as a guide because it means I can put my hands in roughly the same place every time.

I wrap both hands properly around the bar, make sure my grip feels even on both sides and bring the bar into my starting position.

Research comparing straight-bar, EZ-bar and dumbbell curls has found differences in muscle activation between variations, but the differences between the two barbell versions were relatively small. So I don’t treat one bar as automatically superior for everybody — I’d rather use the one I can train hard and comfortably with.

Keep Your Elbows In

The next thing I do is bring my arms slightly forward and really tuck my elbows into my sides.

The easiest way I can describe it is to imagine you’ve got a piece of paper trapped between your upper arm and the side of your body.

Your job is to keep that piece of paper there throughout the rep.

That mental cue stops me from letting my elbows flare out or start wandering all over the place as the weight gets heavier.

I’m not trying to glue myself into some completely unnatural position.

I just want my upper arms controlled so the curl is coming mainly from bending at the elbow rather than turning it into a full-body movement.

How I Curl the Bar

Once I’m in position, my arms are hanging pretty much straight down.

From there, I bend at the elbow and bring the bar upwards.

One of the biggest things I concentrate on is keeping my back as still and as vertical as I reasonably can.

I don’t want to start rocking backwards every time the bar gets difficult and turn the curl into some completely different exercise.

As the weight comes up, I really concentrate on using my biceps to curl the bar rather than just thinking about getting the weight from A to B.

That sounds obvious, but there’s a difference.

You can move a barbell upwards by throwing your whole body into it, or you can actually concentrate on bending at the elbow and making the biceps work.

That’s basically what I mean when I talk about the mind-to-muscle connection: the bar moving is only part of the rep; I still want to feel the target muscle doing the work. It’s the same kind of control I focus on in my bench press technique guide.

Squeeze at the Top

Someone once gave me a cue for the top of the movement that has always stuck with me.

Imagine there’s a tennis ball inside your bicep and, as you reach the top of the curl, you’re trying to squeeze that tennis ball as hard as you can.

Obviously there isn’t actually a tennis ball there, but it gives you something to picture.

As I get towards the top of the rep, I’m not just trying to finish the movement and immediately let the bar drop again.

I’m thinking about that bicep shortening and squeezing.

That little mental cue completely changes the way I think about the top of a barbell curl.

Control the Eccentric

The lowering phase is basically the same movement in reverse.

But don’t just let the bar fall.

I try to control it all the way back down until my arms are straight again and I’m ready for the next rep.

The lifting part of the curl is called the concentric phase and the controlled lowering portion is called the eccentric phase.

Both phases can contribute to muscle growth, so my thinking is simple.

If I’ve already picked the weight up, I might as well get something out of the journey back down as well.

That isn’t me claiming the lowering phase is magic. A 2025 systematic review and meta-analysis found broadly similar hypertrophy from eccentric and concentric muscle actions overall, which is a good reason not to treat either half of the rep as throwaway work.

You don’t need to turn every negative into some ridiculous ten-second rep either. A separate 2025 meta-analysis found repetition tempo had minimal overall effect on hypertrophy across the studied ranges.

I just don’t see the point in fighting to curl the weight up and then completely switching off and letting gravity take over on the way down.

Control it up.

Squeeze.

Control it down.

Then go again.

Barbell Curl Mistakes I Avoid

You know the one.

Someone’s got about 60kg on a bar and technically they’re doing barbell curls.

Except the bar is swinging so much that the biceps seem to be the last muscle involved.

They throw their hips forward, lean backwards, swing the bar into position and by the time they’re underneath it they basically have to half stand back up just to finish the rep.

At that point I’m not entirely sure whether I’m watching a curl, a deadlift or the start of an Olympic lift.

That’s what I try to avoid.

As the weight gets heavy, I’m not pretending there will never be the slightest bit of movement.

We’re human, and a hard final rep isn’t always going to look exactly like the first one.

But there’s a massive difference between a little movement on a difficult rep and choosing a weight that’s so heavy you have to launch it around with your entire body from rep one.

If I can’t curl the bar without turning myself into a human trebuchet, it’s probably too heavy for what I’m trying to do.

Wall Curl Drill

If you want to try something that takes pretty much all the swing out of the movement, lower the weight on the bar and stand with your back against a wall.

Keep your arse and your back against the wall the whole time and just curl the bar from there.

You’ll probably notice straight away that you can’t use anywhere near as much weight, because you’ve taken away that little rock backwards and forwards that people sometimes use without even realising it.

That’s the whole point of doing it.

You’ve got nowhere to swing the bar from now.

Just bend at the elbow, bring the bar up, squeeze the bicep at the top and control it back down.

Give it a go and you’ll feel the difference straight away.

Related Kravix Guides

• How to Build Muscle: The Complete Beginner’s Guide
• How I Bench Press: The Way I Do It

Research References

• Marcolin G, et al. Differences in electromyographic activity of biceps brachii and brachioradialis while performing three variants of curl. PeerJ. 2018;6:e5165.
• da Silva LSL, et al. Comparison Between Eccentric vs. Concentric Muscle Actions On Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2025;39(1):115–134.
• Enes A, et al. How Slow Should You Go? A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis of the Effect of Resistance Training Repetition Tempo on Muscle Hypertrophy. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2025;39(12):1331–1339.