Incline vs Preacher Curls for Biceps Growth (NEW Research) 

Hey man! I'm actually doing my PhD on range of motion and peer-reviewed this study before it was published. Would love to chat about this stuff with you!

When performing incline biceps curls, I have a tendency not to grip the dumbbell at its center. Instead, I favor one side to maintain a fully supinated grip actively. This minor adjustment seems to enhance muscle engagement for me.

Thank you for doing me and the fitness community a great service with your videos, keep up the good work!

I don't get why so few studies are done with the same individual performing the two lifts we want to compare (left arm/leg exercise 1, right arm/leg exercise 2). Exercises that can be made unilateral, like incline and preacher curls, are perfect candidates for this.

You know it's a good day when House of Hypertrophy posts a video

Man I just found this channel and I think I’m in love. Science based workouts give me so much more confidence, and I’ve been lifting for almost 20 years. Amazing work!

It's 2023 and we still know so little about muscle building.

Great video brother. I always liked combining different variations for biceps like cable curls, incline curls, EZ bar curls, and preacher curls, and now you've confirmed it's better to alternate, thanks!

Might even be the case that the incline curl group didn't train to failure as closely because, let's face it, it hurts lol. One of those exercises where it's uncomfortable. Conversely, preacher curls just feel good and the pump from those last reps feels awesome. So the trainees may have been more likely to want to go all the way with them.

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Another awesome video as always. The information you bring is so useful.

That video is so fucking great that I don't even have the words to describe how grateful I am to you. This applies to most of your videos.

I love it. Real science learns from new data and corrects. Thanks for the update.

Really cool! You covered everything, thank you!

Great video as always and appreciate seeing a channel willing to admit they're wrong (which isn't even the case here) and update beliefs based on new evidence. I personally switched from EZ curl bar preacher curls to incline curls a few weeks ago because of research advocating the benefits of the stretched position. However, I've noticed the best strength/hypertrophy gains for me have come from doing a couple of different exercises or hand positions for each muscle group, so will do both incline and preacher now.

Thanx for the great work Hose of Hypertrophy! My take on it. When doing preacher curls, biceps are working more isolated and doesn’t get that little help from delts. It’s easier to unconsciously cheat in Incline curls by swinging the arms, and getting additional help from the delts. I also think incline curls are more challenging psychologicaly because of the uncomfortable position versus preacher curls. It’s more comfortable to just curl and work hard in the preacher curl. Although, the most important thing is to to the exercises you enjoy most and feel the best! 💪🏼😀

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When the elbow is directed backward, the long head of the biceps is placed in a favorable tension/length relationship, while the short head is placed in an unfavorable tension/length situation. Conversely, when the elbow is positioned forward of the body, the short head of the biceps takes priority in its function, while the long head struggles to engage. Therefore, it is necessary to alternate between these two angles.

Hey All! Alpha Progression App: alphaprogression.com/HOUSEOFHYPERTROPHY + IMPORTANT NOTE: In the video, I depicted incline curls with twisting at the hand. In the study, based on the image provided, the subjects did *not* twist, they kept the hand supinated throughout the range of motion :) Timestamps: 0:48 Part I: New Data 4:24 Part II: Additional Biceps Science 6:51 Part III: General Recommendations 9:54 Part IV: Partial Range of Motion Curls? 11:52 Part V: Summary

Ty as always. I had a resent hip replacement and my legs look like crap. I will apply this information when I return to the gym next week.

Nice work, thank you

Fantastic job as always, still loving your channel bro! btw not sure if it was already discussed, but what about drag-curls? imo it's a very painful exercise (painful in a good way).

NOTE: Everybody please consider that even if preacher curls might seem "better" than the incline bench dumbbell curls at this point, then bicep tears are known to occur while performing preacher curls. Using a weight during a preacher curl that is the same weight as you would use during a conventional bicep curl might put you at risk of an injury. If you do preacher curls, then maybe consider staying in a rep range of 10+, in order to avoid bicep tears and/or tendonitis. I'll stick with the stretched bicep on the incline bench. Thank you House of Hypertrophy for everything you do

It's always fun to follow the latest research and you are doing a great job at it. Thanks a lot. In the long run, especially about such a small muscle group as the biceps, it doesn't really matter. I am willing to bet my balls, that if you are training consistently for over -say- 5 years, your biceps will reach their maximum potential, no matter if you are doing preacher, barbell, dumbbell curls, weighted chin ups, varied or steady. As long as you are training close to failure and you are applying some form of progressive overload, they will get there. Optimal training (whatever that is) will probably get you there faster though. This applies to every muscle group, but it is far more noticeable in small muscle groups. 12 years of hard training for me, the last 6 years my biceps have not grew at all (assuming same body fat level), and i have tried EVERYTHING. Every exercise under the sun, every combination of exercises, different volumes and intensities and all i got is a bicep tear, without getting any additional size. The last 2 years i am only doing weighted chin ups and no bicep isolation whatsoever. They haven't grew (naturally), but they haven't lost any size either. If you are natural, there is only so much size you can add, especially on small muscle groups like the biceps. Even enhanced athletes, like IFBB pros, you can see that their biceps reach their max potential very early in their career, and they mostly shrink later.

You are the best! Thanks for your research!

I liked preacher curls because they taught me how to get a good squeeze on the biceps, but I have since moved to doing incline curls because they help me target the biarticulate muscles of the biceps at stretched positions. But maybe I will move to face away cable curls for the added benefit of better stretch and consistency throughout the whole movement.

I would guess that preacher curls might have been more effective since, even though it doesnt achieve the same stretched length as decline curls, the load is hogher at the stretched range of motion since the arms aren't perpendicular to the floor

Jst an anecdote as an average gym goer: I perform a host of different exercises for biceps so I kind of have a perspective on them in the same training time frame. I found that I feel more activation and more blood pooling and swelling in general whenever I perform bicep exercises with the elbows slightly in front of the trunk of the body (like the preacher curl or simply protracting the shoulders in front of the body when doing barbell or dumbbell curls). There may be few reasons for this, one of which reminds me of another of your videos where the Bicep is really not such for an amount of people (extra -ceps that attach in the chest area) and therefore a pronated shoulder position may stimulate more those areas. Another would be about "effective range of motion" where it is easier for the mind to connect to the bicep in a slightly shortened position compared to the decline db curl therefore the hypertrophy response is higher. There is a lot of change between the 2 positions and probably it is simply better to perform both in order to train in different areas.

I have bad bicep genetics. In order to grow them I found that the best exercises are: Bayesian Curls (Cable), Preacher Curls (Dumbbell), Archer Curls (Cable) and Hammer Curls (Dumbbell). Keep in mind that there are no best exercises. Find something that works for you. I experimented a lot to find what works for ME. Also, how you execute the exercises (technique) plays a HUGE role. So, try to perfect your technique before running into conclusions about exercise selection. My biceps grew, even when in a caloric deficit. Other helpful tips: maybe it’d be a good idea to focus/specialize in biceps if they are truly behind compared to the rest of your physique. Don’t be afraid to go to failure, don’t be afraid to apply added quality volume. Biceps recover fast. I train them every other day, on almost every workout that I do. Some people devote a day to arms (that could work too). Maybe it’d be a good idea to train biceps first before your CNS is fried. For example, on my leg days, I perform them first but if I have pulling movements (where biceps receive some activation depending on the movement), I put them later in the workout. Lastly, be conscious on how your elbows feel. If you’re in pain, you won’t be able to train them properly! That’s why I prefer mostly cable movements or properly aligned dumbbell moves. My .02 cents.

i had the same logic like you in mind so i started 2 months ago doing partial range incline curls and i see by far most bicep results per month

I've always done standing DB Curls for direct bicep work, any exercise where the wrist is fixed all the time eventually gives me pain, my biceps are not really big so i've been doing these past months one day the cable curl with the arm behind the body just like the one in the video, and the other day a DB preacher curl, both 1 arm at a time, both feel really good and hopefully now that i finished my cut and i start eating at maintenance i'll see them grow.

I have never been excited for research to drop before

One thing you can do to improve the resistance curve of the incline curl is to try to maintain a bit of shoulder flexion at the bottom of the rep. This will increase the load at the stretched position with the cost being fatigue of the front delt. It's worth it as long as the front delt doesn't limit your ability to push the biceps to failure.

1/3 reps, partials, was the Golden Fleece I have searched for my whole life (since '78). A year in, and my trainees and I are all thrilled with our endless progress and gains.

Great video! Top tier content as always. Loved land of speculation lol. I was wondering if the angle of inclination matters on the inclined curls, and if so, which angle would be better?

Preacher curl enjoyer here. Probably my favorite biceps exercise due to how strict they can be. I mostly train machine preachers (semi supinated) and also dumbell hammer preacher curls. Before I had stumbled upon preacher curls, I was doing dumbbell concentration curls which also can be made pretty strict. Those are cool since you can adjust your torso angle slightly to change how much stretch you get. I think the slight advantage to machine preachers over free weight is that they have a hard stop to keep you from overextending your arm. I'm very comfortable working that last bit of range of motion because I perceive it as safer (regardless if I can achieve similar safety with a spotter or second arm with unilateral work). I do slightly prefer the tension curve for free weights over machines, but I think that depends on how the cam is set up on the machine - it would be pretty easy to design the hardest part at the start, rather than an entirely uniform tension curve. With that said, I'm experimenting with incline curls especially those with some shoulder external rotation. I find it's a little easier to keep the shoulders out if I externally rotate and keep my triceps against the incline bench. We'll see. I need a bit more time training them to develop a stronger opinion about them.

I have a question. If you change to a neutral grip near the end range and supinate on the way down, does making the neutral grip position on the way down reduce bicep engagement, or does it even lengthen the biceps more?

Re Incline Curls or Supine bench curls: If you focus on keeping the dumbbell or bar centred in the middle of your palm when curling, you will find yourself curling in an arc, i.e. you will start to bring your elbows forward at the bottom and reverse slightly at top of movement. This will place the elbow flexors at greater mechanical disadvantage at bottom due to increased load and will start to increasingly resemble resistance curve of preachers. Arnie, Frank Zane et al all used to perform curls this way not with arms hanging straight down at start where there is little or no resistance.

support from berlin, brother.

i think they're both excellent exercises to have in a routine one thing i will say however, Is that i think the incline curl might be a bit more difficult on the mind/muscle connection aspect of it since it can be a bit easy to lift with your shoulders taking out a good portion of bicep activation vs preacher curls. If i was to do both in a routine i'd start with incline curls with a weight where you can focus on that mind/muscle connection thing than move over to preacher curls than to finish off you can just throw some weight around with hammer curls or standing bicep curls or whatever speaks to you

Another great video . I guess I'll just do both.

This video brings up intriguing questions regarding the interpretation of "failure" and the methodology for counting reps in a workout routine. Using your example at the 11:43 timestamp as a point of reference, I find myself wondering, when can we truly consider that we have reached failure? Is it when our capacity to perform a full range of motion (ROM) diminishes, when we fail to move the weights to our intended range, or when we are completely unable to move the weights? Moreover, if each successive rep involves a decreasing range of motion, what is the correct way to count reps to failure? Should we count every attempt, or only include those where we successfully completed the full ROM?

You can feel the stretch in a preacher curl directly on the bicep, closer to the elbow. When I do incline curls, i feel the stretch in the uppwr bicep and shoulders alot. Since they measured the lower half of the bicep, where the preacher curl stretches more, that could be the reason why there was more hypertrophy for preacher curls.

The initial start of an exercise movement when the muscle is stretched (preacher curl) thus able to generate more initial force as the muscle is strongest is due to what's called 'Early Phase' loading. 💪

Though the incline curl has a good stretch, the muscles tension at the most stretched is minimal due to arms hanging vertically. If bands were placed behind the bench and put the bicep at a higher tension at the stretch, it may increase the effectiveness. But that just seems too extra. Preacher curl it is! Great video! I am very excited I found this channel.

I do a hybrid of behind the back cable curls and incline curls. i.e a seated pelican curl. I think that being primarily loaded in a stretched position is the important factor, I look forward to finding out the validity of this with future research though. I have a hunch that the position in which the radius and ulnar are perpendicular to the force of gravity in a preacher curl is relatively more stretched on the bicep muscle than when they are perpendicular to the force of gravity in a standard incline curl but only slightly hence lack of significance.

I was thinking about this lately, more tension while the muscle is more stretched might mean more growth as the research suggests. Also, added partials seem to be interesting.

Thanks for the update video, I regularly do incline curls and spider curls but not sure how the spiders stack up compared to preacher curls? Do you know of any data that shows differences or similarities in muscle activation between spider curls and other variations of the curl? I appreciate any knowledge you have!

On the shady w preacher vs incline, would it make more sense to use one arm on one ex and other for other? If it was done with DBs?

Don't forget that doing the seated incline curls is more challenging in general. It's a bit of an awkward position, and you need to maintain your shoulders in that flexed state at a certain position to really get a good workout in. Seated preachers (or even standing) are more comfortable in my opinion, and thus they're easier to focus on.

Could it be that incline curls have little to no tension at the streached postion due to gravity, while the preacher curl has maximum tension at the extended position of the biceps due to grqvity.

Please video about isometrics, nuclei training or calisthenics rings Training

In the incline bicep curl, the biceps is not really challanged at the lengthend position that much if you use dumbells because they pull down with gravity and so its like holding a bag with a straight arm. right? you can manipulate the initial position by holding your arm in a less incline position to have some resistance but, ye. maby incline with a cabel connected so that you match the powercurve of your biceps and still have great resistance at the initial position woult be better??

is it better to drink cold or warm water during a workout?

Use cables, take a big step forward so the lengthened position (hand position behind shoulders) stretches the bicep under load. I do these as partials in the lengthened position. Are they better than preacher curls? Dont know yet.

I haven't watched the video yet, but don't they each hit 1 of the 2 heads of the bicep, so training them both is best?

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Despite being able to load a preacher curl heavier, I tend to avoid them. I've heard from PTs that the leverage can increase your likelihood of bicep tears because it "fools" you into using more weight than the bicep can reasonably handle

For me personally , the rather awkward position of the body with incline curls is a factor of it not being as effective. I found doing barbell curls half seated on a decline bench (downward part of bench in front of the body ) produces enough stretch in the muscle to make it highly effective , both in terms of overall development and a slight emphasis on the lower part of the biceps , which is usually a region that's a little more difficult to develop.

I find Bayesian curl( face away cable curl) really activates the outer longhead bicep.😊

So what would be better fr incline curls 45 or 70degree?

2 of my favourite exercises. Inc db curls are oddly technical. To use the biceps as a prime mover takes focus and practise. Few tips. Slow negatives staying supinated the whole time. Locking the scaps into a posterior tip.. not letting front of your shoulder jut forward. DOMs are worse off inc db for sure. They give me a perma pump.

What editing software do you use tk make these videos?

Just a question, is DOMS caused by muscle damage?

I do what was recommended at the end where you you go failure and then do smaller reps and you really feel a stretch and i have noticed bigger gains in my biceps

Appreciate the content btw had a few questions do wide grip pulldowns or rows engage the lats more? how can I improve grip strength because it seems like my grip strength is not on par and I'm training absolutely raw without any equipment and it seems like my grip strength is holding me back; for example while doing the conventional deadlift I use a hundred kilos but I drop the weight unintentionally after 3 reps without the concentric slowing down so I believe I can do a few more reps Another thing was why some pulling exercises like pull ups hurt my wrist so bad , the alignment was fine but I guess maybe the grip strength is not enough because I gained weight recently? Also I'm was worried about injuring my growth plate , I might be worrying a bit too much but im worried because I don't know how much force is required for a fracture to take place because it didn't get hit that hard and the pain is not like typical bone related pain that happens with touching or pressing but I'm worried because the pull up wrist injury happened like 3 weeks ago and although I waited a week to recover it steel hurts but the weird thing is that it doesn't hurt at all when I workout but it hurts mildy when I flex my wrist around it starts to hurt right after I get out of the pain free ROM but the problem is it hurts more than the other wrist and my wrist got hit today(very mild and on a relatively soft surface with a not so small surface area)but the wrist injury felt a bit off so I had to ask also the grip strength problem is not related to the injury because it started before Sorry for the long comment btw

In a year from now, will we all be doing lateral dumbbell raises lying on the side like Arnold to maximize load in the stretched position?

Also, did both groups eat equaly? Did they monitor their nutrition?

Some lifters may experience inflammation of the long head of the biceps doing incline bench curls. The stretch position contributes to this. The problem may present itself quickly after incorporating the exercise into a program or can take several months to manifest.

Heavy preacher curls first then move over to incline curls, perfect super set!!!

whats better: initial partial vs full r.o.m for preacher curl?

While the incline curl puts the shoulder in a more extended position, we mustn't forget that the tension when the elbow is extended is close to zero (this is because the angle between the force and the forearm is close to 180°). I'm not surprised that the preacher curl, that puts tension is the long length partial of the elbow is more effective. To sum up, the incline curl stretches the biceps more, but it doesn't offer tension in the long length partial of the repetition.

When looking at the graph and the differences of only 2 to 8% it stands to reason how good the measurements potentially were. I have trouble enough feeling like i'm getting an accurate measurement when i measure anything on my body with any degree of fat or give in the skin. And then there is the question of if the same locations are being measured and how would the researches know they are. Measuring in slightly different places can easily account for a few percent of differences. When there are problems in other places of the study it has me questioning basic stuff like this as well.

Have you read "Body by science" by Doug Mcguff? What are your opinions?

I’ve literally never seen a more science backed fitness channel in my life. It’s literally a science channel that does fitness

I agree with your hypothesis. I truly believe that the stretch requires load otherwise it's useless. ie doing a hamstring stretch isn't going to hypertrophy your hamstrings. At the bottom of the incline curl there is no load and with that it's harder to get out of the bottom which could lead to quicker failure.

New stile with lights is very cool! Yet i thing it gonna work even better if not using light always and leave it only for accent moments.

Is it recommended to do Preacher Curls before Incline Bicep Curls then?

so which one is bztter incline or preacher curls

So if the theory is the muscle gains the most benefit from a stretched position, there might be an incline curl variation worth mentioning. Athlean X demonstrates an incline curl with the individual is moving to an up right position while attempting to curl the weight. I've personally done with with 20lbs and find it vastly more difficult to perform. Maybe worth looking into?

So the best exercise for biceps grow is a decline curl, so the shoulder is extended and in the lenghted position the biceps gets the most tension

There is also a good possibility that some women had far less trained arms than others leading to more noobie gaines. Upper body for women is a bit what lower body is for men in terms of not wanting too much development or disliking working it.

For maximal stretch and power when your biceps is max stretched you need a flat or even a decline bench. With a incline biceps curl the biceps will be max strets out but the biceps put max power at 90°.(in this position) so not optimal like a flat or decline bench.

I wonder to what extent the stability provided by having the elbows supported during the preacher curl may allow for more load and/or proximity to true failure, thus increasing volume and hypertrophy stimulus. I think the peak loading in the stretched ROM is the biggest factor though.

I can't be sending you the actual cost of a cup of Turkish coffee but have an imaginery one on me ☕ It's enjoyable watching these vids post training eating.

Sooo many angles may be different. What was the angle of the preacher bench? Some are 45 deg. iss while others are 90 deg. Sime with inc. curls.Range of motion may vary greatly.

Body builders have known partials get the gains for years.

I know this is a 10 months old video, so it's a long shot you'll see this comment, but I wanted to ask if you could address the cable height for behind-the-back bicep curls in a future video. Jeff Nippard suggests wrist height because it creates the most tension when your arm forms a 90-degree angle with the cable. Would be great to hear your thoughts! Thanks for all the amazing info on your channel, I'm a huge fan!

Did they finish that study yet that was being worked on when you made this video?

what was the p value?

It does seem odd that for basically any other muscle, movements that load the stretch are more hypertrophic. Humiston just released a video yesterday that touched on incline curls, and he also noted the same, that stretch movements are good for any other muscle group except for biceps, due to (in his mind) his EMG showing low activation for incline and some study that said incline curls have "inefficient actin-myosin coupling." We know that EMG isn't a reliable indicator of hypertrophy, and the second point I have no clue what that means lmao. But it's interesting he found the same thing. Regardless... I think it's odd. I'll continue to do incline curls, preacher curls, hammer curls myself. Seems like a good selection and there's no way I'm going to simply quit incline curls. Based on research showing stretch movements are more hypertrophic for any other muscle in the body, I'll conclude that there's some other thing missing here and that incline curls are still effective, until proven otherwise.

They need a preacher curl machine with a paddle type handle that takes the wrist out of the movement. And also a hammer curl version.

@3:19 very inspiring and true

The difference between these two exercises isnt about bicep in completely stretched position based on shoulder position.. rather its about the LOAD of the muscle in its stretched position... so while incline curl may have a more lengthened bicep muscle, the preacher curl has FAR more load on the bicep at the stretched position; incline curl has the weight hanging (0 load) at the bottom. This is why. you should compare something like a cable curl (that has your shoulder in a similar position to the incline curl) with the preacher curl to eliminate load at extension difference being the confounding variable

Just my own anecdotal evidence but this study supports my subjective experience. I did these lifts in back to back mesos and found the preacher stimulus and pump was far superior for me and allowed greater leverage for greater load. The ROM still allowed a full stretch at the bottom as well. Subjectively, the incline curls felt almost disconnected, a bit uncomfortable, and weaker with lesser pumps. Was training both to failure (always ending in a partial). Best biceps growth Ive experienced was with a combo of preacher and barbell curls. But remember: these studies are generalized but ypu cpuld be an exception or have a reason to do the less "optimal lift" based on a variety of factors.

Try an incline curl vs a regular one, how do you feel ? I feel like i'm pulling 50%+ more weight, meaning, greater activation, mind muscle connection, blood flow, and pump....That's just me.

My theory is that this is because of the angle when working with free weights.. The inclined preacher although starts from a longer stretch, because of how gravity works at the start of the movement you dont have to make a big effort to start moving the weight. The opposite happens with the preacher curl. My suggestion would be to do this same studies but with cables since the tension is constant and the stretch of the incline is on an advantage with cables in comparison with the free weight. Conversely the preacher curl done with a cable would keep the same constant removing the advantage in comparison with the seated version. To do the bicep curls standing with cables is in my bro-science brain is better.

I feel like this has been intuitive in the body building community for a while. In an incline curl yes the biceps are stretched, but it’s stretched under no load (arms straight down) and the hardest part of the curl doesn’t occur there. In a preacher curl, the hardest part of the curl occurs during the stretched position

Thinking some more about this. When you fail in a Preacher curl it's always in the lengthened position. When you fail in a Incline curl it tends to be in the middle position or contraced position. You can normally dobpartials at the bottom of Inclines but not on Preachers. So it's possible the group doing the inclines were always far from failure in the lengthened position, whereas the Preacher group were not.

Biceps' architecture is pretty solid and their leverages explain a lot. Even though we didn't have this preacher vs incline comparison we pretty much knew that the preacher is just better because the biceps doesn't get meaningful passive tension since it doesn't reach the descending limb of the force-length r. and they have the best leverage at extended arms. It is also interesting that EMG is not a bulletproof way to see muscle growth (like hamstrings blowing up on the reader in the recent squat vs. hip thrust yet they grew nothing) but it is still a good way to see where the muscle has leverage to do the exercise. I love your videos, I know some people will run with it and say the extremes like "never do incline curl" but having someone analyzing and expressing his own thoughts is truly appreciated. I was never really a fun of incline curl and many people preferred saying "but this huge bodybuilder did it" and finally we have a good data to show just because someone is doing something it doesn't mean it is a one way road.