Cable Curl

Muscles worked by the Cable Curl

Primary

BicepsBiceps Brachii

Secondary

Brachialis

Also called: bicep, biceps brachii, biceps muscle, guns.

Equipment

Cable Machine

Also called: cable pulley, functional trainer, cable crossover, cable column, cable station, pulley machine.

How to do the Cable Curl

1. Stand facing a low cable pulley with a straight bar or EZ-bar attachment.
2. Grip the bar with an underhand grip, elbows at your sides.
3. Curl the bar up toward your shoulders.
4. Lower with control.
5. Repeat.

Form tips

• Keep your elbows from drifting forward as you curl.
• Straighten your arms fully at the bottom of each rep.
• Avoid leaning back to help lift the weight.

At a glance

Cable Curl in German & Spanish

Descriptions, instructions and tips ship in all three languages in the JSON.

Related exercises

• Barbell Curl
• Cable Hammer Curl
• Cheat Curl
• Concentration Curl
• Cross Body Hammer Curl
• Dumbbell Bicep Curl
• Dumbbell Hammer Curl
• Dumbbell Reverse Curl

Exercise data (JSON)

The record below is exactly what exercises.json ships for this exercise — names, descriptions, instructions and tips in English, German and Spanish.

{
  "id": "cable-curl",
  "name_en": "Cable Curl",
  "name_de": "Kabelzug-Curl",
  "name_es": "Curl con Cable",
  "description_en": "A bicep curl using cable resistance for constant tension.",
  "description_de": "Ein Bizeps-Curl mit Kabelzugwiderstand für konstante Spannung.",
  "description_es": "Un curl de bíceps con resistencia de cable para tensión constante.",
  "category": "strength",
  "force_type": "pull",
  "mechanic": "isolation",
  "difficulty": "beginner",
  "equipment": "cable",
  "body_part": "upper_arms",
  "primary_muscles": [
    "biceps_brachii"
  ],
  "secondary_muscles": [
    "brachialis"
  ],
  "goals": [
    "hypertrophy"
  ],
  "tags": [
    "arm_day",
    "knee_safe",
    "shoulder_safe",
    "no_axial_load",
    "lower_back_safe"
  ],
  "variation_group": "bicep-curl",
  "is_unilateral": false,
  "is_bodyweight": false,
  "instructions_en": [
    "Stand facing a low cable pulley with a straight bar or EZ-bar attachment.",
    "Grip the bar with an underhand grip, elbows at your sides.",
    "Curl the bar up toward your shoulders.",
    "Lower with control.",
    "Repeat."
  ],
  "instructions_de": [
    "Steh vor dem unteren Kabelzug mit Geradehalter oder SZ-Stange.",
    "Greife im Untergriff, Ellbogen an den Seiten.",
    "Curle die Stange zu den Schultern.",
    "Senke kontrolliert.",
    "Wiederhole."
  ],
  "instructions_es": [
    "Colócate de pie frente a una polea baja con una barra recta o barra Z.",
    "Agarra la barra con agarre supino y los codos pegados a los costados.",
    "Sube la barra hacia los hombros.",
    "Baja de forma controlada.",
    "Repite."
  ],
  "tips_en": [
    "Keep your elbows from drifting forward as you curl.",
    "Straighten your arms fully at the bottom of each rep.",
    "Avoid leaning back to help lift the weight."
  ],
  "tips_de": [
    "Lass die Ellbogen während der Aufwärtsbewegung nicht nach vorn wandern.",
    "Bleib aufrecht und lehne dich nicht zurück, um nachzuhelfen.",
    "Strecke die Arme unten fast ganz, ohne die Kabelspannung zu verlieren."
  ],
  "tips_es": [
    "Evita que los codos se adelanten al subir la barra.",
    "No balancees el torso para ayudarte con el peso.",
    "Aleja un poco el cuerpo de la polea para mantener la tensión."
  ],
  "met": 5.0,
  "images": {
    "flat": {
      "start": "images/flat/cable-curl-start.webp",
      "peak": "images/flat/cable-curl-peak.webp"
    }
  }
}

Fetch just this exercise

const { exercises } = await fetch(
  "https://exercise-dataset.com/exercises.json"
).then(r => r.json());
const ex = exercises.find(e => e.id === "cable-curl");

Free for personal and commercial in-app use with attribution (“Exercise data by RepDB”) — see the license and ready-made attribution snippets. Redistributing the data as a dataset or API is not permitted.