Spider Curl

Muscles worked by the Spider Curl

Primary

BicepsBiceps Brachii

Secondary

Brachialis

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

Equipment

Dumbbell

Also called: db, dumbell, hex dumbbell, rubber dumbbell, hand weight.

How to do the Spider Curl

1. Lie face down on an incline bench with arms hanging straight down.
2. Hold a dumbbell in each hand with an underhand grip.
3. Keep your upper arms vertical as you curl the weights up.
4. Squeeze the biceps hard at the top.
5. Lower the dumbbells under control to full extension.
6. Repeat for the desired number of reps.

Form tips

• Keep your chest glued to the pad for the whole set.
• Squeeze at the top without letting the elbows drift backward.
• Use the full range — the stretch at the bottom is half the value.

At a glance

Spider Curl in German & Spanish

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

Related exercises

• Banded Standing Leg Curl
• Barbell Curl
• Barbell Preacher Curl
• Cable Curl
• Cable Hammer Curl
• Cheat Curl
• Close-Grip EZ-Bar Curl
• Concentration 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": "spider-curl",
  "name_en": "Spider Curl",
  "name_de": "Spider Curl",
  "name_es": "Curl Araña",
  "description_en": "A curl lying face-down on an incline bench with arms hanging vertical, isolating the biceps through a strict range.",
  "description_de": "Ein Curl in Bauchlage auf der Schrägbank mit senkrecht hängenden Armen — isoliert den Bizeps über einen strikten Bewegungsumfang.",
  "description_es": "Un curl tumbado boca abajo en banco inclinado con los brazos colgando verticales, aislando el bíceps en un rango estricto.",
  "category": "strength",
  "force_type": "pull",
  "mechanic": "isolation",
  "difficulty": "intermediate",
  "equipment": "dumbbell",
  "body_part": "upper_arms",
  "primary_muscles": [
    "biceps_brachii"
  ],
  "secondary_muscles": [
    "brachialis"
  ],
  "goals": [
    "hypertrophy"
  ],
  "tags": [
    "knee_safe",
    "shoulder_safe",
    "no_axial_load",
    "lower_back_safe",
    "requires_bench"
  ],
  "variation_group": "bicep-curl",
  "is_unilateral": false,
  "is_bodyweight": false,
  "instructions_en": [
    "Lie face down on an incline bench with arms hanging straight down.",
    "Hold a dumbbell in each hand with an underhand grip.",
    "Keep your upper arms vertical as you curl the weights up.",
    "Squeeze the biceps hard at the top.",
    "Lower the dumbbells under control to full extension.",
    "Repeat for the desired number of reps."
  ],
  "instructions_de": [
    "Lege dich mit dem Gesicht nach unten auf eine Schrägbank, Arme hängen gerade herunter.",
    "Halte eine Kurzhantel in jeder Hand mit Untergriff.",
    "Halte die Oberarme senkrecht, während du die Gewichte nach oben curlst.",
    "Presse die Bizeps oben fest zusammen.",
    "Führe die Kurzhanteln kontrolliert in die volle Streckung zurück.",
    "Wiederhole für die gewünschte Anzahl an Wiederholungen."
  ],
  "instructions_es": [
    "Túmbate boca abajo en un banco inclinado con los brazos colgando rectos hacia abajo.",
    "Sostén una mancuerna en cada mano con agarre supino.",
    "Mantén los brazos superiores verticales mientras curleas los pesos hacia arriba.",
    "Aprieta fuerte los bíceps en la parte superior.",
    "Baja las mancuernas de forma controlada hasta la extensión completa.",
    "Repite el número de repeticiones deseado."
  ],
  "tips_en": [
    "Keep your chest glued to the pad for the whole set.",
    "Squeeze at the top without letting the elbows drift backward.",
    "Use the full range — the stretch at the bottom is half the value."
  ],
  "tips_de": [
    "Halte die Brust während des ganzen Satzes fest am Polster.",
    "Spanne oben an, ohne die Ellbogen nach hinten wandern zu lassen.",
    "Nutze den vollen Bewegungsumfang — die Dehnung unten ist die halbe Miete."
  ],
  "tips_es": [
    "Mantén el pecho pegado al respaldo durante toda la serie.",
    "Aprieta arriba sin dejar que los codos se desplacen hacia atrás.",
    "Usa el rango completo: el estiramiento abajo es la mitad del beneficio."
  ],
  "met": 5.0,
  "images": {
    "flat": {
      "start": "images/flat/spider-curl-start.webp",
      "peak": "images/flat/spider-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 === "spider-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.