Spider Curl

Move · Resistance Training · Movement, Typed Supps

With the arms hanging straight down, the curl is almost free at the bottom and hardest halfway up.

Stage by stage

Set-up (Chest fixed, arms vertical): The pad removes trunk swing and hangs the upper arms perpendicular to the floor.
During the set (Peak torque at mid-range): The load barely resists at full extension and is hardest when the forearm is horizontal.
Shoulder position (Long head partly shortened): Shoulder flexion sits the biceps long head nearer its shortened length than an incline curl does.
Weeks later (Strict curling strength): With no body English available, side-to-side differences show up plainly and tend to even out.

Muscles trained

Primary: biceps

Intensity

3.5 METs (Resistance (weight) training, multiple exercises, 8-15 repetitions at varied resistance).

Time to effect

Weeks: Early on, most lifters find they have to drop the weight noticeably compared to a standing curl once momentum is taken out of the equation.
Months: Sustained practice builds real strict-curling strength and can help correct side-to-side imbalances, since neither arm has body English to lean on.

Common myth

"Spider curls and preacher curls are basically the same exercise." In reality: They both remove swing, but the arm angle is different — a preacher curl has the arms angled up and out on a sloped pad, while a spider curl hangs the arms straight down toward the floor, which shifts more of the stretch and peak-contraction emphasis and changes where in the rep the exercise feels hardest.