The Zottman Curl

It takes more than just time at the gym to achieve muscular arms like the pros. You also need an efficient arm exercise called the Zottman curl to target your biceps and forearms.

 

Key points for the Zottman curl

 

1. Zottman curl dumbbell exercise is great for building muscles in both the forearm muscles and biceps.
2. This method requires you to curl the dumbbells up with a standard supinated grip, then lower them down with a pronated grip.
3. The Zottman curl will benefit you if the positive part of each rep will hit the biceps and the negative part will target the forearms. The forearms will have more overload compared to the standard reverse curls on the negative portion. This is because supinated curls will allow you to go heavier than the reverse curls.

You can achieve a really impressive pair of pipes but it will take more than just well-developed triceps and biceps. Note that the forearms are the key muscle group in order to get a complete physique as well as functional grip strength.

 

Biceps and forearms exercise

 

What makes it sad is that the forearms don’t get the whole training at the end of an arm workout. Worse of all, they are all ignored altogether. One of the reasons why people fail in this area is because they don’t want to train another body part in their workout, particularly the relatively small one.

In my opinion, doing some isolated forearm workout is important. However, if you are looking for a shortcut, there is only one exercise that can hit both biceps and forearms called the Zottman curl.

 

Understanding Zottman curl

 

The Zottman curl is a half standard or supinated dumbbell curl, half reverse or pronated curl. The biceps are target for the supinated curl on the way up. Then, the controlled negative in the pronated position will overload the forearms for full development.

This is an important method that you can use to incorporate to your regular biceps training, especially if you are in for a great biceps/forearms exercise.

 

Brief history of the Zottman curl

The Zottman curl is a unique variation of the traditional exercise named after George Zottman, just as the Arnold Press or the Scott Curl. Zottman had a legendary physique and was a prominent strongman athlete from Philadelphia in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Although with limited background of his contribution to the exercise, you simply can’t discount the fact why the Zottman curl was named after him because of his impressive upper arms and forearms. Note that having a 15-inch forearms and 19-inch upper arms before exercise science even existed was already impressive in the 1800s.

 

Step-by-step overview of the Zottman curl

 

• You have to hold a pair of dumbbells by your side with forearms supinated and palms facing forward
• Then, you need to curl up the dumbbells simultaneously under control, while squeezing the contraction of the biceps for 1 or 2 counts at the top of the repetition.
• While at the top, you need to rotate your forearms with your palms facing down. Then, slowly lower the dumbbells at full extension of the elbow at a pronated position.
• Next, you have to rotate your forearms back to the supinated position at the bottom of the rep with palms facing forward, and then repeat the reps.

 

Major muscles targeted by the Zottman curl

 

The major muscle groups you can target when doing the Zottman curl are the following.

1. brachialis
2. brachii
3. brachioradialis

With supinated forearms or on the positive portion of every rep, the biceps brachii are the major muscles involved. With the pronated forearms or on the negative portion, the brachialis and brachioradialis muscles will take the impact of the load.

 

Major benefit of Zottman curl

 

I already mentioned in this article that Zottman curls are excellent for the development of biceps and forearms. This exercise will work similarly as the standard dumbbell curl wherein the forearms remain in the supinated position or the palms forward or up throughout.

The negative portion is what really distinguishes this type of exercise as it focuses on the forearms. However, it’s not only that the forearms are targeted but the overload to a greater extent compared to the standard reverse curls, which renders the forearms to be pronated the whole time.

While the forearms are supinated, you are in a stronger position to curl. This is the main reason why it is possible for you to use more weight on standard curls in comparison to reverse curls.

The Zottman curl also allows you to use more weight as you are doing supinated curl than on reverse curls. This makes it possible to do a heavier negative rep and greater forearm overload.

Consequently, this type of exercise is a move that is more focused on the forearms. Nevertheless, you are still receiving similar overload on the biceps at the positive portion of the rep similar to what you get on a standard dumbbell curl.

Thus, as a two-part exercise, it’s all focused on the biceps on the way up, while focused on the forearms on the way down.

 

Building bigger forearms with negative reps

 

You can’t assume that you are getting more work on the biceps compared to the forearms when doing the Zottman curls because you are getting the positive portion of every rep.

Note that when the weight is lowered, the negative portion of the rep will provide a unique shock to the muscles, which is actually very effective in getting it bigger and stronger.

A lot of people disregard the negative or eccentric portion of the rep because they are thinking that the muscle is only working when lifting the weight and not when lowering it. However, this is actually not true.

Weight resistance on the negative is an important aspect of strength and a part of the movement closely related with muscle soreness a few days after the workout. This soreness will eventually lead to more size and strength, which assumes that the muscles get a full recovery with proper nutrition and rest.

 

Effective weight you can use with Zottman curls

 

Avoid doing the Zottman curls on quite a heavy load. I can only recommend the use of dumbbells that will enable you to do 10-15 reps of standard or supinated curls.

Note that going too much on the weight will make it hard for you to control the weight on the negative in the reverse grip or pronated position. That is because you will not like it when the weight will drop fast on the way down.

It will actually defeat the purpose as to why you are doing the exercise in the first place. Always do the negative in a nice and controlled manner and it only requires a more moderate load.

 

Zottman curl with supinated curl finisher

 

You can finish your Zottman curls off with the standard curls in order to maximize the intensity. That is why I would suggest because the negative portion of the rep is heavier compared to what your forearms are accustomed to have on reverse curls. Consequently, the heavier negatives will cause your muscles to get fatigued and will eventually give out.

 

Read my article on Old School Bodybuilding here.