How many sets and reps of the zottman preacher curl should you do when you are new to the exercise?

Pick a weight your forearms can control through the slow pronated lowering, even if that means it feels light on the way up. Three sets of 8 reps at that weight beats a heavier weight you can only half-lower.

What can replace the zottman preacher curl with no preacher bench?

The standing zottman curl trains the same two-grip pattern without the bench, or you can split it into a regular curl followed by a separate reverse curl.

What is the zottman preacher curl good for, and when should you use the standing version instead?

It's an efficient two-in-one biceps-and-forearm builder in a strict, momentum-free setup. If you're still learning the wrist-rotation timing, the preacher pad's fixed elbow makes correcting a mistimed rotation harder mid-set than the standing version does; learn the timing standing first.

Intermediate

Zottman Preacher Curl

This blends the strict support of the preacher pad with the grip rotation of the Zottman: you curl up palms-up to load the biceps, rotate to palms-down, and lower to punish the brachioradialis and wrist extensors. The pad removes momentum so both the lifting and lowering phases stay honest. It is an efficient two-in-one builder for arms and forearms.

Equipment: Bench, Dumbbell
Body part: Biceps, Forearms
Type: Strength
Browse by muscle: Biceps Brachii Long Head, Biceps Brachii Short Head, Brachioradialis
Browse by movement: Elbow Flexion

How to do it

1
Set up at a preacher bench with a dumbbell in each hand, upper arms flat on the pad.
2
Start with arms nearly straight and palms facing up.
3
Curl the dumbbells up toward your shoulders with a supinated grip.
4
At the top, rotate your wrists so your palms face down.
5
Lower the dumbbells slowly in this pronated position to load the forearms.
6
Rotate back to palms-up at the bottom and repeat.

Tips

Use a lighter load than a standard curl; the pronated lowering is the limiting factor.
Control the eccentric deliberately to train the forearm extensors.
Keep your upper arms pinned to the pad through both phases.

Variations

Common mistakes

The wrist rotation happens too early, partway up the curl, instead of waiting until the top, blending the two grip phases together instead of keeping them distinct.
Picking a weight based on how strong the curl-up feels ignores that the pronated lower-down is the weaker link, so the eccentric ends up rushed or skipped.
The two arms rotate at slightly different times when curling a dumbbell in each hand, so one arm gets a cleaner rep than the other on every set.
Rushing the pronated lowering phase because the grip feels awkward wastes the entire reason this exercise pairs two motions together.
Once the forearms fatigue from the pronated grip, the elbows lift off the pad to borrow momentum, and both halves of the exercise lose quality at once.

Frequently asked

How many sets and reps of the zottman preacher curl should you do when you are new to the exercise?: Pick a weight your forearms can control through the slow pronated lowering, even if that means it feels light on the way up. Three sets of 8 reps at that weight beats a heavier weight you can only half-lower.
What can replace the zottman preacher curl with no preacher bench?: The standing zottman curl trains the same two-grip pattern without the bench, or you can split it into a regular curl followed by a separate reverse curl.
What is the zottman preacher curl good for, and when should you use the standing version instead?: It's an efficient two-in-one biceps-and-forearm builder in a strict, momentum-free setup. If you're still learning the wrist-rotation timing, the preacher pad's fixed elbow makes correcting a mistimed rotation harder mid-set than the standing version does; learn the timing standing first.

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