An often forgotten exercise to help develop the biceps is the waiter curl.
Since the biceps are many people’s favorite muscle group to train, and it can be easy to fall into a common arm workout routine, you’ll want to check out this great exercise.
So how do you do a waiter curl?
- Hold a single dumbbell with both palms under the plate.
- Allow the dumbbell to rest on your palms, and avoid gripping with your fingers.
- Starting with the arms fully extended, curl the weight towards your chest.
- The top of the dumbbell should be facing straight up.
- Slowly lower the dumbbell to the starting position.
To avoid wasting time and energy, you’ll want to read the full article to see if waiter curls are a good fit for your goals.
In this article, I’ll discuss what a waiter curl is and how it is performed. I will also talk about which muscles it works, the benefits and drawbacks of the exercise, as well as variations and alternatives to the waiter curl.
Table of Contents
What is the Waiter Curl?
The waiter curl is a lesser-known bicep exercise than others, such as an EZ bar curl or dumbbell curl. Just as a waiter balances a tray on his palm, the same is done with the flat end of the dumbbell, which is how the exercise got its name.
It was popularized by strength and conditioning coach, and physical therapist, Jeff Cavaliere. The waiter curl has the same purpose as all other bicep curl variations: to isolate, activate, and train the biceps to develop bigger arms.
Unlike many of these other variations, the waiter curl uses a unique grip to train the biceps in a way that isn’t typical of other exercises. The waiter curl requires you to rest the flat side of the dumbbell on the palm of your hands. Most bicep exercises heavily work the forearms because of grip requirements.
The waiter curl takes grip strength and strain on the forearms completely out of the equation. This allows you to put all of your focus on training your biceps, specifically the long head of the biceps, without adding unnecessary stress to other parts of the body.
If you have noticed that one of your biceps is bigger than the other, check out this article to learn how to even biceps out.
Waiter Curl: Muscles Worked
The primary muscles worked during the waiter curl are the biceps brachii. This particular exercise also emphasizes the biceps' long (outer) head. While not to the same extent, the movement also trains the forearm flexors and brachialis.
The brachialis lies beneath the brachii and is one of the largest elbow flexors providing forearm flexion. The waiter curl also activates the forearm flexor muscles, which help move the forearms into a supinated position.
Since there is constant tension on your arms during this two-handed dumbbell curl results in brachii, brachialis, and forearm flexor activation.
Waiter Curls: How To
Performing a waiter curl is different than performing many other bicep variations. If you’re unsure how to do a dumbbell waiter curl, follow the steps below.
Step One: Take a proper grip on the dumbbell
Choose a dumbbell you can handle, and hold the dumbbell vertically on one side so that both your palms are under the plate. Ensure that both your palms are flat and support the weight of the dumbbell. Support the weight on the palms by tightly gripping the dumbbell.
Step Two: Begin at the proper starting position
Stand straight with your feet about hip-width apart. Hold the dumbbell in front of you at thigh level, with arms extended. The dumbbell will require a slight bend in the elbow at the bottom. Focus on keeping your back straight and shoulder blades pulled back (retracted).
Step Three: Begin the movement
Focusing on only using the biceps, curl the weight towards your chest. The top of the dumbbell should remain facing straight up throughout the entire repetition. Slowly lower the dumbbell to the starting position. This is one repetition.
If you’re unsure if your curls should be performed fast or slow, check out this article Is It Better To Do Bicep Curls Fast or Slow?
3 Benefits of Waiter Curls
1. Isolating the biceps
If you have a long training history, it is very possible that you can no longer put size on your arms like you used to. Some of that just comes along with training. Progress is never going to be as fast later on as it was at the start. However, slow progress can also occur partly because of a lack of variation. If you do the same thing all the time, eventually progress will slow.
The waiter curl is a great option to train the biceps in a different way than normal. The narrow grip allows more focus on the long head of the biceps, which can help give you a better bicep peak. The long head is also not as strong as the short head, so this can be a great way to close that gap.
2. Little equipment required
The beauty of the waiter curl is that it only takes one dumbbell. So if you train at home, this is a great option, especially if you don’t have pairs of dumbbells at each weight. You can literally build up the equipment in your home gym one dumbbell at a time.
If you train at a commercial gym, I don’t have to tell you how busy it can get, especially at peak hours. The waiter curl allows you to train your biceps hard with only one small piece of equipment in a crowded gym.
3. Great for everyone
The waiter curl is a fairly easy movement to learn. If you’ve mastered any other curl during your training career, you can pick this variation up quickly.
The movement also requires slightly less range of motion at the elbow joint, as you do not extend the elbow to the bottom. So this can be a great option for people working around certain upper body injuries.
3 Drawbacks of Waiter Curls
1. Decreased Range of Motion
While the waiter curl emphasizes certain muscles over others, especially at the top of the movement, one drawback is that it has a shorter range of motion than many other bicep movements.
The biceps can experience greater range of motion and be loaded more heavily on many other bicep exercises. While range of motion and load are not the only things that lead to muscle growth, they are very important. Generally speaking, more range of motion is better regarding muscle hypertrophy.
Check out this article to see some seated curl alternatives that may lead to more muscle growth.
2. Fewer Muscles Are Worked
While you certainly don’t want to be limited by forearm strength on a curl, other bicep variations can likely cause greater activation of the forearms. The waiter curl can be a good option because it eliminates stress on the hands and forearms. After all, you are not required to grip the weight tightly.
This can be good in some cases, but in others, not so much. Some people want to use bicep exercises that tax their forearms a lot. This can help to cut down on time as many people probably don’t want to be in the gym long enough to train their biceps and forearms separately.
3. Certain dumbbells won’t work
A benefit of waiter curls is that they only require one dumbbell. A drawback is that the dumbbell must be very flat or won’t rest on the palm properly. If you have slightly rounded dumbbells, you will be required to grip the dumbbell much more tightly, limiting the supination of the forearm.
Waiter Curl Mistakes to Avoid
1. Tilting the Dumbbell
Allowing the dumbbell to tilt forward will lead to tension coming off your bicep peak. Tilting the dumbbell forward even a bit will also put more stress on the wrists and forearms. You will be required to grip the dumbbell much more tightly, putting more stress on the forearms and less on the biceps.
It is also worth noting that form should be kept strict, and you should avoid using momentum from the lower body.
2. Going Too Heavy
It can be easy to let the ego get in the way when performing this exercise. Since only one dumbbell is required, many people try to load it much too heavily, and their form breaks down.
If you use a weight that is too heavy, you will end up gripping the dumbbell too much, making it so you don’t supinate your hands, and overall you won’t experience as good of a bicep contraction.
3. Following a Full Range of Motion
You do not have to fully extend the dumbbell at the bottom like you would on other bicep movements. Doing so will make it so that you hit yourself in the thighs with the dumbbell. Fully extending the elbow at the bottom of the range of motion may also make it so your palms no longer face up with the dumbbell resting on top.
Who Should Do Waiter Curls?
People Who Don’t Have Access to a Barbell
The most obvious group of people that should do waiter curls are people that only have access to dumbbells and don’t have access to barbells. The fact that waiter curls only require one dumbbell makes them even that much better of an exercise choice for most people.
Beginners
The exercise is easy to learn, and you can get a lot out of light weights. The sooner a beginner can execute and feel a movement properly in the desired muscles, the faster they will see results.
People with upper body injuries
Because waiter curls require slightly less range of motion than other bicep exercises, they can be a great option for people with upper body injuries, especially if their injuries are at the elbow joint. The waiter curl does not require full extension at the elbow, which certain individuals could greatly benefit from when injured.
Who Should Not Do Waiter Curls?
Everyone can do waiter curls and could derive some benefit from them. My only caveat would be that other movements probably provide greater overload and train the bicep through a greater range of motion. So if bicep development is a major goal, focus on those variations most of the time, with the waiter curl being rotated in occasionally.
How To Program Waiter Curls
Waiter curls can be programmed in various ways, although most people's biceps goal is to put on size. For most muscle groups, to maximize hypertrophy, they should be trained for 10-20 overloading sets per week, and generally in the 50-80% intensity range.
Those overloading sets could be broken up in many ways, but let's say that you train biceps on two upper body-focused days during the week. That would mean that you could do two variations of bicep curls on each of those days, one being the waiter curl for 3-5 sets of 8-15 reps. If you want to train your biceps more frequently, you would likely just want to do one bicep exercise daily for 3-5 sets of 8-15 reps.
Generally speaking, the waiter curl could be programmed anywhere from 3-5 sets of 8-15 reps as an individual exercise. Normally you would train biceps at the end of an upper body day, after larger muscles, or you may train on a separate day for arms.
Check out this article for the benefits of training chest and biceps on the same day.
2 Waiter Curl Variations
1. Chest Supported Waiter Curl
Lying chest down on an incline bench can make the waiter curl even more challenging. This will allow for a greater stretch at the bottom of the movement and require less load due to the more challenging angle.
How To Do a Chest-Supported Waiter Curl:
- Set an incline bench so that it is at a 45-degree angle to the floor.
- Place your abdomen against the back support so that your middle chest is at the edge of the pad.
- As mentioned in the article, hold a dumbbell in the waiter curl position.
- At the starting position, your arm should be extended straight down to be perpendicular to the floor and directly under your shoulders.
- While keeping your elbows pinned in position, curl the dumbbell until it is at your shoulder height.
- Pause and contract at the top.
- Slowly return to the starting position.
2. Kneeling Waiter Curl
The waiter curl is normally performed in a standing position. While this usually doesn’t lead to any issues, sometimes the standing position can make it more likely to drop the dumbbell on your feet or get hit with it in some other way.
To avoid this mistake, some athletes do waiter curls on their knees.
How To Do the Kneeling Waiter Curl:
- Get on your knees. You can kneel deeply, rest on your heels, or kneel tall with your thighs straight.
- Hold the dumbbell in both palms of your hands.
- Squeeze your glutes and engage your core to create full-body tension.
- Curl the dumbbell towards your chest.
- Hold this position.
- Slowly lower the dumbbell.
- Complete as many repetitions as you can.
2 Waiter Curl Alternatives
1. Incline Dumbbell Curl
Since this variation is performed on an incline, this exercise allows for a greater range of motion during the bicep curl, resulting in a greater stretch at the bottom, potentially leading to greater gains. This is also a great variation because it isolates and loads the biceps with minimal weight and stretches the chest and shoulders.
Check out our comprehensive guide on Incline Dumbbell Curls.
2. Preacher Curls
Preacher curls eliminate all other movements except what is happening at the elbow. This allows for the maximal amount of bicep isolation. This exercise also places the lifter in a position with a slightly flexed shoulder, which helps isolate the bicep even more. This lift can be performed with barbells, EZ bars, or dumbbells.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Do Waiter Curls Work?
Waiter curls primarily work the biceps brachii. Both heads of the bicep contract when performing this movement, but due to the closer grip width, this movement emphasizes the long bicep head to help build the bicep peak.
Final Thoughts
The waiter curl is an often forgotten movement. It can be a great variation to work into your routine to provide some variation and a slightly different movement pattern and muscle contraction than the biceps may be used to.
It is worth noting that other bicep variations place the biceps under greater load and provide a greater range of motion. Variations that do that, such as; barbell curls, hammer curls, traditional bicep curls, etc., are likely better choices for hypertrophy.
However, if you haven’t ever tried waiter curls, or it’s been a long time, give them a shot and see what you think.
Check out this article for other bicep variations you should be doing.
About The Author
Derek Reasch is a strength and conditioning coach with experience coaching at the Division I, Division II, and NAIA levels. Previously, he worked as a certified personal trainer and nutrition coach. He holds a Master’s in Kinesiology and a Bachelor’s in Exercise Science. As a competitive powerlifter, he has achieved an elite total in several weight classes. He currently is focused on his online coaching and apparel business, Reaschmode Athletics.
