If you’re into climbing, martial arts, or any sport that demands a strong grip, finger curls are your new best friend. They directly train the finger muscles that are important for grasping, pinching, and curling your fingers.
Moreover, strengthening the forearm and finger muscles is a great way to ward off common injuries like tendonitis or carpal tunnel syndrome, especially if you spend a lot of time typing or using your hands.
Finger curls are particularly beneficial for athletes in sports like tennis, rock climbing, and martial arts because of their grip-intensive activities.
If you want to build serious grip and forearm strength, I recommend trying finger curls.
Finger Curl Variations
Try these variations of finger curls to keep your workouts interesting and target your forearm muscles as per your fitness level and preference.
Position Variations
- Seated Finger Curls: The classic, easy-to-learn variation. Sit on a bench, rest your forearms on your thighs/bench, and curl.
- Standing Finger Curls: This one challenges your core and balance. Stand tall, arms at your sides, and curl away.
- One-Arm Finger Curls: Isolates each arm, allowing you to focus on any forearm strength imbalances.
- Behind-the-Back Finger Curls: This one’s a bit more advanced but an amazing forearm builder. Stand with the weight behind your back, fingers pointing down, and curl up.
Equipment Variations
- Dumbbell Finger Curls: Great for beginners and easily adjustable.
- Barbell Finger Curls: Allows you to lift heavier weights for more strength gains.
- Cable Finger Curls: Provides constant tension throughout the movement.
How To Do Barbell Finger Curl
- Sit on a bench with your feet flat on the floor, about shoulder-width apart.
- Hold a barbell with both hands, palms facing up, and your hands spaced about shoulder-width apart.
- Rest your forearms on your thighs/bench, with your wrists hanging just past your knees.
- Extend the fingers to lower the bar as far as possible. Allow the bar to roll down the hands, and then catch the bar with the final joint in the fingers.
- Curl your fingers and close your hands to lift the barbell back up.
- At the top of the curl, squeeze your forearms and hold the contraction briefly to maximize the benefit.
- Slowly release the barbell back to the starting position.
Tips and Form
- Keep your forearms glued to your thighs (or sides if you’re standing). The movement should come solely from your fingers.
- Don’t let the weight drop quickly. Slowly and carefully lower it to ensure maximum muscle engagement.
- Keep your wrist stationary, and let your fingers do the work.
- The biggest risk with finger curls is accidentally dropping the weight. This can damage your surroundings or cause injury if it falls on you. Always maintain control of the weight.
- Begin with a weight you can comfortably handle for 10-15 reps.
- You should also do finger curls along with another forearm curl exercise.
Behind The Back Dumbbell Finger Curl
Manish is a NASM-certified fitness and nutrition coach with over 10 years of experience in weight lifting and fat loss fitness coaching. He specializes in gym-based training and has a lot of knowledge about exercise, lifting technique, biomechanics, and more.
Through “Fit Life Regime,” he generously shares the insights he’s gained over a decade in the field. His goal is to equip others with the knowledge to start their own fitness journey.