Cable Wrist Curl
Seated cable wrist curl with the forearms braced that isolates wrist flexion and builds grip strength.
How to do it
- Attach a straight bar to a low pulley and set a light weight.
- Sit on a bench facing the stack with your feet about shoulder width apart.
- Grip the bar underhand at shoulder width and rest your elbows on your inner thighs.
- Let the bar drop by bending only at the wrists, allowing it to roll toward your fingers.
- Close your grip and curl your wrists upward, squeezing the forearms at the top.
- Pause briefly, then lower under control and repeat for reps.
Key technique cue
Elbows stay on the thighs; pick a weight that lets only the wrists move.
Common mistakes
- ✕ Loading too heavy, which turns the rep into an elbow curl and hides the wrist range.
- ✕ Lifting the elbows off the thighs, so the forearms move and the wrists stay locked.
- ✕ Skipping the roll to the fingers, which leaves out the grip closing part of the movement.
- ✕ Bouncing at the bottom, which loads the wrist joint rather than the flexors.
Benefits
- ✓ Isolates wrist flexion, which most pulling exercises never train directly.
- ✓ Builds the forearm flexors that close the grip on bars and handles.
- ✓ Cable tension stays even across a very short range of motion.
Progression: from easier to harder
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Step 1 You are here - Cable Wrist Curl
- Barbell Wrist Curl
- Dumbbell Wrist Curl
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Step 2
About the exercise
The cable wrist curl braces the forearms against the thighs or a bench with a bar held underhand from a low pulley, so the only joint that moves is the wrist. Letting the bar roll toward the fingertips at the bottom and then closing the hand and flexing the wrist trains the forearm flexors that both bend the wrist and shut the grip. The cable holds a steady pull at every point in that short travel, which matters because the range itself is only a few inches. Light weight and a deliberate pause at the top do far more here than heavy loading.
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