Machine Preacher Curl
Seated preacher curl machine that fixes the upper arms on a pad so the biceps work through a strict range.
How to do it
- Set the seat height so your armpits rest against the top of the pad.
- Sit with your chest against the support and your feet flat on the floor.
- Take the handles with an underhand grip and lay your upper arms flat on the pad.
- Straighten your arms to the start position without fully locking the elbows.
- Curl the handles toward your shoulders and squeeze at the top.
- Lower under control back to the stretched position and repeat.
Key technique cue
Elbows stay on the pad — don't creep up, use the full range.
Common mistakes
- ✕ Sliding the elbows up the pad, which shortens the range the biceps actually work.
- ✕ Lifting the chest off the support to start the rep, which brings the back into an arm exercise.
- ✕ Snapping the arms straight at the bottom, which loads the elbow in a stretched position.
- ✕ Setting the seat too low, so the shoulders shrug up and the pad digs into the arms.
Benefits
- ✓ The pad removes momentum, so the biceps take the load at every rep speed.
- ✓ A fixed path is quick to teach and easy to load in small steps.
- ✓ Supported arms let you train close to failure without the torso compensating.
Progression: from easier to harder
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Step 1 You are here - Machine Preacher Curl
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Step 2
About the exercise
The machine preacher curl seats you with the upper arms flat on an angled pad and the hands on handles that follow a fixed arc. The pad puts the shoulder into slight flexion, which shortens the biceps long head and shifts more of the demand onto the short head and the brachialis, and it removes any chance of swinging the load up with the hips. A ten week trial comparing preacher curls against a shoulder extended cable curl found similar biceps and brachialis growth from both, so the preacher position is best treated as a strictness choice rather than a growth advantage. It suits beginner arm programming where cheating is the main problem, and machine circuits.
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