Pinwheel Curls: Most Underrated Move for Biceps & Forearms

This dynamic exercise not only enhances muscle definition but also improves grip strength and overall stability. In this blog post, we’ll dive into the proper technique for pinwheel curls, highlight their benefits, and provide tips on incorporating them into your routine.

Whether you’re a gym veteran or just starting your fitness journey, pinwheel curls can elevate your arm training and help you achieve those defined muscles you’ve always wanted!

What are Pinwheel Bicep Curls?

Pinwheel curls, also called cross-body hammer curls, are a variation of bicep curls that require you to work each dumbbell across your body, aiming to get it towards your opposite shoulder in each rep. 

What pinwheel curls do differently compared to a standard bicep curl or hammer curl is create more activation in your brachialis and brachioradialis muscles. 

This can help you enhance the look of your arms plus create more of a strength link between your forearms and upper arms. 

We’ll take a deeper look at the benefits of pinwheel curls shortly. 

But first off, here’s how to perform pinwheel bicep curls:

How to Do Pinwheel Curls

A dumbbell pinwheel curl is one of the simplest moves you can do to help grow your biceps and forearms. 

Take a look at how you can master this simple move using just a set of dumbbells. 

1. Set-Up: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand at your sides with a neutral grip (palms facing towards each other).
2. Action: Curl one dumbbell in and across your body, aiming to get it towards your opposite shoulder. Keep alternating your dumbbell curls like this, rotating the wrist with each curl to create a twisting motion.
3. Muscles Targeted: Pinwheel curls primarily target the biceps brachii muscles, specifically the outer (long) and inner (short) heads of the biceps, depending on the wrist rotation. They also engage the brachialis and brachioradialis muscles, contributing to overall arm development.
4. Reps and Sets: 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps per arm. 

Pinwheel curls are a versatile exercise that can give you some variety in your arm workouts. They also emphasize different parts of the biceps and forearm muscles that you may be used to working. 

Tips & Common Mistakes

Although this move is simple, there are a few quick tips you should be mindful of that we’ll walk you through. 

Go heavy, but not too heavy.

Because you’re lifting cross-body, rather than straight up and down like a regular hammer curl, you can go slightly heavier. This is because, in a curl, it’s generally easier to lift a weight that sits further away from your body.

That being said, don’t use this move as an ego lift with sloppy technique. Focus on feeling your muscles contract, both on the concentric (“up” portion of your curl) and the eccentric (the “down”). 

Alternate between pinwheel curls and hammer curls.

Both exercises help to emphasize the same muscles: the biceps brachii, the brachialis and the brachioradialis.

However, one curl variation may give you more muscular activation where you want to feel it. This varies from person to person, so it’s a good idea to experiment with both curl types.

Try one style for a few weeks or months, tracking your weight progress using the Flex app. After that, you can try switching to the other to see which feels easiest and most effective for you. 

Weight Choice.

Make sure you pick a weight that lets you keep proper form throughout the exercise. Too heavy weights can lead to improper form and potential injury, but if you go too light, you don’t challenge your muscles enough to grow.

Generally, people find they can lift more with a pinwheel curl vs. hammer curl, so be mindful of this in your weight selection. 

Lift with Control.

Focus on slow, controlled movements. Don’t use too much momentum or swing your weights, trying to get a weight up if it’s too heavy for you. That only makes your workout less effective. If you find you’re swinging or using momentum, try the exercise with a lighter weight until you build more strength.

Breathe.

Don’t forget to breathe! Exhale as you curl the weight up and inhale as you lower it back down.

Don’t move your elbows.

In any curl, keep your elbows firmly locked in against the sides of your body. This helps ensure that you’re relegating the movement to your arm muscles rather than using your trunk muscles or momentum only. 

Don’t use a shallow range of motion.

Make sure you’re lifting the weight up as close to your shoulders as possible and that you let it come all the way back to your thighs before going for another rep. You don’t need to lock out your elbows when your weight comes down, but you should be aiming for full extension of your arms. 

This can give you some mental stimulation or motivation if you’re used to only working with standard bicep curls. It’s nice to break out of your comfort zone and try a new curl variation. 

What muscles do Pinwheel curls work?

This arm workout targets several arm muscles including: 

Biceps Brachii

Your biceps brachii (commonly just called “biceps”), is a two-headed muscle (long and short) that lets you flex your elbows. Your biceps let you curl your weight towards your shoulder, creating a bend in your elbow joint. 

The long head is especially engaged with supinated (palms-up) grips, but a neutral grip like the one you use in pinwheel curls can be great for hammering this head, too. 

Note: Triceps are another multi-headed muscle. We’ve gone more in-depth on what that means to your muscular activation and what “long” and “short” heads do. Here are some good supplementary reads if you’re looking to understand how activating different muscle heads can impact the look and feel of your arm development: 

• Best Long Head Tricep Exercises
• Best Lateral Head Tricep Exercises
• Medial Head Tricep Exercises

Brachialis

Under your biceps sits the brachialis muscle. Your brachialis helps with your elbow flexion and is considered a “pure flexor” of your elbow since it doesn’t pronate (turn down) or supinate (turn up) your palms/grip.

This muscle gets more active when you use a neutral or pronated grip (palms facing each other or downward), so it’s a key player in perfecting those pinwheels. Strong brachialis muscles play a role in your overall arm strength and size. 

One common question about the brachialis is: Does the brachialis make up part of your bicep, or is it a forearm muscle? The answer is neither! The brachialis is considered a forearm flexor, so it operates the movement of your forearm but is located more so on the upper arm, beneath your bicep.  

Brachioradialis

Not to be confused with the brachialis (despite their similar names and functions) your brachioradialis sits lower than the brachialis, running along your forearm and also helps flex your elbows. 

Yep, there’s certainly a lot of muscular activation at play when it comes to flexing those elbows! This muscle works hardest in a traditional hammer curl or if you’re using a neutral grip. Your brachioradialis muscles help stabilize your wrists and build up strength in your arms. 

Benefits of Pinwheel Curls

Pinwheel curls, with their alternating reps, effectively target these muscles, to give you solid development for your biceps and forearms. Adding a pinwheel curl workout into your weekly arm routine can help you improve your arm strength, stability, and the overall look of your arms. 

Take a look at these perks of pinwheel curls:

Bicep Strength 

Pinwheel curls target both heads (long and short) of your biceps effectively. This helps to promote balanced muscle growth and strength in your arms.

Forearm Activation

In a pinwheel curl, you’re able to keep your weights closer to your body, by bringing them across your torso. Compare this to a regular hammer curl, where your weights move in an up-and-down pattern, getting further away from your body. 

The closeness of your weight to the body in a pinwheel curl lets you put more stress on your brachialis muscles while using a heavy weight. The brachialis muscle doesn’t pronate or supinate (turn up or down) your wrists. In a pinwheel curl, you use a neutral grip so you don’t put this muscle at a disadvantage. 

The neutral position can be a great way to get your brachioradialis working! Since it helps with both pronation and supination (or doing both to neutralize your grip), the brachioradialis may be more influenced by this curl style. 

Functional Strength

You do a lot of movements in your everyday life that involve bending your elbows and curling things towards you (like lifting your grocery bags!). Pinwheel curls help improve your functional strength by simulating movements that you would readily use for sports or daily tasks like lifting and pulling.

Aesthetics 

If you do them regularly and focus on progressive overload (increasing your weight each time), pinwheel curls will help shape and define your biceps and forearms. This can give you sculpted arms and a toned look, like that of a Greek God.

Pinwheel Curls vs Hammer Curls

What’s the difference between a pinwheel curl and a hammer curl? Both are highly effective at building your biceps. These moves, though, do have some differences in how they’re executed and what arm muscles they emphasize:

Pinwheel Curls

• Grip: Neutral grip (palms facing together) in each hand.
• Movement: Curl the dumbbells up toward your opposite shoulders alternately, crossing your body as you lift.
• Muscle Emphasis: Pinwheel curls emphasize your biceps outer head (long head) and also engage your brachialis and brachioradialis.

Hammer Curls

• Grip: Neutral grip (palms facing together).
• Movement: Curl the dumbbells up toward the same shoulder as the arm working. 
• Emphasis: Hammer curls mostly target your brachialis muscle, underneath your biceps, along with your brachioradialis and outer head of the biceps.

Main Differences

• In a pinwheel curl, you move the weight across your body, as opposed to up and down.  This emphasizes your outer bicep head. 

So, should you use pinwheel curls or hammer curls in your workout routine? 

You can incorporate both of these curl variations into your arm day for a great balanced workout that will help you build up your strength. 

If you have a preference between the two, work on whichever curl style you prefer. 

Big Picture

When you add pinwheel curls into your arm workout routine, you’re setting yourself up to build stronger, more defined biceps and forearms. 

It’s a great way to enhance both appearance and functional strength all at once. Pinwheel curls work on the diagonal— you cross your weight over your torso, lifting it towards the opposite shoulder. 

Traditional hammer curls, on the other hand, work in a straight up-and-down pattern. The main benefit of pinwheel curls over hammer curls is more emphasis on the outer bicep head (your biceps long head) and potentially more emphasis on the brachioradialis. 

Ultimately, though, both these curl variations can be highly beneficial to building stronger and more functional arms that look and feel their best! 

Wheel it into high gear. The Flex App progresses as you do with plate tracking capabilities and auto progression. Try it out for free today. Plus, learn more about how to work your biceps and forearms with these resources: 

• Reverse Curls
• Do Hand Grippers Work? 
• Chin-Ups for Biceps
• How to Make Your Bicep Veins Show
• Bad Bicep Genetics

References

Ambike, S., Paclet, F., Zatsiorsky, V. M., & Latash, M. L. (2014). Factors affecting grip force: anatomy, mechanics, and referent configurations. Experimental brain research, 232(4), 1219–1231. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-014-3838-8

Lung BE, Ekblad J, Bisogno M. Anatomy, Shoulder and Upper Limb, Forearm Brachioradialis Muscle. [Updated 2024 Jan 30]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK526110/

Plotkin, D., Coleman, M., Van Every, D., Maldonado, J., Oberlin, D., Israetel, M., Feather, J., Alto, A., Vigotsky, A. D., & Schoenfeld, B. J. (2022). Progressive overload without progressing load? The effects of load or repetition progression on muscular adaptations. PeerJ, 10, e14142. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14142