What Is a Preacher Curl?

A preacher curl is a bicep curl variation involving a specialized bench that holds your upper arms at a set angle during the exercise. While performing this exercise, you sit on a bench with the back of your upper arms resting on the pad.

Benefits of Preacher Curls

The most significant benefit of the preacher curl is that it holds your arms in place and eliminates unnecessary body movements. Moreover, the strict form of the preacher curl helps you isolate and develop your biceps.

In addition, the preacher curl is a versatile exercise you can perform with a bar, dumbbells, or cables. And some gyms even have preacher curl machines.

However, the downside is that you generally need a preacher curl bench, which you may not have in a small gym or home gym. Also, some people may find their biceps hurt at the bottom of the movement.

Pros

• Forces you to use strict form.
• It isolates the biceps.
• Can perform multiple variations.

Cons

• Requires a preacher bench.
• It can put high stress on the biceps.

Preacher Curl Muscles Worked

Before we get into preacher curl alternative exercises, it’s essential to understand the muscles worked. That way, you’ll know which exercises work your arms similarly.

As mentioned, the preacher curl primarily targets the biceps muscle on the front of your upper arm. But the biceps consist of two parts: the short and long heads.

The bicep’s short head is on the inner part, while the long head is on the outer part. Generally, preacher curls emphasize the short head of your inner bicep.

How to Replicate Preacher Curls

The reason preacher curls target the short head of the bicep has to do with a few different biomechanical factors. Mainly, these factors include hand, forearm, and upper arm position.

Hand Position

Supination is when your palm faces up, and pronation is when your palm faces down. The more pronated your hand, the more you work the long head. While the more supinated your hand, the more you work the short head.

Preacher curls typically use an underhand or supinated grip, working the short head.

Forearm Position

When your forearm is angled across your body, you accentuate the long head. And when your forearm is angled away from your body, you accentuate the short head.

Preacher curls generally place your forearms in a neutral position or straight ahead. However, grip width can change your forearm angle slightly.

Upper Arm Position

Lastly, keeping your elbows behind your body targets the long head. Whereas having your elbows in front of your body targets the short head.

One of the defining characteristics of preacher curls is that they angle your upper arms forward. So we should emulate this with alternative exercises to work the same muscles.

14 Preacher Curl Alternative Exercises

Now you know what a preacher curl is and how it works your biceps. So it’s time to jump into some alternative exercises.

This list is broken up by equipment so you can easily find a replacement exercise that works with your gym setup.

Preacher Curl Alternative with Barbell

First, let’s look at preacher curl substitutes you can do with a barbell. These exercises could use a straight bar or EZ curl bar.

1. Standing Barbell Curl (Elbows Forward)

Barbell curls are one of the best bicep exercises you should regularly include in your arm workouts.

Most of the time, this exercise is performed with your elbows directly at your sides. But when used as a preacher curl replacement, you should think about moving your elbows forward slightly as you lift the bar.

In addition, using a wider grip helps you get a little more short head bicep activation as you would during the preacher curl. In the video below, I show you the grip and minimal forward movement necessary to achieve this.

Preacher Curl Alternative with Dumbbells

Now I will show you some preacher curl alternatives using dumbbells.

5. Dumbbell Curls (Elbows Forward)

Dumbbell curls are a free-weight exercise similar to barbell curls, except each arm works independently. This arm separation enables you to replicate the preacher curl in multiple ways.

First, you can position your elbows slightly in front of your body as you curl the dumbbell. Also, try to supinate your wrist as your reach the top of the range of motion.

Finally, you can even angle your forearm out slightly to target the short head even more.

Preacher Curl Alternative with Cable

In this section, you will find preacher curl alternative exercises you can do on a cable apparatus.

9. Cable Curl (Elbows Forward)

The cable curl is meant to replicate the standing barbell or dumbbell curl. But the pulley position slightly changes the angle of applied force.

For example, stepping back from the low pulley results in your arms being more in front of your body. And this is a good way to replicate the preacher curl arm position.

Other Preacher Curl Alternatives

Lastly, here are a couple more exercises you can substitute for preacher curls.

13. Overhead Curls

In many exercises, you replicate the preacher curl by positioning your upper arms in front of your body. But you can isolate the inner bicep even more by performing curls with your arms completely overhead.

One of the easiest ways to do this is using the lat pulldown cable station. But you can also perform this variation using a high pulley while sitting on the floor, as shown below.