Spider curls have their benefits but they are not for everyone. Find out what alternatives to spider curls offer similar effects.
Doing bicep curls in a chest-supported way changes two main things compared to regular bicep curls.
First of all, because you are lying down, it becomes easier to keep your body and upper arms still. This can lead to more upper arm muscle isolation.
Secondly, the position of your elbow in front of your body makes spider curls focus slightly more on the short head, of the biceps brachii. This is the inner of the two bicep muscle heads.
More generally, spider curls can help you build muscle mass, burn calories, and offer other typical exercise benefits.
Whether you don’t enjoy spider curls, you don’t have an incline bench available, or you want an alternative for any other reason, these alternatives to spider curls can offer you some or all of the same benefits.
1. Preacher curls
Besides some type of resistance, you will also need a bench specifically made for preacher curls or a regular incline bench. You basically want a slanted surface.
Take the following steps to do a preacher bicep curl with dumbbells:
- Take a seat behind the preacher bench with the back of your upper arm resting on the slanted surface. Each of your hands holds a dumbbell with your hand palms facing upward in starting position.
- Slowly fold your arms at the elbows as far as you can. Keep your upper arms in the same position throughout the exercise.
- Lower the dumbbells back into starting position in a controlled motion.
Required equipment aside, preacher curls are one of the alternatives that come closest to spider curls in terms of benefits. Your upper arms are held in place and your elbows are in front of your body during the curl.
Similar to spider curls, this in turn leads to making it easier to isolate your upper arm muscles and slightly more focus on the short head of the biceps brachii.
One downside of this substitute is that you still need a preacher bench to do the exercise.
2. Concentration curls
You can do this next spider curl alternative without an incline weight bench but you still need something sturdy to sit on at about knee height and some form of resistance.
Take the following steps to do a concentration curl with a dumbbell:
- Sit on the object with your upper legs at about a 90-degree angle with the dumbbell right next to the foot of the arm you want to work out.
- Put the lower back of your upper arm of the dumbbell side on the inside of your leg on the same side. Hold the dumbbell but keep your arm slightly less than stretched.
- Slowly fold your arm with the dumbbell at the elbow as far as comfortable. Keep your upper arm in the same position throughout the exercise.
- Lower the dumbbell back into the position of step 2 in a controlled motion.
- Repeat the same number of repetitions on the other side.
Concentration curls are great to do instead of spider curls in the sense that you make your biceps work harder by avoiding momentum and using the rest of your body.
Where concentration curls are different is that the upward angle works the long head of your biceps brachii more instead of the short head like during spider curls.
3. Wide-grip bicep curls
You can do the next exercise without a weight bench or something to sit on. The only thing you need is some form of resistance. Take the following steps to do a wide-grip barbell bicep curl:
- Stand up straight with your arms hanging beside you. Hold a barbell with your hands further away from each other than shoulder width with a supinated grip which means with your hand palms facing forward in starting position.
- Slowly fold your arms at the elbows as far as comfortable. Keep your upper arms in the same position throughout the exercise.
- Lower the barbell back into starting position in a controlled motion.
By shifting the position of your hands you target the short head of the brachii bicep muscle, the inner of the two brachii muscle heads, more compared to regular bicep curls.
A downside compared to spider curls is that it is relatively easy to use your upper body and upper arms to lift the resistance.
The example walk-through uses a barbell but you can also use one-handed resistance like dumbbells, kettlebells, and certain weight plates.
To make these “wide-grip” and get the consequences from that, you would point your lower arms more outward.
4. Close-grip underhanded lat pulldowns
For this next spider curl alternative, you need a cable machine and a lat pulldown attachment. Often the lat pulldown has its own cable machine setup in the gym.
This is basically a seat with pads to brace your upper thighs against in front of a cable machine. The pads are there so you don’t pull yourself up during the exercise.
You may also be able to do lat pulldowns with sturdy resistance bands at home or in the gym, especially if you have some type of straight bar attachment.
Take the following steps to do a close-grip underhanded lat pulldown:
- Take place the seat with your legs anchored behind the thigh pads. Select the desired weight.
- Grab the handle with an underhanded grip, this means hand palms facing backward, with your hands close to each other. Lean back slightly with your upper body.
- Slowly pull down the bar by folding your elbows and squeezing your shoulder blades together until the bar reaches your chest.
- Lower the bar back into the position of step 2 in a controlled motion.
As the name implies the main version of this exercise mainly focuses on your latissimus dorsi also known as your lats. Similar to pull-ups vs chin-ups, by changing your grip this exercise also engages your biceps a nice amount.
Close-grip underhanded lat pulldowns are more of a substitute for spider curls if you are looking for a bicep compound exercise.
To target the short head of the biceps brachii muscle specifically this is not the best exercise choice.
5. Crossbody curls
Take the following steps to do a crossbody curl:
- Stand up straight with your arms hanging beside you. Each hand holds a dumbbell with your hand palms facing forward in starting position.
- Slowly bring the dumbbell of one side to the shoulder of the opposite side as far as possible by folding your arms at the elbow. Keep your upper arm as much in the same position as possible but it will inevitably have to move to be able to do the movement.
- Lower the dumbbell back into starting position in a controlled motion.
- Repeat with the dumbbell on the other side.
As explained with the wide-grip bicep curl, the angle of the upward motion influences what muscle head of the biceps brachii gets worked the most.
Crossbody curls are an alternative to spider curls that focuses on the long (outer) head instead of the short (inner) head. So this option is more for you if you don’t like the focus of the spider curl.
6. Hammer curls
Take the following steps to do a hammer curl:
- Stand up straight with your arms hanging beside you. Each hand holds a dumbbell with a neutral grip which means that your hand palms face each other in starting position.
- Slowly fold your arms at the elbows as far as you can. Keep your upper arms in the same position throughout the exercise.
- Lower the dumbbells back into starting position in a controlled motion.
Similar to some of the previous options, hammer curls are an alternative with a slightly different upper arm muscle focus than spider curls.
By changing your grip compared to the regular curl, hammer curls work your brachialis muscle. This upper-arm muscle helps your arms achieve more power and look bigger.
Additionally, the brachioradialis, mainly a forearm muscle, has to work harder during hammer curls too.
7. Seated curls
For the next exercise, you will need a flat weight bench or something else narrow yet sturdy to sit on. Once you have that, take the following steps to do a seated bicep curl with dumbbells:
- Sit down on the weight bench so that you can let your arms hang beside you. Each hand holds a dumbbell with your hand palms facing forward in starting position.
- Slowly fold your arms at the elbows as far as you can. Keep your upper arms in the same position throughout the exercise.
- Lower the dumbbells back into starting position in a controlled motion.
Similar to spider curls, by doing a regular dumbbell curl sitting down you avoid using your legs to move the dumbbell. This leads to more focus on your biceps and can in turn help you grow more muscles faster.
If you like the biceps brachii short muscle head engagement of spider curls you can keep your elbows slightly in front of your body during seated curls.
That being said, gravity will make it harder to keep your elbows there compared to a spider curl.
