Suspension biceps curl
A leaning curl against the straps. Biceps work with no weights, where your elbows stay high and your feet set the load.
The movement
Arms straight
01 Arms straight
Elbows up at shoulder height, arms straight, body leaning back in one line.
02 Hands to the temples
Bend only the elbows; the upper arms stay level at shoulder height.
How to do it
Setup
- Hold a handle in each hand with your palms facing up, straps set at chest height.
- Walk your feet forward and lean back until your arms are straight and the straps hold your weight.
- Raise your elbows to shoulder height and keep them there.
Execution
- Curl your body up toward your hands by bending only your elbows.
- Finish with your hands beside your temples and your upper arms still parallel to the floor.
- Lower until your arms are fully straight, keeping your elbows high.
BreathingExhale as you curl up, inhale as your arms straighten.
Form cues
- Your upper arms stay still; only your forearms move.
- Pull your head between your hands, not your hands to your head.
Common mistakes
- Letting your elbows drop, which hands the work to your back and shoulders.
- Bending at the hips so your body folds upward instead of your arms lifting it.
- Standing too upright, which leaves too little load for the set to matter.
Worth knowing
- Hanging with straight arms at the bottom puts the whole load on your elbow tendons. Keep some tension there rather than resting between reps.
General guidance, not medical advice. See how Setkit works.
Notes
Direct biceps work is the thing most equipment-free programs give up on. Chin-ups build arms, but they are a whole-body exercise whose difficulty you cannot fine-tune, and there is no such thing as a bodyweight curl. Straps solve it by turning your own weight into a curl you can adjust with your feet.
Your elbow position is what separates this from a row. Held at shoulder height, your upper arm stays fixed and the elbow is the only joint moving, which is what makes it a curl. Let your elbows sink toward your ribs and the lats take over immediately. The movement still happens, it just stops being an arm exercise. Filming one set from the side settles it faster than any cue.
The difficulty sits in an unusual place. A dumbbell curl is hardest with your forearm horizontal and easy at the top. This is hardest at the bottom, where your arms are straight and your body is lowest. That makes the last inch of the descent the honest test of whether you have picked the right angle.
Because your bodyweight and your feet cap the load, this eventually stops being enough for building arms. When a controlled set of fifteen at a steep angle feels easy, the next step is dumbbells or chin-ups rather than more reps.