Barbell Reverse Wrist Curl
The barbell reverse wrist curl is an isolation exercise where you lift a bar by extending your wrists with palms facing down. It trains your forearm extensors on the back of your forearm, balancing the flexors that most gripping work favors. Pick it for complete forearm development and stronger wrist control.
Muscles worked
The barbell reverse wrist curl trains the forearms.
Primary
Weekly sets for forearms
Hard sets per week that Swole.fit plans for forearms, counting every exercise that trains it. Start a cycle near the growth line and climb toward the recovery limit before a deload.
How to do the barbell reverse wrist curl
- 01Sit on a bench and rest your forearms on your thighs, palms facing down.
- 02Hold the bar overhand with hands about shoulder width and wrists just past your knees.
- 03Let your hands drop below the line of your forearms into a gentle stretch.
- 04Raise the backs of your hands toward the ceiling by extending your wrists.
- 05Pause briefly at the top, then lower under control.
Coaching cues
- Knuckles up toward the ceiling.
- Go lighter than your wrist curl.
- Slow and strict, no swinging.
Common mistakes
- Using your wrist curl weight leads to tiny reps, so start much lighter because your extensors are weaker.
- Lifting your forearms to help raise the bar shifts the work elsewhere, so keep them flat on your thighs.
- Letting your grip go loose makes the bar slip and roll, so keep a firm overhand grip throughout.
How Swole.fit programs it
Log it once and the app plans the next session for you.
- Most sets land between 8 and 15 reps, the range the plan steers isolation work toward for size.
- Week one starts around 2 to 3 reps in reserve. Each week you train a little closer to failure, ending around 0 to 1 in reserve before a deload week.
- Hit the top of the range on every set and the next session adds the smallest real jump in weight, rounded to the plates, dumbbells or stack you actually have.
- Sets for this exercise count toward your weekly volume for every muscle it trains: a full set for the primary muscles, half a set for the helpers.
The full method, with the maths, is in how mesocycles work.
Barbell Reverse Wrist Curl alternatives
Same muscles, different tool. Swap in one of these when the equipment is taken or your joints want a change.
Log it. Let the app plan the next one.
Track your barbell reverse wrist curl free. Swole.fit picks the next weight, counts your weekly sets and tells you when to deload.