Wrist Pain with Bicep Curls (NOT ANYMORE!)

Less pain, more gain with MECHAN-X joint recovery here…
It’s not all that uncommon to experience wrist pain during bicep curls (particularly when using a barbell). This appears most often on the pinky side of the wrist and is commonly caused by a lack of supination mobility at the wrist. This lack of mobility tends to place a lot of torque on the extensor carpi ulnaris muscle in the forearm and wrist which can lead to tendonitis when doing curls.
In order to fix this wrist pain with biceps curls you may have to stop doing barbell curls for awhile in order to let the inflammation calm down. Switching to a neutral grip version of curls (like a hammer curl) or simply switching to dumbbells may allow you to ease the tension on the ECU muscle and not compromise your biceps gains during this time.
Once recovered or when pain has diminished, you can try and improve the flexibility and mobility of the wrist by performing the stretch shown in this video. Grasp your wrist with your fingers (the portion just below your hand) and gently turn it into supination by turning your hand up. Once you reach a position of stretch, hold for 20 seconds and then release and repeat for 2-3 more times. You can perform this stretch daily for a couple of weeks to gradually improve your range of motion.
A contract-relax version of this stretch can also be performed. Once at the end range of motion of the drill, try and turn your hand back over into pronation but don’t allow the arm to move. After about 5 seconds, stop trying to pronate and once again resume the stretch into supination. This should allow you to pick up even more range of motion and mobility.
Wrist pain with biceps curls is just one of the common issues people have when training. Pain and discomfort when lifting weights is actually very common. You may feel some shoulder twinges with overhead lifting or bench pressing, elbow pain with curls or triceps extensions, knee pain with squats, etc. The important thing is how you handle this discomfort and how you change your workout, if at all, when you feel them.
As a physical therapist, I take great care in creating programs that not only deliver fast results but help you to see them while training safely. The most effective exercises are hand selected and tweaked to deliver gains without pain. You can get a complete workout program filled with only the best, most results proven exercises by heading to and getting the ATHLEAN-X Training System. If you feel you could benefit from improved joint recovery to accelerate those gains when training hard, then check out the MECHAN-X formula at
For more videos on how to build bigger arms much faster as well as how to curl more weight without wrist pain limiting you, be sure to subscribe to our channel on youtube at