Cross Body Hammer Curl
A hammer curl that travels across your body: holding dumbbells with your palms facing in, you curl one at a time toward the opposite shoulder, working your biceps and forearms.
- Primary muscles
- Biceps
- Secondary
- Forearm flexors
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Logged as
- Weight × reps
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Why do it
It's a hammer curl with a different path, useful for variety or if curling straight up feels awkward. The neutral grip brings in the brachialis and forearm muscles, and curling across the body tends to feel natural, so many people can move solid weight with it. Alternating arms gives each side a short rest between reps. Compared with a regular hammer curl, the elbow stays put while the dumbbell crosses in front of your chest.
How to do it
Stand with a dumbbell in each hand at your sides, palms facing your thighs.
Curl one dumbbell across your body toward the opposite shoulder, keeping the neutral grip.
Squeeze at the top, then lower slowly back to your side.
Alternate arms. Keep your elbow close to your body; the dumbbell travels across, not the elbow.
Common mistakes
Moving the elbow across
The dumbbell crosses your body, not your elbow. Keep the elbow close to your side and let your forearm carry the weight across.
Twisting your torso
Turning your shoulders toward the working arm helps the weight up with momentum. Keep your chest facing forward and curl with the arm alone.
Letting the palm turn up
If your wrist rotates on the way up, it becomes an ordinary cross-body curl. Keep your thumb pointing up the whole way.
Starting one arm before the other is down
Overlapping the arms turns the set into a rhythm instead of reps. Finish lowering one side before you curl the other.
Sets, reps and progression
How many sets you do and how close to failure you take them depend on your goal and your week, not on the exercise. These guides cover it:
Alternatives that train the same thing
Same movement, a different angle or piece of equipment.
