Doing bicep curls with your arm in front of your body or behind your body gives you the same muscle growth and strength gains if you're using the same amount of weight and doing the same number of reps.

54

Pro

0

Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

54

Community contributions welcome

54

Comparison Between Shoulder Flexed and Extended Positions in Elbow Flexion Resistance Training on Regional Hypertrophy and Maximum Strength: Preacher versus Bayesian Cable Curls

Randomized Controlled Trial

Human

2025 Apr

The study found that doing bicep curls with your arm in front of you or behind you made your arms just as strong and muscular — as long as the weight felt the same. So, the position of your shoulder doesn’t matter for results.

Contradicting (0)

0

Community contributions welcome

No contradicting evidence found

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

Comparison Between Shoulder Flexed and Extended Positions in Elbow Flexion Resistance Training on Regional Hypertrophy and Maximum Strength: Preacher versus Bayesian Cable Curls

Score: 54

DOI: 10.1002/ejsc.12279

Similar Assertions

The muscle underneath your bicep gets just as strong and big whether you curl with your arm in front or behind you.

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Doing bicep curls one arm at a time makes your right arm stronger than doing them with both arms together, but doesn't make your biceps bigger than using both arms.

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Just because changing your shoulder angle makes your biceps work harder during one workout doesn’t mean it will make your muscles bigger over time — this study didn’t test that.

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Whether you lift weights with one arm or both at the same time, your biceps grow about the same amount after 8 weeks of training.

61

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Changing the angle of your shoulder while doing bicep curls makes your biceps work harder during the workout, even if you're lifting the same total weight.

51

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77%