What Weight Should I Start With On Barbell Curls?

When most people think about lifting weights, curls are one of the first exercises that come to mind. Guys in particular may dream of having bulging softball-sized biceps, so beginners will want to get started on the barbell curls as soon as possible. The question is, if you’ve never lifted weights before, how much should you start out curling? Of course, first you’ll need to practice the movement with an empty bar, or resistance bands, but after that, what’s a good starting weight for barbell curls?

Assuming that you are an adult, if you are completely untrained, you will want to start with a very light weight, about 10% of your body weight. Practice the movement with this weight, doing 2-3 sets of as many curls as you can do, up to 20. If you can easily do more than 10 curls in each set, add 5 pounds onto the 2nd and 3rd sets the next workout. Continue this until you reach a weight where you can not quite get 10 reps in the 2nd or 3rd set. This is the weight that you need to stick with, until you grow stronger. You can add the weight more slowly, or in smaller increments if you prefer, just be sure to progress over time until you reach a weight where you are limited to under 10 reps. Don’t push yourself too fast, remember, it’s better to build up weight over a few weeks of workouts than to get injured going too heavy too soon.

If you’re new to resistance training but live an active life and are quite fit, you may be able to start out curling 20-25% of your bodyweight, but the average untrained person will probably need to start with.

While dumbbell curls, and various curling machines are great for biceps development, it is good to start with barbell curls. This is the most simple and effective of all curls and will help you build good habits and fundamentals that will then assist you in getting the most out of these other exercises when you’ve advanced.

How Many Sets And Reps Of Curls Should I Do Starting Out?

Starting out as an absolute beginner, do the standard 3 sets of 10 reps. 2-3 times a week, as part of a total body workout with 2-3 sets of 1 exercise per each major muscle group.

You will want to do the first set at about 50% of the weight you will use for the work, or heavy (relative to you), set. This is a warm-up set so don’t do more than 10-15 reps.

For the second set, you should use about 75% of the weight of your heaviest set. Again, just do the 10 reps, do not go to failure.

The final set is the work set, this is where you’ll use the weight that makes you really work to get to 10 reps. Strive to max out the reps here. If you get 11 or more reps in 2 workouts in a row, increase the weight the next time.

As you advance and grow stronger, you may want to add a second work set, or a burnout set where you return to the warmup weight and max out the reps. Once you are truly intermediate level, or better, you’ll add additional exercises and sets to your bicep routine.

If you prefer high-rep sets, 3 sets of 20 reps (with a lighter weight) is also a good way to start out. You will stick with the warmup weight described above for all the sets. High rep workouts can give you an incredible pump and are also effective at building muscle. Just don’t use a weight that allows you to do more than 20-22 reps. If you feel like you could’ve done 30+ reps, the weight is too light and won’t do much for you.

How Often Should I Do Barbell Curls Starting Out?

Do not underestimate the importance of rest days. You don’t grow in the gym, you grow outside of the gym. So working out twice as often will not yield twice the results. Pace yourself, and focus of perfect form and incremental weight increases.

Doing curls twice or three times a week is optimal for beginners, assuming you are following my advice about starting with about 3 sets per workout. Every other day would also be OK, if you want to squeeze in slightly more workouts.

The point of resistance training is to stimulate the muscle, then let it recover. Then repeat. The point is not to punish yourself and your muscles.

Doing too much of the same exercise, or not enough rest time, can actually cause you to get weaker and lose muscle! More is not always better. So, listen to your body, and if you are sore, take another day’s rest, or go super light. A little tightness is OK, but if you are very sore you will risk injury if you train the same bodypart too soon with too much intensity.

How Hard Are Barbell Curls For Beginners?

The barbell curl is one of the easiest exercises to learn, and is often one of the few exercises that even the uninitiated are already aware of.

To perform correctly:

Standing completely upright, grasping the barbell, underhand, with a shoulder width grip
Without moving the shoulders or swinging the hips, bring the barbell to your chin.

Slowly lower the weight back to the starting position.

Here’s a good video showing how to perform barbell curls properly.

An ideal pace would be 1 second on the positive (concentric, up) portion of the movement, and 2-3 seconds on the negative (eccentric, down) portion.

This is a single joint, or isolation, exercise. Meaning only one joint should be moving. For curls, only the elbow should be moving. Any swinging or jerking is cheating and will take the benefit away from your biceps.

How Soon Can I Go Heavy On Curls?

The weight you use for barbell curls is pretty irrelevant. You’ll want to show off your actual biceps, not brag to incredulous interlopers about how much you can curl. Plenty of famous bodybuilders never did heavy curls, but instead focused on doing high volume (lots of sets) with lighter weights, concentrating on form and a deep contraction. Using heavy weight for curls is really just an ego trip, and will not really yield much benefit, if any, and will increase your risk of injury.

Don’t rush progress, start out light and learn perfect form. You should really know how to handle the movement and have perfect control before you go any heavier. Swinging or cheating in any way is pointless and will rob you of results.

Stick with a weight until you consistently (2+ workouts in a row) can do more than 10 clean reps in your work sets.. That’s when it is time to add weight. Stick with consistent incremental increases and do not curl a weight that you can’t get at least 8 clean reps with.

Instead of trying to go heavy on curls, add additional sets to keep the pump in your biceps for longer, this will produce better results than just going heavy.

There Is No Substitute For Proper Form!

Keep the weight under control at all times. No swinging, or bouncing the barbell off of your thighs. This is cheating and is wasting your time! Some people like to cheat this way to try to convince themselves, and their perceived gym audience, that they are powerful and muscular, but the truth is that this is pointless as using a lighter weight with perfect form will yield far better results.

Keep your form strict and controlled – especially while lowering the barbell to your thighs – and you will see the fastest results possible.

Remember, you should go to a check-up with your doctor before starting any new exercise program to be evaluated and to make sure you are healthy enough to workout. This is especially important if you’ve never worked out regularly, or after a long layoff.