1Swinging
What you see: The hips push forward and the back leans to heave the weight up.
The fix: "Don't swing. Don't throw your hips forward." Lighter weight, slower reps.
Form guides · Upper body
The bicep curl: no swing, no shortcut.
Everyone knows the curl. Fewer people do it without their back helping.
What good looks like.
A curl trains the front of your upper arms. The weight should move because your elbow bends, and for no other reason. When it gets heavy, the hips push forward, the back leans and the shoulders roll, and the curl stops being an arm exercise. Brad's cue: "don't throw your hips forward".
- Stand tall, "abs tight", glutes squeezed.
- Elbows pinned by your sides.
- Curl the weight up by bending only at the elbow.
- "Chest out, shoulders back" at the top.
- Lower all the way down, slowly.
- Chin in
- Elbows by your sides
- Hips still: "don't throw your hips forward"
- Wrists straight
The faults a trainer sees most
What goes wrong, and the cue that fixes it.
The cues in quotes are the words Brad Glaser uses with his own clients.
2Elbows drift forward
What you see: The elbows travel up in front as the weight rises.
The fix: Keep them pinned by your sides.
3Shoulders round
What you see: The shoulders roll forward at the top.
The fix: "Chest out, shoulders back."
4Half reps
What you see: The arms never straighten at the bottom.
The fix: Lower all the way. "Keep the tension constant" on the way down.
Make it easier, make it harder.
Easier
- Seated curls with your back against a bench.
- A resistance band.
- One arm at a time.
Harder
- A slow three-second lower.
- A pause halfway up.
- Incline bench curls.
Move within a range that feels comfortable, and stop any exercise that hurts. Have a health condition, or been inactive a while? Ask your doctor what is right for you first. VeraForma is coaching, not medicine. It does not diagnose, treat or cure anything, and it does not replace your doctor or physio.
Let your phone check it.
Prop your phone up and train. VeraForma's camera draws the line on your body and names what it sees, with the number it measured.
Free: your reps counted out loud, and the common standing faults shown right on screen, with the fix in your set report. Go Premium and it speaks the fix while you move: "Knees out." "Chest up."
Scan to open it on your phone.
Free: your movement screen, Phase 1 of your programme and all of nutrition.
More form guides
Built by Brad Glaser · NASM Master Trainer · NASM-CPT, CES, PES · 20+ years · has certified 100+ personal trainers.
He owns a personal-training studio in Southern California. The same method he uses standing next to a client, built into the app.
Train it right, free.
Scan to open it on your phone.
Free account, no card. Brad's questions. One squat on camera. Then your results.