Curl Bar vs Dumbbells: Which is Better?

Want to know which is better between curl bars vs dumbbells?

Which should you choose for your home gym? Which should you prioritize in your training?

For the majority of lifters dumbbells are superior to curl bars because they have a greater exercise selection, greater range of motion, and they are better at increasing balance and stability. Curl bars do reduce wrist pain and may have higher biceps activation than dumbbells (for certain exercises). However, these benefits are not as important for most lifters.

Let’s look at the benefits of both now.

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Benefits of Curl Bars

Reduced Wrist Pain and More Comfortable

Have you ever had wrist pain from barbell curls?

I can tell you from personal experience, it’s no fun. And it only gets worse the more weight you add to the bar.

Luckily, back in 1950, Lewis G. Dymack invented a solution which can now be found in nearly every commercial gym: the EZ curl bar (or just “curl bar”).

Legend has it, Lewis injured his wrist while exercising with a regular barbell, and so drew up designs for a bar with curved grips. Shortly afterwards he invented the first curl bar. Then he patented it, and the rest is history!

So, how exactly do curl bars reduce wrist pain?

The curved grips reduce the stress on your wrists by partially rotating your hand position inwards. If you imagine a curl with a straight barbell, your wrists are rotated externally as far as they can go. This puts them in a position which is anything but comfortable.

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The slight inversion of grips for curl bars actually has a massive benefit. It takes the unnecessary load off of the wrists, placing them in a stronger position to support the act of curling.

This benefit is not limited to curls. Triceps extensions, skull crushers, and front raises are all made easier because of the unique grips on the curl bar. In fact, triceps training is another area where wrist pain is often experienced. The same issue arises when trying to perform triceps extensions with a barbell. Curl bars take the load off the wrists, making the movement easier.

Reduced wrist pain isn’t the only benefit of curl bars though…

Biceps Activation with the Curl Bar

One commonly used scientific metric to measure biceps muscle activation are Electromyography (EMG) tests. Electrodes are attached to someone in the area of the muscle group under investigation. Then the subject performs an exercise and the muscle activation is measured.

One such study, published in 2018 looked at the difference in biceps activation between three different exercises:

Dumbbell Curl
Barbell Curl
EZ Bar Curl

Twelve participants were recruited and performed the three different exercises. One set of 10 repetitions using a relatively light weight was performed for each exercise.

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What they found was both the EZ bar curl and the barbell curl had higher muscle activation of the biceps than the dumbbell curl. And the EZ bar slightly outdid the barbell curl, but only by a tiny (insignificant) margin.

Of course, one study doesn’t prove anything in and of itself!

But, a higher activation of the biceps muscle could be a potential benefit of the curl bar. If you can activate more muscle, you are exercising and breaking down more muscle fibers. In theory at least, this will lead to more growth.

Benefits of Dumbbells

More Exercises Available

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Almost any exercise you can do with a curl bar, you can do with dumbbells.

Not only that, but you can do variations of the same exercise. Let’s take the standing biceps curl. With a curl bar, you can do narrow grip, wide grip, and reverse grip curls. With dumbbells, you can do regular curls, Zottman curls, hammer curls, and pinwheel curls.

And, it’s like that for most exercises.

More exercises means more ammunition for your training. It’s an incredibly important benefit and one reason why many people start off their home gym with dumbbells.

Check out this video from BarbarianBody to see some excellent and unique dumbbell exercises:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vbEYTj4gm0

12 BEST Dumbbell Exercises For BUILDING MUSCLE (MY LIST!!) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vbEYTj4gm0)

Greater Range of Motion

Why is an increased range of motion beneficial?

Because more muscle gets worked. If you are stopping halfway throughout a movement, you are only working half of the muscle the exercise was intended to work.

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Dumbbells permit you a greater range of motion on many exercises. With the curl bar (or barbell), you are physically blocked from a full range of motion on many exercises.

Let’s look at the dumbbell row versus the bent over curl bar/barbell row.

Dumbbell rows allow you to pull the dumbbell to the side of your body, increasing the range of motion. With a curl bar/barbell row, you can only pull the bar to your waist. It gets blocked there, restricting your range of motion slightly.

Not only do dumbbells increase the range of motion, they also conform more naturally to your body mechanics. Take the dumbbell bench press versus curl bar/barbell bench press. With a barbell, your elbows naturally flare out to the sides. It takes a lot of technical training to instill the habit of keeping your elbows tucked in.

However, with dumbbells, you are able to position them however you want. You can do neutral grip, partially neutral (hands turned inwards slightly), or overhand grip. The neutral and partially neutral grip often feel better while pressing.

Increased Balance and Stability

Dumbbells require more stability, balance, and control than curl bars.

Since the loads are being handled unilaterally, more supporting muscles and joints are required to lift the weight. Although both pieces of equipment are free weights, curl bar exercises move through a more fixed plane of motion. All of those stabilizing muscles which aren’t necessary to hold the weights unilaterally are suddenly activated when you use dumbbells.

Have you ever benched with a barbell for a long time and switched up to dumbbells? You probably noticed it was hard to stabilize the dumbbells. There is an initial adjustment period which must be made in order to deal with the higher stability requirements.

Curl Bar vs Dumbbells: Which Should You Choose?

Let’s take a look at the chart below to clearly lay out the benefits of curl bars versus dumbbells:

Dumbbells are the best choice for most people

What is the most important benefit on this list? It depends on your goals. But…

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If your goal is to grow lots of muscle, then having more exercises to choose from is the most important benefit. And dumbbells clearly have this advantage over curl bars.

Being able to do more exercises means you are able to hit muscle groups in different ways. It means you are able to vary your training up. It means you have more ways to increase strength and grow muscle.

Dumbbells are simply more versatile than curl bars.

Not to mention the benefits of increased range of motion and balance and stability. There’s a reason many bodybuilders almost exclusively use dumbbells as opposed to barbells or curl bars for their free weight training. They simply work!

Curl Bars are Still an Excellent Option

Despite the superiority of dumbbells, the curl bar is still a great option for your home gym. This is especially true if you are:

Someone who suffers from significant wrist pain with dumbbell and barbell curls
Someone who has a limited set of dumbbells already and wants to diversify their training
An intermediate trainee wanting to switch up their training

Wrap Up

When we look at the curl bar vs dumbbells, most people will get the most benefit from going with dumbbells. If you have both, you are at a great advantage though. I still recommend doing most of your training with dumbbells, and using the curl bar to round out your training.

Tricep Bar vs Curl Bar: Which is Better?

The tricep bar is another awesome bar to consider. Looking to see how it stacks up against the curl bar? You may be surprised…

Learn More

Recommended Curl Bars and Dumbbells

XMark Olympic Curl Bar

If you’re looking for an Olympic curl bar, it’s hard to do better than this bar by XMark. It has a 400 pound weight capacity, which is top of the line for curl bars. The bar is beautifully constructed with knurled hand grips. And it is quite durable. Can’t recommend this bar enough! The only real downside is it doesn’t come with clamps/collars, but you can find those here.

Check Price on Amazon

CAP Barbell Standard EZ Curl Bar

For a standard curl bar, CAP Barbell has the best bar around. Weighing only 11 pounds, it is surprisingly heavy duty with a 200 pound weight capacity. Don’t let the light weight fool you. This is a serious bar for serious lifters. The build of the bar is nice and sturdy and it has a smooth, chrome finish. The only issue is a few reports of the chrome flaking off, which happens a lot with curl bars. This bar comes with its own star lock collars.

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ATIVAFIT Adjustable Dumbbells

If you can afford it, I really recommend quick lock adjustable dumbbells for home gyms. They are so much easier to use than plate-loaded dumbbells. ATIVAFIT has one of the best adjustable pairs around, and they offer options going from 55 to 71.5 pounds. The adjustment feature here is really simple, you just turn the dial and then lock it in place. These dumbbells will save you a lot of time and space. Just know that the price is for a single dumbbell, so if you want a pair you will have to purchase two.

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Yes4All Plate Loaded Dumbbells

The best plate-loaded option is the Yes4All adjustable dumbbell set. These are chrome dumbbell handles which fit 1.15″ standard weight plates. This set is gets you a lot more value for the price than if you bought everything separately. And the weights themselves are high quality. You can get anything from a 40 pound set to a 200 pound set. The only real issue is they are plate-loaded! These dumbbells require patience to load and unload constantly. The dumbbells do come with star lock collars.

Check Price on Amazon

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Curl Bar vs Dumbbells: Which is Better?