Dumbbell Waiter Curl

The waiter curl holds a single dumbbell upright with both palms cupped under the top plate, the way a waiter carries a tray, and that grip is the entire exercise. Because the hands stay fully supinated from start to finish, the biceps works in the position where it is both strongest and most directly loaded, and the forearm cannot rotate to relieve it partway through the repetition. Holding one weight with two hands also keeps the load centred, so the torso has no reason to shift and the elbows stay easy to control. The weights are small by necessity: the grip itself limits how much you can hold before the plate tips out of your palms. Start considerably lighter than a standard curl and keep the elbows pinned to your sides. It is a useful finisher at the end of an arm session, when the grip is already tired and a heavy curl would break down before the biceps does.