For forearm growth
For forearm growth, hammer curl rates well ahead on our research criteria: easier to progress, more of the work on the forearms.
Dead hang gives more stretch.
Both are good choices, and they train the forearms differently. Using both across your week covers more of the muscle than either alone: in studies, varied exercises grew parts of a muscle that one exercise missed. (Fonseca et al., 2014; Costa et al., 2021)
The research score comes from these, scored by hand from the studies. Lifter scores appear once an exercise has 10 ratings. How scores work
For climbing, dead hang rates well ahead on our research criteria: more carry-over to climbing.
For forearm growth, hammer curl rates well ahead on our research criteria: easier to progress, more of the work on the forearms. Dead hang gives more stretch. Both are good choices, and they train the forearms differently. Using both across your week covers more of the muscle than either alone: in studies, varied exercises grew parts of a muscle that one exercise missed.
About the same: both are easy to learn.
Dead hang needs a pull-up bar, so a home gym covers it. Hammer curl needs dumbbells, so a home gym covers it.
About the same: both rate Excellent for joint and recovery cost in our research rubric.