For forearm growth
For forearm growth, wrist curl rates well ahead on our research criteria: more stretch, more of the work on the forearms.
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
Wrist Curl. Isolates the wrist flexors through their full range, and it’s easy to add weight in small steps.
For climbing, hammer curl and wrist curl score the same on every criterion.
For forearm growth, wrist curl rates well ahead on our research criteria: more stretch, more of the work on the forearms. 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.
Hammer curl needs dumbbells, so a home gym covers it. Wrist curl needs dumbbells and a bench, so a home gym covers it.
About the same: both rate Excellent for joint and recovery cost in our research rubric.