Inverted Chin Curl with Bent Knee between Chairs

How to do the Inverted Chin Curl with Bent Knee between Chairs

1. 1Place two chairs of equal height roughly shoulder-width apart, facing each other, and confirm both are stable and will not slide on the floor.
2. 2Sit between the chairs, then lower yourself to lie on your back on the floor with your head between the chairs and your shoulders roughly level with the chair seats.
3. 3Bend your knees and plant your feet flat on the floor, hip-width apart, so your body forms a tabletop position with your hips off the ground.
4. 4Reach up and grip the front edges of the chair seats with an underhand (supinated) grip — palms facing toward your face — hands roughly shoulder-width apart.
5. 5Brace your core and squeeze your glutes to keep your hips level, forming a straight line from knees to shoulders throughout the set.
6. 6Exhale and curl your chin toward the chair seats by driving your elbows toward your hips, leading the movement with your biceps rather than shrugging your shoulders.
7. 7Continue until your chin clears the seat edge or your elbows reach full flexion — whichever comes first — and pause briefly at the top.
8. 8Inhale and lower yourself under control back to the starting position until your arms are fully extended without your shoulders dropping to the floor.
9. 9Complete all reps, then carefully sit up and step away from the chairs before standing.

Form tips

• Check chair stability before every set — place them against a wall or on carpet to prevent them from sliding outward under load.
• Keep your elbows tracking close to your sides and pointing toward the floor throughout the curl; flaring them out shifts tension away from the Biceps Brachii.
• Use a deliberate tempo — about two seconds up and three seconds down — to maximize time under tension and reduce momentum.
• Breathe out on the curl (the hard part) and breathe in on the way down to maintain intra-abdominal pressure and a stable spine.
• If the movement feels too easy, straighten your legs fully to extend the lever and increase the percentage of body weight you are lifting.

Common mistakes

• Allowing the hips to sag during the curl, which breaks core tension, shortens the range of motion, and loads the lower back instead of the arms.
• Using a grip width that is too wide, which externally rotates the shoulder and reduces Biceps Brachii activation by misaligning the muscle's line of pull.
• Shrugging the shoulders at the top of the rep, which brings the upper traps into the movement and reduces the training stimulus on the biceps.
• Rushing the lowering phase, which wastes the eccentric portion where much of the strength and hypertrophy stimulus occurs.
• Placing chairs that are too far apart, which shifts stress onto the shoulder joints and wrists rather than loading the elbow flexors as intended.

Frequently asked questions