Wrist Rotations with Straight Bar

A beginner isolation strength exercise that works the forearms, using a barbell.

Wrist Rotations with Straight Bar — Starting position Starting position
Wrist Rotations with Straight Bar — End position End position
Difficulty Beginner
Type Strength
Equipment Barbell
Primary Muscle Forearms
AI Rep Counting Log manually

How to Do Wrist Rotations with Straight Bar

  1. Hold a barbell with both hands and your palms facing down; hands spaced about shoulder width. This will be your starting position.
  2. Alternating between each of your hands, perform the movement by extending the wrist as though you were rolling up a newspaper. Continue alternating back and forth until failure.
  3. Reverse the motion by flexing the wrist, rolling the opposite direction. Continue the alternating motion until failure.

Muscles Worked

Front
Back

Primary

Where Wrist Rotations with Straight Bar does most of its work.

Alternatives to Wrist Rotations with Straight Bar

10 movements that train the same primary muscle, closest substitutes first — same kind of training, then variations of the movement itself, then a similar difficulty.

  1. 1 Cable Wrist Curl

    Cable Wrist Curl

    A beginner isolation strength exercise that works the forearms, using a cable machine.

    beginner Cable Machine
  2. 2 Palms-Down Dumbbell Wrist Curl Over A Bench

    Palms-Down Dumbbell Wrist Curl Over A Bench

    A beginner isolation strength exercise that works the forearms, using dumbbells.

    beginner Dumbbells
  3. 3 Palms-Up Dumbbell Wrist Curl Over A Bench

    Palms-Up Dumbbell Wrist Curl Over A Bench

    A beginner isolation strength exercise that works the forearms, using dumbbells.

    beginner Dumbbells
  4. 4 Seated Dumbbell Palms-Down Wrist Curl

    Seated Dumbbell Palms-Down Wrist Curl

    A beginner isolation strength exercise that works the forearms, using dumbbells.

    beginner Dumbbells
  5. 5 Seated Dumbbell Palms-Up Wrist Curl

    Seated Dumbbell Palms-Up Wrist Curl

    A beginner isolation strength exercise that works the forearms, using dumbbells.

    beginner Dumbbells
  6. 6 Seated One-Arm Dumbbell Palms-Up Wrist Curl

    Seated One-Arm Dumbbell Palms-Up Wrist Curl

    A beginner isolation strength exercise that works the forearms, using dumbbells.

    beginner Dumbbells
  7. 7 Seated Two-Arm Palms-Up Low-Pulley Wrist Curl

    Seated Two-Arm Palms-Up Low-Pulley Wrist Curl

    A beginner isolation strength exercise that works the forearms, using a cable machine.

    beginner Cable Machine
  8. 8 Wrist Roller

    Wrist Roller

    A beginner isolation strength exercise that works the forearms.

    beginner Not specified
  9. 9 Palms-Down Wrist Curl Over A Bench

    Palms-Down Wrist Curl Over A Bench

    A beginner isolation strength exercise that works the forearms, using a barbell.

    beginner Barbell
  10. 10 Palms-Up Barbell Wrist Curl Over A Bench

    Palms-Up Barbell Wrist Curl Over A Bench

    A beginner isolation strength exercise that works the forearms, using a barbell.

    beginner Barbell

Frequently Asked Questions

What muscles do wrist rotations with straight bar work?

Wrist Rotations with Straight Bar primarily works the forearms.

What equipment do I need for wrist rotations with straight bar?

Wrist Rotations with Straight Bar uses barbell.

Wrist Rotations with Straight Bar: is it suitable for beginners?

Yes. Wrist Rotations with Straight Bar is rated beginner. Movements you can learn in a session, with a low skill floor and a forgiving failure mode.

What can I do instead of wrist rotations with straight bar?

Cable Wrist Curl, Palms-Down Dumbbell Wrist Curl Over A Bench, Palms-Up Dumbbell Wrist Curl Over A Bench train the same primary muscles and are listed with 7 more alternatives above.

Can Fitnit count my wrist rotations with straight bar reps automatically?

Not automatically yet. Fitnit's AI rep counting covers push-ups, squats, dumbbell curls, crunches and pull-ups today; wrist rotations with straight bar can be logged manually in the app, and tracked movements are added over time.

Photographs and step-by-step instructions from free-exercise-db, a public-domain exercise dataset. Muscle mapping and alternatives by Fitnit.

Track Your Wrist Rotations with Straight Bar with AI

Fitnit automatically tracks push-ups, crunches, squats, pull-ups, and curls with advanced body tracking technology — and you can manually input any other workout too. Start free — Pro is $8.99/month.