Thumbs up, palms facing in: that's the grip that reaches your forearms and the muscle beneath your biceps. This hammer curl counter doesn't care how you hold the dumbbells. It cares how far your elbow bends.
So you can swap between neutral and regular grips and the count works the same way. Train both arms together, or choose one hand at a time and let the coach run the handover.
Phone setup
Lean the phone upright against something at about chest height, then back away until you can see yourself from shoulders to wrists.
Point your chest at the lens and let your arms hang straight down in front of you, clear of your torso, so both elbows stay visible.
- Hold the dumbbells with your thumbs pointing up from the first rep to the last.
Form cues
- Keep thumbs up. A neutral grip shifts the work toward the forearm and the brachialis. Rotating your wrists halfway turns it back into a regular curl.
- Elbows by your ribs. Let only the forearm travel. If the elbow drifts forward, your shoulder takes over.
- Close the elbow fully. That tight position at the top is the far end of the rep, the point the counter waits for.
- Straighten on the way down. Your arm opening back up is what finishes the count, so don't stop a few inches early.
Common mistakes
- Twisting into a regular curl. Turning your palms up midway changes which muscles work. The counter only follows the elbow, so it still counts the rep. The grip discipline is yours.
- Shrugging your shoulders. Hiking them up to finish the lift shortens the real work. Drop them and let the elbow do the closing.
- Bending the wrists. Keep each wrist in line with its forearm. A bent wrist steals the work that the forearm is meant to get.
How FitnessBruh counts it
The counter watches a single angle: the bend at your elbow, from shoulder to elbow to wrist. A neutral grip doesn't change that angle, so a thumbs-up curl counts exactly like a regular one.
Each rep opens with a straight arm, peaks when the dumbbell is up and the elbow is closed, and is credited once you lower back to straight. A half curl that never closes the elbow isn't counted.
With both arms curling together, the app averages them into one reading. In one-hand mode it locks onto your chosen arm, counts you through the handover, and finishes once the second arm is done.
FAQ
Does a thumbs-up grip count differently?
Grip makes no difference to the count. It follows how far your elbow bends, not how your wrists are turned, so thumbs-up and palms-up curls register the same way.
Is there a one-hand option for hammer curls?
Yes. Choose one-hand mode before the set begins. It tracks the first arm, announces the switch, and then watches the other, so you never reach for the phone mid-set.
What if my wrists drift outward on the way up?
The counter reads your elbow, so it keeps counting. Your form is your call: keep the thumbs pointing up, because the neutral grip is what makes this a hammer curl.
