Pinch a plate, smoke your forearms and biceps.
Keep your elbows tucked and your grip tight, the wide hold lights up the forearms too.
Gripping a plate by its sides gives your hands no comfortable handle, so your fingers and forearms have to clamp hard for the whole set while your biceps curl the load up to your shoulders. That gripping demand is the whole personality of the exercise, an honest curl for the biceps with a forearm tax stacked on top. Handy when the dumbbells are taken or your grip needs real work.
Whatever you can grip securely for full sets, which for most people is far lighter than their dumbbell curl. The awkward hold is the limiter, not your biceps.
The curl is the same idea, but the wide flat grip forces your hands and forearms to squeeze constantly, so you get grip work for free. Expect the plate to feel heavier than the number suggests.
Chalk up, wipe the plate dry, or drop to a lighter one. A slipping plate becomes a dropped plate, so grip security beats load every time.
