Best Bicep Exercises and Bicep Workout
Are you tired of your skinny arms and want to make your biceps bigger? Here’s the list of “THE BEST BICEP EXERCISES WITH A PROPER BICEP WORKOUT PLAN” which you can follow which will help you to maximize your bicep gains.
[IMPORTANT POINT:- You need to understand, that there is no such thing called, “THE BEST BICEP EXERCISES”. Because what is best for you may not be best for other people because of various factors like mobility, experience level, injury history, etc.
The only thing is that research has shown that these listed exercises provide the most amount of overload on the bicep muscle, given that the individual is able to perform it with perfect form.
So the exercises which are not included here, are not bad. Just the thing is that they are a bit less effective. But at the end of the day, it is your way of doing a selective exercise which makes it good or bad.]
Bicep Anatomy (Parts of the Bicep)
There are mainly 2 parts of the biceps which are known as the “HEAD” of the biceps:
1) Short Head of the Bicep
The short head of the bicep is the inner region of the bicep which is mainly responsible for the width or roundness of the bicep. It gets activated the most when the arms are supinated and externally rotated. Moreover, when you place your arms in front of your body, it puts more emphasis on the short head of the biceps.
2) Long Head of the Bicep
The long head of the bicep is the outer region of the bicep which is mainly responsible for the tallness of the bicep. It gets activated the most when your arms are supinated and internally rotated. Moreover, when you place your arms behind your body, it puts more emphasis on the long head of the biceps.
[NOTE:- It is believed that training the long head of the biceps will help you to develop the “PEAK OF THE BICEPS”. However, your peak of the biceps vastly depends on your genetics and anatomy of the biceps.]
3) Brachialis (Separate Muscle)
It is not a part of the bicep but massively affects the look of your bicep. Brachialis is located just below the long head of the bicep. It gets activated the most when your arms are in a neutral/semi-supinated position. 10 Best Tricep Exercises: Grow Muscular And Strong Arms
7 Best Bicep Exercises for Bigger Arms
A. Best Bicep Exercises for Short Head
(1) Spider Curl
STEP-1:- Grab the weights with a supinated grip and keep your body on an incline bench set-up with your chest resting/supported on the incline set-up, so that your arms hang just below and in front of your body.
STEP-2:- Keep the chest in a neutral position, elbows straight and locked, shoulders depressed down and legs with contact on the ground.
STEP-3:- Pull/curl the weights up while keeping your elbow fixed, once you reach the maximum contraction, slowly lower down the weights.
Why is it one of the best bicep exercises?
- Hands are technically in front of your body which puts emphasis more on the short head of the biceps.
- Chest support ensures no body momentum, that’s why all the focus is concentrated on the biceps and you can isolate the biceps easily.
- The arms are working against the resistance of gravity which adds extra load.
- The risk of injury is minimized greatly because it is very difficult to lift too heavy (ego lift) in this position as a result you only lift as much as your capability.
*Pro Tip- (1) Use a barbell if you face difficulty in matching the speed of one arm with another one.
(2) Use dumbbells if you feel/have wrist joint issues, because dumbbells can move freely unlike a barbell.
(2) Preacher Curl
STEP-1:- Grab a barbell with a supinated grip and place your arms in front of your body on a preacher curl bench.
STEP-2:- Pull the weights up and slowly lower down the weights once you reach the maximum contraction or full ROM (Range Of Motion).
Why is it one of the best bicep exercises?
- Hands are placed in front of the body which emphasizes the short head of the biceps more.
- The body momentum is zero because your body is fixed at a certain position.
*Pro Tip- Use an E-Z Curl Bar if you have wrist joint issues. 15 Best Shoulder Exercises To Grow 3D-Shoulders
(3) Standing Barbell/Dumbbell/Cable Curl
STEP-1:- Grab a barbell/dumbbells/cable handles with supinated grip and hands shoulder-width distance or a bit more than that. Stand with your feet shoulder-width distance apart.
STEP-2:- Keep your body straight, elbows straight and fixed and start lifting/curling the weights up and once you reach the top position slowly lower down the weights.
Why is it one of the best bicep exercises?
- Easy to overload as you can lift very heavy in this exercise which will maximize strength and muscle gains.
- You can use cables/barbell/dumbbells which adds a lot of variation and makes it suitable for every individual.
- This exercise targets both your short head and long head of the biceps effectively.
*Pro Tip- Cables are the best option to go for because the intensity is higher compared to dumbbells and barbells. Moreover, cables are joint-friendly. 15 Best Abs Exercises To Develop Stronger Abs
B. Best Bicep Exercises for Long Head
(4) Extended/Behind the Back Cable Curl
STEP-1:- Grab the handles of the cable curl machine with a supinated grip and position your body in such a way that it faces away from the machine.
STEP-2:- Take a step forward from the cable curl machine so that your shoulders are extended backwards, elbows are straight and your arms are placed behind the body.
STEP-3:- Now pull/curl the weights up while keeping your elbows fixed and slowly move your hands backward once you reach the maximum contraction.
Why is it one of the best bicep exercises?
- Cable puts a lot of emphasis on the biceps even when the biceps are in a stretched position.
- The intensity increases gradually as you pull.
- The long head of the biceps are emphasised more because the arms are placed behind your body.
- The risk of injury is extremely minimal.
(5) Incline Dumbbell/Cable Curl
STEP-1:- Grab the weights with a supinated grip and sit on an incline bench set-up with your back in contact with the incline set-up.
STEP-2:- Extend your shoulders backward so that your arms are placed behind your body and keep your elbows straight.
STEP-3:- Pull/Curl the weights up while keeping your elbows fixed and slowly lower down the weights.
Why is it one of the best bicep exercises?
- The arms are placed behind the body as a result it stresses the long head of the biceps.
- It replicates the same position of the behind the back cable curl exercise.
(6) Drag Curl
STEP-1:- Grab a barbell with a supinated grip close to your body with a narrower grip than shoulder-width distance. Keep the feet shoulder-width distance apart.
STEP-2:- Pull the weight up while extending your shoulders backward so that your elbows bend behind your body. And slowly lower down the weight.
Why is it one of the best bicep exercises?
- This exercise targets the long head of the biceps because of the narrow grip.
- Easy to overload because you can lift heavier.
C. Best Exercises for Brachialis
(7) Hammer Curl
STEP-1:- Grab two dumbbells with a neutral/semi-supinated grip and stand by keeping your feet shoulder-width distance apart.
STEP-2:- Pull/curl the weight up and slowly lower back down the weight.
*Pro Tip- (1) Using a cable machine ensures more intensity and focus on the brachialis.
(2) You can also do cross-body hammer curls. Best Back Exercises To Grow A Wider And Thicker Back
Bonus:- (8) Chin-ups
Chin-ups are a great bodyweight option to train your biceps. Just ensure that you do not extend your shoulders backward at the top position of the chin-up and always keep your arms in front of the body so that tension and focus remains on the biceps.
How many bicep exercises should I do per workout?
Bicep is a small muscle that’s why it does not need much volume but people extremely overhype its training because they always run after bigger biceps. In reality, 2-4 bicep exercises are absolutely ideal and doing more than this is not needed at all.
How often should I train biceps for maximum gains?
You should aim to train your biceps 2-3 times a week ideally which will ensure maximum muscle growth of the biceps.
Bicep Workout Routine
The biceps respond best when they are trained at a high intensity, low-moderate volume and moderate-high frequency. So here’s an example of how you can plan your bicep workout.
1) Spider Curl (3-4 sets of 8-20 reps) [Short-head bicep exercise]
2) Incline dumbbell/cable curl (3-4 sets of 8-20 reps) [Long-head bicep exercise]
3) Hammer curl (3-4 sets of 8-20 reps) [Brachialis exercise]
Rest time can be 1-3 minutes in between sets.
*You can perform this workout 2-3 times a week or you can modify this workout when you perform it for the second or third time of the week by adding any exercise from the above list.
Takeaway
Incorporating these above mentioned bicep exercises will result in tremendous growth of your biceps’ size and strength. These bicep exercises accurately target all the parts of your biceps which results in optimal bicep growth.
Nice blog 👍
Thanks