Bicep Workouts
(BEST BICEP WORKOUTS FOR BUILDING MUSCLE AT HOME)
The Ultimate BICEP Workouts Guide
Most people assume that targeting the biceps with a few basic exercises is enough to enhance strength and size.
However, that’s just the beginning of a comprehensive biceps workout strategy! Biceps training is more intricate than it may initially appear, particularly if your biceps are slow to develop. In this detailed guide, I’ll delve into the anatomy of the biceps muscles and present the best biceps exercises and workouts for the biceps and the muscles that work with them, all achievable with minimal equipment.
The Ultimate BICEP Workouts Guide
1. Anatomy of the Biceps Muscles: A Closer Look at What Makes Up Your Biceps
2. Optimal Bicep Workouts: Identifying the Most Effective Routines for Muscle Growth
3. Exercise Videos and Related Guides
Before we dive into the best biceps exercises, let’s first examine the different areas of the biceps individually, so you can foster a stronger mind-to-muscle connection during your workouts. Each section is designed to be interactive, allowing you to click and jump directly to the topic of interest, facilitating an engaging and efficient learning experience tailored to your fitness journey.
1. Anatomy of the Biceps Muscles: A Closer Look at What Makes Up Your Biceps
The biceps brachii muscle, which dominates the front of the upper arm, consists of two distinct segments.
The long head starts at the top of the shoulder blade, runs down the outer side of your upper arm and attaches just below the elbow. Seated Hammer Curls, performed by sitting on a bench and curling dumbbells with a neutral grip, work it along with the short head, the brachialis and the brachioradialis in your forearm.
Seated Hammer Curls (Neutral Grip)
The short head starts at the front of the shoulder blade, runs down the inner side of your upper arm and joins the long head in one tendon just below the elbow. The biceps works hardest when your palms face up. Reverse Grip Curls, with your palms facing down, shift more of the work to the brachialis and the brachioradialis in your forearm, so they are a useful extra exercise for the other muscles that bend your elbow.
Reverse Grip Curls (Palms Down)
Under the biceps lies a separate muscle, the brachialis. It starts on the lower half of the upper-arm bone (humerus), attaches just below the elbow and works in every curl, whatever your grip. Straight Curls, performed by standing with dumbbells and curling them with a supinated (palms-up) grip, work both heads of the biceps along with the brachialis.
Straight Curls (Palms Up)
Understanding how to engage these muscle groups with strategic exercise alignment enhances both the effectiveness of your workouts and the visual impact of your gains. Next, we’ll explore specific exercises that utilize your available equipment to optimally target these areas.
2. Optimal Bicep Workouts: Identifying the Most Effective Routines for Muscle Growth
The best biceps workout plan trains both heads of the biceps brachii (long and short) and the brachialis underneath it.
Mix palms-up curls, which work the biceps hardest, with hammer curls, which bring in more of the brachioradialis in your forearm. To truly enhance your biceps, it’s essential to incorporate exercises that not only challenge these regions but also incorporate the principles of muscle stretching during the negative phase and muscle flexing during the positive phase of each exercise.
Alternating Curls – Biceps Overload
How to Perform Alternating Curls
- Prepare Your Position: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, holding dumbbells with palms facing forward.
- Execute the Curl: Curl one dumbbell towards your shoulder while keeping the other arm static.
- Controlled Return: Lower the dumbbell and switch arms, curling the other dumbbell while the first arm remains static.
- Repeat: Alternate arms with each repetition, completing 8-12 reps, or 12-16 with lighter dumbbells.
Out Curls – Biceps Isolation
How to Perform Out Curls
- Prepare Your Position: Stand with feet hip-width apart, holding dumbbells by your sides, palms facing away.
- Execute the Curl: Curl the dumbbells out and away from your body while keeping elbows locked to your torso.
- Controlled Return: Bring the dumbbells back to the starting position smoothly.
- Repeat: Complete 8-12 reps, or 12-16 with lighter dumbbells.
More bicep workouts with dumbbells
These four add two hammer-grip curls, which bring in more of the brachioradialis in your forearm, and two more palms-up curl variations.
Hammer Curls
How to Perform Hammer Curls
- Prepare Your Position: Stand tall holding a dumbbell in each hand at your sides, palms facing your body.
- Execute the Curl: Curl both dumbbells up toward your shoulders at the same time, keeping your palms facing each other and your elbows close to your sides.
- Controlled Return: Lower the dumbbells back to your sides without swinging.
- Repeat: Complete 8-12 reps, or 12-16 with lighter dumbbells.
Seated Concentrated Hammer Curls
How to Perform Seated Concentrated Hammer Curls
- Prepare Your Position: Sit on the edge of a chair with your feet apart and lean slightly forward. Brace your elbows against the insides of your thighs and hold the dumbbells together in a hammer grip, palms facing each other.
- Execute the Curl: Keeping the dumbbells touching, curl them up toward your chest while your upper arms stay still.
- Controlled Return: Lower the dumbbells with control until your arms are straight.
- Repeat: Complete 8-12 reps, or 12-16 with lighter dumbbells.
Seated Curls
How to Perform Seated Curls
- Prepare Your Position: Sit tall on a sturdy, armless chair, holding the dumbbells at your sides with your arms straight and your palms facing forward.
- Execute the Curl: Curl both dumbbells up toward the outside of your shoulders, letting them travel out to the sides as they rise, while your elbows and upper arms stay close to your torso.
- Controlled Return: Lower the dumbbells back to your sides with control.
- Repeat: Complete 8-12 reps, or 12-16 with lighter dumbbells.
In And Out Curls
How to Perform In And Out Curls
- Prepare Your Position: Stand with the dumbbells at your thighs, palms facing forward.
- In Curl: Curl both dumbbells straight up in front of you toward your shoulders, then lower them.
- Out Curl: On the next rep, turn your arms outward and curl the dumbbells up and out to the sides, keeping your elbows close to your sides, then lower them.
- Repeat: Keep alternating in and out curls for 8-12 reps, or 12-16 with lighter dumbbells.
Remember, developing well-defined biceps involves more than just targeting the two main heads. It’s crucial to keep adding reps or weight over time and to work your biceps through their full range of motion.
Try out the exercises in this section, and you’ll be on your way to stronger and more defined biceps.
If you’re looking for a comprehensive strength training regimen to enhance muscle definition and strength across all muscle groups, explore our LifeBuddy Apps to find the perfect program tailored to your goals and the equipment you have available.
3. Exercise Videos and Related Guides
Every exercise in this guide has its own page in our free exercise library, with a video demonstration, step-by-step form tips, common mistakes to avoid and the muscles it works:
- Reverse Grip Curls
- Straight Curls
- Alternating Curls
- Out Curls
- Hammer Curls
- Seated Concentrated Hammer Curls
- Seated Curls
- In And Out Curls
Related guides: brachioradialis exercises, how to get big biceps, how to get bigger arms and a back and bicep workout.
Want a ready-made plan? Dumbbell Home Workout builds dumbbell workouts for every muscle group around your goal, level and schedule.
Want more options? Browse all 43 bicep exercises in our exercise library, each with a video demo.
BICEPS WORKOUTS FAQ
Yes. Hammer curls work the biceps and bring in more of the brachioradialis, the forearm muscle on the thumb side, than palms-up curls do. The brachialis, under the biceps, works in every curl grip. Doing both palms-up and hammer curls trains all three main muscles that bend your elbow.
There is no single best curl. In a study of 22 people who did one repetition of each curl at 40% of their maximum, the standard dumbbell curl and the incline dumbbell curl kept the long head of the biceps working hard through the whole range of motion, while the preacher curl did so over only a short part of it (Oliveira 2009, in the references below). Basic curls, like the straight and alternating curls above, are a solid base.
The biceps brachii has two heads: the long head on the outer side of your upper arm and the short head on the inner side. They bend your elbow and turn your palm up. The brachialis underneath and the brachioradialis in your forearm also help in every curl.
Both work. In an 8-week study of 46 adults, biceps muscle thickness grew about the same whether people trained with free weights or with machines (Schwanbeck 2020, in the references below), so dumbbells are as good a choice as machines.
These three dumbbell curls work the biceps and the other muscles that bend your elbow:
- Seated Hammer Curls – Works the biceps along with the brachialis and brachioradialis.
- Reverse Grip Curls – Shifts more of the work to the brachialis and the brachioradialis in your forearm.
- Straight Curls – Great for overall biceps strength.
Train both heads of the biceps and the brachialis underneath by mixing palms-up curls with hammer curls, work through a full range of motion, and add reps or weight as you get stronger. It’s best to train them at least twice a week: a review of 10 studies found that, with the same weekly volume, training a muscle group twice a week built more muscle than once a week (Schoenfeld 2016, in the references below).
REFERENCES
BMC Med Imaging. 2020 Dec 10;20(1):129. Influence of body mass index and weight lifting on bicep brachii muscle and distal bicep tendon stiffness evaluated using ultrasound elastography
Sensors (Basel). 2023 Mar 14;23(6):3106. Human Arm Workout Classification by Arm Sleeve Device Based on Machine Learning Algorithms
J Sports Sci Med. 2009 Mar 1;8(1):24-29. Effect of the shoulder position on the biceps brachii EMG in different dumbbell curls
Sports Med. 2016 Nov;46(11):1689-1697. Effects of Resistance Training Frequency on Measures of Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
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