A lot of research have been conducted throughout the years to determine the best biceps workout. Big biceps send a message to the rest of the world that you’ve put in some serious gym time. Although the biceps are modest muscles, they require time, expertise, and clever training to grow. Your biceps also flex your elbow, which is a very crucial role when you think about it. Otherwise, how would you lift up your baby or curl that beer (sorry, protein shake) to your lips? The biceps aren’t merely for show; they have a purpose.
The good news is that biceps workout is straightforward: curl, curl, and curl some more. However, certain workouts are more effective than others. To help you decide which is ideal for you, we’ve compiled a list of top 10 best biceps exercises.
Chin up
The chin-up is a bodyweight exercise and the best back and bicep workout that can result in significant biceps (and back) muscular gain using only a pull-up bar. If your home gym has a door-mounted pull-up bar, that’s all you need to perform chin-ups. Because the lifter pulls their own bodyweight, the biceps are frequently subjected to weights larger than what a barbell can lift. Lifters, on the other hand, frequently do them improperly, activating their shoulder and grip muscles.
Benefits of the Chin-Up
- A chin-up requires simply a pull-up bar, making it one of the more accessible motions on our list.
- The chin-up requires you to lift your whole bodyweight, putting more strain on your biceps than a typical curl.
- Your grip and shoulders will also get stronger.
How to Perform a Chin-Up
Hang from a bar with your palms facing you and your hands shoulder-width or slightly further apart. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and lift your body up, being careful not to allow your body fold inwards (as many people do), until your chin is at or above the bar.
If you train your back with biceps, this exercise might serve as a wonderful bridging exercise for 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps. If you take a few sets to failure, as strength coach Paul Carter does, it may also be your major upper-back and biceps motion in a home workout.
Chin-up Variations for Biceps Growth:
Standard chin-up
Machine-assisted chin-up
Band-assisted chin-up
L-sit chin-up
Barbell Curl : Best Biceps Workout
A traditional biceps-builder is the barbell curl and the most important bicep exercises. When done correctly, this exercise targets the biceps and may add significant growth and strength to the entire muscle. Because you’re lifting a single item with both hands, you can curl more weight with the barbell curl than with other curl types. It’s also simple to accomplish. Simply load a barbell with weight, grip it in both hands, and raise it to your chin.
Benefits of the Barbell Curl
- It’s straightforward and effective. The barbell curl has a low learning curve, making it ideal for novices, but more experienced lifters may still benefit from the fundamental principles.
- Because you can load your biceps with greater weight, you’ll create stronger biceps faster.
The Barbell Curl: A Step-by-Step Guide
With an underhand grip slightly broader than the shoulders, grab a barbell. Pull the shoulders back into the socket while keeping your chest high and shoulder blades firmly together. This will expose the front of your biceps. The elbows should be positioned behind the shoulder joint or slightly forward by the ribs. Curl the barbell up with your biceps, being careful not to let your chest to fall forward, your shoulders to slump forward, or your elbows to slip backward to the side of the body (they should stay slightly in front of the shoulders).
Dumbbell Curl
Why it’s on the list: What makes this different from a barbell curl?
That is all up to you. You may complete the movements in the same workout in much the same order, but we don’t suggest it. Dumbbell curls are valuable because they can be done in a variety of ways: standing or sitting, with both arms or alternating, turning your wrists into Zottman curls to concentrate on your frightening forearms, or twisting your pinky up to focus just on the bis. In a nutshell, you have alternatives.
In your bicep workouts with dumbbells, if you’re doing them after barbell or cable curls, stress the difference with Zottmans, or do bilateral seated curls until exhaustion and then move to unilateral curls to lengthen the set.
If you see your reps becoming sloppy, pound the negatives hard. Even when exhausted, eccentric-focused reps have been found to deliver more force than concentric-focused reps.
Hammer Curl
The lifter curls dumbbells with their hands facing each other in the hammer curl. Because we are stronger in a palms-facing position, this neutral wrist position is more comfortable and helps the lifter to hoist more weight. For increased arm thickness, this technique also targets the biceps brachialis and brachioradialis (outer biceps and forearm).
The Advantages of the Hammer Curl
- It is more pleasant to have your wrists in a neutral posture.
- With the hammer curl, you can lift more weight, accumulating greater muscle-building volume over time.
- To create denser arms, the hammer curl works the inner biceps and forearm muscles.
How to Perform a Hammer Curl
While standing, hold a dumbbell in each hand. Turn your wrists so they face each other. Curl the dumbbells up towards your shoulders while keeping your arms tucked up at your sides. Controllably lower them back down.
Inclination Curl
The lifter must lie back on an incline gym bench to accomplish the incline dumbbell curl. Curling from an incline removes momentum from the equation, making it impossible for the lifter to cheat the weight up. Second, curling with extended arms offers a wider range of motion, making this curl variation more effective.
The Advantages of the Incline Dumbbell Curl
- The incline dumbbell curl removes momentum, requiring the lifter to use proper curling form.
- Lifting with extended arms broadens the exercise’s range of motion, allowing for more muscle strain.
How to Perform the Incline Curl using Dumbbells
With a dumbbell in each hand, lie back on an incline bench tilted at about 60 degrees. Allow your arms to hang fully extended. Curl the weight up to your shoulders without shifting your shoulders. Hold the apex of the action for approximately a second, then controllably lower the dumbbells.
Preacher Curl
There are several variations of the preacher curl, and every dedicated bodybuilder has a favourite. Whatever variation you perform, you’ll get a strong pump, especially if you’re using a great pre-workout or pump pill at the same time. In fact, with the addition of hammer curls, this old-school peak-builder may be nearly enough for a complete biceps session.
The lowest section of the action, along with other motions that begin in a stretched position, has the largest muscle activation. The muscle does not have to work as hard as it does when the weight increases. This is why the cable may be the greatest tool to employ here to assist finish your biceps.
The Advantages of the Preacher Curl
- The ability to maintain stability throughout the exercise enhances the tension generated and keeps it going until tiredness sets in.
- It may be used for a variety of rep ranges to help build muscle and strength in the biceps.
How to Perform the Preacher Curl
Holding an EZ-bar with an underhand grip, sit on a preacher bench. Curl the bar to the top, halt and squeeze, then gently drop the bar until your arms are completely straight.
How to Perform the Preacher Reverse Curl
Change your grip to a double-overhand hold with the same weight on the EZ-bar as above. Curl up the bar, stop, and then drop until your arms are completely straight.
Concentration Curl
There’s a reason why the concentration curl does so well in muscle-activity tests. One explanation might be because the torso posture restricts shoulder participation, but another could be the mind-muscle connection that many individuals describe experiencing when performing this technique. There is some growing evidence that the mind-muscle link might assist in increasing muscular development.
The advantages of Concentration Curl
- The capacity to concentrate more on your biceps.
- More calories are spent when you work one side of your body at a time, virtually doubling the amount of sets.
- By concentrating on one arm at a time, you will strengthen your weaker side.
How to Perform a Concentration Curl
Sit on a seat with your feet spread wide enough for your arm to dangle in the centre, elbow resting on the inner of your thigh. Slowly curl a dumbbell upward at a steady speed, concentrating on tightening the biceps to move the burden. Flex as hard as possible at the apex of the action, then steadily reduce the weight. The objective is to maintain biceps tension throughout the range of action.
Cable Curl
At first appearance, this action appears to be similar to the standing barbell curl. After all, they’re both bilateral exercises in which you grab the bar with a shoulder-width, underhand grip. The angle of loading, like many of the finest muscle-building cable workouts, provides consistent stress on the muscle throughout the whole range of motion.
That implies you can’t rest at the bottom or the peak, resulting in more overall time under strain. Furthermore, depending on the gym, you may have a variety of handle alternatives and body postures to keep you active.
If you do it first in your exercise, go quite heavy and utilise a difficult weight for 6-10 repetitions each set. If you opt to perform it later in the exercise, aim for 8-12 reps per set or more.
Avoid Biceps Tendon Rupture
- Maintain optimum shoulder, elbow, and forearm strength.
- Avoid aggressive pushing or pulling activities, as well as lifting objects that are simply too heavy, to avoid repetitive overhead lifting and overall misuse of the shoulder. For elderly folks, lifting more than 150 pounds can be harmful.
- When conducting activities such as lowering a large item to the ground, use extra caution.
- Smoking causes carbon monoxide to build up in the body, leaving less oxygen for muscles to grow and recover.
Steroid use should be avoided since it weakens muscles and tendons.
Takeaway
You don’t need to be too complicated with your routines to target your biceps. This efficient three-move workout may be more your speed. You can also combine bicep and tricep workouts as superset for more pump and gaining mass and increase testosterone naturally.
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