They may not be the biggest or the strongest muscle group in your body, but your biceps are arguably the best “show” muscles. Functionally, the biceps muscle is pretty straightforward it flexes the elbow. These days, we don’t just want our biceps to work, we want them to represent!
Today, there is a dizzying number of exercises to bring out every vein, bulge, and peak in your biceps muscle, and there are very few people who don’t incorporate at least one or two of these into their workout.
Here are the top ten biceps exercises as rated by you—our users— incorporate them into your workout!
Incline Dumbbell Hammer Curl:
The incline bench position increases the stretch on the long head of the biceps muscle and also locks your body against the bench so you can’t cheat more weight during reps by rocking backward. An added benefit to hammers is that your wrist and elbow are less vulnerable to strain than during reps of other curls.
How to:
- Seat yourself on an incline bench with a dumbbell in each hand. You should pressed firmly against he back with your feet together.
- Allow the dumbbells to hang straight down at your side, holding them with a neutral grip.
- Initiate the movement by flexing at the elbow, attempting to keep the upper arm stationary.
- Continue to the top of the movement and pause, then slowly return to the start position.
Incline Inner-Biceps Curl:
This exercise also stretches the long head of the biceps. The more horizontal the bench during your workout, the more the long head of the muscle will be stretched during reps. These are awesome to add into your isolation workout because they truly isolate the biceps muscle!
How to:
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand and lie back on an incline bench.
- The dumbbells should be at arm’s length hanging at your sides and your palms should be facing out.
- Now as you exhale curl the weight outward and up while keeping your forearms in line with your side deltoids.
- Continue the curl until the dumbbells are at shoulder height and to the sides of your deltoids.
- After a second contraction at the top of the movement, start to inhale and slowly lower the weights back to the starting position using the same path used to bring them up.
EZ-Bar Curl:
A lot of people think the EZ-bar curl is the best all-around addition to your biceps workout. It engages both the short and long heads of the biceps muscle and for some people it’s a lot more comfortable on the joints and forearms than a straight barbell!
How to:
- Stand up straight while holding an EZ curl bar at the wide outer handle.
- Now, while keeping your upper arms stationary, exhale and curl the weights forward while contracting the biceps.
- Focus on only moving your forearms.
- Continue to raise the weight until your biceps are fully contracted and the bar is at shoulder level.
- Then inhale and slowly lower the bar back to the starting position.
Wide-Grip Standing Barbell Curl:
This is definitely one of the more common ways to hit this muscle group. Taking a wider-than-normal grip will cause you to externally rotate at the shoulder, so your upper arm changes its position, prompting more involvement from the short head of the biceps muscle.
How to:
- Stand up with your torso upright while holding a barbell at the wide outer handle. The palm of your hands should be facing forward.
- While holding the upper arms stationary, curl the weights forward while contracting the biceps as you breathe out.
- Continue the movement until your biceps are fully contracted and the bar is at shoulder level.
- Hold the contracted position for a second and squeeze the biceps hard.
- Slowly begin to bring the bar back to starting position as your breathe in.
Zottman Curl:
In this movement, you hold a dumbbell in each hand and have a palms-up (supinated) grip on the way up and a palms-down (pronated) grip as you lower the weight, so all of your elbow flexors get hit!
How to:
- Stand up with your torso upright and a dumbbell in each hand being held at arms length.
- While holding the upper arm stationary, curl the weights while contracting the biceps as you breathe out.
- Continue the movement until your biceps are fully contracted and the dumbbells are at shoulder level.
- Now during the contracted position, rotate your wrist until you now have a pronated (palms facing down) grip with the thumb at a higher position than the pinky.
- Slowly begin to bring the dumbbells back down using the pronated grip.
- As the dumbbells close your thighs, start rotating the wrist so that you go back to a neutral (palms facing your body) grip.
Regular-Grip Barbell Curl:
Of course, you can play around with your grip width (as in Exercise 5), which may reduce the discomfort that some people experience with a barbell, as well as emphasise a different part of the biceps. A narrower grip will emphasise the long head of the muscle, while a wider grip will emphasise the short head of the muscle.
How to:
- Stand up with your torso upright while holding a barbell at a shoulder-width grip.
- The palm of your hands should be facing forward and the elbows should be close to the torso.
- While holding the upper arms stationary, curl the weights forward while contracting the biceps as you breathe out.
- Continue the movement until your biceps are fully contracted and the bar is at shoulder level.
- Hold the contracted position for a second and squeeze the biceps hard.
- Slowly begin to bring the bar back to starting position as your breathe in.
Dumbbell Biceps Curl:
Also a classic! Dumbbells allow the wrists to move freely, so most people adopt for a slight rotation of the wrist and forearm as they curl, which thickens the muscle group.
How to:
- Stand up straight with a dumbbell in each hand at arm’s length.
- Keep your elbows close to your torso and rotate the palms of your hands until they are facing forward.
- Now, keeping the upper arms stationary, exhale and curl the weights while contracting your biceps.
- Continue to raise the weights until your biceps are fully contracted and the dumbbells are at shoulder level.
- Hold the contracted position for a brief pause as you squeeze your biceps.
- Then, inhale and slowly begin to lower the dumbbells back to the starting position.
Hammer Curl:
The hammer will typically be our strongest curl during a biceps workout. This is because all of our elbow flexors are actively involved, and the forearm and wrist are in a power position. Doing this movement like a concentration curl or preacher curl (on a preacher bench) will minimise cheating and maximise muscle recruitment during the workout.
How to:
- Stand up with your torso upright and a dumbbell on each hand being held at arms length.
- The palms of the hands should be facing your torso.
- Now, while holding your upper arm stationary, exhale and curl the weight forward while contracting the biceps.
- Continue to raise the weight until the biceps are fully contracted and the dumbbell is at shoulder level.
- Hold the contracted position for a brief moment as you squeeze the biceps.
- After the brief pause, inhale and slowly begin the lower the dumbbells back down to the starting position.
Overhead Cable Curl:
This is a great way to practice your front double biceps pose as you train. You can do both cables at once, or alternate between arms!
How to:
- To begin, set a weight that is comfortable on each side of the pulley machine.
- Now adjust the height of the pulleys on each side and make sure that they are positioned at a height higher than that of your shoulders.
- Stand in the middle of both sides and use an underhand grip (palms facing towards the ceiling) to grab each handle.
- While exhaling, slowly squeeze the biceps on each side until your forearms and biceps touch.
- While inhaling, move your forearms back to the starting position.
