The 13 Best Biceps Workouts – A Detailed Guide
Working out is important when it comes to keeping yourself fit and healthy. Many men and women also exercise to tone up their bodies, build muscle and to maintain a great physique. If you are focused on building muscle to improve your appearance and strength, then you need to concentrate on building biceps.
This is because it is the easiest part of the body that you can show off. You can totally rock a simple shirt or a casual t-shirt with strong and well-built biceps. This can turn a lot of heads and impress a lot of people. There are also many benefits from performing the best possible biceps workout.
Importance Of Biceps Workouts
There are many workouts that concentrate or focus on the bicep muscles. The main benefit or importance of such workouts is that it helps to increase the size of the biceps which being honest is the best part. Even the strength of your biceps increases when doing bicep workouts.
For most people it is easier to do the pulling movements. To make your biceps muscles strong and gain more muscle mass, you should perform only exercises that can stimulate the growth of the biceps. Read on to know some of the best exercises that you can perform to improve your muscles.
Exercises To Improve Your Biceps
Here is a list of some of the best bicep workouts that you can try in your next gym session to get improved and better biceps:
#1: Standing Barbell Curl

This exercise is a basic one which every beginner should be able to do when they start exercising. But as you gain more experience, increase the weight of the barbell for better results. The barbell curl is extremely effective in nature as these barbells allow you to work both of your arms evenly and simultaneously. The position of the grip will allow you to focus on different part of the muscles in your arm. This exercise comes with several benefits:
- Improves grip strength
- Increases upper body mass
- Prevents injury
- Helps to get bigger biceps
How To Do It:
- First you have to stand up with the torso completely upright and hold the barbell at just above your belly button line.
- Now, you have to keep your upper arm steady and curl the weights forward while you are contracting your biceps while breathing out
- You have to continue this movement until the entire bicep is contracted fully and by this time, the bar should be at the level of your shoulder.
- Now, bring the bar back to the same starting position slowly while you breathe in.
- You have to keep on repeating this for the recommended repetitions in your workout plan.
#2: Concentration Curl

The concentration curl is another very effective bicep workout that can target some of the main bicep muscles. This is one of the most popular exercises that you probably have seen people performing in the gym. This old school bicep workout can help you to get the best results when exercising your biceps. But for this you need to have the right form. There are lots of things that you should consider while doing this exercise. Also, it comes with several benefits. The benefits are:
- Targets different muscle groups of your biceps
- Helps in developing the muscle strength and power
- Improves the aesthetics of upper arm
- Improves functionality of arm
How To Do It:
- You have to sit down on a flat bench with one dumbbell in front of you and place it between your legs.
- Your legs must be spread and the knees should be bent keeping your feet on floor
- Now, you have to use your right arm for picking up the dumbbell
- While performing this exercise make sure to place the back of your right upper arm on the top of the right inner thigh.
#3: Standing Resistance Band Hammer Curl

This is another great exercise that you can perform on your biceps that does not require any weights. If you want to go easy for once and leave the weights on the rack, then this exercise is the best thing for you. You can give the resistance bands a shot to try and gain some biceps. This band will allow you to add resistance to your weightless workout. With the help of this exercise, the bicep muscles can be broadened. There are specific rules for performing this exercise. Though it may appear to be easy, you can easily use up a lot of energy to perform this. Here are the benefits of the standing resistance band hammer curl:
- Helps in improving the strength
- Helps in building the size of your biceps and forearms
- Easier on your wrists than the weight exercises
How To Do It:
- You have to grab a resistance band that is ideal for this workout.
- Now stand straight with your feet apart at the width of your shoulders
- Make your band loop under the feet and hold the band tightly
- Now bend the elbows and curl your band towards the shoulder keeping your upper arm in place
- Now, bring back the arm to its starting position.
- You should repeat this motion for the number of reps you need.
#4: Standing Dumbbell Curl

When thinking of the best bicep workout, you can never forget the classic dumbbell curl. This is one of the most effective and old school exercises that every man should perform to improve their bicep muscles. You need to use weighted dumbbells that match your current strength level. This exercise can be a great on contouring your biceps and making them look really big and perfectly toned. The benefits of this exercise are:
- Helps in building strength
- Improves the core muscles
- Helps in improving your muscle definition
- Increasing your bicep strength
How To Do It:
- You have to hold two dumbbells in two hands at the sides making your palms facing in toward your thighs.
- Keep your arms straight and position your feet comfortably in shoulder-width apart.
- Now brace your core muscles for the dumbbell weight lift.
- Then lift one dumbbell towards the shoulder making the arms rotate as it move up. While doing this, yo have to make sure that your elbow is close the body.
- Exhale while you are lifting
- Now again rotate back the arm to the starting position while you are inhaling.
- You should repeat the reps for the recommended number of reps/sets as instructed by your gym instructor
#5: Spider Curl
This is a great bicep workout but on a much more advanced level. It is not for the beginners, but it totally depends on your strength, flexibility and stamina whether or not your trainer recommends this workout. This exercise is quite effective. Though it may look easy but it is quite hard to do. It comes with a larger range of motion than that of the other bicep workouts. Thus, it allows higher efficiency of the movement, better strength and injury prevention. Here are some of the benefits of spider curl:
- Extremely efficient for building muscles
- Improves your strength by better movement
- Offers better size gain
- Extremely favorable bicep exercise
How To Do It:
- You have to grab a dumbbell and then sit facing forward on the incline bench
- Make sure that your upper arm is it is place and the forearm is moving at the elbow
- You have to squeeze the bicep for curling the dumbbell in clean form
- While curling make sure to exhale
- Hold for 5 seconds and then move the forearms back to the normal position again while inhaling
- You should repeat this until you finish the reps in your workout.
#6: Hammer Curl
This is another great bicep workout which you can perform to improve the aesthetics of your biceps. They help in working out your bicep muscles when you flex your arm. The hammer curl is one of the most efficient biceps workouts that every man likes to do. You don't need a lot of strength or special experience to perform it. Yet it can be a great way to curl your biceps and build stronger muscles. Some of the benefits of the hammer curl are:
- It helps in providing additional strength
- Improves the size of the biceps
- Makes the forearm stronger too
- Lesser impact on the joints
How To Do It:
- First you have to grab two dumbbells in two arms and let them hang next to your side with the palms facing towards your inner thighs.
- Now without moving the upper arms, you have to slowly bend the elbows and curl up the dumbbell as close as possible to the shoulder.
- Gradually, you should lower the weight back to the original starting position. Every time you pull up exhale and inhale while you bring the arms back.
- Make sure that your arms are completely straight when you bring them back before you curl it up again.
#7: Decline Dumbbell Curl
This is another great workout for your biceps. It is another advanced workout with high efficiency that can improve the entire appearance of the biceps. This exercise is super important for your biceps and it can be done with the help of a bench. It makes your biceps stronger and arms more toned. this exercise can also improve the strength of your grip. This exercise comes with a lot of benefits. These are:
- It improves the core muscles
- Makes the bicep bigger and stronger
- Increase the fortitude of the biceps
- Focus on all arm muscle groups
How To Do It:
- Grab a pair of dumbbells and then lie on your chest against the bench. Make sure that the bench is inclined to 45 degree angle.
- Now without moving your upper arms, you have to bend the arms to bring the dumbbells towards your shoulders.
- Make sure to notice the tension on your biceps while you are curling it up with the dumbbells.
- Pause for few seconds and now slowly bring the dumbbells back to their start positions.
- Repeat this set as many times as recommended by your gym trainer.
#8: Incline Dumbbell Curl
This is just the opposite of the decline dumbbell curl. You have to lie on the bench on your back instead of your chest. This will allow your arms to drop down behind your body. This will make the exercise much more challenging than that of the normal bicep curls or the decline dumbbell curl. Thus, it will make your biceps to work harder for a better result. This exercise comes with a lot of benefits such as:
- Provides better stretch of biceps
- Helps in making muscles stronger
- Build muscles
- More effective than normal bicep curls
How To Do It:
- Take two dumbbells and then lie with your back against the bench. Make sure that the bench is at 45 degree inclination.
- Without moving the upper arms, you have to bend your elbow and then curl the dumbbells as close as possible towards your shoulders.
- Pause for a few seconds and bring the arm back to the starting position. Make sure to exhale while lifting up the dumbbells and inhale while bringing back to the starting position.
- Repeat this set for the recommended number of times with your upper arm intact in a position.
#9: Cable Rope Hammer Curl
This exercise is another great workout for your biceps. It is considered as the best biceps workout without weights. It is just like that of the dumbbell hammer curl but instead of the dumbbell, you will use the cable rope here. Hence, you will keep it steadier in nature and there will be a constant load on your biceps for a longer time. This will make your growth faster and better. This exercise is surely one of the best ones that you can perform for your biceps. It has a lot of benefits such as:
- Helps in gaining upper body strength
- Focuses on major muscle groups of your arms and forearms
- Provides excellent stability
- Helps in building muscles
How To Do It:
- First of all, you have to hold the ends of the rope which are attached to the low pulley of your cable machine.
- Now press your elbows into your sides with the palms facing right at each other. Make sure that your feet are shoulder-width apart and your torso is upright. Here you have to slightly bend your knees
- Keeping the arms completely stable, start curling or moving the rope towards the shoulder. Now pause for a few seconds while reversing the movement back to the original position again.
- You should repeat this a few times as recommended by a trainer.
#10: Cable Alternating Flex Curl
If you are looking for the best exercises for your biceps without the need of the weights, then this is one of them. It helps the biceps to stretch as well as a curl to make it work intensively. You have to hold the cable while performing the exercise. It offers increased grip and added strength to your biceps. This also helps in gaining strength for your upper body. This exercise comes with a lot of benefits such as:
- Helps in flexing your muscles
- Gaining upper body strength
- Making your muscles stronger and better
How To Do It:
- You have to stand between the weight stack of a cable station and grab two cable ends with your two hands. Hold your arms out to both the sides making it parallel to the floor.
- You have to keep the upper arm steady. Now do it one by one. You have to keep the right arm steady and curl up the left arm first. Slowly bring the palm closer to the shoulder and pause for few seconds. Then take the arm back to its original position.
- Now repeat the same with the right arm. Make sure to do it alternatively. Repeat this as many times as recommended.
#11: Ez-Bar Preacher Curl
This is another amazing workout for your biceps. You have to make sure that you are resting your arms on the sloping pad while you are performing this exercise. You have to isolate the biceps from the upper body while working out. This is a great exercise which concentrates only on your biceps. There are many professional bodybuilders who love doing this exercise just to keep their biceps stronger and bigger. Here are some of the benefits of this exercise:
- Helps in strengthening the biceps
- Minimize the strain on your wrists
- Improves the overall appearance of the biceps
How To Do It:
- You have to grab an EZ-bar for performing this exercise. Place the hands on it with 6 inches apart.
- Make sure to rest your upper arm on the sloping pad of the preacher bench.
- Now you have to hold the bar in front of you with your elbows being slightly bent
- Without moving the upper arm, slowly bend your elbows and curl the bar towards your shoulder
- Now pause for a few seconds while holding onto it tightly.
- Slowly, bring the bar back to the starting position.
- Repeat this step again and again until you complete all of your reps.
#12: Bent-Over Barbell Row

To make sure that your biceps are stronger and more toned, this exercise is extremely important. This bent-over barbell rowing focuses on your entire arm besides your biceps. This helps in strengthening the overall arms toning it up perfectly. For this, you will need a barbell with good weight equally divided on both the sides. This exercise is surely a great one with a lot of benefits such as:
- Whole arm workout
- Make a significant impact on the back muscles
- Helps in building muscle mass and strength
- Provides a lot of movement of your arms
How To Do It:
- First, you have to put weights on the barbell. Now, grab the barbell with two hands which must be just shoulder-width apart.
- Stretch your arms and hold it at arm’s length. Now bend at your knees and hips while bracing your abs.
- Slowly pull the bar towards your rib cage and pause for a few seconds.
- After that, you have to lower it back to the starting position from where you had started.
- You have to repeat this until you complete all of your reps in your workout.
#13: Underhand-Grip Inverted Row
This is another excellent exercise that you can perform for your biceps. It is also a great exercise that can improve your upper-back. Using the underhand grip, you can perform this exercise. It is not at all easy but it can yield an amazing result that your muscles crave. Some of the best benefits of this exercise are:
- Offers entire upper back workout
- Improves the strength of the arms
- Helps to build stronger bicep muscles
How To Do It:
- You have to grab a bar with an underhand position with shoulder-width grip.
- Make sure that the palms are facing towards you and hang your arms completely straight.
- Your body must be in a straight line from your head to your ankle.
- Now slow move towards the rod pulling your shoulder blades. Hold on to that position and again come back to the starting position.
- Make sure to be steady while performing this and keep the body straight.
- Repeat this for the recommended number of repetitions.
Here's A Great Video On Bicep Training
So, if you were looking for the best biceps workout, then these are the top 13 most amazing exercises that you can try. All these exercises are really great for your biceps. These exercises can make your biceps stronger and better by flexing it and rowing them. You have to make sure that your bicep muscles are strong enough to make it look aesthetically classy.
With these exercises, you can make your biceps really big and strong. But it is better to ask your trainer before you perform these exercises. Since, all of these exercises are pretty intense in nature, only a certified trainer can actually guide you about which one will be ideal for you. Also, it is better to ask for the repetitions and weights before you start doing the exercises.
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