Chris Lund
“THE BEST” IS A REMARKABLY FLUID CONCEPT. Debates rage in all corners of art and popular culture. What constitutes the best movie in a given year? Or TV show, or song?
So when a magazine like ours tells you they’re going to give you a listing of the “very best” biceps exercises, we understand your skepticism. We know you may look at the following choices by our selected panel of training experts with a raised eyebrow.
Is the standing barbell curl really the best biceps mass move? Does a preacher curl trump an incline dumbbell curl for the No. 1 peak builder? And when it comes to biceps isolation, how irked will you be that it’s a machine versus a free-weight exercise? (Let’s not even mention yet the controversial “top strength” entry.)
We encourage such debate—as long as you don’t miss the main point. That is, this list as a whole constitutes a kick-ass collection of proven, dependable exercises. Hate on a few if you must, but we think together they could make for the best biceps workout you’ve ever done.
Pavel Ythjall
BEST ALL-AROUND BICEPS MASS MOVE:
STANDING BARBELL CURL
KNEE-JERK REACTION
“Well, sure, but I’ve seen lots of guys turn it into a lousy lower back exercise.”
OUR EXPERTS’ TAKE
The standing barbell curl is universally lauded by our experts as a solid biceps builder, which can annihilate both the long outer head and short inner head of the biceps when done correctly. But “correctly” is crucial. Your ego will whisper in your ear, “Slide the 45s on each side, you can do it.” Chances are, you can’t—and attempting too heavy a load means you’ll be jutting your hips forward to start the movement, then leaning way back to get your elbows under the bar. Your biceps will barely see any action at all.
HOW TO DO IT
- In a standing position, feet placed shoulder-width apart, hold a barbell with a shoulder-width underhand grip, arms extended.
- Maintaining a tight core, with your chest up and head straight, flex your biceps to curl the bar from hip level toward your upper chest, keeping your elbows at your sides throughout.
- Hold for a count at full contraction at the top, then slowly return the bar along the same path.
KEY POINTERS
The standard shoulder-width grip tends to hit both the long and short head of the two-headed biceps muscle well, but you can adjust your grip to emphasize one of them more. A wider grip works the short head—it’s on the inside of your arm and helps give the overall muscle more width and thickness—while a closer grip inside shoulder width stimulates the long head, which runs on the outside of your arm and forms the “peak” when flexed.
INTENSIFY IT
Add chains on each end of the bar, which increase the resistance one link at a time as you lift.
BEST BICEPS STRENGTH BUILDER:
BARBELL CURL 21s
KNEE-JERK REACTION
“Wait—isn’t 21 too many reps for strength building?”
OUR EXPERTS’ TAKE
In combining the best overall biceps movement—standing barbell curls—with one of the most wicked intensity techniques, this is an elite strength builder, says New York City-based strength and fitness coach Heather Farmer (Instagram @Olyfarmer). As for the idea that it’s too much potential volume?
“Your overall strength can be enhanced by working in isolated parts of the movement that may be sticking points,” says Farmer, who’s also an Olympic weightlifting national competitor in the USA Weightlifting 63kg women’s class. Still, though, for those who want to go a more traditional route, you can take a longer break between each seven-rep portion, while also varying the weight used in each position. “You may find that you can handle a heavier weight in the half positions versus what you can do through the full range of motion,” Farmer points out.
HOW TO DO IT
- This is done the same as the standing barbell curl, except you’ll manipulate the range of motion every seven reps.
- “The first seven reps are performed starting at top of a finished curl position and lowering until the elbow reaches 90 degrees,” Farmer instructs. “The second seven start from a hanging extended arm position [the bottom of the rep)], and you raise the bar up to the halfway point where the elbows are 90 degrees. The last seven reps are a full-range, traditional biceps curl.”
KEY POINTERS
“Keep your core tight throughout, and avoid initiating the upward movement of the barbell by using your lower back and hips to generate momentum,” she says.
INTENSIFY IT
When you get to the full-rep portion of the set, switch to a weight that will elicit failure within seven reps, with partner assistance to reach seven if needed.
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Chris Lund
BEST BRACHIALIS BUILDER:
DUMBBELL HAMMER CURL
KNEE-JERK REACTION
“Doing hammers looks cool, so I’m in.”
OUR EXPERTS’ TAKE
“Hammer curls should be in every man’s repertoire, as they’re great overall arm-mass builders,” says Dan Roberts, C.S.C.S., founder of the Dan Roberts Group in London. “They put great emphasis on the brachialis muscles that run under the biceps brachii—particularly when doing them cross-body at a 45-degree angle.”
HOW TO DO IT
- Stand with feet at shoulder width, holding a dumbbell in each hand with a neutral grip, palms facing your sides.
- Bend the elbow of one arm to curl the dumbbell up and across your body while keeping wrist in the neutral position.
- Squeeze hard when you reach full elbow flexion, then lower under control and repeat with the other arm.
KEY POINTERS
“The trick to having perfect technique is to always ‘squeeze’ up, not swing up,” Roberts says. “Also, don’t let the hips and shoulders turn into the move. As with all biceps moves, the biggest mistake is lifting too heavy and doing reps too quickly. A 2-1-2 tempo is best.” That means two seconds up, a one-second pause, and another two seconds for the downward motion.
INTENSIFY IT
Introduce an isometric element by holding the nonworking hand in the “up” instead of the “down” position— so as you alternate, each rep begins with an eccentric action before the positive contraction.
BEST BICEPS ISOLATION MOVE:
LYING CABLE CURL
KNEE-JERK REACTION
“You know the dumbbell concentration curl exists, right?”
OUR EXPERTS’ TAKE
“The cable curl is similar to a concentration curl in that momentum can be eliminated, so no other muscle group can assist other than for stabilization,” says Gerren Liles, a Reebok One ambassador and Equinox Master Instructor based in New York City. The slight edge goes to the cable, however, because the resistance remains steadfast throughout the movement—unlike with a dumbbell, where the stimulus can dissipate at the bottom or even the top of a movement without careful attention to positioning.
HOW TO DO IT
- Attach a short straight bar to a seated cable row station and lie down, feet placed firmly on the platforms with the cable going between your knees. Hold the bar with a supinated (underhand) grip just inside shoulder width.
- Keeping your elbows at your sides, bend your arms to curl the bar all the way toward your chin, holding the peak contraction for a moment.
- Lower the bar back along the same path under control.
KEY POINTERS
“Press your midback and lower back into the bench and brace your abs,” Liles instructs. “Also make sure you have a wide enough handle where your hands are in line with your elbows—and work through a full range of motion. Your legs should be positioned so that they leave room to straighten your arms out completely.”
INTENSIFY IT
Dropsets are a killer pairing with cable movements because it’s so simple to lower the weight each time you hit failure.
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Chris Lund
BEST BICEPS MOVE FOR MOUNTAINOUS PEAKS:
EZ-BAR PREACHER CURL
KNEE-JERK REACTION
“Doesn’t the incline curl hit the long head better?”
OUR EXPERTS’ TAKE
As mentioned earlier, the long head of your biceps is most responsible for the “peak” you see when you flex your arms. And with your arms behind you, as with an incline dumbbell curl, the long head is put under stretch to start, which leads to a stronger contraction. So why does Roberts like EZ-bar preachers just a bit better when it comes to reaching your developmental “peak”? “EMG activation studies do show better biceps activation for incline curls than preachers, at least through the first two-thirds of the movement,” he says. “But that’s just one part of the whole picture. Other variables are more important to growing the long head, like the amount of weight you can handle and the intensity you can put into the exercise. The preacher wins on both counts.” Use the inner grip of the EZ-bar, remembering that a narrow grip will help target the long biceps head.
HOW TO DO IT
- Adjust a preacher bench so that the top of the pad fits securely under your armpits. Take an inside-shoulder-width, underhand grip on the EZ-curl bar—so your palms are angled inward— and position your upper arms parallel to each other on the pad. Your feet should be planted on the floor to provide stability.
- Contract your biceps to bend your elbows and lift the bar in an arc toward your chin. At the uppermost point, squeeze your bi’s strongly.
- Slowly return the bar along the same path, stopping just short of full elbow extension—you don’t want to hyperextend your elbows at the bottom.
KEY POINTERS
“Dumbbells are always a good alternative, as they naturally even out your imbalances,” Roberts says. “If you do dumbbells, I suggest always doing one extra set for your weaker arm.”
INTENSIFY IT
To really tear down the muscles, Roberts suggests finishing off preacher curls with a quick, blood-pumping dropset—going down to 70% of the original weight—or five negatives with partner assistance.
Per Bernal
BEST BODY-WEIGHT MOVE:
CLOSE-GRIP CHINUP
KNEE-JERK REACTION
“Isn’t that a back exercise?”
OUR EXPERTS’ TAKE
“This vertical pulling movement can prepare the body for real- life, outside-the-gym scenarios,” says Angelo Grinceri, a New York City-based trainer and the author of Intrinsic Strength Training: A Breakthrough Program for Real-World Functional Strength and True Athletic Power (Dragon Door Publications, 2016). Think climbing a tree or pulling yourself over a fence, if you happen to be on the run from the cops. It matters in more common situations, too—think anytime you have to pull something off a high shelf or toward you. “It’ll also strengthen your grip and your shoulders,” Grinceri adds. While it’s true that, no matter what grip you take, your lats are going to be taking on a fair portion of the load, placing your hands inside shoulder width on the bar, palms facing you, activates the biceps brachii to a significant degree. If you prefer to hit the brachialis, you can switch to a neutral grip, with palms facing each other—you can do this on a pullup apparatus designed for hammer grips or put a close-grip hammer-style V-handle over a standard bar.
HOW TO DO IT
- Grasp an overhead bar with an underhand grip, hands spaced just a few inches apart.
- Hang freely with your arms fully extended and ankles crossed behind you.
- Pull your body upward by flexing your biceps—with an assist from your lats—until your chin crosses the level of the bar.
- Lower yourself back to the full “dead hang” position (elbows fully extended) under control, then begin the next rep.
KEY POINTERS
“As you pull up, ‘lead’ with your elbows, driving them down and back,” Grinceri says. “Throughout each rep, slow down and control your body—don’t settle for partial or momentum-driven reps. As you advance, consider trying the L-sit, where you lift your legs up to a position parallel to the floor and keep them there throughout the set. It engages the core and makes the movement a little more challenging.”
INTENSIFY IT
Finish a set of regular chins with two to three negatives, where you jump into the top position— elbows bent, chin over the bar—and then lower yourself as slowly as you can. You can use a flat bench to step up and get into the top position, or have a partner cradle your feet to assist you upward. (By the way, beginners who can’t do a regular pullup can start with just negatives, along with static holds at the top of the rep, which helps develop the strength to progress to the full exercise.)
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Chris Lund
BEST BICEPS FINISHING MOVE:
STANDING CABLE CURL DROPSET
KNEE-JERK REACTION
“Shouldn’t I do this with dumbbells instead?”
OUR EXPERTS’ TAKE
Yes, you could choose to “run the rack” and do a dumbbell curl dropset instead of this pick. But Carla Sanchez, former IFBB Pro League fitness pro and owner of Performance Ready Fitness Studio in Lone Tree, CO, prefers the cable version in a pinch. “It’s more convenient than trying to monopolize a dumbbell rack in a busy gym, it’s a little easier to switch weights from set to set because you’re just changing a pin, and it’s safer to perform a cable curl to absolute failure alone,” she explains.
HOW TO DO IT
- Stand in front of a low-pulley cable with a short straight bar attached. Grasp the bar with both hands in a supinated (palms up) grip, elbows extended, standing upright and far enough back from the apparatus that the stack is slightly lifted, putting your muscles under direct tension to start.
- Maintaining a tight core and keeping your elbows at your sides, flex your biceps to bend your elbows and curl the bar toward your upper chest.
- Hold the contraction at the top for a hard one count, then slowly lower the bar along the same path.
- Don’t allow the weight stack to touch down between reps.
KEY POINTERS
Two things will help you get the most out of this last-gasp, biceps-blasting finisher. “Make sure to start heavy enough—I recommend your 6RM weight on the first set, which means a resistance you can get about six reps with but no more,” Sanchez says. “Also watch your form closely, making sure you continue to rep with your biceps and not by arching your back to help drive the movement.”
INTENSIFY IT
Switch out the bar for a D-handle and do these dropsets one arm at a time.
“BEST” BICEPS WORKOUT
This workout combines the experts’ picks into one killer training session. We recommend doing this workout on its own and not paired with another larger body part beforehand, so you’re fresh and at your strongest. Feel free to use one or two of the “Intensify It” techniques outlined in the article.
- Close-Grip Chinup | SETS: 4 | REPS: 10
- Standing Barbell Curl | SETS: 4 | REPS: 10 10, 8, 6
- or Barbell Curl 21s | SETS: 4 | REPS: 21 (7, 7, 7)
- EZ-Bar Preacher Curl | SETS: 4 | REPS: 10, 10, 8, 6
- Dumbbell Hammer Curl | SETS: 3 | REPS: 15, 12, 8
- Lying Cable Curl | SETS: 3 | REPS: 12, 12, 12
- Standing Cable Curl Dropset | SETS: 2 | REPS: To failure
FLEX
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