Muscles Target: | Biceps. |
Level: | Advanced. |
Duration: | 45 – 60 minutes. |
Main Goal: | Build Growth and shape. |

Having muscular biceps shows how much time and effort you put in at the gym! Muscular biceps make your arm attractive that put a perfect look on your body.
To make a biceps, you only need to curl and curl and curl more, but if you need to grow them, it takes too much time, effort, knowledge, and a crazy biceps workout. A peaked bicep is the first pinnacle of achievement we aim to reach in our fitness journey.
These exercises are the most picked exercise for advanced-level of gym-goer or personal trainers suggest to a celebrity who wants very quick results. So, it is a secret recipe for making your bicep grow very fast.
Table of Contents
Anatomy of Biceps Muscles
To increase your biceps size and shape, you need to focus on all the different muscles that exist on your biceps. So, the structure of the bicep muscles helps you a lot to identify which exercise builds which part.
There are three muscles located in the anterior compartment of the upper arm – biceps brachii, coracobrachialis, and brachialis.

Biceps Brachii:- Biceps Brachii is the most prominent muscle of the biceps. It is comprised of two muscles: a short head which lies on the inside of the arm and a long head muscle which lies on the outside of your arm.
Coracobrachialis:- The coracobrachialis muscle lies deep and under the biceps brachii in the arm. It originates from the coracoid process of the scapula and connects to the medial portion of the humerus, near the deltoid tubercle. The placement of coracobrachialis helps you to flexion your arm at the shoulder, and weak adduction. It allows you to perform exercises where you swing a weight upward forcefully.
Brachialis:- This muscle lies deep beneath the biceps brachii coming from the humerus and over the elbow and into the ulnar tuberosity. The position assists the biceps brachii to bring the forearms toward the humerus like in the hammer curl.
The coracobrachialis and brachialis are providing power to the joints when they cross over. Without these short muscles, the biceps would be considerably weaker while not providing diverse functionality on your forearms and shoulders.
Six Most Effective Biceps Workouts
1. Standing Barbell Curl
Muscles Worked: Long head, short head brachii, brachialis, and coracobrachialis
The Standing Barbell Curl is traditional exercise, the most common bicep exercise, and the most prominent one also. When you did it correctly, this exercise targets your biceps and can add more strength and size to the entire muscle.
With the barbell curl, you can curl more weight by adding plates. Barbell allows both arms to work simultaneously and evenly, which is great for stability and control. Simply hold the barbell curl with both hands, and lift it up towards your chin.
How to do Standing Barbell Curl?
- Grab the barbell with an underhand grip, stand straight and your hands are slightly wider than your shoulders.
- Compress your core and contract your biceps to curl the bar up.
- Slowly lift the weight at the front of your shoulders and keep your elbows and shoulders as fixed as possible you can.
- Squeeze your biceps at the top of the movement, then slowly reverse the movement to its starting position.
- Tip:- Don’t go lean back when you curl the barbell up. It causes back injury and lifts the weight very smoothly and slowly.
- Sets:- 3 sets of 12 reps.
2. Alternating Incline Dumbbell Curl
Muscles Worked: Long head and short head brachii.
If you really want to increase the size of your bicep bulge, then “Alternating Incline Dumbbell Curl” is the best bicep exercise to increase the size. Setting the bench to incline puts more pressure on the long head of your biceps brachii because you’re now working from a deficit.
Note: During this exercise requires more effort, you will need to lighten the load.
How to do Alternating Incline Dumbbell Curl?
- Lie back on the incline bench with dumbbells in each hand. Your bench should be 60 to 75 degrees inclined.
- Let your arms hang so they are fully extended.
- Keeping your elbow and shoulder stationary, slowly lift one dumbbell towards the shoulder.
- Hold for a second at the top, then reverse the movement to return to its starting position.
- Repeat on the opposite side.
Sets:- 4 sets of 10 reps on each side.
3. Barbell Drag Curl
Muscles Worked: Long head, short head, and brachialis
It is less popular than the standard barbell curl, but the barbell drag curl is an extremely effective bicep exercise. It is the perfect bicep exercise if you want to improve your arm size, strength, and appearance.
How to do Barbell Drag Curl?
- Grab a barbell wider than shoulder-width apart with a supinated grip, elbows planted tight to the side of your torso.
- As you begin to curl the bar up, drop the bar straight up on your stomach by pulling your elbows backward and up.
- Dragging the barbell along your torso, bring it as high as you can get it.
- Squeeze your biceps for a second.
- Slowly lower the barbell back to starting position by dragging the bar down and the torso.
- Repeat for the indicated number of reps while going as slow as you can.
Tip:- When you drag the bar up bring the elbows back and up but do not lift your shoulders.
Sets:- 3 sets of 10-12 reps.
4. Preacher Curl
Muscles Worked: Biceps Brachii.
You should be using lighter weights for the preacher curl because the bench forces you into an unstable position. Preacher curl impacts your front-arm muscles, which help you build some serious size on your biceps.
How to do Preacher Curl?
- Hold the dumbbell on the bench with zero space between your underarm area and the top bench.
- Bend your elbows and curl the dumbbell toward your shoulder, without moving your upper arms.
- Pause, squeezing your bicep at the top.
- Slowly reverse the movement to return to do it again.
Sets:- 5 sets of 10 reps.
5. Zottman Curl
Muscles Worked: Long head, short head brachii, brachialis, and coracobrachialis
Zottman Curl’s exercise targets the three major muscles that build your biceps – the biceps brachii, brachialis, and brachioradialis. The Zottman curl utilizes different hand positioning at different portions of the lift to capitalize on the strength of the lifter and hits all areas of your bicep. It also hit your forearms muscles by rotation
How to do Zottman Curl?
- Grab the dumbbells in each hand.
- Turn your arms so your palms face forward.
- Without moving your upper arms, bend your elbows and curl the dumbbells toward the shoulders
- Pause, then rotate the dumbbells so your palms face forward again.
- Slowly lower the weights down in that position.
- Rotate the dumbbells back to the starting position.
Sets:- 3 sets of 12 reps.
6. Hammer Curl
Target: Long head brachii and brachialis.
Hammer curl is very important to add to your biceps workout routine because it builds the outer head of your bicep brachii. When you perform correctly, it can maximize your arm growth and help improve grip strength.
How to do Hammer Curl?
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Hold the pair of dumbbells in your hands with your palms facing towards your body or both palms parallel to each other.
- Keeping your elbows close to your body, slowly curl the right dumbbell up to your right shoulder.
- Pause and squeeze your bicep at the top, then slowly lower the weight.
- Do the same to the left side of your biceps. This is your one repetition completed
Sets:- 4 sets of 10-12 reps.

How to heal biceps strain or tear?
- Apply ice: Cold packs or ice is the best way to reduce your muscle injury after the workout. An ice or cold shower is the perfect treatment to increase your recovery rate.
- Take anti-inflammatory medication: Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicines, like aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen, can help with pain and swelling.
How to warm up your bicep?
To initiate a workout, warm-up is very important for any type of muscle workout to prevent injury. A good warm-up before a workout dilates your blood vessels, ensuring that your muscles are well supplied with oxygen. It also raises your muscles’ temperature for optimal flexibility and efficiency putting you away from injury. Below are some important warm-up exercises for your biceps.
Wall Biceps Stretch:
- Press your right palm against a wall at shoulder level.
- Slowly turn your body opposite the wall.
- Feel the stretch generated in your chest, shoulder, and arm.
- Hold the position for 15 seconds, then repeat on the opposite side.
Curl With Barbell (without weight):
- Grabs the barbell with unloading weight with your hands shoulder-width apart, palms toward the ceiling.
- Curl the bar up slowly toward the chest, without moving your elbows.
- Pause and squeeze your biceps at the top.
- Lower it down slowly and curl it again.
- Do 15 reps.
Rowing Machine:
Use of a rowing machine for biceps warm-up is one of the perfect warm-ups before starting your biceps workout. Get ride a rowing machine and set its resistance to low or medium. Now start the rowing exercise but make sure you concentrate on pulling or stretching your arms slowly in the beginning.
Pull-ups
Pull-up is a great exercise for warm-up. It is not essential for biceps day but also you can include any kind of muscle day.
FAQs
How to get bicep vein
If you want to achieve veiny arms, you’ll have to put in some work. You’ll need to build muscle safely, lose body fat, and get your blood pumping with cardio. But don’t worry, we’ll walk you through everything you need to do.
- reduce overall body fat
- increase muscle mass
- consume nitric oxide supplementation
- focus on diet
Why is my bicep twitching
Muscle twitches can be the result of stress, too much caffeine, a poor diet, exercise, or a side effect of some medications.
3 steps of rid od bicep twitching muscle-
- Stretch the affected area.
- Massage the affected area with your hands or a massage roller.
- Use Gun Handheld Massagers Device
How long can you wait to repair a torn bicep
It is important to note that a distal biceps rupture repair should be done as soon as possible within two weeks of injury since prolonged delays cause the muscle and; tendon to pull back and result in dense scarring around the injured tendon.
If you feel too much pain in the biceps muscle, this may be the possibility of muscle ligament or tendon injury, you must have to consult healthcare.
Why does my bicep hurt
Be aware of sudden, sharp pain when weightlifting as this may indicate a more serious underlying issue. Listen out for a potential popping sound, which is usually associated with the tearing of the bicep tendon. Experiencing unprovoked bicep pain is considered abnormal and should be investigated straight away – possible causes include cramps.
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