3 Biceps Exercises for More Arm Growth

When someone asks me how to build bigger biceps, they usually expect a long list of exercises. But getting the biceps you want isn’t about cramming more curls into your workout. It’s about choosing curls that train the muscle in different positions.

Most lifters never think about where their upper arms are during a curl. They pick up a barbell, move to dumbbells, finish with cables, and assume each exercise is doing roughly the same thing. It isn’t. Changing the position of your upper arms changes where the biceps encounter the most resistance and which areas of the muscle receive more emphasis.

Once you understand those differences, you can train the biceps more completely with just three smart exercise choices. Here are the three movements I recommend for building bigger, thicker bi’s.

Exercise 1: Barbell Curl

I typically start a biceps workout with the barbell curl because it’s your basic mass builder. This is usually the curl variation that allows you to use the most weight, making it ideal for overloading the biceps while they’re still fresh.

With a shoulder-width grip, the long and short heads of the biceps contribute fairly evenly. But a simple change in hand position allows you to shift more of the emphasis to one head or the other:

• Moving your hands inside shoulder width places greater emphasis on the long, outer head, which contributes most to the biceps peak. 
• Taking a wider-than-shoulder-width grip shifts more of the work to the short, inner head, helping to build greater width and thickness.

If you want balanced overall development, stick with a shoulder-width grip. If your peak needs more work, go narrow. If you want more inner-biceps thickness, go wide. You can also rotate among all three grips from workout to workout—or even use a different grip on each set—to make sure you’re developing both heads of the biceps.

You can apply the same grip changes whether you use a straight bar, an EZ-bar, or a cable station with a bar attachment. Regardless of the variation, keep your upper arms close to your sides and avoid letting your elbows drift too far forward as you curl. A little controlled body movement on the last rep or two is fine, but if you have to swing the weight from the first rep, lighten the load.

Recommended sets and reps: 3-4 sets of 6–10 reps

Exercise 2: Behind-the-Back Curl

For the second exercise, move your upper arms behind your torso. This is an

... Subscribe to read more!

Related Articles

• 
  Step-Ups: 3 Tips For Bigger Legs

  Step-ups can be a great mass- and strength-building exercise for the legs – provided you do them correctly. Here are three simple tips to get the most out of this major lower body move.

• 
  12 Best Exercise Tips & Workouts for Bigger, Better Shoulders

  Want bigger, more impressive boulder shoulders? here you’ll find 12 exercise tips and workouts for getting bigger delts fast.

• 
  Exercises for Bigger, Stronger Legs

  All of my best tips, tricks, exercises, and workout routines for building bigger, stronger legs.

• 
  Biceps Exercises

  Looking for ways to build bigger biceps and biceps strength? Check out these tips for new ways to add serious size to your biceps.