Best All-Around Biceps Mass Move: Standing Barbell Curl 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.
The one that achieved the greatest muscle activation was the concentration curl. The authors of the study suggest that it's the most effective bicep exercise because it isolates the biceps more than any of the other exercises. To do a concentration curl: Sit at the end of a flat bench with your legs open in a V shape.
Hammer Curls
The (almost) identical sibling of biceps curls, hammer curls are an effective bicep-building exercise if you nail the form. Hammer curls can be performed unilaterally by curling one arm, then the other, alternating reps, or bilaterally.
The Weighted Chin Up is the best biceps exercise for hitting all three functions (elbow supination, elbow flexion and shoulder flexion) of the biceps with overload. This exercise will help you build strong arm muscles as well as build muscle mass and should be a mainstay in all your upper body workouts.
Stronglifts 5×5 is high volume for your shoulders, triceps and legs. It's medium volume for your chest, back and biceps.
The Weighted Chin Up hits all three functions of the bicep: elbow supination, elbow flexion and shoulder flexion. We can utilize an intensity technique if we pair up the Weighted Chin Up with heavier weights in a drop set with the Peak Contraction Chin Up.
The most effective tricep exercise for building the tricep muscles is the Triceps Extension because it allows us to perform it with either dumbbells or a barbell, allows for progressive overload directly to the triceps and is easier on the wrists and elbows if you use an EZ curl bar.
In addition to curls, Galpin says that other exercises such as lat pull-downs, diamond push-ups, dips, close grip bench press, pull-ups, bent-over rows and even lower body exercises like the deadlift can activate the biceps. "Use a variety of exercises; don't just stick to one," he suggests.
Therefore, you must give yourself enough time to recover in between your bicep workouts. Generally, a 24-48 hour resting period is sufficient to avoid any injury. In case you're using heavy weights, make sure to rest at least for two consecutive days.
Within a single week (microcycle) of training, we recommend between 2 and 5 different biceps exercises. For example, if you train biceps 3x a week, you can do a heavy barbell curl on one day, a lighter barbell curl on the next day, and a machine one-arm curl on the last day for 2 total exercises in the week.
What exercises should I do to hit the whole bicep? Any kind of curl is going to hit your bicep in pretty much the exact same way, as long as your form is good. If you really wanna be pedantic, you can do wider curls on one day, and narrower curls on another day, to hit both heads of the bicep.
Additionally, you should make sure that you're eating a healthy, well-balanced diet in order to ensure that your body has the nutrients it needs to properly recover and grow. High rep training is a great way to build bigger biceps.
The Texas Method is a three-days-per-week training regimen that emphasizes volume on Mondays, active recovery on Wednesdays, and intensity on Fridays.