You must have seen a guy with big bicep muscles on the road and must have presumed that he is powerful. Well, of course, bigger bicep muscles are a clear symbol of power, and who doesn’t want to look powerful in this era of social media? Statistics shared by the nation’s premier healthy lifestyle brand in 2023 show that the major ratio, with 32% of people attending the gym, states that they are visiting the gym to build muscles. However, the ratio of people practising something doesn’t really reflect the ease of doing it. Everything depends on the number of people who are gaining success.
Building yourself is like growing your strength and expanding your personality, and doing it with excellence requires changing your habits. As what you repeatedly do is going to decide who you become. The journey of building a new you isn’t easy, yet to make it captivating and interesting, it’s important to have the best gym as your partner, like Meridian Fitness.
Building bicep muscles the right way is essential: taking pre-workout supplements and doing the right exercise. Further, the following are the top 15 exercises to build bicep muscles, which I always refer to the enthusiasts striving to build muscles.
Top 15 Bicep Workouts For Muscle Building
The following 15 exercises work wonders when it comes to building bicep muscles. Besides, the key to getting your ideal body is to be persistent with the exercises and mentally ready as what your mind believes is what your body achieves.
Compound exercises
The compound exercise is when your body collectively performs an exercise, as all your muscles are in sync, and the movements are collaborative. Following are some of the common compound exercises and the body parts they particularly target.
EZ curl bar
The EZ curl bar is one of the most basic exercises for building the biceps. It is highly effective yet safe, especially for beginners, as it doesn’t put much pressure on your wrists. It’s light and requires a neutral grip to avoid wrist pain, which is common among bicep builders.
However, it’s a compound exercise that helps you start working on your forearms and biceps. Additionally, it provides multiple grip options and weighs way less, making it more adaptable for various people to start with.
For EZ bar curls, stand with feet shoulder-width apart, gripping the bar with underhand grip. Keep elbows close to body and curl bar towards chest, focusing on bicep contraction. Lower bar back down with control, avoiding momentum.
Barbell curl
Again, the following exercise on the list is one of the most effective yet easy, barbell curls. It has been considered one of the go-to options for starters. Barbell curls are the most practised exercise among bodybuilders as they ensure maximum results.
Furthermore, posture plays an important role in building effectiveness, as it’s vital to tone the right muscles. That’s not it there are multiple variations of barbell curls you can try.
Stand with feet shoulder-width apart. Grip the barbell underhand and stand tall. Hands should be slightly outside hips. Curl the bar towards the chest, keeping upright posture and engaging back and shoulders.
Chin Up
On a horizontal bar, with your hands supporting you, you hang down and pull yourself up by the level of the bar. Chin-up helps to exercise the upper part of the body, and while doing the exercise, you need to keep your palm inward.
The chin-up is one of the most challenging exercises, as you have to bear your whole body’s weight while lifting it off the ground. Even so, it requires quite some effort, but it can be very beneficial for those looking forward to building their bodies. It makes it possible to build up extensive strength in your upper body.
To do a chin-up, start by hanging from a bar with your palms facing forward. Then, using your arms and back muscles, pull your body up until your chin passes the bar. Lower your body back down until your arms are straight.
Reverse-grip barbell row
All you have to do is to stand straight with your feet apart on the basis of shoulder width. The next thing you need to do is to bend and have a grip on the barbell with a little more width than your shoulders.
You need to make sure that your back is naturally bent in the archaic form and your shoulders a little backwards. Bend your knees and hips to lower down on your torso and make it stable, parallel to the floor. Emphasising the back muscles helps to strengthen them.
Weighted Chin Up
Highly exercised to build your forearms and biceps. To perform this exercise, you have to add weight to your lower body by hanging it around your waist. The next step is similar to a chin-up, as all you have to do is grab the bar at a shoulder-width distance; however, you don’t have to pull yourself up.
All you have to do is hang out for a good period of time and repeat this exercise to build strength. The strength you build will simply help you do further exercises.
Body parts compound exercise targets
- Quadriceps
- Hamstrings
- Forearms
- Biceps
- Triceps
- Abdominals
- Deltoids
- Chest
- Calves
- Lower Back
- Upper Back
- Trapezius
Isolation exercises
Isolation exercises target one specific group of muscles or, you can say, an area of the body, unlike compound exercises. Despite this, the isolation exercises are simple exercises that require only one use after building strength, along with other combination exercises.
Hammer curls
Hammer curls exercise the forearms and wrist, which leads to the development of biceps. However, all you have to do is bend the elbow, and with the help of your lower arms, you pull up the weights near your shoulders. Ensure that the forearms and the wrist are aligned, hold the weight in that position for a moment, and then release it by following the same position.
Dumbbell curl
All you have to do is hold the dumbbells in both of your hands and let them hang downwards without bothering your shoulders. Ensure that the dumbbells are near your torso.
Practise breathing in and out while curling up your arm towards your shoulders and rotating your wrist.
Incline dumbbell curl
To perform this exercise, set the incline bench at a 45-60-degree angle. Once you settle down on the bench, hold the same weight bundles on both sides and start lifting them up slowly to the level of your shoulders. Maintain a rhythm of your breathing and repeat the same process.
Concentration curl
The name of the exercise says it all. This exercise particularly concentrates on increasing the strength and size of the biceps as you isolate the biceps with exercise.
To accomplish the right target, you have to sit on the bench, expand your knee to 90 degrees, and hold the dumbbell in one hand hanging inward the thigh while bending and curling your arm with the dumbbell touching the shoulders.
Cable curl
This isolation exercise works for the anterior deltoid, biceps, and forearms. All you have to do is hold the bar underneath as per the length of your shoulders and maintain a safe distance. Apply strength from the core, as it is a muscle workout to enhance the bicep. You have to pull the bar towards your shoulder by bending your elbow.
Body parts isolation exercise targets
Following are the muscles, mainly bicep isolation exercises target:
- Arms and forearms.
- Biceps.
- Deltoids.
- Chest muscles.
- Abs.
- Belly muscles.
- Tibialis anterior.
- Quadriceps.
Combination exercises
The multiple body parts are targeted in one exercise, and a few exercises for both the upper and lower body are paired up. Combination exercises are known to maintain agility and flexibility in the body of the builders. However, recommendations for these exercises vary from person to person, depending on the trainer’s preferences.
Barbell cheat curl
Cheat curls are highly beneficial for the biceps, as the whole body’s momentum is typically used to put pressure on them. In contrast, the biceps must maintain a position and stay in proper, strict form to gain results if you integrate it into your daily workout routine.
However, you can lift heavy weights to put pressure and loads on the biceps if you want to. Consistency is key if you look for good results.
Alternating dumbbell curl
For this exercise, you hold the dumbbell up to the point while squeezing the bicep and lower it down while releasing the pressure from your bicep. Alternating dumbbell curls exercises the triceps, biceps, and shoulders.
Incline hammer curls
Incline hammer curls target the larger area of the arm, including the bicep. In contrast, the hammer curl only covers one side at a time. To practise this exercise make sure to keep your back straight in a way where your neck and spine are aligned. Curl the dumbbell towards the shoulder and stop at the incline of 45 degrees. Maintain the position for 2-3 seconds and then release.
Preacher curl
You have to maintain a neutral wrist while expanding your arms and keeping your chin in the right fit place. All you have to do is squeeze your biceps while bending your elbow. You have to do is to lift the bar to the height of your shoulder and, at a very slow pace, let it come down to reset and repeat.
Banded Dumbbell Curl
It helps to build consistent pressure, which allows your muscles to grow and enhance the strength range. Loop in two bands and hold the dumbbells inwards, which will put pressure on your forearms. Exercise it according to the required reps.
Body parts combination exercise targets
- Shoulders.
- Biceps.
- Back.
- Triceps.
- Quads.
- Hamstrings.
- Abs.
- Chest.
Advantages of strength and bicep muscle training
There are multiple benefits the strength, resistance and bicep muscles training provide. It helps the person to keep on going as you learn you have to push harder for better tomorrow. Following are some of them;
Stronger and strengthen bicep muscles
Who doesn’t want strength to flex? Apart from apparently looking strong, the performance in daily tasks improves as you train your muscles to bear more weight.
SAY bye to fat!
Bodybuilding exercise routines include abs workouts and other metabolic workouts, which really impact excessive fat loss. At first, they lose fat and later on build muscles. Moreover, with extensive fat loss, the chances of getting chronic diseases decrease.
Better bicep muscles stability
One of the biggest advantages of exercising the bicep muscles is that it will allow shoulder stability. The bicep has two parts, one attached to the scapula and the other to the shoulder joint, which helps maintain stability by being attached to the rotator cuff.
Moreover, it restricts movement and prevents falls by compelling instability in the muscles.
Promotes good mental health
According to research done by Brett, R Gordon, PhD Resistance exercise training for anxiety and worry symptoms among young adults: a randomised controlled trial shows that resistance training helps to reduce anxiety in 20% of participants. Not only that, but the following benefits are also the results of strength training.
- Better and improved memory.
- Good control of mind and stability.
- Reduction in depression.
- Better and relaxed sleeping schedule.
- Good mood resulting from good blood flow.
Increases your self-esteem
You can clearly see a boost in the self-esteem of the person doing strength training, as if you know you are doing something to be better and be good and accept yourself as who you are.
Great For Shoulder Rehab
The main function of the biceps is to flex the elbow. However, they are connected and perform a part in shoulder flexion as it’s related to the anterior deltoid. Besides that, while exercising, the curls help you maintain a good posture, contract the shoulder muscles, and prevent them from reverberating inwards.
Yet bicep curls are structured into the builder’s routine after the initial stages, as they ensure the strengthening of the rotator cuff and the muscles of the upper back.
Take safety measures
Bicep muscle-building exercises can be really unsafe at some times as very heavy weight is used for the purpose of resistance and building muscles. Special techniques and observation are required to keep the body stable and safe in order to dodge injuries. According to the Gitnux market data report 2024, Compound exercises, like deadlifts, require a specific technique to help you stay safe and avoid injury. 35.5% of the injuries occurred due to resistance training, whereas around 65.8% were caused due to heavy weight lifting.
Working with the right professionals is important to enhance performance and keep safety measures in view. Moreover, strength-building exercise requires strict technique monitoring as it may lead to posture problems afterward. Since you will be lifting heavy weights, it’s essential to have good trainers to keep an eye on.
Maintaining a healthy diet and water intake is important. Food and liquids play an important role in building a body or gaining muscles. If you don’t maintain a good daily water intake, your blood pressure and perfusion pressure may drop, leading to excessive dehydration and muscle impairment.
Final takeaway
Choose the right fitness centre or gym to ensure that you are in safe hands. Whether you are a beginner or maintaining your build, Meridian Fitness helps you at all stages. Usually, people who join the gym don’t know where to start their fitness journey; however, only a professional trainer can help you fix this problem and guide you to a better fitness routine.
Being the fitness specialist at Meridian Fitness, I can tell you we provide the best facility to keep your mind and body fit despite any factor, whether age, body condition or any considerable demographic. Usually, the trend of bodybuilding is quite common among teenagers, yet it’s difficult to cope with their bodies as they are at a growing stage. However, I have quite some experience with designing workout plans for teenagers, along with guaranteeing the results.
FAQs
How long does it take to gain muscles?
Gaining or building muscles is quite challenging. It requires patience and persistence with the workout regime and diets you intake. I would say you can feel the difference within 3-5 weeks, and it continues to get stronger. However, in some cases, it might take 6-7 weeks as well, depending on the body type.
Is it necessary to take pre-workout supplements?
Multiple people ask this question well; for those who are just maintaining their fitness, I suggest they obtain all the nutrition from what they are eating by getting a good dietary plan.
Yet, if you are looking forward to gaining muscles and lifting weight, it’s better to find a pre-work-out supplement that suits your body and doesn’t have many side effects.
Is there any magical workout routine for bodybuilding?
I think magic simply lies in persistence. The spell is to be constant with the workout plan and stick to the diet your trainer suggested to you. Within a few weeks, you will feel the change
If I am feeling alright, do I have to deload more often?
If you are doing lower-intensity training and do not have much experience with bodybuilding yet, I would suggest you maintain a good gap and consult your trainer. However, if you have been doing high-intensity training, you can opt for reloading more often.
It’s important to listen to your body as what it wants and always consult your fitness trainer.
Does yoga slow down the process of bodybuilding or affect my gains?
No research supports this particular hypothesis, and I have never witnessed any fitness enthusiast facing such an issue.
Besides the variety of literature and speaking of my personal clients, yoga fills in the gap which you require to build muscles. It helps to strengthen your mind along with your body and maintains the flexibility and agility of the body.
