Top 5 Bicep Exercises
When someone asks you to flex, you flex your bicep. It isn’t the biggest muscle you own and it isn’t the strongest, but it’s the one people read as “strong,” and it responds well to being trained directly.
Most bicep lists are five versions of the same movement. These five aren’t: between them they cover three grips and two shoulder angles, which is the only reason to do more than one curl in the first place.
Two heads and two helpers
A curl trains four muscles, and which of them does most of the work depends entirely on how you’re holding the weight.
- Long head — the outer of the two biceps heads, and the one that gives the arm its peak. It crosses the shoulder, so it gets stretched when your arm hangs behind your body.
- Short head — the inner head. Works hardest with your arm in front of you.
- Brachialis — sits underneath the biceps. A neutral grip loads it hardest, and building it pushes the biceps up from below.
- Brachioradialis — the forearm muscle that runs to your elbow. It takes over when your palms face down.
Palms up is supinated, palms facing each other is neutral, palms down is pronated. Three grips, three different muscles getting the majority of the work — that’s the whole system.
1. Seated alternating dumbbell curl
Supinated grip. Trains both heads. 3 sets of 8 to 12 per arm.
Alternating beats curling both arms at once: most people can move more total weight one arm at a time, which is more stimulus for the same reps.
Sit on a 90-degree bench, dumbbell in each hand, palms forward, arms hanging straight down but not locked out, shoulders back. Back against the pad, elbow and shoulder still, lift one weight to the front of your shoulder. Pause and squeeze at the top, lower slowly, then switch sides.
2. Alternating incline dumbbell curl
Supinated grip, shoulder extended. Trains the long head. 3 sets of 8 to 10 per arm.
Set the bench back so your arms hang behind your torso rather than beside it. Because the long head crosses the shoulder, that has it stretched before the rep starts — and loading a muscle from a stretch is good for growing it. The flatter the bench, the bigger the stretch and the harder it gets.
Same grip as above, lying back on an incline bench with your arms hanging straight down. Curl one weight to the front of your shoulder without letting your elbow drift forward. Pause, squeeze, lower slowly, switch. Expect less weight than exercise 1.
3. Seated alternating hammer curl
Neutral grip. Trains the brachialis and brachioradialis. 3 sets of 8 to 12 per arm.
The hammer is usually the strongest curl you have. The neutral grip puts your wrist and forearm where the brachialis and brachioradialis can contribute properly instead of just holding on, so there’s more muscle available to move the weight.
Same seated setup as exercise 1, palms facing in toward your body as if holding a hammer. Lift one weight to the front of your shoulder, elbow and shoulder stationary. Pause, squeeze, lower slowly, switch.
4. Standing reverse barbell curl
Pronated grip. Trains the brachioradialis and forearms. 2 to 3 sets of 10 to 12.
This is the one everybody skips, and the only one here that trains the forearm directly. You won’t curl nearly as much weight as on the other four — that’s the exercise working, not you being weak. Don’t be too proud to go light.
Stand tall, feet hip-width, barbell in both hands about shoulder-width apart, palms facing down — the opposite of a normal curl, which is where the name comes from. Arms straight but not locked out, shoulders back. Curl the bar to the front of your shoulders with your elbows tucked and stationary. Pause, squeeze, lower slowly. Both arms move together; there’s no alternating a barbell.
5. Standing cable curl
Supinated grip, constant tension. Trains both heads through the full range. 2 to 3 sets of 12 to 15.
Dumbbells and barbells load the biceps hardest around 90 degrees of elbow bend and go nearly slack at the top and bottom. A cable keeps pulling the whole way, so you feel the ends of the movement in a way free weights never make you. Good as a finisher.
Face the station with the handle on the lowest setting, feet hip-width. Both hands shoulder-width apart, palms forward, arms straight but not locked out. Curl to the front of your shoulders, elbows stationary, and lower under control rather than letting the stack pull your arms down.
How to actually program these
Don’t do all five in one session. Pick three — one supinated, one neutral, and either the reverse curl or the cable curl — and run 8 to 10 total sets of direct bicep work across the week, split over two non-consecutive days. Rest 60 to 90 seconds between sets, and open your first exercise with one light set of 15 as a warm-up.
Rotate which three you pick every few weeks so the reverse curl doesn’t get dropped permanently. Your biceps also work on every pulling movement you do — rows, pulldowns, chin-ups — so more curling isn’t automatically better.
Three rules that matter more than the exercise list
- The elbow stays put. If it swings forward as you lift, your shoulder has taken over and your bicep is along for the ride.
- Lower slower than you lift. The lowering half is where a lot of the growth comes from, and it’s the half everyone rushes.
- Don’t lock out at the bottom. Keep a little tension in the arm at the end of each rep instead of resting the weight on your joints.
None of these movements are foolproof. Warm up, pick a weight you can control for every rep of the set, and the five above will do the rest.