Contrary to popular belief you don’t need to spend hours in the gym to get bigger biceps. The best way to do so is to do variations of bicep curls as shown in this workout. You’ll want to target different parts of your biceps and arms by changing up your reps, isolations, wrist positioning, types of weights, etc. By isolating your biceps in this workout you’ll get the maximum pump for the best results.

Many bicep curl exercises will also workout your forearms and after a few sets you may start to feel forearm fatigue. If this is the case, you have a few solutions:

  1. Buy wrist wraps to compress your wrists. Wrist wraps will isolate the movement to only your biceps so you don’t feel as much fatigue in your forearms.
  2. Rest. Resting is not only recommended but necessary. Between sets take 2 – 3 minutes to “shake it out”, stretch, and hydrate. This will ensure that your next set will be more productive.

You shouldn’t do biceps every day, as you’ll want to allow a day or two in between to let your muscles recover. Challenge yourself with higher reps or higher weights in this workout and you’ll need the rest anyways!

Exercise no. 1

Spider Curls

4 sets of 10 reps

  1. Load a desirable/management amount of weight onto an EZ bar. Hold the EZ bar on the inside grips with your pulls facing upwards and inwards (following the curve of the EZ bar).
  2. Find an incline bench and lay with your torso against the incline portion of the bench with your feet touching the ground. The EZ bar should be in front of you on the other side of the backside of the bench that your torso is on. Your head should be slightly above the top of the bench.
  3. Keeping your elbows into the bench and your torso and your upper arms stationary, exhale while curling the bar up towards the incline side of the bench. Go as high as possible, squeezing at the top of the rep.
  4. Pause then inhale while slowly bringing the bar back to your starting position.
  5. Repeat for the desired amount of reps.
Exercise no. 2

Reverse Grip Curls

4 sets of 10 reps

Reverse Grip curls are similar to barbell or EZ bar curls but with the opposite grip.

  1. Start by loading any weight (if desired) onto the EZ bar or a straight barbell, and attaching clips if needed.
  2. Stand up straight with your legs shoulder width apart and your knees slightly bent. Grab the bar on the wider grip if you’re using an EZ bar and a slightly wider grip than shoulder width if you’re using a barbell so that your palms are facing downwards toward the floor and and/or outwards if you’re using the EZ bar.
  3. Keeping the upper part of your arm close to your body and moving only your forearms, curl the weight upwards squeezing your biceps at the top of the ranch of motion. Exhale during the motion. You’ll know you’re using the correct grip if the back of your hands are be close to your chest at the peak of the contraction. Tip: Don’t lean into the rep or use your back to sway the bar upwards. If you feel the need to do this, then it’s a good indication to lower your weight.
  4. Now slowly lower the bar to your starting position while exhaling. This completes one rep.
Exercise no. 3

Alternating Hammer Curls

4 sets of 10 reps

  1. Stand upright with a dumbbell in each hand held at arms-length. The elbows should be close to the torso.
  2. The palms of your hands should be facing your torso. This is will be the starting position.
  3. While holding the upper arm stationary, curl the weight forward as you breathe out while contracting the biceps. Complete the movement until your bicep is fully contracted and the dumbbell is at shoulder level. Hold this contracted position for a second as you squeeze the bicep. Tip: During this exercise, the forearms should only move.
  4. Slowly bring back the dumbbell to the starting position.
  5. Repeat this movement with the other hand. This equals one repetition.
  6. Continue alternating hands for the recommended amount of repetitions.

Variations: There are Lots of Variations for this movement. As an example, you can do this exercise sitting down on a bench with or without back-support and you can also perform it by doing both arms at the same time.

Jael Lopez

I'm a 1x overall champion, and sponsored by WNC, having performed at multiple shows and trained multiple clients. My goal is to inspire people all over the world achieve their fitness goals.
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Lalayena Peralta

I am a firm believer that fitness should be attainable for everyone and anyone. Push past your current mindset and enter a state where you believe in yourself to reach your full potential.
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