Bicep Exercises

Bicep Exercise:
The following exercises are three basic exercises that can be done, at the gym, to build muscle in the biceps. The biceps are comprised of two muscles (latin prefix "bi") that control the contraction of the arm (triceps control extension). For these exercises it is important to notice and feel the contraction within the highlighted muscles.


Bicep Curl:

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The Bicep curl focuses on strengthening the Brachii muscles, which is one of the two muscles in the bicep (pic 1 and 2). This is the more dominant muscle within the bicep.

The starting position for bicep curl is:
Hands holding dumbbells at waist.
Hand for first movement turned out, palm up.
Back straight.
Feet at shoulder width.
Head straight

The movement is performed by raising one hang after the other straight up to shoulder hight, and then lowering it again. It is important to keep the body still, back straight, and elbows in.

The ending position (at hight of motion)is:
Hands holding dumbbells.
Hand for first movement facing shoulder.
Back straight.
Feet at shoulder width.
Head straight

Hammer Curl:

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The Hammer curl focuses on strengthening the Brachialis muscles, which is the other of the two muscles in the bicep (pic 3 and 4). This is the less dominant muscle within the bicep.

The starting position for hammer curl is:
Hands holding dumbbells at waist.
Both Hands turned in, palms facing legs.
Back straight.
Feet at shoulder width.
Head straight

The movement is performed by raising one hang after the other straight up to shoulder hight, and then lowering it again. It is important to keep the body still, back straight, and elbows in.

The ending position (at hight of motion)is:
Hands holding dumbbells.
Hand for first movement raised, palm facing perpendicular to shoulder.
Back straight.
Feet at shoulder width.
Head straight

Concentration Curl:

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The Concentration curl again focuses on strengthening the Brachii muscles (pic 1 and 2). This exercise functions to work on building big muscle and getting the last bit of contraction from your muscles at the end of a bicep workout.

The starting position for concentration curl is:
Hand holding dumbbell on floor.
Seated on bench.
Arm on inside of thigh, with elbow just below thigh.a
Back straight.
Palm facing out
Feet planted on floor

The movement is performed by raising dumbell to shoulder hight, and then lowering it again to about half hight and then continuing the motion within that range. It is important to keep the body still, back straight, and feel the contraction in the bicep.

The ending position (at hight of motion)is:
Hand holding dumbbell at shoulder hight, palm facing shoulder.
Seated on bench.
Back straight.
Feet planted on floor

Note: these three exercises pair very well with exercises that focus on the the back and/or other bicep exercises. I suggest pairing these with the back exercises listed in the "Back Exercises" blog post.

    I perform these three exercises once every 4 days (ideally) in combination with ~4 bicep movements.

    I perform each bicep exercise 3-4 times (3-4 sets) with roughly 10, 8, 8, then 6 repetitions (10,8,8 then 6 reps) respectively each time before moving to the next exercise.

    If your goal is to build leaner muscle, it would be good to decrease weight a little nit and increase each set but 2-4 reps. 

    If your Goal is to build bigger muscles, it would be a good idea to increase weight as much as possible while doing 2-4 fewer reps.