Our three bicep exercises are classics in fitness sports. We show you how to give your upper arms strength with the right training and how to make them grow efficiently.
There are a variety of bicep exercises that can strengthen your upper arms. In gyms you will find some devices that are specially made for this region of the body. But first of all you need weights. With body weight alone you can also enlarge your arms. But with the help of e.g. This is more efficient with dumbbells and with more variation. With a few Aids you also save yourself going to the gym and can train your biceps at home:
- Dumbbells (the weight depends on your strength and your training bike. Just try in the store, from which weight it will be too heavy for you for about ten repetitions.) or
- filled water bottles (they should weigh approx. 1 to 1.5 kg and are suitable for beginners).
- Pull-up bar (you can either buy it and easily attach it to the door frame or they can be found outside in many playgrounds.)
One thing is particularly important in all exercises: correct execution. It’s not about doing a lot quickly or comparing yourself to others. You can only strengthen your biceps effectively if you exercise regularly and do the exercises correctly.
The classic bicep exercise: pushups
(Photo: Jasmina Krauss / Utopia)
Pushups are the classic exercise for your chest muscles, shoulders and arms. In order to train your biceps with it, there are a few points that you should consider:
- Start in the kneeled position and position your arms properly first. This is especially important before you continue.
- Rotate them so that your fingers point back and not forward. Arrange your arms so that your hands are closer to your hips than your shoulders.
- Keep your back straight and avoid a hollow back.
- Now place your feet on the bale.
- If you have obesity or joint problems, do the pushups on your knees. Keep leaning forward and feel the tension in your arms.
- Go very slowly with high tension in the back and in the bottom. It is more important to do the exercise properly than to do multiple repetitions.
- Prioritize doing pushups properly a few times before setting yourself higher goals.
- When you’re ready, repeat the pushups ten to 30 times in three sets with short breaks.
Concentrated bicep exercises with “curls”
(Photo: CC0 / Pixabay / skeeze)
A “curl” (English: “curl up”) is the upward movement of the forearms during dumbbell training. With this exercise you can train your biceps particularly intensively. For this you need dumbbells: For beginners, filled water bottles are enough, as mentioned above. If you want to do this exercise regularly, you should keep increasing the weight. That’s why dumbbells with addable weights are worthwhile. As soon as the exercise becomes too easy, this is a sign that you should increase the weight of your dumbbells.
There are different variants for the curls, we will introduce you to the two most common. The repetitions vary depending on the level of training. A good start is three sets of ten repetitions with breaks. Try to keep increasing the number of repetitions over time.
The classic hammer curl:
- Stand up straight and take a dumbbell or a filled water bottle in each hand.
- Tense your biceps and try to keep your upper arms on your upper body.
- Switch between both arms so that you can better focus on the tension in the muscle during the exercise.
- Now alternately slowly lift the dumbbells so that you can clearly feel the tension in your biceps.
- Make sure to push your elbows forward.
Concentration curls:
- Sit with your legs apart on a chair and lean your elbow against your inner thigh.
- Be careful not to bend your shoulder forward. Try to sit back as far as possible.
- Tense your biceps and keep your upper arm still.
- Now raise your barbell slowly and with biceps tension up and down.
Particularly challenging biceps exercise: pull-ups
(Photo: CC0 / Pixabay / skeeze)
Pull-ups are also part of the classic bicep exercises. They have a particularly high level of difficulty. Again, you shouldn’t be afraid: Every pull-up counts! Even specially trained and strong men rarely manage ten pieces. Even the Bundeswehr only demands a “chin-up” (Hold up the pull-up for five seconds) per applicant.
For pull-ups you need a pull-up bar. You can find these either in the gym or often in playgrounds. You can also get a bar for the door frame in stores at home.
Here’s how to do the pull-up for a strong bicep:
- Stand with your arms stretched up under the bar, shoulder-width apart. As an advanced user, you can also reduce the distance between your hands.
- Grasp the chin-up bar from behind (as on the right in the picture). First, start with your little fingers and your ring fingers and then embrace them with your whole hand. So you keep your grip in the perfect rotation for optimal bicep use.
- Keep your back bent to get the most out of your biceps. Do you want yours Exercise your back and thus relieve your arms, push it through.
- Keep your feet together, your legs pressed through and your buttocks tight.
- Slowly pull yourself up and hold the tension until you reach your chin over the bar.
- Lower yourself slowly and tense again.
- If you are in the gym or have access to a chin-up bar that is taller than your straight arms, it is best to go down until your arms are straight again. So you have to use more strength when pulling up and put more strain on your biceps. This is usually not possible with a domestic pull-up bar in the door frame.
- Do not put your feet on the floor when you come down – only when you can no longer.
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