You’ve seen them. Every Monday, without fail, a line of guys stands in front of the weight room mirror, swinging 45-pound dumbbells like they’re trying to start a lawnmower. It’s painful to watch. Honestly, if you want to find good workouts for biceps, you have to stop thinking about how much weight you can move and start thinking about how much tension you can actually create. Your biceps don’t have eyes. They don't know if the plate is shiny or rusted, and they definitely don't care if you're ego-lifting. They only respond to mechanical tension, metabolic stress, and muscle damage.
Size isn't just about the "pump," though that feels great. It's about anatomy.
Most people forget that the biceps brachii has two heads. Long head. Short head. Then you’ve got the brachialis sitting underneath like a hidden mountain range, pushing the bicep up to create that "peak" everyone obsesses over. If you aren't hitting all three, you're leaving gains on the table. It's that simple. You can do a thousand standard curls and still have flat arms if you don't understand how elbow position changes everything.
The Anatomy of a Real Curl
Let’s get nerdy for a second. The biceps perform two main functions: they flex the elbow (curling) and they supinate the forearm (turning your palm up). If you’re using a barbell for every set, you’re missing out on that rotational strength. This is why many experts, like Dr. Mike Israetel from Renaissance Periodization, often emphasize the importance of a full range of motion over sheer load.
When your elbows are behind your body—think Incline Dumbbell Curls—you’re stretching the long head. This is where the magic happens. On the flip side, when your elbows are in front of your body, like in a Preacher Curl, you’re isolating the short head. You need both. You can't just pick one and hope for the best.
And please, stop swinging. Momentum is the enemy of hypertrophy. If your lower back is sore after "arm day," you aren't doing a bicep workout; you're doing a weird, high-risk lumbar dance.
Why Your Current Bicep Routine Is Probably Failing
Consistency is great, but stagnation is a choice. A lot of lifters hit a plateau because they do the exact same three sets of ten every single week. Your body is an adaptation machine. It gets bored. If you aren't applying progressive overload—adding a pound, an extra rep, or slowing down the eccentric phase—your arms will stay the same size.
One big mistake? Ignoring the brachialis.
This muscle stays tucked under the bicep. When it grows, it literally shoves the bicep upward. To target it, you have to use a neutral grip. Hammer curls aren't just an "accessory" move; they are the foundation of arm thickness. If you look at high-level bodybuilders, their "side chest" pose looks thick because of brachialis development, not just the bicep itself.
The Best Good Workouts For Biceps That Actually Work
If you want a routine that actually translates to shirt-splitting sleeves, you need to structure your session around different muscle lengths.
The Heavy Hitter: Weighted Chin-Ups
People hate hearing this because it’s hard. But a chin-up with a neutral or supinated grip is one of the best "bicep" moves out there. You’re moving your entire body weight. Research from Bret Contreras (the "Glute Guy," but he knows his EMG data) has shown massive bicep activation during heavy pulling movements. Don't skip these.The Stretch: Incline Dumbbell Curls
Sit on a bench set to a 45-degree angle. Let your arms hang straight down behind your torso. Curl from there. The stretch at the bottom is intense. It’s uncomfortable. That’s why it works. It targets the long head specifically. Do 3 sets of 12, focusing on a 3-second descent.The Peak Builder: Spider Curls
Lay chest-down on an incline bench. Let your arms hang forward. This eliminates all possible momentum. You can't cheat here. It emphasizes the "short head" and provides a peak contraction that feels like your arms might actually explode. It’s a humbling exercise. You’ll have to use lighter weights than you think.The Finisher: Cross-Body Hammer Curls
Instead of curling the dumbbell straight up to your shoulder, bring it across your chest toward the opposite shoulder. This hits the brachioradialis (forearm) and the brachialis hard. It gives you that "thick" look from the front.
Nuance Matters: The Mind-Muscle Connection
It sounds like "bro-science," but the mind-muscle connection is backed by some legitimate peer-reviewed research. A study published in the European Journal of Sport Science by Schoenfeld et al. suggested that focusing on the muscle during the lift can actually increase EMG activity.
Basically? Stop scrolling on your phone between sets.
Focus on the squeeze at the top. Imagine you're trying to crush a walnut in the crook of your elbow. If you don't feel a "cramp" by the end of your set, you probably didn't go hard enough. Hypertrophy requires you to get close to technical failure. Not "I'm tired" failure, but "I literally cannot move this weight with good form" failure.
Rep Ranges and Frequency
You don't need to train arms every day. In fact, please don't. Your biceps are small muscles. They recover relatively quickly, but they also get hit during every single back workout you do. If you’re doing heavy rows and lat pulldowns, your biceps are already putting in work.
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Frequency? Twice a week is usually the sweet spot for most people.
Volume? Around 10 to 20 sets per week is the general recommendation for hypertrophy, but that's a total, not per session. If you’re doing 20 sets of biceps in one day, your intensity is likely too low. Quality over quantity. Always.
The Truth About Supplements
Creatine works. It’s the most researched supplement on the planet. It helps with ATP regeneration, allowing you to squeeze out those last two reps that actually trigger growth. Everything else? Mostly expensive urine. Pre-workouts can give you a "pump" via citrulline malate or nitrates, which increases blood flow, but they won't build muscle for you. Eat your protein. Sleep eight hours. The basics are boring, but they are the only things that actually move the needle.
Managing Injuries and Tendonitis
If your elbows start screaming at you, listen. Distal biceps tendonitis is a real nightmare. It usually happens from overusing the straight barbell. The straight bar forces your wrists into a fixed position that can put a lot of torque on the elbow joint.
Switch to an EZ-bar. The slight angle is much more natural for the human wrist.
Also, watch your volume. If you go from doing zero arm work to twenty sets a week, your tendons are going to flare up. Tendons take longer to adapt than muscles. Give them time. If it hurts in a "stabbing" way rather than a "burning" way, stop immediately. There is no prize for lifting through an injury that puts you out of the gym for six months.
Actionable Steps for Your Next Workout
Don't just read this and go back to your old routine. Change something today.
- Start with a compound move: If you’ve never tried weighted chin-ups, make them your first exercise.
- Slow down the negative: Take 3 full seconds to lower the weight on every single rep of your curls.
- Change your grip: If you always use a palms-up grip, switch to a neutral (hammer) grip for half your sets.
- Track your lifts: If you don't know what you lifted last week, you can't beat it this week. Use a notebook or an app.
- Focus on the stretch: Exercises like the Incline Dumbbell Curl are non-negotiable for long-term growth.
Effective good workouts for biceps aren't about reinventing the wheel. They are about executing the fundamentals with a level of intensity that most people find uncomfortable. Put the phone away, grab the EZ-bar, and control the weight. The growth will follow.
Next Steps for Hypertrophy:
Begin your next session with the "mechanical drop set" method. Start with Incline Dumbbell Curls until you hit technical failure. Immediately sit upright and perform as many standard Dumbbell Curls as possible. Finally, transition into Hammer Curls with the same weight. This sequence attacks the bicep from three different angles and maximizes metabolic stress in a single "giant set." Do this for three rounds at the end of your workout to fully exhaust the motor units. After the session, prioritize 30-40 grams of high-quality protein to kickstart the muscle protein synthesis process.