6 Essential Bicep Exercises

Bicep exercises are not just that popular. Your biceps is one of the most immediately visible muscle groups in your body. At the front of your upper arm, they determine how athletic or tight you look. Whether you're out on a lot of muscle mass or just tight arm lines, here are 7 super efficient biceps exercises that make it possible.

Dumbbell Curl

You probably already did this exercise - consciously or unconsciously - once. The dumbbell curl is just about the icon of the arm workout.

• Sit on a bench with (slightly slanted) back support and take a dumbbell in each hand
• Start with your arms next to the body. You turn your wrists in, parallel to your body.
• Bend your arms one by one. Turn the wrist out when bending.
• Slowly lower your arms one by one.

The advantage of the dumbells is that your wrists can move freely.

The biceps dumbbell curl can be divided into two different variations. One where you turn the wrists in when stretching the arms, and one where you limit the rotation of the wrists as much as possible. In the latter, the inside of the biceps is slightly more loaded.

Barbell Curl

Another classic! Hold the barbell at shoulder width, with your palm facing forwards. Stand upright, keep your back straight and your arms beside you. When lifting the barbell, keep your upper arms as close to the body as possible.

The barbell curl is at the same time one of the biceps workout exercises that is most often performed incorrectly. Therefore, pay attention to your posture as described, and try to perform the exercise in a slow and controlled manner.

Burst on your wrists? If possible, try to vary the barbell curl with different barbells: a straight barbell and an EZ (zigzag shaped) barbell.



Concentration Curl

In this exercise, you sit with your legs slightly spread out and your upper body slightly bent over. Take a dumbbell and turn your wrist out. Let your upper armrest against the inside of your thigh (especially NOT ON your thigh, that is nagging). Bend your arm and bring the barbell to your chest. Then you lower it slowly.

Hammer Curl

The Hammer curl can do you in the same position as the concentration curl, or on a bench with (slightly slanted) back support. You take two dumbbells and turn your wrists in, parallel to your body. When you bend your arms, do not turn your wrists out. The dumbbells, therefore, continue to point in the same direction.

Scott Curl

A bit like the standing barbell curl, but then on a modified device and with an EZ (zigzag-shaped) barbell. Stand or sit and let your arms lean on the pillow. Bend your arms and breathe, then stretch your arms and exhale. Make sure you do not fully stretch your arms. With slightly curved elbows, you avoid overloading and keep your biceps tight.

Chin-ups

Chin-ups require efforts from different muscle groups, and the biceps is certainly one of the most important. The only thing you need for this is a pull-up bar.

Grab this underhand at shoulder width or slightly narrower. Leave yourself stretched and then bend your arms until your chin is at the height of the chin-up bar. Allow yourself to slowly lower. One important tip: do not hang the monkey out, keep your body as controlled and straight as possible.