The best bicep exercises are the weight lifting exercises that allow you to use the heaviest weight.
If you've had the opportunity to read through the muscle building section of the WLC System manual, you'll find out why heavier weights lead to building muscle at a much faster weight.
When you choose the bicep exercises that allow you to lift HEAVY weight, your biceps will grow faster and become stronger much faster.
You must find weight lifting exercises that also work the biceps muscle through its full range of motion.
You'll see that I highly recommend dumbbell exercises over many barbell exercises.
This is because you can work the biceps through a much greater range of motion with dumbbells.
If you pay attention to each of the exercise videos below…
You'll see the range of motion of each exercise and the stretch in the biceps during each rep. Getting a really good stretch at the bottom of each rep is another one of the keys to building muscle. This works exceptionally well with the biceps.
Stretching ANY muscle under a heavy load will really trigger that muscle building stimulus that you need to build muscle from each and every workout.
One of the best exercises for getting a good stretch in the biceps is incline dumbbell curls. This is one of my favorites and all you need is an adjustable weight bench and a pair of heavy dumbbells. Heavy is ALWAYS relative to your strength levels.
You'll see incline dumbbell curls mentioned below, and you'll be able to watch a great exercise video showing you how to do this great exercise.
Here Are The Best Bicep Exercises:
I think many of these exercises are going to shock you. Most people ONLY think of preacher curls, machine curls, barbell curls, and other types of curls as the BEST bicep exercises. You'll find my opinion to be much different. Remember, overloading the muscle by lifting heavy weights is the MOST important factor in building muscle.
#1 Close Grip Chin Ups and Pull Ups
Close grip chin ups and close grip pull ups are THE BEST bicep exercises in existence. Overloading the biceps is the BEST WAY to build the bicep muscles.
Which exercise do you think will overload the biceps more? (1) Close grip pull ups with body weight plus 45 extra pounds around your waist OR (2) 45 pound alternate dumbbell curls?
Both the close grip chin ups and the alternate dumbbell curls are great exercises BUT the close grip pull up will overload the biceps so much more. This means they are THE better option. You also get a great stretch in the biceps if you do a full range of motion with the pull ups and NOT cut the rep short in the full stretch position.
Here's a good video of close grip chin ups that will really hit the biceps hard:
Here's a good video of parallel grip close grip chin ups. I like this one because the guy uses resistance bands to add even more resistance to the chin up. Watch the biceps working hard.
Now let's move on to the next set of best bicep exercises…
#2 Barbell Rows and Dumbbell Rows
Rows of all types are another one of the best exercises for the biceps. Rows allow you (like chin ups) to lift very heavy weight. The weight you use on barbell rows should be very close or more than the weight you are bench pressing.
My favorite rowing exercise is 1-arm dumbbell rows because you can really overload the biceps when using this exercise. I like to use my entire body to help me complete the lift which increases the amount of weight I am using. This really overloads the biceps and provide a great stretch in the arm too.
Notice the HUGE amount of weight he is using. This is one of the strongest guys in the world so please don't try to start out lifting this amount of weight. Start out light and slowly increase as you become stronger over the workouts and weeks.
Rows are the second best bicep exercise. Let's move onto the more popular curls as they are a great exercise for the biceps.
#3 Curls
Curls are the probably the most popular bicep exercises. The chin ups may have been a surprise to you as well as the rows BUT I'm sure curls are not.
BUT, I have some tips for you on choosing the best curling exercises for your biceps. Keep in mind… there are tons and tons of variations of curls. Any curling movement is going to build the biceps.
Again, one key to building the biceps is overloading the muscle. The same is true with all muscles. Overloading the biceps can be done by using really heavy weights on back exercises like rows and pull ups.
My absolute favorite curling exercise is the alternate dumbbell curl. I love this exercise because you are able to really shift your body weight to give you a mechanical advantage. This allows you to lift heavier weight overall and get the extra benefits.
Notice the extra little curl inwards at the top of the movement. This is very important when using alternate dumbbell curls so make sure you're doing that at the top of every rep.
Incline dumbbell curls are another favorite of mine and REALLY allows you to get an extra stretch in the biceps. I like to alternate these as well so one arm gets an extra long stretch while the other is performing the rep. This stretch does amazing things for your arms.
I like to also use my body weight some with the incline curls so I do shift my weight to the side much more than the woman shown in the exercise video above. I like to focus in on the negative with these and make sure I am always lowering the weight under control with this exercise.
Since we're talking about exercises that give a great stretch, I don't want to leave out preacher curls. You'll be trading heavy weight for a great stretch here so these aren't the best bicep exercises since overloading the muscle is #1 BUT preacher curls are one of the better exercises.
I didn't want to leave out preacher curls as they have worked very well for me in the past with some of the weight lifting programs I have designed.
If you haven't yet built a great strength base, I do not recommend preacher curls at this time. If you have spent some time with the big compound weight lifting exercises and still need to work on building the biceps, you'll want to try preacher curls.
First, stick with the best exercises #1 and #2 given above (close grip chin ups and rows) and then you can move to curls when needed.
Wendy says
I love your emails and VERY helpful tips, have been working out for over twenty years and still learning something new from you all the time plus love the scriptures. Thank you
President of WLC says
Wendy, you are very welcome. I am extremely happy the emails are helping you. I also learn new things every day and really try to pay attention to everything I know that I take for granted. Sometimes things we find simple aren’t so simple for others. For example, you probably know many things that I never thought about. Those things are probably simple for you, but my brain didn’t quite figure them out. We’re all so different and amazing creations by God. He made us all think differently, which is amazing and is more proof of an amazing designer God.
I would love for you to share any tips you may have learned over the past 20 years of working out. Everyone here at WLC would also love to hear. If you think of anything, just let me know and I will gladly add the tips to some emails or pages here at WLC. I think by all of us working together we can help even more people! Again Wendy, I thank you!
Jean Lynd says
I just wished I could do a pull up or a chin up!
President of WLC says
Hey Jean, one of the keys to doing pull ups is to get you some help with actual pull ups and that comes with the use of resistance bands. Here’s an email I received from a member recently that shows his success with the bands up to this point:
“So I turned to the internet and started researching. After a lot of reading I decided on a website of many as you are well aware of called Muscle and Strength. There are a variety of programs to chose from and I tried a few and so many of them have pull-ups and dips which I have been avoiding because I tried chin-ups last summer and pulled something in my left arm and it hasn’t been right since. I still lift heavy and sometimes I feel it in my arm but no lasting ill effects from it. I can do alternating curls with 30 pounds in each hand and my arm doesn’t hurt. Then a few weeks ago I found your website and I have been reading and reading. I said to myself, I got to try this but you stress about doing the dips and chin-ups. I had never knew about using the assistance bands. Thanks to the info on your website I bought a Stamina PT 1690 and a selection of bands and have watched videos on how to use the bands. I could do a few dips without the bands but man the bands are the ticket. They are tricky to use but sure a big help. Tomorrow I’m trying the bands for chin-ups and lets just see what happens with the arm.”
You simply use a heavy resistance band to get started which takes some of your body weight away but still allows you to use the chin up motion. This is a key to getting better. As you get stronger, use lighter and lighter resistance bands. You simply take the band and wrap it around the pull up bar. Then put one foot OR one knee in the band and it will provide assistance while you do pull ups.
Here’s a good video explaining what I mean:
Hey Jean, one of the keys to doing pull ups is to get you some help with actual pull ups and that comes with the use of resistance bands. Here’s an email I received from a member recently that shows his success with the bands up to this point:
“So I turned to the internet and started researching. After a lot of reading I decided on a website of many as you are well aware of called Muscle and Strength. There are a variety of programs to chose from and I tried a few and so many of them have pull-ups and dips which I have been avoiding because I tried chin-ups last summer and pulled something in my left arm and it hasn’t been right since. I still lift heavy and sometimes I feel it in my arm but no lasting ill effects from it. I can do alternating curls with 30 pounds in each hand and my arm doesn’t hurt. Then a few weeks ago I found your website and I have been reading and reading. I said to myself, I got to try this but you stress about doing the dips and chin-ups. I had never knew about using the assistance bands. Thanks to the info on your website I bought a Stamina PT 1690 and a selection of bands and have watched videos on how to use the bands. I could do a few dips without the bands but man the bands are the ticket. They are tricky to use but sure a big help. Tomorrow I’m trying the bands for chin-ups and lets just see what happens with the arm.”
You simply use a heavy resistance band to get started which takes some of your body weight away but still allows you to use the chin up motion. This is a key to getting better. As you get stronger, use lighter and lighter resistance bands. You simply take the band and wrap it around the pull up bar. Then put one foot OR one knee in the band and it will provide assistance while you do pull ups.
Here’s a good video explaining what I mean:
That should get you going in the right direction for sure! Please let me know how you do with this! Best wishes on the pull ups. You’ll get there fast if you work hard on these.
That should get you going in the right direction for sure! Please let me know how you do with this! Best wishes on the pull ups. You’ll get there fast if you work hard on these.
Jean Lynd says
Thanks Josh! I appreciate you putting the time in to help me with this. I’ve got about 4 resistance bands, so surely one of them will be the ticket!
Thanks again…looking forward to being able to do more pull up than my 15 yr old son, now!
President of WLC says
Hey Jean, you are very welcome. Great to hear you already have the resistance bands. Remember to use full extension of legs to start with and then go to knee only with same resistance band to give you a little less help. Then move to the next resistance band once you’ve mastered that one. I’ll bet you can give your son a good competition! Let me know.