How to pump up your biceps - exercises for strong biceps

Almost all beginners and experienced athletes include exercises for biceps in their training program. It’s not surprising - the size and shape of the biceps brachii muscle plays an important role in an athlete’s figure. Therefore, men, sparing no effort and time, devote themselves to such training.

To get the desired results from regular exercise, it is important to constantly work on muscle development and choose the right exercises. After all, biceps really look great only when they have parameters proportional to other muscles. Accordingly, you need to train your arm strength comprehensively.

The structure of the biceps muscles

The biceps is the biceps brachii muscle, consisting of a short and a long part. Each of them has its own attachment point and movement mechanism. The better developed the biceps muscles, the more expressive their components.

The long muscle part is located on the outside of the arm, the short part on the inside. In addition, the development of the biceps is directly influenced by the brachialis muscle. She is next to him and gets involved during training.

The brachialis muscle seems to push the biceps upward, making its size visually larger.

Form exercise

The following exercise will not only develop the target muscle, but will also give it a beautiful shape.

Execution: we sit down, spread our legs wide, and then, resting one hand on the knee, while exhaling, bend the second arm, weighted with dumbbells.

The number of repetitions and approaches is similar to the two previous exercises.

Muscle Growth Factors

Before you grab dumbbells and barbells, you should understand what exactly causes muscle growth.

For development and growth, any muscle needs building material, which in the human body includes amino acids, glucose, hormonal elements and muscle tension, which stimulates an increase in volume. What is noteworthy is that it is muscle tension that is the leading factor thanks to which it is possible to achieve good progress.

In order for muscles to actively develop (including biceps), you need to provide them with appropriate conditions. During training, it is necessary to set a noticeable load, but not to overload the tendons and ligaments. You can achieve maximum efficiency in your work only with the help of the correct technique for performing a set of biceps exercises.

With regard to the biceps muscle, for example, the grip width of the barbell during a standard lift is absolutely not important. Both biceps heads are loaded in any case when flexing and extending the arms. Therefore, the athlete can hold the apparatus in a way that is convenient for him. The main thing is that the elbow joints and hands experience minimal tension.

Exercises

Many people are interested in how to pump up their biceps at home. If you know how to perform some physical exercises correctly, then nothing difficult will arise with it.

Among the best are the following:

• pull-ups on the bar;
• push ups;
• barbell lifts;
• half reps;
• reverse grip raises;
• concentrated volume;
• sitting and standing lifts;
• "hammer";
• reverse biceps.

Let's look at the features of each exercise and find out how to pump up your biceps at home. This article will also give some valuable tips that will allow you to increase the effectiveness of your training and make your arms sculpted and strong in a relatively short period of time.

How to properly pump up your biceps

You can work your biceps muscles several days a week. Each athlete determines the number of sessions for himself individually, in accordance with his physical capabilities. To develop a competent training program, you should use the help of a professional trainer. Only an optimally designed and timely adjusted training regimen will achieve tangible results.

Maximum effectiveness can be achieved if you pump up your biceps at least twice a week.

The biceps muscle itself makes up only a small part of the arm. The main share of the volume (more than 50%) falls on the triceps. But it is the regular exercise of the biceps muscle that makes the shoulders expressive and gives them a spectacular, masculine profile. However, in order for your arms to look strong and strong, in addition to basic biceps exercises, you must not forget to pump up your triceps.

When working the muscles, you should completely focus on your own sensations. It is very important to feel how the body works and adhere to the correct exercise technique.

Features of home workouts for biceps

• The optimal frequency of classes is 1-2 times a week. If you plan to exercise twice a week, then alternate the level of load: the first workout can be made heavy, loading the biceps to the maximum, then take a break for 2-3 days and then do a light workout that consolidates the effect.
• To achieve high results in muscle mass growth, you need to include in your training several simple exercises that will play the role of auxiliary, and one or two heavy ones.
• Muscles adapt to the load within 4-6 weeks. After this period, change the set of exercises.
• Watch your breathing. Inhale when lowering, and exhale when rising.

Training with free weights

Free weights include dumbbells, a barbell, plates for it, and special weights for the arms and legs. That is, any unfixed sports equipment. During training with such equipment, the main sources of strength - ligaments and tendons - are more involved in the work.

Standing biceps curl

Align yourself in a standing position, with your back resting against the power frame. The wall is not a suitable option in this regard, since when performing the exercise you will not be able to move your elbows back a little.

Take the projectile, pressing your elbow joints to your body or stomach. At the same time, you need to hold the barbell with a reverse grip shoulder-width apart. As you inhale, bend your arms to chest level, and as you exhale, return to the starting position.

Incline Dumbbell Raise

Place the back of the training bench in an inclined position. Sit on it, holding the shells in your hands, press your back tightly against the backrest. Bending your elbows, alternately raise and lower your arms. When the hand is in the top position, you need to turn the hand in your direction as much as possible. The elbows should not move forward.

Hammer Dumbbell Raise

Stand straight, make sure that your shoulder blades are brought together, your elbows are in a natural position without moving forward. Exhaling, smoothly raise your arms with the apparatus upwards, and while inhaling, lower them back. When doing biceps exercises, you can lift both arms at the same time or one at a time. When moving your limb to the lower position, do not relax it completely. A slight tension should be felt.

Concentrated dumbbell raises

Sit on a training bench with your legs slightly apart. Take the apparatus in your hand, bend over a little and turn towards the dumbbell. The elbow should rest against the inner thigh.

Now lower the outfit to the surface of the floor, almost straightening your arm. Next, lift it by bending your elbow joint and try to hold the weight in the top position for at least two to three seconds.

Reverse Grip Raises

How to pump up your biceps at home in a very short period of time? There is one great exercise that professional athletes regularly use. The good thing about reverse grip raises is that they can help you build muscle mass in your arms and forearms.

Classes are conducted according to the following scheme:

1. Take your starting position. Feet shoulder width apart.
2. Take the barbell from above and begin to lift it to chest level, being careful not to move your elbows.

These exercises are a great way to end your workout. They are performed in 2-3 approaches 5-7 times. Gradually you can increase the load. But remember that this technique was developed by professionals, so it will be quite difficult for beginners. Therefore, it is very important to correctly select the weight of the barbell. It shouldn't be too big.

Effective biceps exercises using exercise machines

Training with a biceps machine

Sit on the machine bench and set the required weight. Place your elbows on special supports and grab the handles with your palms. Please note that the elbow joints should be in line with the shoulders.

Exhaling, tighten your biceps muscles and lift the handles of the machine up. Stay in the top position for a few seconds. As you inhale, gently lower your arms to the starting position.

Bending arms in the upper block of the crossover

First of all, prepare the machine by attaching the handles to the crossover cables. Now stand up straight and grab them with your palms with an underhand grip.

As you exhale, tighten your biceps and bend your elbows, pulling the handles held in your hands toward your head. In the position when your palms are on your deltoids, you need to pause, tensing your muscles as much as possible.

Emptying your lungs of air, return to the starting position.

Curling the arms in the lower block of the crossover

In the starting position, grab the handle attached to the cable of the lower block. Now straighten up and lean back a little. When performing, do not spread your elbow joints to the sides. Place your feet approximately shoulder-width apart.

As you exhale, bend your forearms until you feel your biceps contract completely. Keep your body straight, don't sway.

While inhaling, take the starting position.

Reverse biceps

How to pump up biceps at home quickly and efficiently? One option is reverse dumbbell raises. This exercise is aimed at working almost all the muscles of the upper limbs and forearms. It works like this:

1. Take your starting stance. Feet - shoulder width apart.
2. The hands with the sports equipment are lowered, and the fingers rest on the hips.
3. Start doing lifts. They can be simultaneous, alternating or alternate. At the same time, at the top point you need to rotate your wrists.

This exercise is highly effective, so trainers advise including it in the training program of every beginner.

How to achieve maximum efficiency

First of all, you should remember that progress depends on the competent organization of the training process. This is the only way to prevent injury and excessive fatigue during exercise.

In order for biceps training to bring tangible results, you need to follow a number of useful recommendations:

• The basis of the training program should include basic heavy exercises. Such as: dumbbell and barbell presses, lunges, squats, pulling movements that increase muscle mass and strength. In a situation where an athlete is focused on working only one or two muscle groups, his body develops disproportionately.
• You need to conduct classes regularly, preferably at least three times a week. You can’t train occasionally, postponing the next workout until later.
• When the goal of exercise is to build muscle mass, we must not forget about proper nutrition. When composing your daily diet, you need to focus on protein foods. Ideally, an athlete should consume 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. Make sure your menu has enough lean meat, seafood, poultry, fish and dairy products.
• Before you start doing biceps exercises in the gym or at home, be sure to warm up. Otherwise, you can injure your muscles and tendons.
• Intense training cannot be done every day. In order for muscles to develop well, you need to give them enough time to recover. Do not forget that after exercise, muscles recover on average at least 48-72 hours. To help them, you need to eat right after training.

General tips and tricks

Above we talked in detail about how to pump up your biceps at home. But to quickly achieve results, it is recommended to adhere to the following rules:

1. Adjust your diet. Muscles require large amounts of protein and carbohydrates to grow. Therefore, you must eat a balanced diet to ensure that your body receives enough nutrients.
2. Start with simple exercises, such as pull-ups or push-ups, and only then move on to more complex ones.
3. Don't forget to rest. Muscle tissue does not grow during physical activity, but at rest. Therefore, you must sleep well.
4. Training should be regular. Develop a study schedule for yourself and strictly adhere to it.

These simple tips will help you approach training more rationally and achieve good results faster.

How to train for beginners and avoid mistakes

Often, novice athletes begin training without knowing the specifics of muscle structure and having no idea about the correct technique for performing exercises. Because of this, they make many mistakes and lose the opportunity to achieve the desired result. For classes to be truly effective, beginners should be aware of the most common shortcomings and try to avoid them.

• First of all, remember that it is impossible to get voluminous, sculpted biceps in a short time. Of course, if you do it naturally. You can quickly pump up only with the help of pharmacological drugs, which do not have the best effect on human health. For lovers of an unnatural, rapid effect, in most cases everything ends very badly.
• Don’t overestimate your own capabilities, especially if you’re just starting out. Don’t rush to train your biceps with a lot of weight right away, you’ll only lose technique, get injured, and won’t achieve the desired result.

So, the optimal weight of the barbell for training the biceps muscle is 6.5 kg. To determine the weight of dumbbells, you will have to practice a little. To begin, take a projectile weighing 5-6 kg and do 12-15 repetitions. If you managed to complete them without much strain, increase the load by 1-2 kg. In the opposite situation, when the movement is difficult, you have to significantly strain your body and bend strongly, you should reduce the weight.

It is the excessive working weight that does not allow the novice athlete to directly feel the work of the muscles. As a result, when lifting biceps, a large load is placed not on the arms, but on the neck and back. Which leads to the development of various pathologies of the spine.

• Always follow proper exercise technique. A professional trainer can explain to you which biceps exercises to include in your training program and how exactly to do them. Of course, many people prefer to do it on their own, but at least the first couple of workouts should be done under the supervision of a professional.

Bicep push-ups

An exclusive exercise of its kind that can be used to train biceps on the floor. It is necessary to perform the training not for quantity, but at a slow pace and for quality, feeling the tension in the biceps from A to Z of the exercise.

Execution technique

⇒ Starting position is the same as for a classic push-up, but the palms are turned at an angle of 45 degrees outward at the level of the upper abdomen - lower chest;

⇒ When performing push-ups, try to lower yourself completely so that literally 1-2 cm remains from your chest to the floor;

⇒ Push the weight out powerfully and, without resting at the top point, lower the body again;

⇒ At first it will be difficult, you can do it with only 6-7 repetitions, but later you will be able to overcome 10-15 or even more repetitions in 1 approach.

Training program

Based on the approximate training scheme presented in the table below, you can competently build an individual training program. It is focused on performing exercises in the gym, but if desired, you can include other movements that allow you to practice at home. Training should be carried out no more than three times a week.

A set of exercises for biceps:

Exercises	Number of approaches	Number of repetitions
Incline Dumbbell Raise	4	12
Hammer Dumbbell Raise	4	12
Standing barbell press for biceps	4	10-15
Concentrated dumbbell raises	3	10
Biceps machine	3	12-15
Bending the arms in the upper or lower crossover block	3	10-12

The above training program is just a guideline to help you achieve your desired results. Don’t be afraid to improve, diversify your training regimen, adjust it to your individual physical capabilities - and you will definitely become the owner of strong, pumped up biceps.

How to quickly pump up your biceps

Today we're going to talk about maximizing biceps development without using fancy machines. Maximum results in terms of mass development are possible only with the use of competent training programs, proper nutrition and proper sleep patterns. It’s quite possible to pump up at home, but you’ll need at least a pair of dumbbells and a horizontal bar. The main thing is persistence and the desire to change.

Anatomy

The biceps consists of 2 heads:

1) Long (long tendon, small muscle) - on the outer part of the arm

2) Short (short tendon, large muscle) - on the inside of the arm.

Both heads are connected into one tendon, which is located next to the elbow joint. The tendon itself is attached internally to the side of the forearm. The biceps helps turn the palm towards the thumb.

Basic biceps workout

1. Standing dumbbell curls for biceps: 3 sets (8 to 12 reps);

2. Pull-ups on the horizontal bar with a reverse grip: 3 sets (12 repetitions each);

3. Hammer style dumbbell curls: 3 sets (10 to 16 reps).

The first thing we'll do is standing dumbbell lifts. You can do it with both hands at once or alternately. The exercise is designed to gain weight. It needs to be done with fairly decent weights. The forearms also work heavily in the equation. Dumbbells can be replaced with a barbell. The exercises are quite similar and affect the biceps in approximately the same way.

The second movement we will do is pull-ups on the bar with a reverse grip. This exercise is one of the best for building powerful biceps. Performed in 3 sets of 10 times (preferably to failure). If necessary, we hang additional weights. Absolutely anyone can use the crossbar.

The third movement will be a hammer style dumbbell lift (do 3 sets). From approach to approach, increasing the working weight and decreasing the number of repetitions. The movement will help push the biceps outwards and make them more prominent. The forearms are also well engaged when performing this movement.

The best biceps exercises

1. Concentrated biceps curls with dumbbells while seated
2. Deadlift
3. Reverse grip barbell curls
4. Dumbbell raises while sitting on an incline bench
5. Standing dumbbell raises with supination
6. Barbell curls with a straight grip
7. Pull-ups on the horizontal bar with a reverse grip
8. Arm curls on a block
9. "Hammer"
10. Larry-Scott bench

Training system

Start exercises with 60-70% of the working weights to warm up the muscles and fill them with blood. 1 set should consist of 15 repetitions (not to failure!). After the first warm-up set, hang 90% of the working weight, do 1 more set of 12 repetitions.

After this, take 100% of the weight and do 2 approaches:

• The first is to failure, but no more than 12 repetitions. If you get more repetitions, this is a sign that it’s time to increase the working weight.
• Rest.
• Second set, stop about 2 reps before failure.
• Long rest (about 4 minutes).

Approach with 110% of the working weight (no more than 7-8 repetitions). This is the most grueling approach, which will then make the muscles grow. When failure occurs, give yourself 15 seconds of breathing space. After this, do the lifts again (about 3 times). Again a break of 20-25 seconds. One more approach to failure (1-2 times). In the end, it turns out that you did a full set of 12 repetitions, albeit with breaks. Moreover, your weight exceeded working weight by 10%. And this means that strength will really increase.

Standing biceps curl.
Approach No.	Weight (% of working weight)	Number of Reps	Note
1	60-70%	15	Warm-up reps. Not performed to failure! One warm-up approach will be enough. Perfect technology comes first.
2	90%	12	Do it only 12 times.
3	100%	From 8 to 12	Performed until complete muscle failure and with maximum muscle stretching. Focus on the quality of the repetitions and muscle stretching, not the weight of the apparatus.
4	100%	From 8	Do 2 repetitions less than in the previous approach. Not to the point of failure!
5	110%	7, 3, 2	According to the “rest-pause” principle described above. Follow the correct technique, do not cheat.

When performing this exercise using this system, try not to cheat or swing, but lift the weight only with the help of your biceps. It's best to lean against the wall. Not bad either. if you have a reliable partner who can back you up on the last approaches.

General conclusions

1) Large biceps can only be pumped up together with large triceps. Antagonist muscles in the human body cannot have a large difference in volume. This applies to the back and pectoral muscles, as well as the biceps and triceps. If you want to get huge biceps, train your triceps too.

2) It is almost impossible to build biceps quickly. Muscle growth is a very gradual process. It will take at least a year to seriously increase your biceps.

3) Do biceps workouts no more than once a week. Despite all its PR, the biceps is a small and weak muscle. It is very easy to overtrain and injure her. From excessive frenzy in training, she can, on the contrary, slow down her growth.

4) Biceps will not grow until your overall body weight increases. It is best to increase your total body weight and do basic exercises. Total body mass is best built with heavy base and multi-joint exercises. Isolation for biceps can only correct the shape and relief of the muscle.

How to draw veins on your arms?

Before you start pointlessly pursuing veins, there are a few things you need to know:

— sometimes, due to the peculiarities of physiology, veins can lie quite deep under the skin, and delineation cannot be achieved even with the help of active training;

— veins will be visible with low body fat content.

The only solution is drying, then the veins will beautifully outline your muscles.

How to pump up biceps at home without special equipment

Pull-ups on the bar . Perform them with a forward and reverse grip with different widths, do them slowly, with hovering at the top and bottom points.

You need to do pull-ups at least 2-3 times a week, doing at least 3-5 approaches 8-10 times. Over time, you can make the exercises more difficult by tying weights to your legs or belt.

Dumbbell Curl

It is considered most effective to perform exercises with dumbbells in a lying position on an inclined bench.

The algorithm of actions will be as follows:

• First of all, you need to make sure that the angle of the bench is 45 degrees.
• Taking a dumbbell in each hand, you need to lower them on both sides of the bench.
• To achieve maximum effect, it is best to perform the exercise with each hand in turn. First, lift one dumbbell, lower it, but not to the starting position (do not fully extend the elbow joint). Then repeat with the other hand.

Attention: you must bend your arm with the dumbbell completely!