A Quick Biceps Workout to Show Your Arms Some Love
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From opening doors to carrying groceries, we rely on our arm muscles for tons of daily tasks. So slotting in a quick biceps workout to smoke these important players is always a smart choice—especially since this muscle group can easily get neglected.
“Most of us probably need to strengthen our biceps,” Francine Delgado-Lugo, CPT, cofounder of Form Fitness Brooklyn, tells SELF. A big reason for that is because of all the time many folks spend sitting at keyboards or scrolling smartphones with their arms bent. This locks the biceps into a shortened position and doesn’t give the muscles the chance “to lengthen and contract as they ought to for optimal health and strengthening,” Delgado-Lugo explains. Basically, they often don’t get the opp to move through their full range of motion.
The solution: A quick-yet-effective biceps routine you can do as a standalone workout or tack onto your regular gym sessions to give your arms—specifically your biceps, or the muscles along the fronts of your upper arms—the attention they deserve.
The below workout, which Delgado-Lugo created for SELF, does just that. With four dumbbell exercises that’ll ignite your upper arms, it’s “a full-on focus on the biceps,” she says. And you don’t need much time to squeeze this in: It takes about 10 minutes (plus or minus, depending your pace), making it a realistic addition to a busy routine.
First up in the workout is the bent-over row, a classic compound strength move. While the main driver here is your back (more specifically, your lats), your biceps play an important supporting role in helping to pull the weights toward you. Pulling exercises like this are super functional, since they mimic the way we actually use these muscles in everyday life, like by opening a door or bringing an object closer to us, Delgado-Lugo explains.
From there, you’ll tackle isolation exercises to really zero in on your upper arms. You’ll do three variations on the biceps curl: a traditional curl, a crossbody curl, and a concentration curl. Together, these three moves work both “heads,” or parts, of the biceps, which is key for building well-rounded biceps strength. (Your “short head” sits on the inside of your arm, and the “long head” lies on the outside.)
In particular, working the long head—which moves like the crossbody and concentration curl do—is important, since we tend to spend a lot of time holding the biceps in a shortened position, Delgado-Lugo says. Moreover, working the long head emphasizes the eccentric portion of a move—the part when the muscle is lengthening under load—which is a more effective way to improve strength, power, and speed performance compared to traditional resistance training, according to research. In other words, you get great bang-for-your-biceps-buck.
If you’re tackling this as a standalone workout, do it twice a week, Delgado-Lugo suggests. (And make sure to do a quick warm-up beforehand so that your muscles are properly primed; exercises like shoulder circles and arm swings can do the trick.) But if it’s getting tacked onto another workout? “Once a week is probably just fine,” she says.
However you slot it in, give yourself a pat on the back (or biceps!) for prioritizing your arm health. Here’s the intel you need to give this 10-minute dumbbell routine a whirl.
The Workout
What you need: Two sets of dumbbells: a heavy pair for the bent-over row, and a medium pair for the biceps curl, crossbody curl, and concentration curl. The right weight will depend on your current strength level and familiarity with these exercises, but as a general starting place, consider using 15- to 20-pounders as your heavy pair, and 5- to 10-pounders for your medium ones. Of course, scale this up or down as needed. The goal is to use weights that feel challenging but doable to complete the prescribed rep count with.
Exercises
- Bent-Over Row
- Biceps Curl
- Crossbody Curl
- Concentration Curl
Directions
- Do the following moves in the order listed below. Start with 12 reps of the bent-over row, then do 15 reps of the biceps curl, 15 reps each side of the crossbody curl, and 10 reps each side of the concentration curl. Try not to rest between exercises, though of course take a breather if you need it.
- After you’ve done all four exercises, rest 1 minute, then repeat the circuit. Complete 2 rounds total.
Katie ThompsonBent-Over Row
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand with your arms at your sides or with both hands grasping a barbell a bit wider than shoulder-width apart.
- With your core engaged, hinge forward at your hips, pushing your butt back. Bend your knees and make sure you don’t round your shoulders. (Your hip mobility and hamstring flexibility will dictate how far you can bend over.)
- Gaze at the ground a few inches in front of your feet to keep your neck in a comfortable position.
- Do a row by pulling the weight up toward your chest, keeping your elbows hugged close to your body and squeezing your shoulder blades at the top of the movement. Your elbows should go past your back as you bring the weight toward your chest.
- Slowly lower the weights by extending your arms toward the floor. This is 1 rep. Do 12 reps.
The bent-over row is a really functional move, since it mimics pulling an object toward you, which translates to life tasks like pulling open a heavy door or starting a lawnmower. Your back muscles are the primary movers here, but your biceps play a big role in assisting them, Delgado-Lugo explains.
Katie ThompsonBiceps Curl
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand, and hold your arms at your sides with your elbows and arms pushing in toward your ribs, palms facing each other.
- Perform a biceps curl by bending at the elbow and rotating your forearm so that your palms end up facing your body at the top of the move.
- Bend your elbow to lower the weight back down, rotating your forearm so that your palms face each other at the bottom of the move. This is 1 rep. Do 15 reps.
The traditional biceps curl works the short head of the biceps, which is the classic bump you’ll see on the frontside of your upper arm. We use this part of the muscle when we carry things and hold items close to our bodies, like our phones, for example, Delgado-Lugo says.
Katie ThompsonCrossbody Curl
- Hold a dumbbell in one hand, palm facing in.
- Curl your dumbbell up across your body toward your opposite shoulder, keeping your palms facing in. Squeeze your bicep when you reach the top.
- Slowly return your arm to the starting position. This is 1 rep. Do 15 reps, then switch sides.
This single-arm variation of the biceps curl works the long head of the biceps and mimics bringing something close to your body, Delgado-Lugo explains. It also fires up your forearms more than a regular biceps curl.
Concentration Curl
- Sit on a bench in a wide stance with feet planted firmly on the floor.
- Holding a dumbbell in your right arm, engage your core and hinge your torso forward. Push the back of your right arm, a little above elbow level, into the inside of your right thigh. Your right arm is almost straight with the dumbbell reaching toward the ground. This is the starting position.
- Slowly bend your right elbow and curl the weight up toward your right shoulder.
- Pause, then reverse the movement: Slowly straighten your right arm to bring the weight towards the ground, stopping before your bicep fully extends. This is 1 rep. Do 10 reps, then switch sides and repeat.
Another single-arm variation on the classic curl, this exercise fully isolates the biceps by eliminating any triceps and shoulder movement, Delgado-Lugo explains. This takes away external momentum from the exercise and allows you to really focus on working the long head of the biceps.
Demoing the moves above are Francine Delgado-Lugo (GIFs 1 and 3), a strength coach and co-founder of Form Fitness Brooklyn and Chad Ryan (GIFs 2 and 4), a personal trainer, group fitness instructor and life coach.
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SELF does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Any information published on this website or by this brand is not intended as a substitute for medical advice, and you should not take any action before consulting with a healthcare professional.
