Biceps exercises for the gym and home

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These are the 16 biceps exercises in our library. Each one includes the correct technique, the muscles it works and alternatives if you lack the equipment. You can generate a free routine that includes them based on your level and goal.

Muscles you work when training your biceps

The biceps brachii flexes the elbow and supinates the forearm, and also crosses the shoulder joint, so arm position changes the emphasis: with the elbow behind the body (incline curl) it works more stretched, and with the arm in front (preacher curl) more shortened. The brachialis and brachioradialis take part in every elbow flexion and become more prominent with a neutral or pronated grip.

How to train your biceps: sets, reps and frequency

For muscle growth, the meta-analysis by Schoenfeld, Ogborn and Krieger (2017), covering 15 studies, found a dose-response relationship: more weekly sets per muscle lead to more hypertrophy, and the practical benchmark usually drawn from it is around 10 or more sets a week. Splitting them over two sessions works better than doing them in one (Schoenfeld and colleagues, 2016), and light or heavy loads give similar hypertrophy when sets end close to failure (Schoenfeld and colleagues, 2017).

Every row and pulldown works the biceps, so direct volume can be lower than for large muscles. Alternate curls with the elbow behind the body, like the incline curl, and in front of it, like the preacher curl. If you are starting out, stay at the low end of the sets and build up gradually. We explain it in how many sets per muscle you need.

Do you need curls if you already do pulldowns and rows?

Gentil and colleagues (2013) tested it: over 10 weeks, untrained men who added biceps curls to a lat pulldown programme did not gain significantly more elbow flexor thickness or strength than those who only did the pulldown.

The limit is clear: they were beginners, who grow with almost any stimulus. Once you have experience, direct work adds volume to the biceps without the fatigue of another compound lift. And stretched variations such as the incline curl are backed by the review by Oranchuk and colleagues (2019), which found greater muscle gains when training at long muscle lengths.

Blog guides: Biceps

• Best biceps and triceps exercises for bigger arms — The best biceps and triceps exercises according to science, how many sets to do per week, an arm workout and the mistakes that stall your progress.
• Pull-ups from zero: how to do your first pull-up — Pull-ups from zero: the step-by-step progression with negatives, bands and pulldowns to do your first pull-up. It is not about talent, but method.
• Rep range for hypertrophy: debunking the 8-12 rep myth — 8-12 reps are not the only way to gain muscle. The latest science greatly expands the effective rep range for hypertrophy, from low to high reps.

The 16 biceps exercises

Isolation exercises (16)

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