How to pump up biceps with dumbbells? 3 best exercises and trainer’s recommendations

fitness trainer

The biceps or biceps brachii is a small muscle relative to other superficial muscles, but extremely prominent. Its main function is to bend the arms at the elbow joint. All exercises will consist of this movement. The shape of the biceps is laid down genetically, so someone has it in the form of a dense ball with a peak, and someone looks like an elongated oval. It depends on the length of the muscle, the shape of the bone and its attachment points. No matter what shape your biceps are, any variation can be made attractive with the right workout routine.

The good news is that you can make your biceps bigger, rounder, and stronger. The gains of the biceps muscle are counted in millimeters, unlike back and leg muscles where progress is measured in centimeters. Be patient because at times you will feel like nothing is changing. The first results will be in 6-8 weeks.

What is the right way to pump the biceps?

When we perform basic exercises – pull-ups and various pull-ups – the biceps muscle is involved, but it works as a secondary muscle. This is not enough for full development. If you want to visually emphasize the biceps and give it an outline, it is necessary to pump it separately.

Biceps bend the arms in the elbow joint and turn the forearms outward, so the best exercises to pump it will consist of these movements. Performing biceps exercises requires an adequately selected weight. For example, 70%-85% of your single-rep max.

Leave the heroics and attempts to appear stronger at home. If you start doing any additional movements, the load from the biceps will start to go to other muscles. The trick to biceps training is to be able to bend and extend your arms with dumbbells at the expense of biceps muscles without rocking and inertia.

What and how do I change in my workouts to progress?

Refine technique with minimal weights until you learn to feel the muscle as a whole. Also use four variations of load progression in biceps training.

Change the pace of the exercise from medium to slow. You can lift dumbbells on your biceps in 30 seconds, or you can lift them in 60 seconds. The weight of the projectile will be the same, but the result will be different because the time of the muscle under load varies. At a slow pace you will engage more muscle fibers.

Gradually increase the weight of the dumbbells. When you feel that you can easily do 15-20 repetitions with your usual weight, increase the weight of the projectile by 0.5-1 kg without affecting the technique. Beginners grow faster than experienced lifters, but hold your fervor, you don’t need to increase the weight and change dumbbells every week.

Increase the total tonnage. You can do one arm bend with 10 kg dumbbells for 15 reps, or you can do arm bends with 15 kg dumbbells for five reps. In the first case, the tonnage of the load on the muscle was 150 kg, and in the second case 75 kg.

Change the rest time between approaches. For example, earlier you did arm bends with dumbbells of 10 kg for 15 repetitions. The rest between approaches was 90 seconds. Now try to perform the exercise with the same weight, but reduce the rest time between approaches to 45 seconds. If you succeeded, it means that your muscles have become more efficient at carrying the load and have improved their performance.

What scientists say

In 2007, the Journal of Clinical Anatomy published a study on the types of muscle fibers that cross the human shoulder. Scientists found that triceps and biceps are made up of type II muscle fibers. It is better to train them with heavy weight for 8-12 slow repetitions without jerks and chitting.

Another common mistake when pumping biceps is frequent training with a large number of approaches. “More is better” will not work here, on the contrary, your progress will slow down. There have been studies on how the number of approaches and repetitions affects the increase in muscle mass. For this purpose, scientists selected athletes and divided them into two groups. One group performed 10 sets of 10 reps per workout, while the other group performed five sets of 10 reps per workout.

After six weeks, muscle mass gains in both groups were at the same level. The scientists concluded that doing 10 sets of 10 reps versus five sets of five reps may result in a lower training effect. If you want to get the most out of your biceps workout, perform 4-6 approaches of 8-12 reps once a week.

How to make your biceps grow: 4 tips

Train your biceps once a week, as it’s a small muscle that tires out fairly quickly. Plus, when you’re doing pull-ups, pulldowns, or pulling a barbell to your waist, the biceps muscle is well engaged. Training the biceps too often will only stunt muscle growth.

If you train the biceps separately, the optimal workout will consist of two to three exercises of four sets of 10 to 15 repetitions. The weight of the weights should be 70-85% of your maximum per repetition.

Compose a training program so that biceps exercises do not overlap with back training. During back training, the biceps muscle is already actively engaged in work, so it does not need additional exercises.

Train triceps and biceps in the same session. Structure your workout so that exercises for these muscles are paired without rest. For example, you do biceps dumbbell curls or biceps dumbbell raises and immediately perform a triceps French press.

3 biceps exercises

Concentrated dumbbell deadlift

Execution Technique

• Sit down and grab a dumbbell with your right hand. Place the elbow of your right hand on the thigh of your right leg. It is tightly pressed against the leg. Rest your left hand on your left leg.
• The back is straight, the shoulders should be in a motionless state. Only the arm works.
• On exhalation, bend the arm at the elbow, raising the dumbbell to the maximum. The elbow should not come off the thigh.
• As you inhale, slowly extend your arm back to the starting position.
• It is important to avoid jerking and do the exercise at a slow pace.

Perform three or four approaches of 8-12 repetitions. Rest for one to two minutes between each approach.

Seated hammer deadlifts

Technika

• Sit down and take the dumbbells so that your fists look in different directions.
• Keep your back straight. Bring your chest forward, and lower your shoulder blades down and fix them in this position throughout the exercise. This is to avoid unnecessary movements in the shoulder blades, shoulders and back.
• As you exhale, alternately bend your arms at the elbows, raising the dumbbells to a 90° angle. It is important to avoid jerky movements.
• Keep your elbows pressed against your body and keep them in this position throughout the exercise.
• As you inhale, slowly extend your arms with dumbbells to the starting position. Do not relax your arms completely.
• Try to feel the tension in the biceps.

Perform three or four approaches of 8-12 repetitions. Rest between approaches for one to two minutes.

Bending arms with dumbbells

Technika

• Take dumbbells so that your fists look in different directions.
• Stand up straight with your feet shoulder width apart. Bring your chest forward, and lower your shoulder blades down and fix them in this position throughout the exercise. This is to avoid unnecessary movement in the shoulder blades, shoulders and back.
• As you exhale, bend your arms at the elbows one by one, raising the dumbbells to a 90° angle. Turn your hands with your fingers toward you, so that your forearm also turns.
• Keep your elbows tightly pressed against your body and keep them in this position throughout the exercise.
• As you inhale, slowly unfold your arms with dumbbells to the starting position, turning your fists outward.

Perform three to four sets of 8 to 12 reps. Rest for one to two minutes between each approach.

Another variant of training on the biceps with dumbbells at home

1. Concentrated biceps lift with dumbbells: three approaches of 10 reps.
2. Standing hammer raises: three sets of eight reps.
3. Seated dumbbell biceps curls: three sets of 10 reps.
4. Concentrated biceps raises with dumbbells: two approaches for 12 repetitions.

So, to pump up the biceps with dumbbells, to make it more powerful and relief, you need to adhere to a few rules. Train the biceps once a week. If you load the muscle separately, the optimal work will consist of two exercises of two or three approaches for 8-12 repetitions.

Change the tempo and rest time between approaches, increase the weight of the weights, and increase the total tonnage. The weight you work out with should be 70-85% of your maximum per repetition. Biceps training is great when combined with working your pecs, legs, or triceps.

And remember, muscles grow during rest, not when pumping. Recovered muscles get bigger, overworked muscles don’t.