Dumbbell Exercises for Bicep - Top 9

Today, we will talk about the best dumbbell exercises for bicep. In this article, you will learn all the effective exercises that you can do to target your muscles using just dumbbells.

 

Biceps is a short muscle as we know, and it also gets trained along with big muscles such as the back. However, if you want significant growth, it becomes important to train them specifically also. 

These exercises are mostly those which can also be done at home easily with just a pair of dumbbells. So during these times when there is little or no access to gyms, our workout won’t get affected. Let’s start then.

BICEPS CURL

The first one in our list of bicep workout routine is biceps curl. It is one of the primary movements as you may have seen. It is one of the great isolating movements.

Start the movement and keep your shoulder blades retracted to focus only on involvement of the targeted muscle group. Try to maintain a mind-muscle connection, i.e., focusing on the muscle.

Try to achieve contraction by squeezing the dumbbells as hard as you can. Also, let the arms extend fully as you go down for ensuring a full range of motion.

This old school bicep exercises has always been everyone’s favorite.

Perform this in an alternate manner. You can lift both arms together also, but here, we are doing alternating curls. Make sure to let one arm extend fully at the bottom before lifting the other one up.

HAMMER CURLS

There are basically two heads of the biceps, short head, and long head. The short head is for the peak and the long head is targeted for size mainly.

This exercise targets the long head and is one of the best bicep workout with dumbbells. If you want a dumbbell bicep workout at home, this is the one movement to must include. 

Hammer curls also help to develop the forearms, thus making it an effective exercise. Maintain a strong and tight core and keep your shoulder blades retracted while doing the movement. 

It is one of my personal favorite exercises for bicep. It gives a great muscle activation and pump.

If you want a variation, you can do that by pulling the weights inside towards your chest. It will target the muscle from a different angle in this way. These are also called crossbody curls.

Take the arm holding the weight towards the opposite shoulder. This will target more of the muscle at an outwards angle.

CONCENTRATION CURLS

The next exercise for biceps is concentration curl. It is also an isolation movement which means that only the targeted muscle will work while doing it, keeping all the other joints fixed. 

This can help to target both the heads and also works good for peak. It can be a good finisher exercise for your workout.

To start, sit on a bench with your legs spread wide. Place your elbow on your inner thigh as shown in the picture and bring the weight up by contracting your biceps. Try to squeeze the muscle fully as you bring it up towards your shoulders. 

After completing for one arm, switch to the other and complete the set of this exercise. This completes one set. Perform 10-12 reps for this exercise in one set.

This exercise increases muscle activation due to the position it puts your body in. 

When you are in this position, your arms are locked and you cannot use any momentum, unlike the regular curls. 

Therefore, the whole tension is on the target which helps to isolate it and maximize the gains making it one of the best bicep exercises.

INCLINED DUMBBELL CURL

In this exercise, you sit on an inclined bench to perform it. As the arms go behind our body while doing it, it helps to stretch the long head. Therefore, it helps to build muscle mass.

Keep your ab muscles tight while performing it. I say this again and again as core stability is very important while doing strength training. 

Perform this bicep exercise in the same way just like you did for the regular curls. The only difference is the angle for targeting the muscle which changes using the bench.

Do this in a controlled manner and slowly to maximize the tension. Include this exercise in your dumbbell bicep workout routine for adding size and definition to the arms.

You have to keep your elbows locked during this exercise so that there is no involvement of the front delts.

DRAG CURLS

We all want that one of the dumbbell exercises for bicep that we do to work on the peak. This exercise helps to develop the peak of our biceps. 

For doing this exercise, you have to keep your core tight. Then, bring the weights up in a straight line by pushing the elbows backward. 

Use lighter weights if needed, but ensure to keep the form correct in order to maximize the gains.

I myself never tried it before but once I did, the pump and load on the muscle were great. This is the reason I am suggesting this in our list of biceps workout routine with dumbbells.

REVERSE CURL

The next exercise in our dumbbell bicep workout routine is reverse curl. It is almost the same as the biceps curl which we do in regular course; the only difference is the holding angle. 

While doing this exercise, our palm faces downwards. Do this in a slow and controlled manner to maximize the activation of the muscle. 

Image Source-Google | Image by-Muscle & Strength

Try to keep the elbows tucked in during the movement. This will put the entire load on the target rather than any other muscle. A great variation exercise in our dumbbell bicep workout series.

This exercise, along with training our biceps, helps to train the upper forearms too. So in this way, its providing double benefit.

It is one of the best dumbbell bicep exercises that you can do at home also.

PREACHER CURLS

One of the best bicep exercises with dumbbell is preacher curl. To start with this exercise, pick up single dumbbell and sit on a preacher bench by keeping the arms on it. 

Start by slowly lowering the weight until your arm is fully stretched, then bring it back up by squeezing your muscle as hard as you can.

This exercise for bicep can also be done using a barbell for some variation. You can use an EZ barbell on this preacher machine for hitting the muscles.

It helps to isolate as when performing it, nothing but the biceps work due to the locked position it creates for the other joints.

ZOTTMAN CURL

It is one of the different types of best bicep workout with dumbbells. This movement involves a combination of the regular curl and the reverse curl.

To perform this exercise, you have to curl the weight upwards the same way as you do in case of regular curls.

Then, after reaching upwards, rotate the wrists so that the palm now faces downwards. Bring the dumbbell down slowly and repeat.

If you have any confusion, I am giving a link to one of the YouTube tutorials for this exercise which will help you understand better. Go check it out.

How To: Zottman Curl

Keep reading till the end as below are some extra tips that will help you to grow your arms fast. Make sure to implement these along with the above exercises for bicep.

DROP SETS

Drop sets are those sets that include going to failure by reducing the weights in each set. 

For an example, if you do a drop set in dumbbell curl, you may start with 10 kg weights (You can start with any weight which is heavy for you, this is just an example)

After doing 10-12 reps, reduce the weight to 7.5 kg and do 10-12 reps. Then again, drop the weight to 5 kg and perform the reps. 

This is called a drop set of the workout as you are continuously dropping the weights without rest and performing the exercise till failure.

These drop sets can prove to be super effective in hitting the muscles and forcing it to grow more quickly. You will get an insane pump after a drop set.

FREQUENCY OF TRAINING

Any muscle takes 2-3 days at max to recover itself from the previous workout session. After that, it is good to be trained again.

Seeing this, you can train your arms 2-3 times per week if it’s your lagging muscle and you want to maximize gains there. You can use these bicep exercises to include in your workout routine.

Do not over train the muscles as if you do, recovery won’t happen leading to soreness and under development.

Make sure to keep your diet high in protein and other macronutrients to ensure proper recovery of muscles. If you want a diet plan, check this: High Protein Diet Plan for Muscle Gain

You can also do these bicep exercises with dumbbell at home if you can’t go to the gym. They just need a pair of weights to be done.

SUMMARY

This was our article on dumbbell exercises for bicep. I hope you got some value from it. Include these exercises in your routine to grow your arms fast and see good results.

These are the list of best dumbbell bicep exercises which everyone should do. Rest, consistency is the solution to any goal. Be consistent with your diet and sleeping routines and keep growing stronger!

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