When it comes to building big biceps fitness magazines and most personal trainers will tell you that you need to hit a multitude of different curl variations with machines, dumbbells, barbells, resistance bands and the like. They’ll try to convince you that you need to not only use a diverse range of equipment, but you need to change up your exercise order, grip placement and rep range every other workout to confuse the muscle and force it to grow.
That’s BS.
Here’s the truth…
You honestly do not need to do the vast majority of those things.
You can 100% build an impressive pair of bulging biceps with one pair of dumbbells and three exercises.
Below you’ll find my dumbbell bicep workout along with an explanation and form guide to the 3 exercises I attribute to bulking my arms up from 12″ all the way to 17″.
Dumbbell Biceps CurlForm
Stand upright with a dumbbell held close by your side at arms length with palms facing towards your torso.
While maintaining the position of your arms curl the dumbbell upwards one at a time as you rotate your palm forwards.
Contract and squeeze your biceps at the top of each repetition.
Twist your palm as you slowly lower the dumbbell back to its original position.
Alternate with the other arm.
Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
Dumbbell Hammer CurlForm
Stand upright with a dumbbell in each facing your sides. Keep the dumbbells at arms-length while keeping them close to your body.
Contract your biceps to curl the weight upwards.
Continue until you have reached a full contraction before holding and squeezing for a second.
Slowly lower the dumbbell back to arms-length by your side.
Alternate with the other arm.
Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
Dumbbell Concentration CurlForm
Utilize an incline bench adjusted at a suitable angle for a shoulder press.
With your palm up hold a dumbbell and place your arm over the incline bench, holding onto the incline bench with the other arm for stability.
Utilize a wide stand while pressing your chest up against the bench.
While keeping your arm in place curl the dumbbell up while squeezing and contracting your biceps.
Ensure your upper arm stays in place as only your forearm should be moving.
Slowly begin to lower the dumbbell back to the starting position.
Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
Switch arms as necessary.
Common Dumbbell Biceps Exercise Mistakes
Swinging
Every guy in the gym wants to swing around heavy weight on biceps, I get that.
The bottom portion of a bicep curl is without a doubt the hardest portion of the movement, and when lifting too heavy many gym-goers attempt to swing backwards or hip thrust to attempt to move the weight.
Using momentum to move the weight takes tension off the bicep, doing you no good.
If you’re swinging and swaying your back on every repetition you’re also placing your lower back at a high risk of injury – not good.
Pick a weight that’s heavy for you to perform with good form, save the cheat curls for Arnold.
Arm Training Frequency Too High
It didn’t take me long to realize that training my arms every single day wasn’t getting me very far in terms of results given all the effort I was exerting.
Train smart.
The biceps act as the secondary muscle group when we’re training back, and the triceps act as the secondary muscle group when we’re training chest.
Training chest, back and one dedicated arm day per week (or triceps and biceps split up onto seperate days instead) is more than enough to build big, strong arms.
More isn’t always better – if you’re training frequency is any higher than this you may very well be hindering your own progress, like all other muscle groups the biceps and triceps require time to recover.
Lifting Too Light
If you don’t generally train in the lower rep range I recommend you give it a try, stop lifting in the 10 – 15 rep range for at least a month and focus on heavy, low rep sets. Once you start to see results you won’t want to go back.
Now, you may still think high reps are beneficial, but let me tell you they’re far from it.
High repetitions result in increased stress on your CNS, increase in localized inflammation and increased soreness.
“Movements or exercises that do not give the muscle the required resistance, but are the kind that involve a great number of repetitions, never break down any tissue, to speak of. These movements involve a forcing process that cause the blood to swell up the muscle, and simply pump them up”– George F. Jowett, 1926
Putting It All Together… The Workout
Dumbbell Biceps Curl – 4 sets – 10 reps per set (per arm)
Dumbbell Hammer Curl – 5 sets – 8 reps per set (per arm)
Dumbbell Concentration Curl – 4 sets – 8 reps per set (per arm)
Here Are The ONLY Pair of Dumbbells I’ll Ever Recommend…
Bowflex SelectTech Adjustable Weights
Instead of buying multiple sets of dumbbells or messing around screwing weight plates on and off your dumbbells between sets and exercises the Bowflex adjustable dumbbell makes progressing with your routine and exercise so much easier and efficient.
Adjustable in 2.5lb increments all the way up to 52.5lbs per dumbbell, ideal for the beginner or intermediate gym-goer
You can invest in a pair of these dumbbells that’ll last you forever here.