Exercises for biceps with and without dumbbells, on a horizontal bar, with a barbell for girls. Home program

Exercises that effectively train biceps are performed by athletes both at home and in the training room. It is no secret that it is this muscle in the public consciousness that is firmly associated with physical strength and serves as an external criterion for the fitness of an athlete. Naturally, a specialized gym will give you more opportunities to work out your muscles.

Biceps anatomy

The large biceps muscle is clearly visible on the front of the shoulder. It consists of two muscle heads. The first one is long. Her tendon starts from the supra-articular tubercle located on the scapula.

The second head is short. It has a slightly longer abdomen and attaches to the coracoid process of the scapula. Both abdomens share a common tendon. It attaches to the tuberosity of the radius. One of the tendon bundles is woven into the fascia of the forearm.

This muscle flexes the forearm and, in part, turns the palm outward. The biceps is an antagonist in relation to the triceps muscle of the shoulder - the extensor and compensates for its effect on the body.

What does biceps grow from?

The biceps muscle, like any other, grows by filling the micro-breaks of muscle fibers with new muscle tissue. The structural unit of the tissue of the striated muscles, to which the biceps muscle of the shoulder belongs, are myofibrils.

In order to optimize the growth process of such a muscle, you need to adhere to a number of requirements:

• Take a proper balanced diet. In the diet, the emphasis should be shifted towards protein and slow carbohydrates. Proteins will act as building blocks for muscle tissue, and carbohydrates will saturate the body with the necessary energy. Of the proteins, priority is given to eggs, chicken, cottage cheese, fish. Buckwheat, flour products and coarse grits are chosen from carbohydrates. The calorie content of the daily diet should only slightly exceed the daily norm for days without training.
• Provide training for the remaining large muscles. This will spur the production of testosterone, and the hormonal background will provoke masculinization.
• Increase the training load by increasing the weight, volume of work performed, reducing rest between sets, performing negative repetitions of the exercise.
• It is wise to combine exercise and recovery time, avoiding overtraining. Follow the principles of supercompensation for extended exercise.
• Perform exercises using the correct technique.

Modern sports physiology identifies 3 mutually reinforcing causes of muscle hypertrophy:

• Muscle tension that lasts until the muscle begins to adapt to the load.
• Local muscle damage. This state of muscle tissue causes inflammation in it, to which the body reacts by increasing the concentration of neutrophils, macrophages, and lymphocytes. This leads to the release of myokines and the stimulation of muscle growth factors.
• Exercise-induced metabolic stress, which the body responds to by releasing hormones and creating an anabolic environment for muscle growth.

Each of these reasons requires thoughtful analysis for proper implementation in sports training. This makes it possible to optimize the synthesis of hormones, associated biochemical and physiological processes.

Basic principles of training at home

Home biceps exercises are based on 4 postulates:

• Safety. This is a whole range of activities, including a training and rest regimen, correct exercise performance, balanced nutrition, control over how the body reacts to training. This also includes control over the state of health, due to the deterioration of which it is possible to "disrupt" the training macrocycle.
• Reasonableness. Before starting the training process, it is necessary to clearly assess the initial level of physical fitness, determine short-term and long-term tasks, choose training methods taking into account your own physical condition, daily lifestyle and the required result.
• Gradualness. A gradual increase in loads will make it possible not only to adapt muscle tissue to exercise, but also to balance the physiology of the body. It is necessary to smoothly prepare the ligamentous apparatus, fascia and neuromuscular connections for loads.
• Consistency. The training process must be continuous.

Breathing technique

At home, when practicing exercises for training biceps, special attention should be paid to breathing technique. General recommendations on how to breathe during strength training boil down to the fact that the strength movement is done on the exhale. The inhalation is carried out during the relaxation phase.

Sometimes experienced athletes practice a short delay either at the "start" of the exercise or at the point of maximum effort. As you exhale, the muscles of the core are naturally tensed to avoid injury during exercise and stabilize the spinal column.

Frequency of classes

Muscle grows during rest periods after high-intensity work. Therefore, it is recommended to train the biceps brachii no more than once a week. In this case, it will be optimal to perform 1 or 2 exercises from the basic set and the same number of exercises for isolated muscle groups.

More frequent frequency can lead to an increase in destructive catabolic processes. The muscle in such conditions works "for wear and tear", while not having time to recover.

How much weight can you lift

For muscle growth, you need a well-dosed load.

The weight of the weights should be selected so that you can perform from 6 to 8 repetitions of the exercise in one approach.

To select the working weight, you can use the following scheme:

1. Taking 5 kg dumbbells, perform 15 repetitions of the selected exercise.
2. If the correct execution of such a number of exercises was easy, then the weight is gradually increased to the norm of 8 repetitions of the exercise in the approach;
3. If the implementation of the basic movements of biceps training required the inclusion of the body and back, the weight must be reduced.

To build strength, the weight should allow three sets of 5-8 repetitions of the exercise. If the goal is to increase the volume of the biceps, then the working weight of the projectile must be selected so that a maximum of 5-6 repetitions of the exercise can be performed in three approaches.

Should muscles hurt during and after exercise?

Post-workout muscle soreness, known as DOMS, is nearly impossible to avoid when lifting weights. Such pains occur a few hours later or the next day after intense training. The same effect occurs when the usual loads are increased by at least 10%.

The causes of these pains are considered to be micro-tears of muscle fibers. A local inflammatory process begins, which is accompanied by physical pain. The second reason, which has long been considered dominant, is the accumulation of lactic acid in the muscles.

It is possible to reduce the severity of this phenomenon by properly organizing the training process. You need a mandatory warm-up, a gradual "entry" into the main part of the training and recovery exercises, including self-massage, at the end of the session.

With a busy five-day training cycle, Saturday can be devoted to a trip to the sauna: the action of high temperature relieves post-workout syndrome and muscle tension. Sometimes, to reduce pain, you have to use medications: vitamin C, 1 g after training, or popular NSAIDs: ibuprofen, ketorol and the like. Sports warming ointments also come to the rescue.

Warm-up exercises, technique for their implementation

Warming up the shoulders and arms does not sufficiently prepare the body for a full workout. To warm up the muscles and ligamentous-articular apparatus, to activate the work of internal organs, the warm-up should take from 15 minutes and involve all the main muscle groups.

The principles of its implementation are load dosing and controlled amplitudes of movements. The orbits, along which warm-up movements are performed, start from minimum to maximum, without going beyond the anatomical limits of joint movement.

It is imperative to warm up the antagonist muscles. And only after the blood flow has been activated throughout the body, do they proceed to local additional warm-up of the muscles of the target limbs. To prepare the biceps for work, you need to warm up the shoulder girdle, including the triceps and deltoid muscles, as well as the muscles of the forearms and wrists.

The warm-up can be systematized as follows: tilts and rotations are performed from the head through the shoulders, arms, body, hips, legs to the feet. The frequency of exercises is 3-6 times in each direction.

Exercises for biceps at home or training in the gym begin to be performed with low weight, monitoring the correctness of the movements.

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Dumbbell biceps exercises for girls

For many girls, pumping biceps is not an easy task, since their hands are naturally weaker than those of men. In addition, female-type fat deposition implies extra pounds on the shoulders, and many do not like it.

Performing exercises with dumbbells of different weights, you can give the biceps the desired shape and functionality: multiple repetitions of movements with low weight weights will make the muscle longer, drier, more prominent and enduring. Heavy lifting will increase your bicep volume and power. Examples of some basic dumbbell exercises are shown below.

Flexion of the arms

This type of training is referred to as the so-called isolated exercises, which implies the development of exclusively target muscles. It is aimed at increasing the volume of the biceps and giving it a convex shape.Most often, it is worked out with small weights with multiple repetitions of movements, for greater filling of this muscle with blood.

The basis of the exercise is the alternate or simultaneous lifting of weight to the shoulder by bending the arm at the elbow joint. Ideally, it is required to exclude body swaying and movement due to swings and inertia.

Hammer flexion

This includes the muscles of the forearm and brachialis. This muscle is located under the biceps, and performs up to 67% of all work to lift the load to the shoulder. It is the well-developed brachialis that visually increases the volume of the biceps.

Strong forearms increase the strength of the wrist grip and help to hold heavy sports equipment. This allows you to increase the intensity of the training process.

In the initial position and during the subsequent lifting of the load, the hands are turned towards the body. In the negative phase of the exercise, lower the dumbbells while maintaining control. You need to raise the dumbbell for one, and lower it within two seconds.

Concentrated Seated Press

The bench press is performed from a sitting position. In this exercise, the body should be slightly turned inward. The working hand is located on the inner surface of the thigh of the same name and is lowered down.

Her elbow joint is not fully extended. The highest point at which the movement ends is located at shoulder level. Supination is required, that is, turning the hand outward. During the exercise, only the forearm moves. This press allows you to get an effective toned biceps without heavy training. This is true for many asthenic men and girls.

Scott Bench Curl

The Scott simulator allows you to exclude swinging and cheating, that is, to give the biceps a specific target load. To start the exercise, you should sit up straight, and place your shoulders with their back surface on an inclined bench shelf.

Arrange them in parallel, touching the edge of the shelf with the armpit. Lower the arms in which the dumbbells are held down. Then perform arm curls in the same way as in all exercises for training biceps using free weights.

Bending the arms through the sides while standing

At the start of the exercise, the shoulders are motionless, the elbows are pressed to the body. When the forearms are raised, the hands are supined to their position with the palms up. The amplitude of movement is in the frontal plane all the time. For visual control over the correctness of this exercise, the forearms should be kept in line with the anterior bundles of the deltoid muscles.

Incline Bench Curl

This exercise allows you to stretch the biceps heads more and purposefully work out each of its heads. The bench is installed at an angle of 50 to 70 degrees. Movements are performed smoothly and without swaying. The weight of the dumbbells should be one-fifth of that which is usual in standing work.

Lying arm curl

The exercise is a variation on the previous one. But the muscles stretch more under the weight of the weight, which tends to bring them to the floor. Do it lying with your back on a power bench.

The most effective barbell exercises for girls

At an advanced stage of training, instead of dumbbells, you can start using a barbell. The training is performed using an empty bar, an Olympic barbell, or an EZ barbell. It is the work with the barbell that allows you to focus on both the inner and outer segment of the biceps.

Standing wide grip curl

The barbell is taken, holding the grip from the bottom, 15 cm wider than the shoulders. The feet are shoulder-width apart. Standing with a straight back, lift the projectile to the shoulder. You cannot use back movements. The elbows should be pointing down and pressed against the body. The working emphasis in such training is shifted to the inner bundle of the shoulder muscles.

Standing narrow grip curl

The exercise is performed in the same way as the previous one. If the grip is performed, holding the bar 10-15 cm narrower than the shoulders, then the external biceps bundle works during movement.

Standing arm bending to half amplitude

This exercise allows you to work out the stabilizers and, by concentrating in the orbit of movement, to ensure the maximum saturation of the elbow with nutrients.

Standing Reverse Grip Curl

The grip with the palms turned back allows you to engage the muscles of the forearms, but, unfortunately, does not allow you to work with large weights.

Sitting on Scott's Bench Curl

This exercise will require the use of a barbell with a curved bar.

The narrower the working grip, the more the internal heads of the biceps muscle are worked out. To transfer work to the outside of the biceps, you will need a wider grip. The bench cushion is exposed at an acute angle.

Exercises on the horizontal bar

All exercises of this type are performed in hanging on a crossbar. The arms are straight. Place your shoulders back. The shoulder blades tend to meet each other. When performing pull-ups, the legs are bent at the knees and crossed at the ankles.

Supinated narrow grip pull-ups

The narrower the grip, the more difficult the exercise is. Complete the full upward movement by touching the bar with the chest.

Supinated Medium Grip Pull-ups

The hands are slightly wider than the shoulders. Completing the pull-up, touching the bar is performed in the area of ​​the middle of the upper chest.

Incomplete pull-ups with a supinated medium grip

They should be performed until the middle of a full upward movement. In this case, the clavicle should be brought as close as possible to the crossbar. The pace of execution is high. This exercise is much more effective than the previous two.

How to build biceps without dumbbells, barbells

Home biceps exercises target areas without even being able to train with kettlebells. Improvised tools and simple gymnastic equipment allow you to organize a full training.

As a weight, use eggplants with water, a stack of heavy books, or an office chair held by the legs. You can pump biceps by using your own body as a weighting agent. It is difficult to increase the volume of the biceps without dumbbells and a barbell, but it is much easier to increase its performance with home workouts.

Curl biceps without additional weights

This exercise, which resembles "hammers" for the biceps, can be performed with eggplants filled with water. Many small canisters have comfortable handles, and the operating weight can be adjusted to suit different filling conditions.

Bicep curl with a towel

A towel will help you train on the train or in your hotel room. This hygiene item can be passed through the handles of a hiking bag or backpack and lift the biceps as if you were holding a barbell or kettlebell.

Concentrated Eggplant Curls

This is a household version of working with a concentrated press on a power bench, which has already been described above.

Bicep curl with leg

Exercises for biceps at home also have a rather exotic option:

1. Sitting on a chair, skip the forearm under the middle of the opposite thigh.
2. Next, you need to pull up the thigh to the highest possible height.
3. In this case, it is necessary to exclude the work of the muscles of the legs and back.

Reverse chin pull-ups

A small horizontal bar can be easily installed in a doorway, on a blank wall of an apartment, between two shelves in a train compartment, or find a suitable branch on a tree in the garden. When performing a grip, the hands need to be turned towards the face. All skeletal muscles should be in good shape. This will avoid unnecessary joint injuries. Pull-ups are done without jerking and swinging the body.

Flexion of the arms with an expander or rubber bands

Excellent results are obtained by using a rubber band or expander in training. With this type of training, the biceps remain more elastic, acquiring specific endurance. The training is carried out in the same way as the exercises used in working with iron.

Horizontal pull-ups

This is an interesting workout option.In addition to the biceps, the muscles of the back, the posterior bundles of the delta and the trapezius are involved. You can organize such pull-ups on the lid of a kitchen or office table, or by placing a cross tube on two chairs.

The body is horizontal, with the back of the head, shoulders, loin and hips in one line. The support is carried out on the heels. While pulling up, you need to touch the bar with your chest.

Biceps training program for girls

Example of weekly arm training exercises for girls:

Exercises that develop biceps can be done at home. Remember that not having a gym is not a reason to give up sports. Sensible and safe training is sure to make the body beautiful, strong and healthy.

Article design: Mila Friedan

Biceps Exercise Videos

Home biceps workout: