The 20 Best Moves for Your Biceps

To help you hone those arms, we created this list of 30 go-to moves to work your biceps. Some of these are classics; some are new. Some are a grind; some are fun. Some hit the long head of the muscle; some focus on the short head.

Pick the ones you like (and maybe some that you dont), and use them to pump up your arms - and fill out your sleeves.

Build Your Biceps With This Badass Arm Plan

1. STANDING BARBELL CURL

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This is as basic as it gets. You've probably heard serious lifters carrying on about oblivious meatheads taking up space in squat racks to do bicep curls, so be mindful when and where you load up a barbell - but that shouldn't be an excuse to skip out on the move entirely. Barbells allow you to work both arms simultaneously and evenly, and the position of your grip can allow you to home in on different parts of the muscle.

How to do it: Grab the barbell with an underhand grip, with your your hands positioned about as wide as your hips. To emphasize the inner portion of the bicep, take a wider grip; to target the outer part of the muscle, bring your hands closer together. Start holding the bar at hip height, then squeeze your core and contract your biceps to curl the bar up to shoulder height. Squeeze your biceps at the top of the movement, then slowly lower the weight back to the starting position, controlling the weight through the eccentric movement. Make sure to keep your feet solidly planted throughout the exercise, and don't use your hips to lift the weight.

2. CONCENTRATION CURL

Curling a weight with one arm helps you zero in on weak spots. And performing the biceps exercise in a kneeling position will diminish the chance that you use body English to heave the weight up to the top position. How to do it: Grab a pair of dumbbells. Hold one dumbbell by your side in your left hand, palm facing your thigh. In your right hand, hold the dumbbell with your palm facing outward. Without moving your upper arm, bend your elbow and curl the dumbbell as close to your shoulder as you can. Pause, then slowly lower the weight back to the starting position. Each time you return to the starting position, completely straighten your arm. Perform all reps on your right arm before switching to your left.

12. ZOTTMAN CURL

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This exercise targets the three major muscles that make up the biceps-the biceps brachii, brachialis, and brachioradialis-by rotating from an underhand to an overhand grip halfway through the move. How to do it: Grab a pair of dumbbells and let them hang at arms length next to your sides. Turn your arms so your palms face forward. Without moving your upper arms, bend your elbows and curl the dumbbells as close to your shoulders as you can. Pause, then rotate the dumbbells so your palms face forward again. Slowly lower the weights down in that position. Rotate the dumbbells back to the starting position and repeat. Photographs by Beth Bischoff

13. CABLE ROPE HAMMER CURL

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Just like the dumbbell hammer curl, this biceps exercise will hit your brachialis to build thickness in your arms. But unlike the dumbbell version, the cable machine keeps a more steady and constant load on the biceps for longer, which may elicit more growth, according to Brad Schoenfeld, Ph.D. How to do it: Hold both ends of a rope attached to the low pulley of a cable machine. Press your elbows into your sides with your palms facing each other. Keep your feet shoulder-width apart, your torso upright, and your knees slightly bent. Keeping your arms stable throughout the move, curl, the rope toward your shoulders, Pause, and reverse the movement to return to the starting position.

Photographs by Beth Bischoff

14. CABLE ALTERNATING FLEX CURL

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Instead of holding your arms by your sides for this variation of the biceps curl, youll keep them extended outwards, parallel to the floor. Just holding your arms in this position will put them to work. Adding a curl helps zero in directly on your biceps. How to do it: Stand between the weight stacks of a cable crossover station and grab a high-pulley handle in each hand. Hold your arms out to the sides so theyre parallel to the floor. Without moving your right arm, curl your left hand toward your head. Slowly allow your left arm to straight and then repeat the move with your right arm. Photographs by Beth Bischoff

15. EZ-BAR PREACHER CURL

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Resting your arms on a sloping pad of a preacher bench helps isolate your biceps by taking your other upper-body muscles out of the equation-meaning, they wont come into play to assist where your biceps are weakest. If you dont have the appropriate workstation, you can use a Swiss ball or a bench angled to 45 degrees. How to do it: Grab an EZ-bar with your hands six inches apart. Rest your upper arms on the sloping pad of a preacher bench and hold the bar in front of you with your elbows slightly bent. Without moving your upper arms, bend your elbows and curl the bar toward your shoulders. Pause, then slowly lower the weight back to the starting position.

16. LYING PREACHER CURLS

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The beauty of the preacher curl is that it increases the angle of your bicep relative to your torso, limiting your ability to cheat on the curl with your shoulders. You're all biceps for this move - which means you're gains will only increase. This particular version of the preacher curl has two benefits. First, instead of losing resistance (which happens at the top of a standard preacher curl, like above), you still face it at peak contraction thanks to the cables. Second, the bench/floor offers feedback for your back positioning, helping you to keep them back rather than slouching forward.

How to do it: You'll need a bench and a cable pull-down station for this move. Position the bench beneath the cable, so that your head is in-line with the bar when you lay down. Reach up to grab the bar with your arms straight up. Bend your elbows and squeeze your biceps to curl the bar down toward your head. Keep your shoulders still, and really emphasize the bicep squeeze at the bottom of the movement before controlling the bar on the way back up.

17. OPEN-PALM MACHINE CURLS

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This move is all about grip. All it takes is a subtle tweak on machine preacher curls to help you focus on your biceps more: maintain an open palm. Do this and you almost completely eliminate forearm flexor assistance, leaving your bicep to shoulder a greater load on the curl. Bonus: if you're dealing with elbow tendonitis, you can still pull this curl off. Don't do this all the time though; you want your muscles working well together. Mix it into your arm workouts maybe once a month.

How to do it: Sit down as if you were going to perform normal reps. Instead of grasping the handle with your fingers, keep your hands open and press against the machine with your palms up with the handle at your wrist. Curl the weight up with the open palm. Perform with either one hand alone or both simultaneously, depending on the machine available to you.

18. CHINUP

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While the chinup doesnt isolate your biceps, it certainly trains them hard. Along with other muscles in your arms, shoulders, and back, youll use your biceps to pull your entire bodyweight from a dead hang, building serious upper-body strength, according to Tony Gentilcore, C.S.C.S., co-owner of Cressey Performance in Hudson, Massachusetts. How to do it: Grab a chinup bar using a shoulder-width underhand grip and hang at arms length. Squeeze your shoulder blades down and back, bend your elbows, and pull the top of your chest to the bar. Pause, and slowly lower your body back to the starting position. Photographs by Mitch Mandel

21. SEATED CABLE ROW

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When you sit and row instead of stand and row, your biceps are in the direct line of the pull so they work extra hard during each rep, according to Gentilcore. The seated cable row will also help you build a massive back to compliment your guns. How to do it: Sit at a seated cable row station with your feet on the platform and your knees slightly bent. Grasp a V-bar with your palms facing each other. Keep your back flat and pull your shoulders back as you pull the bar toward your torso. Photographs by Thomas MacDonald

22. BENT-OVER BARBELL ROW

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The muscles in your upper body have two functions: push and pull. Your biceps are most active when you pull, according to Alwyn Cosgrove, a Mens Health Fitness Advisor. Since youre using other muscles to perform the row, youll likely use a weight thats much heavier than one you would curl. How to do it: Grab a barbell with your hands just beyond shoulder-width apart and hold it at arms length. Bend at your hips and knees, bracing your abs as if youre about to be punched in the gut. Pull the bar to your ribcage, pause, and then lower back to the starting position. Photographs by Mitch Mandel

27. RACKED FARMERS CARRY

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The farmers carry is a great way to work your body from head to toe as you walk, but holding the weights in a racked position can help you zero in on your biceps. Its like an isometric hold for your guns, jostling the weight with every step. And since you typically use extra-heavy weight for farmers carries, youll overload your biceps in a completely contracted position. How to do it: Grab a pair of dumbbells and hold them in the racked position so one head of each dumbbell rests by your shoulders. Walk forward for 10 yards, turn around and walk back. Photograph by Mitch Mandel

28. DUMBBELL CLEAN

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Muscles grow through a combination of load and time under tension. By starting each rep with the weights at your sides and then lifting them to your shoulders, you effectively double the amount of time your biceps spend working. How to do it: Hold a pair of dumbbells at arms length, your palms facing each other. Bend your hips and knees so that the dumbbells hang at knee level. In one move, explosively pull the dumbbells upward as you thrust your hips forward; then catch the dumbbells at shoulder height. Stand tall, and then return to the starting position. Make sure to use a manageable weight: 35- to 50-pound dumbbells are about right for most guys. Photographs by Beth Bischoff

29. UNDERHAND-GRIP INVERTED ROW

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The inverted row is primarily an upper-back exercise. However, using an underhand grip instead of a standard grip forces your biceps to work harder. How to do it: Grab a bar with an underhand, shoulder-width grip. You palms should be facing you. Hang with your arms completely straight. Your body should form a straight line from your ankles to your head. Initiate the movement by pulling your shoulder blades back, then continue the pull with your arms to lift your chest to the bar. Pause, then slowly lower your body back to the starting position. Photographs by Beth Bischoff

30. SLOW-MO 21s

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This is more of a workout than an individual move, but it's worth including in this list nonetheless. One of the most popular bicep-heavy routines is the 21, which consists of 21 reps of three different positions of a curl. You'll emphasize all of the different ranges of motion of the exercise here, helping you to carve out an impressive set of biceps. For this particular version of the exercise, you'll want to use light weight. You won't last if you go too heavy.

How to do it: Grab light dumbbells to curl. For the first 7 reps, curl the weight halfway up and pause at the parallel-to-the-ground position. Also, dont quite come all the way down. For the second 7 reps, lift directly from the parallel position, squeezing the biceps to curl the weight to the top. For the final 7 reps, perform a complete curl, lifting the weight from the bottom position and squeezing your biceps for a moment at the top before controlling the weight back to the start.