The basic curl is one of the first muscle building exercises that a lot of people are introduced to when they begin hitting the gym. While I can think of probably at least 3 free weight compound exercises that can allow your arms to grow quicker than  barbell curls alone, most people think that they need to be performing hard core arm workouts that include 10 – 20 sets of isolation style bicep exercises in order to build bigger arms.

If you’re looking for a bicep specific exercise that will allow you to gain muscle mass and improve the shape of your biceps, there is no better exercise to work into your arm workout than heavy basic curls.  While I typically like to promote multi-joint compound exercises for gaining muscle mass, I don’t consider the straight bar curl to
be a compound movement. It is in my opinion, as close as you’re going to get to a compound exercise that targets your biceps.

In addition to incorporating the muscles in your biceps, the straight bar curl also works various muscles in your chest, shoulders and back, as well as a bunch of stabilizer muscles. While most of these additional muscles really don’t have too much involvement in making the weight move through the course of this exercise, simply getting a few of the bigger muscle groups in your upper body working at the same time will produce a more anabolic environment in your biceps and will over time lead to bigger arms.

The main benefit to performing barbell curls is that you can lift very heavy weight, which in turn stimulates new muscle growth with each workout. Even with
decent form, you will be able to hammer your biceps with a much heavier weight than you would with any other bicep exercise. Training with heavy weights through a complete range of motion is the best way to stimulate new muscle growth and increase your muscular strength – so stick with what works here and focus on training your biceps hard!

I always make it a point to include heavy basic curls into each of my bicep workouts so that I can make sure and encourage new growth every time I work my biceps.  If you want to get the most out of this exercise, create your biceps workout so that you’re performing heavy basic curls before you jump into  any isolation exercises.  This will allow you to make sure that you are working your arms with heavy enough weight to force them to grow before you incorporate any lighter weight isolation movements. Typically, I will perform anywhere from 1 – 4 sets of basic curls followed by  2 – 3 sets of any other isolation style exercise in order to complete my bicep workout.

How To Perform The Basic Curl

If you really want to build bigger arms, you need to learn how to perform the straight bar curl with proper technique and form.  If you neglect your weight training form you will eventually wind up hurting yourself and you won’t be able to train at all. So make it a point to learn how to train with proper weight training form.

In order to perform the barbell curl:

1.) Space your feet out shoulder width apart
2.) Bend down at the knees and grasp the bar with an underhand grip
3.) Stand upright with the barbell hanging in front of you
4.) Hold your back straight with your shoulders back
5.) Curl the barbell up to the top of your shoulders
6.) Pause for a second and then lower the bar (under control) back down to the starting position

If you really want to build big biceps and you want to do it quickly, then the simple barbell curl should be a staple in your everyday bicep workouts.  While there is certainly nothing fancy about performing straight bar curls, over time you will be able to pack on some serious size to your arms.

Nearly everyone seems to be surfing the web for the ultimate bicep workout to help them increase the size of their arms fast.  Yes there are a lot of effective bicep routines available on the web, I really think that it’s important to prioritize your biceps training appropriately.  While it’s critical that you learn how to train your biceps in the right manner, you really shouldn’t spend too much of your gym time focusing on such a small muscle group. Not only will your overall physique suffer if you spend all of your time training your biceps, but your biceps themselves will not respond to this type of onslaught for long.   Eventually the muscle group that is dominating your attention and time in the gym will begin to actually atrophy and get smaller!

photo credit: mateoutah

In comparison to many of the bigger muscle groups on your body, the muscles in your biceps are tiny. Just because there is no other muscle on your body that will grab the attention of the ladies quite like a a muscular pair of biceps, one of the biggest downfalls of most guys is that they spend too much time to training their biceps and too little time focusing on the bigger muscle groups on their bodies.

if you really want to build bigger arms, then you’ve got to prioritize your training in the following manner (or at least pretty close to this). First off target the bigger muscles on your body and work your way down the list.

Stat by training your…

1. Legs – (quads/glutes)
2. Chest – (pecs)
3. Back – (lats)
4. Shoulders – (delts)
5. Triceps
6. Biceps
7. Calves

You’ll want to devote a bunch of energy to hitting the larger muscle groups heavy and hard.  If you do this, what you’ll find is that your smaller muscles (like your triceps and biceps), will begin to get bigger incidentally without direct training due to the amount of muscle building hormones released by your body when you work your way through heavy sets for your bigger muscle groups. By focusing on the larger muscles first and making them the priority in your training program, you will begin to see an increase in the strength and size of your biceps.

Again keep in mind that when you perform many of the “pulling” exercises that are targeted to your back, you will be activating and incidentally training your arms (usually with a heavier weight than you usually would), so make sure to split up your back workouts and space them at least a day apart from your bicep workouts.

Now that you’ve got your muscle building program designed properly and everything is in check.  Then you’ll want to move forward and start working in a few basic bicep workouts.  Don’t make the mistake that nearly 90% of all guys in the gym make and work your arms non stop – it’s a bad idea that is actually counterproductive to your goal of bigger biceps.

If you want to build bigger biceps, you need to pair down your training efforts to 1 bicep workout per week.  That’s all you need to do to make your biceps grow!  If you work your biceps with intense workouts any more than this, they will begin to lose size – so try not to do it!

Now that you understand how to properly prioritize your workouts and how often you need to be hitting your biceps, here’s a quick bicep workout that can help you build size on your arms quickly without taking up too much of your time in the gym.

Start out with a few minutes of moderate to light intensity cardio.  I usually do 5 -10 minutes of light jogging. Followed by a full body flexibility routine. A lot of guys only stretch out the muscle groups that they train each day – I just like to stretch out the all of my muscles each day so that I can prevent any type of tightening up or injury.  After you get your stretching and warm up in, it’s time to jump into the weight lifting warm up sets below.

Killer Bicep Workout

Warm Up Set #1:

Exercise: Alternating Dumbbell Curl – 1 set x 10 reps

pick a training weight that allows you to move the weight quickly through a full range of motion.  I typically begin with 20 lb dumbbells.

Warm Up Set #2:

Exercise: Dumbbell Curl – 1 set x 8 reps

Again choose a weight that allows you to move the Dumbbells fairly quickly through a full range of motion, but make sure that it is heavier than what you started with. I like to jump up to 35 lb dumbbells here.

Rest for 1.5 minutes

Warm-Up Set 3:

Exercise: Alternating DB Curl – 1 set x 6 reps

*Perform this warm-up set with a weight that you can move though the full range of motion easily and under control, but this time begin to up the ante a bit. the goal is to complete 6 reps with a weight that is close to your workout weight, but light enough not to prematurely fatigue your biceps. I typically move up to 50 lb dumbbells for this set.

Take a 2 minute rest

Keep in mind the goal of the warm-up sets in this bicep workout is to simply get the blood pumping through your biceps and to warm up your tendons and ligaments.  That’s the only goal of the warm-up sets. Make sure that you do not prematurely fatigue your biceps muscles during the warm up sets by either using weights that are too heavy or by shortening the rest intervals. If you do this your arm workout will suffer and as a result you will not be able to stimulate as much bicep growth as You’d otherwise be able to!

Now we’ll jump into the training sets for the bicep workout.

Exercise #1: DB Curl

After completing your bicep workout warm-up…

*Complete 2 sets x 6-8 repetitions

**Make sure to use a weight that allows you to complete the exercise with decent form, but a weight that is heavy enough that you can’t perform more than 8 reps with!

*Rest for 2 – 3 minutes between sets

Bicep Exercise #2: – DB Incline Curls

*Complete 2 sets x 6-8 repetitions

Again make sure to use a weight that allows you to complete the exercise with decent form, but a weight that’s heavy enough that you can’t possibly perform more than 8 reps with.  that’s exactly how to get your biceps to grow.  If you train with a weight that’s too light, your biceps will not grow and if you train with a weight that’s too heavy you’re eventually going to hurt yourself.

When it comes to making your arms grow, that’s really all there is to it.  Learn how to prioritize your workouts to target the bigger muscle groups on your body first, and then move on to 1 solid bicep workout each week.  As long as your muscle building diet is set up appropriately and you get enough sleep each night, you will build muscle mass quickly and your biceps will increase in size!