Written by Kyle Hunt | BEXSci.
Fact checked by Kirsten Yovino, CPT Brookbush Institute
FACT CHECKED
Test Learn More
Nothing beats showing off a nice pair of arms in a tank top or sleeveless dress.
Contrary to popular opinion, biceps workouts are not just for guys. Women can and should pump up their guns, too. In fact, having muscular biceps is the ultimate showcase of dedication, particularly since very few women are blessed with built arms naturally.
It takes hard work, dedication, and consistency to make progress. So, if you are looking for a new biceps workout, you've come to the right place.
And it doesn't matter if you are a weight room veteran or are just getting started. The workouts in this article will provide you with exactly what you need to achieve bicep-building success.
Table of Contents:
- Biceps Muscles Anatomy & Functions
- Why Women Should Train Their Biceps
- What Makes a Good Bicep Workout For Women?
- Best Bicep Workouts For Women
- Programming Tips & How To Use This Biceps Workout
- Best Bicep Exercises For Women
- Best Diet Practices For Women's Bicep Workouts
- Additional Tips to Help Women Tone Their Upper Arms
Biceps Muscles Anatomy & Functions
If you ask the average person where their bicep muscles are located, chances are they will point to their upper arm, possibly even flexing as they do so. This is because the biceps are one of the most well-known muscles in the body.
The biceps sit on the front side of the upper arm between the shoulder joint and elbow. The muscle belly is split up into two sections called "heads." There is a short and long head, each with unique attachment points.
The short head is located on the inner part of the upper arm, and the long head is on the outer section of the upper arm.
The biceps flex the elbow and rotate the forearm, also called supination, like what we see during a traditional curling motion. In addition, the biceps also stabilize the shoulders during pressing movements and carrying heavy loads.
The forgotten muscle of the upper arm is the brachialis. It lies underneath the biceps. The brachialis is actually the strongest forearm flexor, and although it doesn't stick out like the biceps, growing the brachialis can make your arms appear more muscular.
The brachialis gets trained on all curing movements, but using a neutral or reverse grip, as with hammer and reverse curls, gives it extra attention.
For those interested, we discuss the different grips and how they hit your arm muscles differently in more detail in our article comparing the hammer curl vs. bicep curl.
Why Women Should Train Their Biceps
Although women tend to shy away from training their biceps for fear of them “getting too big,” that really shouldn't be a concern. The biceps will not get too big by accident, and it certainly will not happen overnight.
In reality, training your biceps will result in them looking toned and lean. In fact, many people think muscular and defined biceps look great on women.
But the only way to get that look is by training your biceps.
Another reason why women should train their biceps is for strength and function. The biceps play a role in many different movements.
For example, whenever you pick up your kid, pull open a heavy door, or carry groceries. Having muscular biceps makes these typical daily activities more manageable.
Lastly, having jacked biceps is a significant confidence boost. Knowing you can hold your own curling next to the guys at the gym is a great feeling.
What Makes a Good Biceps Workout For Women?
Multiple factors go into a good biceps workout. Here are a few for you to know.
1. Use a Wide Range of Loads:
Research shows you can build muscle using low and high reps1. So, spend time with heavy and lighter weights to get the most out of your biceps workouts. The low reps help build strength, while the higher reps improve muscular endurance.
Both qualities are important when determining what makes a good bicep workout for women.
However, since both high and low reps build muscle about the same, you can prioritize the rep range you enjoy the most. Ultimately, making your training enjoyable is the best way to stick to your program over the long term, and consistency is key for building muscle.
2. Incorporate Multiple Grips and Exercises:
On the surface, most biceps exercises look the same. Everything is a curl. However, there are a few details that differentiate the movements.
Grip width is one way to change the stimulus of the exercise. Use a wide grip (beyond shoulder width) while performing some moves; on others, use a narrow grip (closer than shoulder width).
You can also switch up your grips, rotating from palms facing forward to palms facing down. In addition, palms facing each other, like during a hammer curl, offer an entirely new training stimulus.
Another difference between movements is elbow position. Although there is no conclusive scientific evidence to support this, many lifters and coaches find that performing curls with their elbows behind their torso, like during the incline curl, more effectively activates the long head of the biceps.
Either way, the incline dumbbell curl emphasizes the position where the biceps are stretched, which is highly effective.
It makes sense to perform exercises with your elbows at your sides (dumbbell curl), elbows in front of your torso (preacher curl), and elbows behind your torso (incline curl) to vary your movement patterns.
3. Use a Full Range of Motion:
One of the areas where people fall short with biceps training is with range of motion. It's common for lifters to cut the rep short, especially at the bottom, where the lift is the most difficult. However, that is a big mistake.
New research on biceps training found the initial range of motion, from the bottom in a fully stretched position up to the midpoint, resulted in the most significant muscle hypertrophy2.
We recommend always using a full range of motion when possible. On curls, it is critical to go down until your arms are fully extended, especially on preacher curls.
4. Hit Your Muscles Twice Weekly:
The biceps are small muscles that rarely receive our full attention during training. Grouping the biceps with other muscles makes it hard to get enough training volume in one session to make significant progress.
The way around this is to train the biceps more than one time per week. I have found training the biceps twice per week is the sweet spot.
If you're looking for a great way to ensure you can target all of your muscle groups twice weekly, check out our full body workout plan for women!
The Best Bicep Workouts For Women
As mentioned, the biceps are small muscles. It's not efficient or practical to train them by themselves. For this reason, it's best to include the biceps as part of a complete upper-body workout or a pull workout.
These workouts can be done in the same week with a few days of rest in between. Your upper body will be taken care of with these routines, so then you'll need to pair it with a good leg workout, which you should also do twice per week.
Workout #1: Biceps-Focused Upper Body Workout
|
Exercise |
Sets |
Reps |
|
DB Hammer Curl |
3 |
8-12 |
|
Preacher Curl |
2-3 |
8-10 |
|
DB Curl |
3 |
10-15 |
|
Seated DB Shoulder Press |
3 |
6-8 |
|
Chest Supported Row |
3 |
8-10 |
|
Push-Ups |
3 |
To Failure |
|
Cable Triceps Pressdown |
3 |
10-15 |
Workout #2: Biceps-Focused Pull Workout
|
Exercise |
Sets |
Reps |
|
Assisted Chin-Ups |
3 |
6-8 |
|
DB Row |
3 |
8-10 |
|
Wide Grip Lat Pulldown |
3 |
8-10 |
|
DB Incline Curl |
3 |
8-10 |
|
Low Pulley Cable Curl |
3 |
10-15 |
|
Cable Facepull |
3 |
10-15 |
Programming Tips & How To Use This Biceps Workout
A quality training program goes beyond just exercises, sets, and reps. Optimizing your training requires taking things further. Here are a few tips to help maximize progress along your journey.
Tip #1: Make Your Training Progressive
Workouts must be progressive to be effective when training for muscle growth. The gradual increase of stress placed upon the muscle is called progressive overload, and there are many ways to build progressive overload into your training plan.
Here are three ways to consider:
- Increase the amount of weight lifted: The easiest way to build progressive overload into your program is by adding weight to the movement over time while maintaining the same reps and sets.
- Increase the repetitions performed: Another option for progressive overload is adding repetitions over time while keeping the same weight and sets.
- Increase the number of sets: Lastly, you can add sets to the exercises over time while maintaining weight and reps.
If you feel as though your training has stalled, check out our guide to pre-workout for women. Starting a pre-workout regimen may give you an added boost to hit your workouts even harder!
Tip #2: Keep Track of Your Progress
Going hand in hand with the first tip, keep a notebook to track your weights and the sets and reps performed.
Not only is this a great way to stay organized, but it also gives you concrete numbers to beat. It is easier to make your training progressive when you know what you did in your previous workouts.
Tip #3: Change it Up
After a few months of consistent training, you can change the exercises to facilitate more progress and keep things interesting.
Here are some other biceps exercises you can do in place of the ones in the program:
- Barbell curls
- Cable curls
- Machine curls
- Spider curls
- Concentration curls
- Zottman curls
- Reverse curls
That said, don’t be in a rush to change the exercises. If you change it up too much, it makes it hard to progress on the movements.
Over time, you will find the moves you like the most and deliver the most progress. Also, if an exercise doesn't feel right or causes pain, you can always switch it out for something else.
6 Best Bicep Exercises For Women
Here are six of the best biceps exercises for women. Many of my clients have had great success with these movements over the years, and I'm confident you will too.
1. Dumbbell Bicep Curl:
Walk into any gym, and you will likely see someone performing biceps curls. It's a popular exercise and one of the best biceps builders you can do. Although the dumbbell curl is a simple movement, it is often done incorrectly.
The key is using a full range of motion, keeping your elbows locked to your sides, and limiting momentum. You can curl both weights at once, or you can make this a unilateral move, curling with your left arm followed by your right arm (or vice versa).
How to do Supinated Bicep Curls:
- Start by standing with your feet shoulder width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand. Position your hands so that your palms are facing in toward the body.
- Slowly curl the dumbbell in your right hand by bending at the elbow and lifting it toward your shoulder. As you curl the weight up, rotate your wrist, so your palm faces up at the top of the rep. Avoid bending at the waist or leaning back when curling the weight.
- Once you lift the dumbbell as far as possible (without allowing the elbow to come forward), lower it back to the starting position.
- After you complete the rep on the right side, complete a rep on the left side. Continue alternating back and forth for the desired number of repetitions. You can also lift both weights simultaneously, performing the same number of sets and reps.
2. Dumbbell Hammer Curl:
The dumbbell hammer curl is one of the best all-around biceps exercises you can do. The neutral grip, which emphasizes the brachialis, is unique to the hammer curl, a muscle between the biceps and triceps.
The neutral grip includes some forearm as well. Improving forearm and grip strength is one of the most fundamental strengths our day-to-day lives require.
How to do the Dumbbell Hammer Curl:
- Stand holding two dumbbells using a neutral grip (palms facing the body). Position the dumbbells along your thighs with your arms fully extended.
- Keep your feet hip width to shoulder width, depending on what is comfortable. This is the starting position.
- Keeping the dumbbells in a neutral grip, curl them toward your shoulders. Pay attention to your elbow position. Your elbows should remain steady at your side throughout the entire rep. Avoid letting them drift forward during the movement.
- Once executed, lower the weights until your elbows are fully extended.
3. EZ Bar Curl:
When you think of curls, you probably think of EZ Bar Curls. The EZ Curl variation's benefit is that it puts your wrists in a safe position to perform the movement.
While regular barbell curls are great, it forces your wrist into an unnatural position, which can cause wrist pain. The angled grip of the EZ Bar is perfect for overloading the biceps safely and effectively.
How to do the EZ Bar Curl:
- Stand grasping an EZ Curl Bar with a closed, underhand grip. Keep your feet shoulder width. Your grip should also be shoulder-width, so the arms touch the sides of your torso. Your arms are fully extended in the starting position.
- Curl the bar until it is near the front of the shoulders. Be mindful of the elbow position. Don't let the elbows drift forward during the movement.
- Once the bar reaches the shoulders, slowly lower the bar back to the starting position.
4. Preacher Curl (Dumbbells or EZ Bar):
The preacher curl variation provides a unique angle to work the biceps in a way that makes cheating almost impossible. The main issue with regular curls is it easy to cheat the movement, even if you don't realize it.
You may not be able to lift as much weight on a preacher curl, but it keeps the focus on the biceps better than any other exercise. The EZ Bar may feel better on your wrists, but if you don't notice a difference, dumbbells work well here too.
How to do the Preacher Curl:
- Start by standing or sitting on the stool connected to the preacher bench with the back of your arms resting on the support.
- Position yourself so the pad fits snugly under your armpits. Grasp the bar or dumbbells with an underhand grip. This is the starting position.
- To start the movement, curl the weight toward your head.
- Once the bar or dumbbells get a couple of inches from the shoulder, slowly lower the weight back to the starting position.
5. Dumbbell Incline Curl:
The dumbbell incline curl is an old-school biceps exercise that is highly effective. It's easy to do, too. The unique benefit of this exercise is that your arms and elbows are behind your torso, a position that isn't possible with many biceps moves.
How to do the Dumbbell Incline Curl:
- Set up an adjustable incline bench between 45 and 65 degrees (slightly higher than an incline bench press) and sit down, with knees bent.
- You want to lean against the pad, letting your arms hang down at your sides, holding two dumbbells.
- While keeping your elbows back, curl the dumbbells up toward your shoulders.
- Lower the dumbbells in a controlled fashion until your arms are fully extended.
6. Chin-Up:
Most biceps exercises are simply curling variations. However, one of the most underrated biceps exercises is a chin-up. The chin-up is a dual-threat exercise, meaning it's a great back and biceps movement. In fact, according to research, the chin-up is as effective at targeting the lats as a regular pull-up3.
The key is hand positioning. Similarly to any curl variation, a supinated (underhand) grip on a chin-up is more effective at targeting the biceps than a pronated (overhand) grip.
The main disadvantage of chin-ups is how difficult they are. But don't let that stop you. Assisted chin-ups are just as effective. Feel free to use a resistance band or a machine to help you perform the movement.
How to do the Chin-Up:
- Grab the pull-up bar above you with an underhand (palms facing toward you) grip.
- From a dead hang, pull yourself toward the bar. The goal is to get your chin above the bar.
- Lower your body back down to the starting position in a slow and controlled motion. Your arms should come down to a full extension before starting another rep.
Looking for more great bicep moves? Switch things up with these 7 Bicep Cable Exercises!
Best Diet Practices For Women's Bicep Workouts
Achieving nicely toned arms requires muscle mass and a lean physique. Unfortunately, exercise alone is not enough. To build excellent pipes, you need a good diet as well.
1) It's All About Calorie Intake:
Body composition changes are primarily determined by calorie intake. Have you heard the expression, calories in versus calories out? Well, that sums up what I am talking about.
For women to build muscle, you need a surplus of calories. Not a huge amount, but enough calories to fuel workouts and provide the building blocks for your body to create new tissue. When the goal is muscle building, consume 15-20% more calories than your body needs to maintain weight.
On the other hand, when the goal is fat loss, you need to eat fewer calories than your body needs. A calorie deficit between 300-500 calories per day is enough to facilitate weight loss.
2) Eat Enough Protein:
Once your calorie intake is figured out, the next step is optimizing protein intake. The good news is protein intake is pretty straightforward.
When determining how much protein to build muscle, aim for .8-1g of protein per pound of body weight, spread over 3-5 daily meals.
3) Optimize Your Pre-Workout Meal:
Last but not least is your pre-workout meal. What you eat before your workouts directly impacts how you feel and perform. Consume a pre-workout meal 30 to 90 minutes before your workout.
The pre-workout meal should have a good source of protein and carbohydrates. A little fat is alright, but too much fat pre-workout slows digestion, and we don't want much digesting during training.
The same goes for fiber. An example of a good pre-workout meal is a scoop of protein powder mixed with water or almond milk and a banana. Find a delicious protein powder you enjoy, as it'll play an important role in hitting your protein goals each day.
3 Additional Tips to Help Women Tone Their Upper Arms
Here are a few more tips to help you before you go!
1. Use Proper Technique.
Using quality technique is critical to get the most out of your biceps workouts. It's not just about moving the weight from point A to point B.
Control the weight, avoid using momentum, and use a full range of motion. The number one thing preventing progress on biceps exercise is poor technique.
2. Focus on Getting Stronger.
The best way to tone your arms is to get stronger. There are many ways to do this. One way is by lifting heavier weights, but you can also aim to do more reps with the same weight. Both options are forms of getting stronger.
Always strive to do more each time you are in the gym.
3. Don’t Worry About Your Arms Getting Too Big.
One thing that holds many women back from achieving toned arms is the fear of them getting too big and bulky. It is a concern I have heard from many of my women clients. I will tell you the same thing I tell them.
The truth is muscle growth is hard. You must combine hard training, a surplus of calories, and years of consistency for your arms to get bulky.
Also, muscle growth doesn't happen overnight. If your arms start to get too big for your liking, you will notice long before you wake up one morning looking like Arnold.
Remember, toned arms are muscular arms.
FAQs
Any lingering bicep training questions? You'll find your answers here!
How do women get nice biceps?
The key to having toned biceps is lifting weights. A toned bicep is a lean and muscular arm. To achieve this, lift weights, eat healthily, and, most importantly, do those things consistently. Women get nice biceps by building muscle. It is a misconception that adding biceps muscles will make a women's arms bulky.
What 3 bicep exercises do you need?
There are many excellent biceps exercises, but the EZ Bar Curl, Preacher Curl, and Incline Dumbbell Bicep Curls are three of the best.
How can women build biceps at home?
The best way for women to build biceps at home is to purchase a set of regular or adjustable dumbbells. With a pair of dumbbells, you can perform several different biceps exercises, including dumbbell curls, hammer curls, seated curls, concentration curls, and Zottman curls.
If your goal is to build muscle, start by picking a weekly workout routine. To determine which will work well for you, check out our article on the Best Workout Splits For Women!
Prepare to maximize your gains with our exclusive 12-week hypertrophy training program. Choose between a 4 or 5 day training split and gain 2-12 pounds of muscle over 90 days...
References:
- Carvalho L, Junior RM, Barreira J, Schoenfeld BJ, Orazem J, Barroso R. Muscle hypertrophy and strength gains after resistance training with different volume-matched loads: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2022 Apr;47(4):357-368. doi: 10.1139/apnm-2021-0515. Epub 2022 Jan 11. PMID: 35015560.
- Pedrosa GF, Simões MG, Figueiredo MOC, Lacerda LT, Schoenfeld BJ, Lima FV, Chagas MH, Diniz RCR. Training in the Initial Range of Motion Promotes Greater Muscle Adaptations Than at Final in the Arm Curl. Sports (Basel). 2023 Feb 6;11(2):39. doi: 10.3390/sports11020039. PMID: 36828324; PMCID: PMC9960616.
- Youdas, James W, et al. "Surface Electromyographic Activation Patterns and Elbow Joint Motion during a Pull-Up, Chin-Up, or Perfect-PullupTM Rotational Exercise." Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, vol. 24, no. 12, Dec. 2010, pp. 3404–3414, 10.1519/jsc.0b013e3181f1598c.
Kyle Hunt
Author