Undoubtedly, big and strong biceps are one of the most popular muscle groups among fitness enthusiasts. Are you struggling to develop impressive biceps?
If so, have no fear! You’ve come to the right place.
Throughout this article, we will discuss a set of the best bicep isolation exercises that can assist in isolating your biceps while simultaneously promoting muscle growth.
In other words, not only will these exercises help enhance the appearance of your biceps but they’ll also increase the biceps peak, strength, and definition.
So, let’s dive in!
The Importance of Bicep Isolation Exercises
To enhance your bicep’s size and strength it is important to have a clear understanding about why specific best-isolation exercises are so effective.
The primary aim of bicep isolation exercises is to focus entirely on the biceps and make sure they are being worked to their absolute limit.
While compound exercises require the use of several muscle groups simultaneously they may not provide the same amount of focus on activating the biceps as you get with isolated movements.
By including these exercises for your biceps into your regular fitness regimen you will be able to effectively target this area and witness significant muscle growth over time.
Benefits of Bicep Isolated Workouts
here are some more benefits of bicep isolation that you can notice over time:
- Improved flexibility and range of motion: Isolating the bicep to focus on achieving a complete range of motion can improve flexibility and mobility.
- Better mind-muscle connection: Focusing on a single muscle group at a time can improve your mind-muscle connection, leading to more efficient workouts.
- Enhanced your performance in other exercises: Having strong biceps can enhance your performance in other upper body exercises, including bench presses and pull-ups.
- Reduced risk of shoulder injuries: To decrease the possibility of getting injured when doing upper body exercise, you can strengthen your biceps and stabilize your shoulder joint.
9 Top Bicep Isolation Exercises: Level Up Your Arm Gains
Numerous possibilities exist for working out and targeting the biceps in isolation, so want a Quick Workout for Your Arms? Here are the Best Bicep Isolation movements That You Can Try Today.
1. Preacher Curl
Isolating the biceps through a workout can be achieved with an effective exercise such as barbell or dumbbell preacher curls, and the equipment you’ll need for this exercise is a preacher curl bench.
How to perform:
Performing a preacher curl goes like this
- Adjusting the height of the preacher curl bench will enable you to comfortably rest your armpits on its top pad.
- Curl with either a barbell or dumbbell while maintaining steady contact between your upper arms and the pad.
- Squeeze or tense up your bicep muscles at the end of a curl rep and then carefully descend with control until returning to starting position.
2. Concentration Curls
In order to work out just one arm (bicep) at a time, many people like to do the concentration curl with a dumbbell, also a few other gym-goers know about the variation of this exercise that applies constant tension on your biceps through the whole range of motion which is the concentration curl using a cable machine.
How to perform:
If you want to perform the concentration curl correctly follow these steps:
- Hold a dumbbell using just one hand while seated comfortably on top of the bench with both of your feet flat.
- Lean ahead and support your elbow on the inner part of your thigh with an extended downward-facing arm.
- Lift the weight up gradually towards your shoulder without moving your upper arm.
- When you have reached peak curl, slow down lowering weights while engaging your bicep muscles.
3. Drag Curl
Dragging a barbell up your body with a drag curl exercise can help isolate and activate your biceps better while also allowing for a greater range of motion.
Here is a tip for you, if you want a greater emphasis on your biceps or you are a beginner, you can try this exercise using a Smith machine.
How to perform:
The way to execute this exercise is by following these 3 steps:
- Grip a barbell from underneath and position your feet at a distance of one shoulder width.
- Your back should remain straight and shoulders should be relaxed as you bring the barbell close to your chest by dragging it upwards along with keeping elbows closer to sides.
- Slowly drop the barbell and keep on repeating until you’ve reached your targeted reps.
4. Spider Curl
An isolated exercise like spider curls, also known as the prone incline bicep curl, can really help with improving overall bicep strength and development.
How to perform:
So if you follow these instructions you should be able to perform it correctly:
- While keeping your chest fixed to the inclined bench’s pad hold a barbell in an underhand grip with both hands resting on it.
- Bring the barbell towards your chest by tightly hugging your elbows to the sides.
- Slowly lower the barbell while repeating your desired reps.
5. Single Arm Dumbbell Preacher Curls
Just like the Bar version, using dumbbells to do a preacher curl can be very effective for isolating your biceps, especially by doing it one arm at a time.
How to perform:
- Position yourself at a preacher bench and let an arm hold onto weights while resting upon its pad.
- Curl up a dumbbell to reach your height of chin while maintaining a parallel positioning of an upper arm with respect to the bench.
- Take a brief pause before lowering the weight slowly back into place with the complete extension of the arms.
6. Cable Bicep Curls
By doing cable bicep curls, you can effectively isolate your biceps. A cable machine is necessary to perform this workout.
And if you want to target different bicep angles, you can incorporate other cable variations such as cable curl behind your back, reverse cable curl, cable hammer curl, lying cable curl, and many others.
How to perform:
- Connect a straight bar to the cable machine and adjust the weight.
- Keep your arms extended forward and stand facing the machine, ensuring that your feet are spaced shoulder-width apart.
- Curl the bar towards your chest slowly while keeping your elbows tucked in at your sides.
- At the highest point of the curl, squeeze your biceps. Return the weight slowly to the starting position.
7. Incline Dumbbell Curl
To target your biceps from a different perspective, try doing the incline variation of the dumbbell curl instead of the standard one.
How to perform:
- Rest on an incline bench grasping a dumbbell in each hand.
- Curl the dumbbells upwards towards your shoulders, while ensuring that you keep both of your palms facing upwards and elbows close to the sides.
- Bring down the weights slowly and repeat for your preferred number of reps.
8. Single-Arm Cable Curl
The bicep isolation exercise of choice might be the single-arm cable curl. In addition, it can aid in achieving symmetry between the arms on both sides.
How to perform:
- hold a D-handle attachment with one hand while facing the cable machine.
- Curl the cable up towards your chest with your shoulder relaxed and your elbow held close to your side.
- Slowly decrease the cable and do the necessary reps before switching to your other arm
9. Dumbbell Bicep Curls
A classic workout, the dumbbell bicep curl, targets primarily the biceps. It is a common bicep exercise for beginners.
How to perform:
- Maintain a shoulder-width stance and hold a dumbbell in either hand.
- Starting with arms straight down by your sides, bring the dumbbells upwards towards your shoulders with a slow curl.
- Stop for a moment and then move the dumbbells back down to their starting point slowly.
In Conclusion:
Making the Best Bicep Isolation Exercises a part of your regular workout routine is essential if you aim to strengthen and define your biceps.
Faster attainment of your desired results can be possible by targeting the bicep muscles with these exercises.
You shall notice physical consequences. Furthermore, you can decrease the hazards of getting wounded while improving overall arm strength and stability.
Therefore, prepare yourself to exhibit your nicely toned arms and commence integrating these workouts into your exercise regimen today.
References and Sources:
- Martijn J.A. Malessy, Willem Pondaag,
Chapter 206 – Nerve-Grafting Procedures for Birth-Related Peripheral Nerve Injuries,
Editor(s): Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa,
Schmidek and Sweet Operative Neurosurgical Techniques (Sixth Edition),
W.B. Saunders,
2012,
Pages 2349-2362,
ISBN 9781416068396,
https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-1-4160-6839-6.10206-0.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9781416068396102060) - The 10 Highest Rated Biceps Exercises For Arms Workouts By “Matt Biss” From Bodybuilding.com
https://www.bodybuilding.com/content/bodybuildingcoms-10-highest-rated-biceps-exercises.html - Krzysztofik, Wilk, Wojdała, & Gołaś. (2019). Maximizing Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review of Advanced Resistance Training Techniques and Methods. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(24), 4897. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16244897
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