What Exercise Move Should I Use To Make My Biceps Bigger?

The biceps are primarily responsible for flexing your elbow joint. You can perform weighted chinups to increase the size of your biceps. According to June 2001, electromyography data published by strength and conditioning specialist Bret Contreras, chinups produced the most biceps activation among 45 different exercises that flex your biceps against resistance. The National Federation of Personal Trainers recommends exhausting your biceps within four to six repetitions to maximize muscle growth.

Set Up

Grasp a pull up bar over head with the palms of your hands facing your torso. The distance between your hands should be less than the distance used for a standard chinup and less than the width of your shoulders. Let your body hang straight down beneath the bar with your elbows fully extended. Straighten your torso as much as possible by sticking out your chest and maintaining curvature in your lower back. Straightening your torso as much as you can minimizes the effort required by your back muscles and maximizes biceps muscle stimulation.

Execution

Execute each repetition by flexing your elbows and pulling your torso up until your head is approximately level with the bar. Concentrate on using your biceps while performing the movement, and keep your elbows close to sides of your body. Keep your upper torso stationary throughout the movement. Squeeze your biceps at the top of the contraction for a count of one, then slowly lower your body back down until your arms are fully extended. Exhale as you pull your torso up, and inhale as you lower your body back down.

Slow Technique

Extending each chin up repetition can help make your biceps bigger by increasing the intensity of the exercise move. A June 2009 T-Nation article recommends performing chinups that take one minute to complete. Extend the pulling phase and lowering phase across 30 seconds each. You may also move up and down in increments of a couple inches, and hold each position for several seconds. In his bodybuilding.com article, fitness trainer Derek Charlebois recommends extending the lowering portion of each chinup.

Considerations

You may want to use a pullup assist machine if you do not have enough arm strength or you are new to the exercise move. A spotter can also help by holding your legs and pushing you up for each repetition. Increase the resistance by grasping dumbbells between your ankles or wearing either ankle weights or a weighted dip belt to exhaust your biceps within your target repetition range. Dip belts are worn around the waist and allow you to add weight by attaching weight plates. Although chinups produce may maximize biceps activation, alternate this exercise move with other elbow flexion exercises, such as bar curls. Changing up your exercises stimulates your biceps and may produce even greater size gains.