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A bicep curl is probably the most familiar weight training exercise around. When someone walks into a workout room and they aren’t sure what to do, they usually default to the ever-popular bicep curl. Why? It’s simple, effective, and can be done by almost anyone.

No matter what bicep curl variation you choose, the bicep curl is an excellent move for sculpting your arms and making you stronger and fitter in your upper body.

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Table of Contents

Bicep Curl Instructions

Here’s how to do bicep curls:

  1. Stand with feet hip distance apart. Start by holding the dumbbells down next to the sides of your legs with arms fully extended, a slight bend in the elbow, and palms facing forward.
  2. Bend your elbows and curl your dumbbells up to your shoulders, making sure you curl all the way to the top.
  3. Lower the weights back down, making sure to straighten your arms until they are next to your legs where you started.

Bicep curl tips: It is essential to use proper form when practicing any exercise including the bicep curl. Without perfect form, you end up using momentum or shortening your range of momentum, both of which will discount any gains you are trying to make.


Bicep Curl Variations

There are many different ways you can change up the speed and tempo of bicep curls to create more time under tension for your biceps, giving them more strength for the time you are working.

Once you’ve established the correct bicep curl form, try lifting and lowering more slowly to require your biceps to work harder. Here’s how:

  • Curl the weights up in one count, then lower them down for a count of 4.
  • For more of a challenge, curl the dumbbell up for four slow counts and lower down for four slow counts.

Bicep Curl Benefits

how to do bicep curls

There are many reasons you should incorporate bicep curls into your workouts. Here are just a few:

Strengthens Biceps

A bicep curl is a pretty straightforward exercise. It even says so in its name. Curling the dumbbell and releasing with control is a way to strengthen your bicep muscle. It’s a great isolation exercise for strengthening and shaping your arms.

Strengthens Triceps

Bicep curls target the biceps, but the triceps get some residual work as well. As you lengthen your arm down to the original position, the triceps are the helpers.

Improves Core Strength and Stability

A bicep curl is definitely an isolated arm move. However, given heavy enough weights your core is still pulled in and challenged during this move. Whether you’re standing or kneeling, you can pull your lower abs in and use them to keep you standing tall and strong throughout the move.

Easy Ways to Incorporate Bicep Curls Into Your Workouts

A bicep curl is a great exercise to practice anytime on its own or incorporate it into a full workout.

Here are a few more ideas for incorporating bicep curls into your workout routine:

Use Bicep Curls in an Upper Body Challenge

Dedicating an entire workout to your upper body is an effective way to make a change. Working all your upper body muscles can make for one intense training session!

Use this workout as your arm day challenge. Keep working at it consistently, and you’ll see a change in the shape of your upper body!

Arm Day Workout: Try each exercise below for the number of repetitions listed, with just a few seconds in between to rest.

Repeat one more time for a total of two rounds.

Use Bicep Curls in a Full-Body Strength Workout

Full-body workouts take one session and target all the muscles. Not only do you make the most of your time, but you get your heart rate up as well!

This next workout covers everything and includes bicep curls, as well as a variety of other basic strength moves you’ll love. Grab a set of dumbbells and follow along.

Full Body Strength Workout: Warm up for about 2-3 minutes, then do between 10-15 of each of the following moves:

Use Bicep Curls in an AMRAP Workout

AMRAP = “As Many Rounds As Possible.” Take three exercises, set a timer for 3 minutes, and see how many rounds of those three exercises you can finish in your 3 minutes!

10 Minute Bodyweight AMRAP Workout: The groups below have 3 exercises listed. Go through the list of 3 as many times as possible for 3 minutes. Take a 30-second break, then move to the next group until you’ve done them all.

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Here are two more workouts that incorporate the bicep curl:

If you like the bicep curl and the results you get from it, here are a few more exercises you might want to try: