Are you ready to step up your arm game? And take those biceps to the next level? You’re going to have to get serious about bicep focused exercises, like the ones I’m going to share with you.
We’re talking about the best bicep exercises for women here, and if you do these regularly, you’ll have amazing looking biceps and toned upper arms.
These are all exercises that require no gym and minimal equipment. If you have a set of dumbbells, then you’re good to go, and you can handle the best bicep exercises for women at home.
Are you concerned that doing bicep exercises will make you look muscular and hulk-like? There’s no need to be, because working your muscles doesn’t mean that you’re going to look bulky.
You can simply work at these exercises until you start to see toned arms and real definition. As long as you’re not overworking your arms and consuming a ton of protein, you shouldn’t see big, bulky muscles popping up all over your arms.
How to do Bicep Curls for Women
This is probably the bicep exercise most women will start with once they pick up the dumbbell. You start with the dumbbell held close to you with the fingers of your fist facing toward your body.
Then, extend your arm outward until it is fully extended and flat. Hold it there for just a moment, and then bring it back to the starting position.
This simple movement is very effective and one of the best bicep and tricep exercises for women.
One of the added benefits of this is that you’ll be watching your bicep muscles directly and see how they grow and flex as you exercise.
It’s a great exercise to show off to yourself the kind of progress you’ve made, and it’s also one of the more effective bicep exercises for building both biceps and triceps.
Supinated Bicep Curls – A Bicep Curl Variation
Let’s move on to a variation of the classic bicep curl. You start with dumbbells in each of your hands and your hands resting fully extended down by your sides.
From there, bring the biceps up to your chest in a smooth motion, holding them there for just a second and then dropping back slowly and smoothly to the starting position.
There are other versions of the bicep curl you can do as well, like this sitting bicep curl and reclined bicep curl. All of these have their different advantages and benefits, working various parts of the arm, or requiring more exertion than other versions.
Try out some of the different varieties and see which one works best for you, and I you may want to include a couple different versions into your regular workout routine to build up your biceps or tone your arms.
Arnold Press Exercise for Women
Another one of the best bicep exercises for women at home is the Arnold press. You can do this with dumbbells or barbells. Start by holding the weights in front of your face and then raise them up over your head with your arms fully extended.
Hold the weights there for just a moment and then lower them slowly back down. You want to take your time in doing this exercise so that you don’t hit yourself with the weights or strain your arms.
This exercise works the shoulder and back muscles as well as your biceps, so it’s a great upper body workout. I definitely recommend starting with smaller weights and then working your way up to bigger ones.
Because you’re putting the weight over your head, there’s a risk of falling weights and damage, particularly if you’re overexerting yourself.
Be careful about how long you do this exercise for as well, giving yourself plenty of rest or breaks between each set so that you don’t make a mistake. Once your hands become sweaty, you should stop doing this exercise and switch to something else.
There are some variations of the Arnold press you can do, like putting your arms out at different angles, increasing the intensity, or changing the position of your fists.
Usually, the fingers of your fists will be pointing towards your body, but you can point them away from you or point them towards each other for some different modifications on this exercise.
The overhead press is a variation of this, where your hands will face away from your body and your arms will be in position slightly to the side of your body as well.
This works your muscles in a slightly different way than the Arnold press, with that extra distance between your shoulders and arms creating a tension on your muscles that’s a little bit different.
Hammer Bicep Curls For Women
One of the best free weight bicep exercises for women is the hammer bicep curl. It’s similar to a lot of the exercises we’ve covered already, but different enough that can be considered its own exercise.
You start by standing with a dumbbell in each of your hands and make sure that your elbows or wrists stay next to your side. From the starting position, raise the weights until they’re up to the level of your shoulders.
From there, lower them back slowly to the starting position in a way that is similar to how you would hit a nail with a hammer. You’re not doing it as fast as you would swing a hammer, but you’re using the same pose with your hands and arms.
This is a single rep, and you can do 10 to 15 of these reps for a set, take a short break, and then do another set. With any of these bicep exercises, you want to try to kick in a few sets each time you do them and try to do a few sets several times a week.
Probably two to three times a week is sufficient to see great results in its short amount of time.
Tips for Doing Bicep Exercises
You want to be careful about overworking any muscle, as you can make it difficult to do a regular workout session. That’s why it’s best to keep targeted exercises like these down to just a couple times a week.
These are also some of the best bicep exercises for women over 50, as you can take them at your own pace and use weights that are not too challenging for you.
Remember to start with something small and manageable when it comes to weights and then work your way up from there as you feel your confidence and ability growing.
Keep your pace slower at first and be careful of keeping a fast pace throughout your workout session. You can end up overtiring or straining your muscles.
The faster you go with the exercises, the higher your risk of injury. You especially want to be careful about going too fast while you’re using weights, as any accident puts you at higher risk for injury.
Also be sure to warm up before doing any bicep exercises. If you don’t, you can strain or pull your muscles and you may deal with unnecessary muscle soreness after your workouts.
Taking time to stretch helps reduce soreness and decrease recovery time. That means you can get back to doing your exercises more easily the next day.
