10 Minute At Home Biceps Workout
Looking for a 10-minute at home biceps workout? While looking to increase fitness and health, biceps workout training may not be at the top of your list. For most fitness goers, more time is focused on cardiovascular fitness, squats, deadlifts, and other strength training lifts.
People who are active can benefit from training their biceps due to their ability to assist in movements like deadlifts, carries, and pulling. Stronger biceps will enable greater amounts of force to be used by increasing grip strength and upper body strength. Additionally, biceps exercises will help reduce strain and stress placed upon the connective tissues of your elbows during lifts like deadlifts. With that said, adding some biceps curls into an everyday program can be beneficial to your overall health.
Here are five biceps workouts that can be completed at home in just 10 minutes.
Bicep Curls Exercises
Targets: upper and lower arm
Bicep curls exercises are a widely known lift that work the upper arm and lower arm. Curls can be done with barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, or cable machines.
Bicep curls exercises work the muscles at the front of the upper arm and the muscles of the lower arm. You use these muscles daily, anytime you pick something up. By doing bicep curls, you build strength and learn to use your arm muscles correctly.
How To Do Bicep Curls:
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand at the sides with palms facing in toward the side of the thigh and arms straight down.
- Position the feet comfortably about shoulder-width apart. Brace your core muscles!
- Lift one dumbbell toward the shoulder, rotating the arm as it moves up so that the palm with the dumbbell is now facing upward and the elbow is pointing to the ground with the forearm almost vertical. Keep the elbow close to the body.
- Lower to the side position and perform the same movement with the other arm.
- Continue to alternate until set is complete.
Complete 3 Sets of 10 Reps for This Exercise
Hammer Curls Exercises
Targets: upper and lower arm
The Hammer Curl is a variation of the bicep curl that targets additional muscles besides the upper and lower parts of the arm, and can provide wrist stability and improved grip strength. While this exercise is almost always performed with a dumbbell, it can also be performed with cables or bands. This makes it a super easy exercise to be completed at home!
The biceps are an elbow flexor, meaning that it is responsible for the bending movement of the elbow joint and it also helps to rotate the forearm. In everyday movements, strong biceps help to lift and carry objects. These muscles also help with movements like closing a door or pulling objects.
How To Do Hammer Curls: Get into a plank position. Your hands should be shoulder-width apart, your back should be flat and your core should be engaged.
- Place one dumbbell in each hand. Rotate the hands so that the palms face the thighs. By doing so, you’ll notice that the thumbs face forward.
- Keeping the elbows in a fixed position, bend at the elbow so the lower arms lift up and toward the shoulders. Keep the shoulders relaxed as you work. Keep your grip firms and wrists in line with the forearm.
- At the top of the movement, your thumbs should be close to the shoulders with your palms facing each other.
- Return to starting position.
Complete 3 sets of 10 reps for this exercise.
Push Ups Exercises
Targets: arms, core, chest, shoulders, lower back
Push ups exercises are an excellent exercise for building upper body strength. Not only does it work your arms, it also works your chest and shoulder muscles, and with proper form it can strengthen your lower back and core. This biceps workout is easy to perfect and can be done virtually anywhere, as no equipment is needed. Push ups exercises are a fast and effective way to gain upper body strength. If you do push ups daily then you will certainly notice gains in your upper body.
How To Do Push Ups:
- Start kneeling on an exercise mat or the floor and bring your feet together behind you. Bend forward to be in a high plank,(the top of a push up position). Your palms should be flat, hands shoulder-width apart with fingers facing forward. Your back should be flat and your shoulders should be positioned slightly over your hands.
- Slowly lower your body to the floor. Maintain a tight torso and keep your head in line with your spine. Make sure your hips don’t hike upward and your back stays flat!
- Continue to lower yourself until your chest or chin touch the ground.
- Press upward with your arms. Continue pressing until your arms are fully extended at your elbows and you’re back in the plank, at the top of the push up position.
- Repeat!
Complete 3 sets of 10 reps for this exercise.
Side Curls Exercises
Targets: upper arm, lower arm, shoulders
Side curls exercises are another variation of the typical bicep curl. You still have your elbows glued to your side, however instead of your arms coming straight up towards your body, they are on both sides of your body.
How To Do Leg Lifts:
- Stand holding two dumbbells by your sides with your forearms parallel to the floor and palms facing up.
- Keeping one arm still, extend the other arm down down to your thigh before curling all the way up.
- Return to that halfway hold position and repeat with the other arm.
Complete 3 sets of 10 reps for this exercise.
Tricep Dips Exercises
Targets: triceps, shoulders, core
Tricep dips exercises engage the triceps muscles, but it also works the shoulders and requires strength from the core, grip and arm muscles to complete the exercise. Dips can be done on a bar or a bench, you will receive the same benefits no matter which method you choose!
How To Do Tricep Dips Exercises:
- Begin sitting on the floor with heels on the ground and knees bent. Bring your palms behind your hips with your fingertips facing down, keeping the elbows bent.
- Press the heels of your feet and hands into the surface as you raise your hips off the floor.
- Bend your elbows to your lower body but don’t let your butt touch the floor.
- Straighten your arms and push yourself back up. That’s one rep!
Complete 3 sets of 10 reps for this exercise.
Benefits of Biceps Exercises
Biceps exercises help you in a number of ways. For example, curls work your brachialis and brachioradialis biceps muscles. Any time you pick up an item, you use these two muscles in your arm. When you do bicep curls, you are investing in building a stronger upper arm. Below are additional benefits of biceps exercises:
- Muscle-toning benefits: Want to tone your arms? Working your biceps will significantly change the appearance of your arms and make them look more tight and defined.
- Strengthening obscure muscles: Biceps, are of course, the primary muscles that are worked by bicep curls. However, when you do bicep curls, you are also simultaneously strengthening other, more obscure muscles in your arm.
- Highly functional: Biceps workouts are highly functional. For example, when you pick up objects or pull your lawn mower starter, doing bicep curls helps to make these daily tasks easier.
- Efficient: Have limited time to train? Doing biceps exercises is an efficient choice, since not only will they work your biceps and forearms, but they also help to train your shoulders and back muscles.
Having strength in your biceps and upper body is essential to everyday function. If you aren’t incorporating biceps exercises into your workout routine, start with these five exercises that can be completed at home in just 10 minutes! Browse our XF classes here.