The Top 5 Peak-Building Bicep Exercises

We all possess certain body parts and muscle groups we desire to improve; however, negative remarks will not help us achieve this. To successfully convert a weakness into a strength, a strategic and targeted approach tailored to mold the desired muscle is necessary. This holds especially true for developing a peak in the biceps.

To build a defined bicep peak, it is necessary to target each head individually. The long head of the biceps is visible when an individual flexes their arm, forming the peak. This can be accomplished through various exercises and hand position modifications, as well as post-failure intensity-boosting techniques to ensure muscle growth.

If you were not born with large, muscular arms, it is time to incorporate these five strategies into your routine to build peak muscle mass. Incorporate as many of these strategies as possible into your current fitness regimen.

The Top 5 Peak-Building Bicep Exercises 

The included bicep peak workout is designed to help you build larger arms promptly.

The long head of the bicep mainly defines your bicep peak. This is located on the outer portion of your arm. The short head, on the other hand, is closer to the center of your body.

This article will teach you about the best exercises to target that long head. These will help you quickly develop bigger, rounder, and taller bicep peaks.

Do keep in mind that your bicep isn’t only responsible for elbow flexion. It also provides almost 50% of the strength required to turn your hand over.

Specifically, the long head is very active when turning your pinky towards the ceiling. So remember to do that during your reps to help develop those peaks even more.

1. Bayesian curl

Let’s start with an exercise you may have never done before – the Bayesian curl. You’ll need access to a cross-cable machine to perform this excercise.

Menno Henselmans originally popularized this exercise. We can tweak it to put more tension on the long head and develop nicer peaks.

First, lower a pulley to the bottom of a cable cross machine.

Step 1

Grab a cable in your hand with your palm facing up. Take a few steps forward so your arm is pulled behind your body.

This takes the slack out of the long head, which adds tension to that portion.

Step 2

From that starting position, curl the cable up toward your chest while doing your best to keep your elbow locked in one place behind your body.

This will prevent your hands from coming up any higher than around your lower chest, which is what we want.

Step 3

While still keeping your elbow back, slowly lower the cables back down to the starting position.

Repeat for reps making sure to hit each side for each set.

2. Barbell drag curl

The significant difference between regular barbell curls and drag curls is that your elbows end up further behind the body.

As mentioned, when we do that, we increase the stretch and tension placed on the long head of the bicep.

Step 1

To perform this correctly, you’ll grab a loaded bar. I recommend taking a closer grip to target the long head better.

Step 2

From that starting position, curl the bar up while gliding the bar along your body the whole time.

Imagine that you’re dragging the bar up across your body. Your elbows will naturally stay back in the right place.

Step 3

Once you curl the bar up as high as you can (about chest level), slowly lower it back down and repeat for reps.

You’ll most likely need to use a much lighter weight than you would typically lift for regular bicep curls.

That’s perfectly normal for these first two exercises.

3. Incline dumbbell bicep curl

This exercise positions the elbows behind the body and can be done with a pair of dumbbells.

Set the bench at an incline of about 45-60 degrees. Then lay back with the dumbbells in your hands at your sides.

With this starting position alone, your arms will be slightly behind your body. That’ll put the same stretch on the long head.

Step1

From that starting position, curl one dumbbell up towards your shoulder while keeping your elbow close to your body.

Turn your hand over on your way up so that your pinky is pointing up, as we mentioned earlier in this article.

Step 2

Slowly lower back down as you switch to the other side and alternate back and forth for reps.

Make sure as you’re doing this exercise that you’re not using your shoulders by driving your elbows forward at the end of the movement to rest.

Instead, keep your elbows and upper arms back in the starting position the whole time. This will ensure that the long head stays stretched.

If you’d like, do this exercise by curling both arms simultaneously rather than alternating on each rep.

4. Lying cable bicep curl

Going back to cables, this is another effective peak builder you may not know about.

It’s one of the few bicep exercises that make it almost impossible to use momentum, which is an immediate plus.

To begin, position the pulley at the top of a cable cross. Attach a bar to the pulley and place a flat or declined bench under it.

Step 1

Grab the bar with a close underhanded grip and lay back against the bench with your arms extended straight up.

Step2

Curl the bar towards your forehead. And right here, you’ll notice another significant benefit of this exercise.

There’s no way to rest at the top of the contraction. No matter how close you bring the bar, the tension stays on your biceps.

As you curl, keep your elbows and upper arms locked in position. Only your forearms and hands must move.

Step 3

Once the bar is almost at your forehead, extend your arms back to the starting position and repeat for reps.

5. Alternating crossbody dumbbell curls (brachialis)

Aside from the long head, another muscle that contributes to the appearance of your bicep peak is the brachialis.

It sits behind that long head and can help push your bicep peak higher as it develops.

That’s why we’re going to throw in alternating crossbody dumbbell curls for that brachialis.

Step 1

First, grab two dumbbells and hold them in a neutral position at your sides.

Lean slightly forward to help take your shoulder out of the movement and put more constant tension on the brachialis.

Step 2

Curl the dumbbell up and across your body, aiming to bring the dumbbell up to your opposite pec.

Step 3

Slowly lower the dumbbell and repeat the same thing on the other side.

Go back and forth for reps.

How to Make the Most of Your Bicep Training Program

1. Train Your Biceps After A Rest Day

If your biceps are your top priority, do them first after a rest day. Because it’s a short workout—usually 30 minutes, tops—it isn’t too challenging to maintain high-octane intensity throughout your workout. And if you train biceps with triceps, consider even hitting your biceps first since they’re your primary target.

Rest also means giving your arm flexors at least 48 hours between workouts. Follow a training split in which you space your back workout either two days before or two days after your arm day. Working your biceps on Mondays and back on Tuesdays provides inadequate recovery time and can hinder overall arm gains. Whatever split you follow, just use rest days judiciously and be cautious when planning your back attack.

2. Train Your Biceps Twice Throughout Your Split

While you don’t want to train your biceps on consecutive days, there’s no reason you can’t do them twice throughout your training split. This strategy works exceptionally well if you follow a longer split, say 5-6 days.

You can train your biceps more frequently, at least in the short term. Every third or fourth day works fine, so long as you don’t train them immediately before or after a back day.

When following this approach, consider using biceps workouts that are very different from each other rather than repeating the same workout on both days. 

You can even change up the advanced techniques you use, using forced reps during one workout and negatives in the other. The idea here is to work the biceps differently for optimal results.

3. Do Biceps After A Back Workout

If you’re following a shorter training split or trying to get in two biceps workouts per week, it might make sense to train them back. Since both are pulling muscles—the biceps are engaged during most multi-joint back movements—it makes sense to do them together. You don’t want to train your biceps before your back.

What you want to avoid is training the biceps the day before or after back so that you’re not working for this muscle group on consecutive days, as stated above. 

4. Choose A Superior Mass-Builder And Use Challenging Weights

The standing curl is such an excellent mass-builder exercise for your biceps. As you approach muscle failure, you can generate a bit of momentum.

This doesn’t mean you should use a ridiculously heavy weight and start rocking back and forth on your first rep, but after you’ve done 6-8 reps with clean form, a bit of body English can help you get past a sticking point for another rep or two.

Use just enough momentum to get past that sticking point. If you have to throw your back into the movement, you’ll end up with a lower-back strain.

As far as challenging weights go, there’s no reason not to push yourself early in your routine when your energy levels are high. Rather than doing three sets of 10, go a little heavier and choose a weight in which you might be able to do only 6-8 reps.

5. Find Ways To Emphasize The Long (Outer) Head

One of the reasons you’re so strong in the standing barbell curl is that you’re using both biceps heads as you complete it. You can put more emphasis on the long head by shifting your grip inward, and internally rotating the shoulders.

If you’ve always done your barbell curls with the same grip, try a couple of closer-grip sets and a few wider-grip sets that—you guessed it—better emphasize the short head.

6. Boost Your Intensity With Advanced Techniques

Choosing the right variations of exercises and using the right weights is a good start, but you still have to lift it. When it comes to initiating growth processes at the cellular level, you won’t get away with stopping your sets short of muscle failure. Taking 1-2 sets of each exercise past failure is your recipe for growth. You can use advanced training techniques that work especially well with biceps, such as forced reps, drop sets, and rep-and-a-halves. Here are a few advanced training techniques that work especially well with biceps:

7. Go For Broke At The Finish Line

Combining a good last exercise and an advanced technique is a great way to complete your workout with a monster pump. You know, the one in which you suddenly drop weight because your arms are on fire! That’s the one you’re looking for.

Your biceps are already highly fatigued on your last exercise, so don’t think about doing low-rep sets with heavy weights. Now’s the time to pump your arms, driving fluids to make them swell.

Here’s a long-head-targeting move that combines elements of rest-pause and dropsets. First, attach a bar to the lower cable on a cable stack. Use a grip inside shoulder width to better emphasize the long head, and start with a weight you can lift for 10-12 reps. You’re going to rest just 20 seconds between sets, so each set will become progressively harder.

Once you can’t do eight reps, reduce the weight by one plate. Keep up the pace, resting just 20 seconds and doing as many reps as possible, dropping the weight when you can’t complete eight reps. Do this for five minutes straight rather than a predetermined number of sets.

Conclusion

Although genetics may not be on your side when it comes to having toned arms, you can still make the most of what you have.