It’s easy to find lists of exercises for bicep strengthening – bicep curls, hammer curls, reverse curls, rows, chin-ups, and more. It’s a little harder to understand which ones you should choose to do and why. It helps to start by looking at bicep strengthening in simple terms.

The Anatomy Behind Elbow Flexion

Most of us call it ‘bicep strengthening’ but it’s more correct to call it ‘elbow flexion strengthening’. There are actually three muscles in charge of elbow flexion.

Muscles of elbow flexion.
  • Biceps Brachii: This is the most superficial and visible of the muscles. In addition to flexing the elbow, a portion of it also attaches to the shoulder where it influences your posture and plays a small part in movement of the shoulder. It is most effective when the palm faces up (thumb pointing away from the body).
  • Brachialis: This is the strongest of the elbow flexors. It looks fairly small in the illustration above. However, most of it lies under the biceps brachii. You can isolate this muscle by using an overhand grip on your weight (thumb pointing towards the midline of the body).
  • Brachioradialis: This muscle also assists with elbow flexion and is at its most effective when the thumb is pointing towards the ceiling.
  • Biceps Brachii – Underhand Grip
  • Brachialis – Overhand Grip
  • Brachioradialis – Thumbs Up Grip

Of course, all of these muscles work together to bend the elbow. You’re hardly ever working just one by itself. But I like to keep those three positions in mind when I design my workouts. By varying grip and hand position, it’s possible to effectively highlight each of the three muscles of elbow flexion.

Although you can stick with curls, you can also translate these hand positions to bent rows, upright rows, cable machine work, cross body curls, and many of your shoulder and back exercises. Just don’t come up with anything extra weird. If it feels awkward or painful, you might be getting a little too creative.

Choosing Your Weight

Keep the following in mind for strengthening in elbow flexion:

  • If your weight is too heavy with curls, you’ll end up recruiting back and shoulder muscles to help out – usually not to your benefit. Drop down a little on the weight and focus just on elbow flexion.
  • Most, at least initially, will need to use a lighter weight when lifting with the forearm pronated (overhand grip).
  • Many of the shoulder exercises you do require elbow flexion (e.g. all types of rowing exercises). Be aware of how you can maximize the benefits for your elbow flexors at the same time.
  • Make sure to balance your bicep/elbow flexion work with tricep work. The strength ratio of these muscles groups on the front and back of the upper arm should be pretty equal.

Forearm, Wrist, and Hand

Lifting weights requires forearm, wrist, and hand strength. If you look at those three basic hand positions for elbow flexion exercises again, you can see that more wrist stability and grip strength are generally required as you move from an underhand grip (supination) to an overhand grip (pronation). Adjust the weights you use accordingly and you’ll be effectively strengthening below the elbow joint as well.

Apply Your Knowledge

When you start to think about elbow flexion and bicep strengthening in simple terms, it opens up a lot of possibilities for your workouts. Consider the three muscles you’re working, change your grip in various exercises, and keep in mind that you’re also working the muscles of the forearm, wrist, and hand. When you do these things, you’ll find that your workouts become much more interesting and effective.

Stay fit!