Many people who exercise and put time into improving their physical form want to be able to show it off which is perfectly fine. The most common way you can show off the hard work and dedication you put into your training is through your arms, especially your biceps.
The internet is overflooded with mainstream bicep exercises that promise unrealistic results in a very short time but the truth is that most of them won’t help at all.
The best way you can approach your issue is to switch up your biceps training routine by adding some unconventional exercises for building massive biceps in your training session.
- TRX Curls
To execute the TRX Bicep curls you need TRX equipment and your bodyweight. To start the exercise you need to grab the TRX handles with your palms facing each other and afterward lean back till you are almost parallel to the ground. From this position, use your biceps to pull yourself up till your hands come close to your face.
- Triple Pause Chin-up
Another great bodyweight exercise you can do to help you build massive biceps is the triple pause chin-up. To execute this exercise you need a pull up bar. Basically you are doing a regular chin-up but you need to pause 3 times. The pauses should be when you are approximately ¼ ,½, and ¾ done with the chin up. After the final pause you should finish the chin up.
- Elevator Chin-up
To do an elevator chin-up you need to have either a pull up bar or rings. The exercise is done by doing half a chin up, dropping down and then doing a full chin up. Basically you start the chin up, stop at the half mark, go back to the starting position and finish by doing the entire chin up all the way up.
- Banded Hammer Curls
To do this exercise you will need an elastic band. The starting position of the exercise is a standing position but you need to stand on the elastic band. Place your elbows close to your body and grab the elastic band with a neutral grip. Start pulling up using only your biceps and you are doing the banded hammer curls.
- Isometric Chin-Up Pyramid
The isometric chin-up pyramid exercise is quite simple but effective for building bigger biceps. You are actually doing chin-up reps and after a few chin-ups you pause for some amount of time when your elbows are at 90 degree angle. For example, you do 5 chin-ups and pause for 1 seconds at 90 degrees after the 5th chin up. You proceed with 4 chin-ups and pause for 2 seconds at 90 degrees and so on till you reach 1 rep and 5 seconds.
- Banded Preacher Machine Curls
To do this exercise you will need an elastic band and a preacher bench. You can do it using just the elastic band or you can use an EZ curl bar. To perform the exercise you need to tie the elastic band to something static and strong, sit on the preacher bench and pull the band with your biceps.
- Overcoming Isometrics
Isometric exercises are definitely unconventional for biceps. The goal with this exercise is to keep the biceps engaged for around 30 seconds trying to push an immovable object. You can do this on the squat rack by setting the bar just a bit over the bottom range of motion and utilize your biceps to the best of your ability to move it toward you. You won’t be able to, but your biceps will be constantly engaged and working.
- EZ Curl Squat
Begin backed up against a wall with your feet 6-10 inches away from the center of your body. Start doing bicep curls till you can’t lift the bar anymore then do ¼ of a squat and use your biceps to curl once more till you fail.
- Descending Isometric Yields
For this exercise you can use a barbell or dumbbells. The idea is to pause at different angles after doing a number of repetitions. For example, you do 5 curl reps and stop at the top for a few seconds. Afterward you do 5 more reps but stop at ¾ of the last rep for a few seconds. Next, you do 5 more and stop at the halfway point and so on.
- Mechanical Drop Sets
To do this final exercise you’ll need a pull up bar. The idea is to do chin ups till your muscles can no longer pull you up. Once you can no longer do a chin up, you switch to inverted rows till your muscles fail again.
