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Today we are going to discuss long head bicep exercises and how your biceps will love you for it. We all want bigger biceps.
The question is not whether or not we do, but how best to go about getting them. Another question that gets asked a lot is what specific long head bicep exercises that give the biggest bang for the buck – i.e., build muscle as efficiently as possible.
For the long head of the biceps, which is a smaller muscle than the short head and is often neglected in favor of direct arm work. Several movements stand out as being among the best choices.
Long Head Bicep Exercises Muscles Worked
The most effective movement for targeting the long head bicep is the preacher curl, as it involves both elbow flexion and supination.
A reverse-grip concentration curl also works incredibly well for this purpose. In addition to these two, other exercises that target or heavily involve this muscle (to a lesser extent) include hammer curls, incline dumbbell curls, spider curls and dumbbell pullovers.
It should be noted that all long head bicep exercises involve the long head to a certain degree. Even movements such as preacher triceps extensions and bent-over lateral raises target it. – Those listed hit the long head particularly well.
Long Head Bicep Exercises Benefits
The long head of the biceps is usually weak in comparison to the short head, due to under-recruitment from typical training approaches.
This weakness may be a limiting factor when it comes to doing chin-ups and pull-ups, as well as many pulling movements such as rows and power cleans.
Studies have shown that it is involved in elbow flexion against heavy resistance. Meaning that the long head will play a role in supporting heavy compound exercises for the back.
Tips:
- Finding your lats via lat pulldowns or pull-ups will help ensure that you are feeling this movement specifically in your biceps and not allowing other muscles, such as your lats, to take over.
- Most people are accustomed to just allowing their wrists to flop, but they should instead be forcefully pronating them throughout. Focus on supinating your forearm throughout the movement
How to do Long Head Bicep Exercises
Preacher Curl
One of the best exercises to hit the long head bicep is the Preacher Curl. To perform this exercise:
– Lean your upper body forward against the pad, allowing for a slight bend in the elbows, but keeping them tucked into your sides. This is raised a elbow – not the shoulder; keep it at waist level to eliminate lower back cheating.
– If you need to, use an EZ bar instead of a straight bar to minimize wrist strain. Other options are the Hammer Curl or Reverse-Grip Concentric Curl.
– Keep your elbows glued in against your sides, do not allow them to flare out.
– Always stop short of locking your elbows.
The Claw Grip Curl
Another great exercise for targeting this muscle is the “Claw Grip Curl” using dumbbells. This movement forces the long head to take over. It does a great job of isolating it from other elbow flexors, making this one of the best exercises for biceps peaks.
– Take dumbbells in each hand with palms facing eachother (the “claw” grip) – A normal curl grip would be palms facing up.
– Raise your arms to the side and keep them at shoulder level. Alternate your grip (i.e., left arm curls with right hand facing up, then next rep do right arm with left palm facing out). This will hit your biceps in a different way than most other exercises.
– Keep your elbows glued into your side and only allow your wrists to move.
Spider Curls
For those looking for a more isolation exercise, the spider curl is one of the best biceps exercises around.
– Sit at a preacher bench or lay on an incline bench as you would for a preacher curl. Hold of the bench with both hands behind your head – do not allow yourself to support the weight with your chest or traps. This will put a lot of extra strain on the biceps and is a great way to overload them.
– Curl up, making sure you keep your elbows tucked in against your side. Do not let them flare out. Focus on lifting with just your elbow flexors. – don’t allow momentum to take over.
– If you hit failure before full contraction, drop the weight and finish reps with just your bodyweight. This will force you to squeeze out a couple more reps and increase the strength of the muscle fibers involved in this exercise.
Steep-Angle Concentration Curl (aka: Steep Preacher Curl)
– To place significant stress on the biceps, this variation of the preacher curl is performed with a very steep angle.
It can be performed using dumbbells or barbells. Using dumbbells allows for greater range of motion (ROM) and you can change hand placement easily.
– If using dumbbells, set yourself up as you would for a preacher curl, but grip the top of one dumbbell with your opposite hand. The lower part of this movement is just like a normal concentration curl.
– The upper half of the movement should be performed as quickly as possible and stop at full elbow extension (do not let the dumbbell or bar go past you).
Your biceps will know they’ve been worked even though you will use far less weight than normal.
Long Head Bicep Exercises No Equipment
– One of the best exercises you can perform without equipment is to do eccentric pullups, but with an underhand grip.
You can also use a resistance band or dumbbells – just keep your elbow glued into your side and only allow your wrist to move.
Long Head Bicep Exercises Resistance Band
– Bands can be used for a variety of exercises. One of the best is to do a banded concentration curl by looping the band around your back and taking it in each hand with palms facing up.
– Standing upright, take grab each band with your hands spaced out as if you were going to do a regular bicep curl, but with palms facing each other to make a V-shape. Once you have a good grip, perform a standard concentration curl.
– Use this workout sparingly because it is one of the most intense biceps exercises around and could lead to over-training.
Long Head Bicep Exercises Dumbbell
– You can do long head bicep exercises with dumbbells by performing 1 arm dumbbell hammer curls. By keeping your elbow glued to your side and focusing on curling ONLY with your elbow flexors, you will ensure maximum isolation of the long head.
– For those looking for something more intense, opt for using an EZ curl bar instead of a straight bar. This will allow you to keep your wrist in full flexion, which places the stress on the long head, but requires less stabilization of the biceps.
Long Head vs Short Head Bicep Exercises
– These are the best exercises for each head…
Short Head Biceps Exercises – standing barbell curls, seated dumbbell curls, preacher curl, incline dumbbell curls.
Long Head Bicep Exercises – standing barbell curl , EZ bar curl, single arm standing cable curl.
Long Head Bicep Exercises Alternatives
– One of the best long head bicep exercises is to perform a standard concentration curl and then slow it down and stop at full elbow extension for 1-2 seconds before squeezing hard and driving up. This works very well with both dumbbells and bands, but will also work on any cable curls variation you can think of.