The Top 10 Biceps & Triceps Exercises

Do you have your tickets? It’s time for Faith & Fitness Magazine to go to the “gun show”.

After you read this article, expect a call from the zoo.  They will want their pythons back.

Warning! Have some band-aids ready while reading this article.  You’re about to get cut!

Ok, enough with the “meathead” humor…let’s move on to our list of the top 10 biceps and triceps exercises of all time!

But first, here is your “warm-up set”.  Watch a quick video that will highlight my list below:

Top 10 Biceps Exercises   

1. Concentration Curls – use your knee or bench to support the elbow while performing a super-isolated curl.
2. Spider Curls – Lay your chest on an incline bench and grab bells so that your arms are hanging straight down.
3. “Jack Bauers” – in honor of my TV hero from the show “24”, so you do 24 total reps…8 lower curls (raise bar half-way), 8 upper curls (start at top of curl and lower to only half-way down and back up), and 8 full range of motion curls.
4. Odd Implement Curls – sandbags, slosh pipes, buckets of water or sand, children while shopping (at least that is my daughter’s current favorite game)
5. Crucifix Band Curls – attach two bands approximately 10-12 feet from each other. Stand in the middle with arms extended to the side and perform curls.  Motion will look like you are doing a biceps pose.
6. Plate-Pinch Curls – grip focus – pinch two weight plates together and curl.
7. Incline Bench Curls – Adjust a bench to a 60 or 70 degree incline.  Lay on the bench so that you are hanging by your sides in extension.   This will increase the stretch through the bicep at the beginning of the curl, so lighter weights will be needed.
8. “Run-The-Rack” Standing Alternating Curls – Go heavy for 4-5 reps, moderately heavy for 8 reps, and lighter for 10-12 reps.
9. Power Ring/TRX Body-Weight Curl –

   

10. Chin-Up (slightly close grip) – I know…it’s primarily a back exercise, but I am a big fan of complex movements so it gets my nod at #1.  I explain my rationale in the “Spiritual Tie-In” below.

When it comes to chin-ups, I thought of one expert to share his thoughts on why it might be the best biceps exercise.  I’m talking about the pull-up/chin-up guru, John Sifferman. John created “The Pull-up Solution” and is revered as an amazing body-weight and mobility coach around the world.  Here’s his quote about chin-ups:

“Chin-ups are a fantastic variation of the traditional pull-up exercise for many reasons. For one, they emphasize the musculature of the arms and are naturally a great exercise for building and strengthening the biceps. Being a compound exercise, the chin-up is also great for training the back, grip, and core musculature. But beyond that, it’s also a very functional, and even practical movement skill, too. So, it seems that no matter who you ask – whether it’s a strength coach, athlete, or your average fitness trainee – almost everyone agrees that the chin-up should be a regular part of most exercise programs.”

Here’s a very thorough 20 minute video of John breaking down pull-up and chin-up technique.  You can scroll to the 3:00 mark if you want to hear the basic difference between chin-ups and pull-ups and see him in action.

Before we move on to our triceps list, here’s another short video highlighting our list:

Top 10 Triceps Exercises

1. Odd Implement Triceps Work of Any Exercise Listed – sandbag pullovers, slosh pipe overhead extensions, hold your kid for skullcrushers, etc.
2. Triceps Pushdowns – I prefer these with a band attached to a high anchor.

   

3. Skullcrushers – Lie on a bench or floor and extend a bar overhead.  Bend the elbows so the bar lowers to your nose or forehead and then “fire” the triceps to extend at the elbow and raise the bar to the starting position.
4. Floor press – Bench press on the floor, but you will stay in the top range of the lift and target triceps because the floor keeps the bar from lowering to your chest.
5. Close-grip Bench Press – Just as it sounds…move the hands in to 4-5 inches apart.
6. Power Ring/TRX Body-weight Triceps Extensions –  Check out Amy in our video above.
7. Standing Overhead Triceps Extensions – Check out Cathy in our video above.
8. Diamond push-ups – Place your hands in a diamond formation on the ground (thumbs and index fingers touch). Perform push-ups and keep your elbows snug to your sides.
9. Pullovers – (Read this next sentence in your best Arnold Schwarzenegger voice) – Ze pullovah is an unbelievable exercise dat tahgets your entire uppah body

   And the #1 triceps exercise of all time is…

10. Dips – I have the same reasoning as the #1 biceps exercise above – fully integrated movements get the nod for me over isolation exercises.

    

Spiritual Tie-In

When I first started training about 20 years ago, I was so frustrated because I was killing my chest and biceps 3 times a week with limited results.  There were many factors to my failure including training chest and biceps 3 times a week.  But when I started working my legs on one of those days (and resting upper body completely), everything came together, and I started seeing results.

In other words, my training had been incomplete.  I was so focused on the areas I wanted to grow, that I neglected the rest of me.  This is the reason I picked big compound movements for my #1 exercises because life and movement is about “integration” not “isolation”.  Working your biceps and triceps as secondary muscle groups while targeting your chest, shoulders, and back will create a more well-rounded athletic build and provide greater function.

Spiritually, we are the same!  The Apostle Paul writes about this idea in his first letter to the Corinthians:

You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you’re still one body. It’s exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything.

Integration…not isolation.  It is hard to grow physically through only isolation exercises.  It is also hard to grow spiritually only through one spiritual practice (prayer, bible study, worship, community to share your beliefs, service).  We need all of these areas to work together to make us whole.

Cool Down Set

How does your list compare?  Do you think we missed the mark? Please share your comments below…all are welcome! 

We may crush your comments with our vice-like grip, but they are still welcome 🙂

Live with Strength!