How to pump up biceps at home without dumbbells

July 14, 2022 Admin Home page » Home workouts

You can become the owner of beautiful biceps without dumbbells and barbells, the main thing is to know the list of exercises and how to perform them correctly.

Despite the fact that everyone says to create beautiful biceps, you need to buy a gym membership or at least have a set of dumbbells, many people think about how to pump up their biceps at home without dumbbells and create a toned “can.” All this is real, the main thing is to know what to do and how.

The technique outlined in the article will help increase strength, build mass and gain endurance in muscle fibers. In addition to this knowledge, training with your own weight will help in cases of business travel and the onset of rest.

Is training without dumbbells and a horizontal bar beneficial?

Bodyweight training is real and effective, and many programs have been developed for this. Indeed, the final result in building muscle mass will be less, but with the right approach, you can greatly succeed in creating a sporty look for your “cans”.

Workouts containing biceps exercises without dumbbells should include 6-10 approaches, instead of the usual 3-4 works in the gym, and perform at least the last half of the approaches until muscle failure. Do not forget about nutrition, when during the day you should consume 15-20% more calories than you burn, which in most cases will be 300-400 kcal.

Don't forget about protein, 1.8-2 g. per 1 kg. weight is the minimum if you want to create meaty biceps, otherwise it will just be strengthening the ligaments, tendons and existing muscle mass.

To train biceps with your own weight, 3 exercises are best.

How to structure a workout correctly?

At first, you can work with one weight and gradually increase the number of repetitions in the approaches. But you need to understand that it is impossible to do this indefinitely. The body gets used to the load, and in any case you will have to resort to additional weights.

For example, if you reach 15 reps on pull-ups, it's time to load your backpack with two bottles of water. You may be able to do fewer pull-ups, but it will be a new stimulus for larger muscle fibers.

Photo: istockphoto.com

Remember, the “more is better” approach doesn’t always work. Research has been conducted on the effect of the number of approaches and repetitions on increasing muscle mass. To do this, scientists selected athletes and divided them into two groups. One did 10 sets of 10 reps, the other did five sets of 10 reps. After six weeks of research, the increase in muscle mass in both groups was at the same level.

The researchers concluded that performing more than 4-6 sets may reduce performance due to overtraining.

Bicep push-ups

An exclusive exercise of its kind that can be used to train biceps on the floor. It is necessary to perform the training not for quantity, but at a slow pace and for quality, feeling the tension in the biceps from A to Z of the exercise.

Execution technique

⇒ Starting position is the same as for a classic push-up, but the palms are turned at an angle of 45 degrees outward at the level of the upper abdomen - lower chest;

⇒ When performing push-ups, try to lower yourself completely so that literally 1-2 cm remains from your chest to the floor;

⇒ Push the weight out powerfully and, without resting at the top point, lower the body again;

⇒ At first it will be difficult, you can do it with only 6-7 repetitions, but later you will be able to overcome 10-15 or even more repetitions in 1 approach.

Biceps exercises using your own body weight

Not all biceps workouts use weights. You can also increase your biceps by simply using your own body weight as resistance.

Biceps curl using your leg

To perform this exercise, you need a chair, stool, bench or sofa. Have a seat. Use your right hand to reach your left thigh and keep your thigh just above the back of your knee.

Raise that leg as high as possible. Don't use or strain your leg to help with the biceps curl.

As this exercise becomes easier to perform over time, move it up a level by forcing the leg muscle to push your arm down as you try to lift your leg up. It turns out that the dumbbells are your legs.

After a set of 8-12 reps, switch to the other side.

Pull-ups for pumping biceps

Pull-ups are primarily a back exercise, but they are also extremely effective for working the biceps.

Instead of going to the gym, you can install a pull-up bar in the doorway of your home. If you have children, you have an even simpler alternative. You can borrow their swing while they are in homework mode. Finally, if you want to save money, simply make your own pull-up bar.

With your palms facing you, grab the bar with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.

To work your biceps more, make sure your palms are facing you (this is called a reverse grip pull-up). If your palms are facing away from you, your back will work more and your biceps muscles will work less.

Pull yourself up on the horizontal bar until your chin touches the bar. Don't let yourself swing, keep your body as straight as possible as you do pull-ups, and keep your feet together. Slowly lower yourself back to the starting position.

To keep your feet from touching the ground between each pull-up, keep your knees bent so that your legs are behind you and your overall shape resembles the letter "L."

How many reps should you do?

Doing pull-ups is a strenuous workout, so do as many as you can while keeping your body straight and tight.

Don't be lazy. The more you try to pull yourself up, the more you can do and the bigger your biceps will be.

Tubular expanders

Tubular resistance bands are extremely effective for training your biceps. In fact, I would argue that they may be even more effective than dumbbells and answer the question of how to build biceps at home.

Why? Because tubular resistance bands have variable voltage. Unlike dumbbells, resistance bands make the exercise more challenging as you squeeze your biceps. You will be very surprised to know that even bodybuilders use resistance bands to tone their biceps.

I use a set of tubular resistance bands from Black Mountain that have everything you need. The set is suitable for beginners and advanced lifters. It consists of a set of light resistance bands up to hard ones. You can also use other brands.

We will do biceps curls by holding each end of a tubular resistance band with our hands. Stand on the part of the resistance band that touches the ground with your feet shoulder-distance apart.

Keeping your forearms at your sides, begin to move them towards your shoulders. Be sure to contract your biceps and pull the handles of the resistance band up until your arms reach your shoulders.

Hold this position for a second or two, then lower your forearms all the way down to the starting position.

Read our complete guide to using a resistance band and you'll see why I think it's the most versatile training tool out there.

Look in the mirror and pump up your biceps

You will check your progress every day when you look at yourself in the mirror.

You'll flex your biceps from time to time, basking in the pleasure of seeing those biceps grow.

Did you know that putting a lot of tension on your arms while posing in front of a mirror is also a no-equipment exercise?

Hold this tense body state for ten seconds and then relax, wait a few seconds and repeat. This is also called isometric tension, which is constant muscle tension.

Adviсe. The main thing is to tense your muscles as much as possible. Try to concentrate, imagining that you are trying to bring your fists as close to your head as possible, as if you want them to touch your head.

Try holding the bent position for more than a few seconds and you will feel completely exhausted. If agony is reflected on your face, then you are doing everything right. A tense body in a mirror is a great exercise right after a biceps workout.

Feed your biceps so they grow

Without good nutrition and plenty of protein, your biceps won't grow!

Training is only the first part of the muscle growth process. Nutrition plays a crucial role in building muscle, so you better feed those growing muscles.

When you exercise, you create small tears (microtears) in the fibers of your muscle tissue. This breakdown of muscle tissue is a normal result of a good workout.

Your muscles respond to microtears in the muscle fibers, creating stronger, larger muscle.

You must feed your muscles with amino acids. Your muscles need these amino acids to repair and grow.

These amino acids come from protein. When you eat protein, your body breaks it down into useful amino acids.

Aim to eat between one and 1.3 grams of protein per pound of body weight every day. For example, for a person who weighs 72 kg, this is about 187 grams of protein per day.

Cook your own food to get bigger hands

You can't always rely on eating out as you may end up with greasy food or not getting enough of the vitamins you need. You want me to be muscular, not just fat.

If you are serious about growing your biceps, I recommend that you purchase the inexpensive cookbook “The 300 Best Fitness Recipes” by Stanislav Mikhailovsky. She has over 300 high protein recipes that are super easy to make. When you cook your own food, your biceps will thank you for it with their volume.

Try dividing this daily amount of protein into 4-6 meals to ensure your body is fueled with protein throughout the day.

Some ideal lean protein food sources include:

• Eggs.
• Poultry such as turkey and chicken breast.
• Fish such as tuna and salmon.
• Lean meat.

Whey protein isolate is another good source of protein. You can find it in powder form to mix with milk, water or smoothies, as well as ready-made whey protein drinks in the market. Whey protein is beneficial after exercise because its absorption rate is faster than that of food.

Speaking of water, it is equally important to drink it consistently for optimal metabolic function, including muscle growth. Skeletal muscle is 70% water. In fact, not drinking enough water can cause catabolism (muscle breakdown), which is something you don't want (unless you want smaller biceps).

Drink plenty of water to help with nutrient absorption and muscle recovery after exercise.

Enjoy the pain

Whenever you do any exercise, you may experience pain the next day in the muscles you worked, especially if you did a fairly hard workout. This soreness is called SOMS - delayed onset muscle pain syndrome.

SOMB may begin to appear a couple of hours after exercise, may peak after 48 hours and, depending on the intensity of the exercise, may last for 7 days before completely disappearing.

SOMB is what I call good pain, as a sign of quality. Contrary to popular belief, SOMB happens not only to beginners, but also to experienced athletes and bodybuilders.

Higher levels of training intensity and changing exercises can cause soreness. Different people get SOMB in different parts of the body.

I've been working out for two decades and almost always experience muscle pain after chest workouts, but rarely experience pain in the biceps or triceps, it's very individual.

While SOMB is good pain, there is also pain from injuries. Which we don't need. Injuries can occur if you start lifting weights that are too heavy. Don't lift heavy at first, but gradually increase the intensity so that your body gets used to the stress of the workout.

If you experience sudden, severe or any pain during a biceps workout, stop the workout and consult a doctor as soon as possible.

Always consult your physician before starting any exercise or nutrition program.

How often to work your biceps

If you want your muscles to grow bigger, don't skip your workouts.

As a rule, twice a week is enough to make your biceps stronger and increase in size. You can get good results with just one arm workout per week, especially if you are more advanced and work at high intensity.

Never train the same muscle for several days in a row. This is counterproductive and increases the risk of injury.

If your biceps have not fully recovered from a previous workout and you train them again, they will not grow and in some cases may even shrink.

You can let SOMB be your compass. This is the pain you begin to feel 24 hours after an intense workout.

I recommend that you split up your body workout. One day you can work your biceps and other muscles, the next day you can work on your lower body, maybe do some cardio the next day, rest a few days in between and repeat. There are unlimited variations to split up your workouts.

Pull-ups on the horizontal bar with a reverse grip

The presence of a horizontal bar will allow you to create a good workout for the biceps; at the same time, the latissimus dorsi muscles and the anterior deltoids are included in the work.

Execution technique

⇒ Grip shoulder-width apart, elbows fully straightened;

⇒ You need to pull yourself up to the crossbar, pause for a second in the top position and lower down;

⇒ When lowering, straighten your arms almost completely, leaving only a slight angle at the elbows to maintain tension in the biceps;

⇒ It is necessary to pull yourself up with a powerful movement, but without a jerk in the initial stage, otherwise you can easily pull ligaments or muscles. The lowering time is 2 times longer than the ascent.

Genetics and muscle building

There are factors that influence the effectiveness of a training program. Genetics will always play an important role in how each part of the body develops. The conditions that determine the success of training are endless:

• age,
• nutrition,
• biochemical characteristics of the body,
• discipline,
• determination,
• training experience,
• their intensity,
• relationship between consciousness and muscles,
• subsequence,
• changes and much more.

But you can control the difficulty of your workout and the sequence of exercises.
Forget about genetic limitations and focus on how to break them - that's what this article is really about, not just whether you can build biceps with dumbbells. Because the body is not accustomed to the unusual stress of strength training, most people experience rapid growth when they start lifting weights. However, the longer you exercise, the more resistance your body begins to show towards development. Then you need more and more time and effort to achieve results.

Arms, which grow quickly from any workout in the early stages, require some changes to grow as you progress.

There's really a lot you don't know when you start training. At this stage, body position, technique, principles are just words, not guidelines for your work, and you throw yourself into the pool headlong and just start training. Unfortunately, we will have to think and analyze further.

Therefore, you must get creative to maximize muscle growth and strength gains. And even more so if you set yourself the task of going against genetics and building up your biceps quickly with dumbbells. Solving this question will make you remember how quickly your muscles grew in the first months of training and think about anatomy.

Horizontal pull-ups

This requires a crossbar at a low height of up to 1 m or the presence of TRX loops.

Execution technique

⇒ It is necessary to grab the bar with a reverse grip, and the bar itself, while hanging, should be at chest level;

⇒ Do not allow the body to sag; from head to toe it is as straight as a string;

⇒ When performing a pull-up, the upper chest at the top point should almost touch the bar;

⇒ At the top point, hold for a second and lower down again. Remember, at the bottom, don't let your hips sag down.

The importance of exercise for the arms

Hands are a part of the body that is almost always visible, especially in the warm season. In modern urban conditions, the arm muscles do not receive enough load and gradually lose their shape, becoming weak and flabby. The desire to have beautiful and toned arms arises not only among men. Women also want to see this part of their body beautiful and fit.

Most of the set of exercises presented in this article is suitable for both men and women. With systematic exercise, the result will be visible after a few weeks.

Training Recommendations

♦ Before training, warm up your biceps and all parallel muscles involved. After finishing the training, do a cool-down;

♦ Focus on quality, not quantity. It’s better to add a couple more approaches to complete the intended load on the biceps;

♦ Train your biceps no more than twice a week, but remember that training them should be really hard;

The lack of dumbbells and the inability to visit the gym is not a reason to stop training. Remember the recommendations above and train with pleasure.

Diet during training

To quickly build muscle, you can use special protein supplements for increased weight gain.
Sports nutrition most often contains the following components:

• proteins for building muscle fibers;
• amino acid complex, already dissolved and half-split for better absorption in the body;
• creatine is the best energy drink for muscles;
• mineral and vitamin supplements, including rare trace elements.

It is equally important to consume animal proteins in their natural form - about 1.5 grams per kilogram of body weight.

The emphasis should be on white meats, fish, nuts, dairy products and eggs.

Carbohydrates should be complex - these include vegetables and cereals. The best fat to eat is homemade sour cream.

Approximate diet for weight gain

• 8:30 – breakfast – 100-150 grams of low-fat cottage cheese, berries, freshly squeezed juice;
• 11:30 – second breakfast – whole grain bread, cottage cheese, steamed meat or fish, 2-3 boiled eggs;
• 13:30 – lunch – steamed meat, buckwheat, fresh vegetables. Those who cannot live without the first course for lunch can eat cream soup;
• 16:30 – afternoon snack – egg, vegetables, fruits;
• 18:30 – dinner – low-fat fish, porridge, baked vegetables;
• 20:00 – light snack before bed – yogurt or kefir;

You need to drink at least two and a half liters of water. It is better to give up coffee, cocoa and tea, which retain fluid in the body.

Alcohol and tobacco should be avoided completely!

Let's go to training!

In order for the peak of your biceps to evoke admiring glances from the fair sex and respectful glances from your colleagues in the gym, the arm muscles need to be trained wisely, and it doesn’t matter so much whether you pump them with dumbbells or a barbell, use a machine or your own weight.

In addition, remember: muscles are forged not only in the gym, but also in the kitchen! Therefore, if you simultaneously begin to control your weekly menu, the result will not be long in coming.

Sports nutrition will help speed up the process of gaining muscle mass - protein, creatine, gainer, arginine, BCAA, amino acids. These supplements are specially designed for athletes and fitness-active people of different fitness levels. Such drugs are completely safe, and their effectiveness has already been proven.

How many times a week should I train and with what muscles should I combine biceps training?

For example, you can follow this scheme: on Monday you train your legs, chest and triceps, on Wednesday you train your back, biceps and triceps, and on Friday you train your back and shoulders. This technique is only an example, and those who read this article do not need to follow it blindly. Look for information, combine muscles according to your own feelings and, most importantly, always listen to your body!

How to choose dumbbells?

The most versatile version of the equipment is collapsible, which allows you to adjust the weight of the gymnastic equipment. These weights contain a rigid steel rod with disks and threads. Circles can be rubberized or metal. The first type has the advantage that it does not destroy surfaces during use and storage.

When doing home exercises, mostly use solid dumbbells. Such weights are suitable for constant training. Considering that the load is gradually increased, this type of projectile will be needed for a certain period of time. If equipment is missing, it is initially replaced with water bottles.

How to train at home

First, we will talk about how to pump up your biceps at home. Let's say that for some reason you do not have the opportunity to visit the gym. Does this mean you need to stop training? Of course not.

It is quite possible to perform many biceps exercises at home. The simplest thing you can do at home is push-ups. Of course, this exercise not only targets the biceps, but also all the other muscles of the arms, shoulder girdle and chest. But this exercise is the most accessible. If you want to increase the load, you can put a backpack with a load on your back.

Effective loads without projectiles

Without dumbbells, you won't be able to pump up your arms quickly and effectively. However, training with your own weight will perfectly complement the strength complex.

Exercises at home without dumbbells:

1. Turn your back to a bench, chair or sofa, rest your hands behind your back, stretch your legs forward, focusing on your heels. Smoothly lower yourself and then rise by tightening your triceps.
2. Sit down, lean on your hands behind you, bend your legs, lift your pelvis. Move your arms and legs to imitate the walking of a crab.
3. Roll over onto your stomach, stretch your upper limbs forward, lean on your toes and palms. Smoothly raise your body as high as possible, then lower it. Helps pump up the forearm.
4. Stand in a straight plank position, lean on your palms, and lift and lower your body. Make sure your torso is straight. The movement helps pump up the muscles of the forearm.
5. Place your hands on the floor near the wall, raise your legs. First, stand a short distance from the wall, and then, moving your hands, lift your legs higher and higher on it to stand in an almost vertical position.
6. Place your hands on a sofa or bench and your feet on the floor. Push up, trying to touch your chest to the sofa, and then slowly rise up.

Push-ups will help make your arms more resilient, stronger and slightly increase muscle mass.

This is interesting! If an athlete is overweight, then you need to supplement your exercises with cardio training (jumping rope, running, cycling, intense walking). During classes you must follow a diet.

A few words about anatomy

The biceps brachii muscle, also known as the biceps, already in its name contains information about its anatomical structure.

The biceps consists of two heads - the outer long one and the inner short one. And is located on the anterior surface of the humerus.

The main function is to bend the arm at the elbow joint, as well as supination of the hand - turning the palm outward.

This is a relatively small and weak muscle that is not anatomically designed to handle heavy weights.

Always keep this in mind when selecting weights. After all, using extreme and near-limit weights in biceps movements increases the likelihood of injury significantly.

There is a rule in bodybuilding: large muscle groups are trained with large weights, and small ones, which include the biceps, with small ones.

To understand the size of this muscle, let's give a simple example: it occupies approximately 30% of the total volume of the shoulder.

70% falls on the triceps. So if you want to build big arms, don't forget about it.

How to pump up biceps quickly?

It is not always possible to quickly pump up your biceps, but you can try to speed up this process by following some rules:

• During classes, be sure to use special equipment - dumbbells or a barbell. All exercises without them are less effective because when they are performed, the physical limit is reached too quickly.
• At the beginning of training, it is better to use a barbell: it allows you to work with more significant weight, which provides a powerful impulse for accelerated muscle building. After receiving noticeable results, you can switch to exercises with dumbbells, which are mainly aimed at maintaining and improving the relief.
• At least once a month perform exercises using maximum weight , the rest of the time the weight is 70% of it.
• Do not take long breaks: 1 day is allotted for rest between workouts, but for people over 40 or in poor physical shape, the break can be 2 days.