How to Increase the Width of your Bicep Naturally

Most of us are generally looking to improve our bicep size. The biceps and the chest are some of the most common muscle groups that guys would like to improve.

No matter how much we deny it, we want to fill out our shirt sleeves with monster busting biceps and this article will help. 

While we are looking to always improve our biceps we are typically improving our bicep peak but still really lacking the bicep width. It’s pretty common for most to want to improve their bicep width especially those whose body type finds it difficult to add on size and muscle

Many years ago when I started working out I would do exercises such as dumbbell hammer curls to help out width to add bicep size. 

For hammer curls to be effective need to focus on the tempo of the movement or known as time under tension for optimal bicep activation and increase width.

While most of us are training biceps we are typically adding to the vertical height in the bicep peak without taking into consideration that the biceps also need to focus on the width has it is often overlooked.  An important factor in increasing your bicep with is training a muscle group that is often late forgot about the brachialis. The biceps and brachialis are similar in that they share movements at the elbow with arm flexion making it difficult to isolate just the brachialis this makes it easier for the biceps to be dominant and take over in movements such as the hammer curl. Some important movements like the cross-body Hammer curl, narrow grip pull up, and a narrow grip inverted row which causes best to improve our forearms and increasing the activation of the brachialis while reducing the biceps influence. While focusing on the tempo and slowing down the movement no more than 8 seconds total per one rep helps with activating the brachialis in the lower to the middle section of the raise exercises to help make sure that the brachialis is engaged. The steps will help with increasing the width of your bicep naturally.

There are  3 muscle heads in the biceps that we’re trying to grow and make wider such as the biceps brachiibrachialis,  and coracobrachialis. A lot of guys who start working out training their arms and always trying to improve their bicep size think that will help with their arms look bigger.

124273641 – arm muscle anatomy 3d medical vector illustration forearm

It will only to a certain extent, this is because your triceps are the largest muscles in the arm and help with batting size to them. However, the main key is to exercises that focus on the brachialis to help with bicep width.

Range of Motion Bicep goes through

The range of motions that the bicep goes through during an exercise is elbow flexion, forearm supination, shoulder flexion. Our biceps have two heads, a short and a long one and they help assist with the range of motions. The different patterns while the long head may help more with the shoulder abduction in the short head will work with the adduction movements.

Barbell exercises have been shown to have a significant amount of muscle activation in the biceps but are not the optimal exercise for increasing bicep width.

This study explains that slowing the movement of a bicep exercise can help with limiting the movement of the bicep and activating the brachialis making it the primary muscle being targeted.

Exercises for Increasing Bicep Width

One study in 2010 compared doing pull-ups vs chin-ups to see you which had the most muscle activation while having EMG’s placed on their muscles for feedback. What they found in the study was that the chin-up activates the biceps more versus the pull-up.

Other exercises that have been studied to see which activates the biceps more and can improve with is the horizontal row which does work into a degree on improving bicep with. However, the inverted barbell row showed a whopping 77% increase and bicep activation. I typically don’t do a lot of horizontal rows but I will be now, for sure.

Barbell exercises are good for activating the biceps but things such as dumbbell curls, hammer curls, concentrated curls, and preacher curls are more optimal.

These exercises do make our biceps bigger but they do not improve width or focus on the brachialis.

Top Exercises for Increasing Bicep Growth

Cross Body Hammer Curl
Narrow Grip Pullup
Narrow Grip Inverted Row

Program to Increase Bicep Width for Beginners

Monday Cross-Body Hammer Curl 3×8

Wednesday Narrow Grip Pull-up 3×8

Friday Narrow Grip Inverted Row 2×12

Experienced Weight lifters should be training at a minimum of 14 and a maximum of 20 sets per week on their biceps.

The Right Technique for Dumbbell Curls

The barbell exercise technique is very important because it also prevents injury and also helps with the tempo of the exercise and activating proper muscles related to the exercise.

Unlike barbell exercises that are working most muscle group at the same time, things like that barbell curls or isolation movements that are mainly focusing on one muscle group.

That is why this exercise is a single joint movement to improve bigger and wider biceps. Most likely to do dumbbell curls and a rep range of 8 to 12 however research has shown that while under a heavy load and doing repetitions of 4 to 8  is the best for improving width and size of your biceps.

As I mentioned before or one of the benefits of doing a bicep dumbbell curl is the simplicity of the exercise. While simple we still want to maximize our results and prevent injuries from doing the correct technique. Even though this will focus more on the peak rather than the bicep width.

You are going to be using both arms and curling at the same time but you want to start out with the dumbbell in both hands with them at your sides.  You’ll want to start with your elbows and make sure you are flexing them while under load for good technique close to your sides with your palms facing outward.

Next, you’ll want to exhale on the concentric part of the movement. This is the part of the movement where you are raising the weights up towards your shoulders.

While lifting dumbbells up towards your shoulders you also want to flex your core. As you bring the dumbbells to uphold for just a few seconds add an exhale on the way back down.

Reasons the Dumbbell Exercise is Optimal For Bicep Peak

Permits wrist supinationTargets the biceps specifically
Reduces time compared to alternating DB CurlA simple exercise for improving bicep width and size

How many Sets to Increase Bicep Width for Hypertrophy

There are many exercises in which you can activate your biceps but it’s key to find an easy exercise that in return really focuses on your bicep such as a dumbbell curl.

Most of the curl exercise range of movements whether it be a barbell or a dumbbell, there is a lot of simplicity in them which is good for allowing us to train them more frequently to allow progressive overload. We should always be changing up our training whether it be increasing sets, weight, or reps to force our biceps to grow width sand size.

Of course, you should always factor in your level of training whether you are a beginner or you’ve been training for multiple years. Dr. Mike israetel recommends that you should be training at a minimum of 8 weekly sets number for progress in for beginners.  While he recommends 14 to 20  set weekly for optimal bicep growth.

Before I knew all this and read dr. Mike Isratael’s recommendations I obviously did biceps but not with every workout. Now  I make it a priority to train biceps for every workout. If you are training your biceps within these 14 to 20 set range you will not be Overtraining.

Does Grip Width matter for Bicep Exercises

Yes, not only is the sets and rep range importance but the load is needed for muscle growth and within the biceps. There are many different grips when it comes to activating your biceps, but the only one that doesn’t work as well would bet pronated grip.

Studies have shown that has less than 40% activation when compared to hey supinated-grip. Grip width is also another key factor when targeting your biceps, for example, the long or outer head contributes to abduction. For a peak torque to occur it’s when the elbows are at a 90-degree flexion and every angle below 90° puts less tension on the biceps.

How many Calories DO I need to Eat to Improve bicep Width?

Now that we went over all of the programming as far as which exercise types, exercise techniques, and how many sets and reps. Working out is great but is only just part of the equation whether it be someone who wants to lose weight And get shredded or someone who wants to bulk up and add muscle size.

A big majority of the results will come from your nutrition some even argue as much as 70/30 or 80/20. There is an old saying that you can’t out-exercise a bad diet, especially as us guys get older nutrition is crucial.

The Academy of nutrition and dietetics recommends that for about .37 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight improv earlier sources such as fish and chicken. Honestly, that seems pretty low and all the numbers all over the internet as far as protein recommendation all very.

Also, if you were to look at bodybuilders protein recommendations it’s much different from somebody who’s working out and not “enhanced”  because of the enhancement changes their biology compared to someone who is not.

On average in most recommends that you should consume .7 – 1 gram of protein per pound. Good nutrition and consistent exercise go hand-in-hand because they help you see results and keep you motivated.

They’re also studies that show that if we eat healthy food you will crave those healthy foods and not crave as much sweet processed foods.

Unless you’re on the ketogenic fad diets protein and carbohydrates are mostly talked about but you also need healthy fats for optimal hormones because they are building blocks in precursors to your hormones.

This is why diets do not work because they are leaving out one or another macronutrient and are typically extreme therefore will not last for the duration.

They’re also cutting out one macronutrient there for cutting out fewer calories and eating less food which will cause you to lose weight. However, when eating balanced nutrition to stay healthy.

We also need to work on our psychological behaviors and triggers that make us want to eat. It’s best to also should have built-in plans when we are triggered or indulge in bad behaviors. 

Final Thoughts

We are wanting monster shirt popping biceps and improving the width of our biceps and naturally train for the peak of our biceps.

One key tip in bicep training the brachialis for making them wider.  This is not always easy because of the same movements at the elbow with arm flexion making it difficult to just isolate just the brachialis which, in turn, makes the bicep the more dominant primary mover in the exercises such as as a hammer curl.

Focus in on the right movements like the cross-body Hammer curl, narrow grip pulls up, and a narrow grip inverted row which can help activate the brachialis and improves the width of our arm size. 

The tempo was also very important this helps with more activation can the bicep.  Studies have shown that you should not go over 8 seconds per rep.

Also, we want to make sure we are increasing progressive overload as well as volume to help with muscle hypertrophy. To do this, we should aim for 14 to 20 sets per week bicep exercises.

 Lastly, nutrition is a lot of the results we get because we can’t out-exercise a bad diet. eating healthy and organic nutritious Foods as ideal as well as eating .7 – 1 gram per pound of bodyweight and consuming carbohydrates to feel our workouts with glycogen.

Recent Content