9 Best Short Head Bicep Exercises 2024

What are the Best Short Head Bicep Exercises? In this article, we cleared your doubts.

Ready to focus on the short head and build muscle mass, hypertrophy, and strong biceps that will make you feel good about yourself for beach season?

One of the main things that both new and experienced bodybuilders try to work on is their biceps. Curls are the best way to work on the short head of the bicep.

The best way to build big biceps is to change up this exercise so that it stays interesting and new.

In this post, we’ll show you the best exercises for your short head biceps that you can do at the gym or at home.

What is the Short Head of the Bicep

The short head and the long head are the two parts of the biceps brachii that make up the biceps as we know them. The short head and long head work together to bend the elbow and turn the forearm outward.

They also help bend the shoulder. The short head bicep is on the inside of your arm and gives your flex width. The long head bicep is on the outside of your arm and makes the peak.

As with other muscle groups, you can’t completely separate the short head. But some exercises work the short head of the bicep more than the long head and can help bodybuilders get that upper arm bulge they want so badly.

How To Work The Short Head

How you position your hand, arm, and elbow affects how you work your inner bicep.

More specifically, the way your arms are angled in relation to your body changes how the weight is distributed and which muscles get the most work.

➧ Hand Position

I talk about supination and pronation when I talk about the position of the hand. Rotation of the hand or wrist is called by these fancy words.

When your palm is facing up, you are supinating. When your palm is facing down, you are pronating.

The more your hand is turned outward, the more the long head works. While the short head gets worked more the more your hand is turned over.

➧ Forearm Position

Forearm position is how your lower arm is turned in relation to your body. When your forearm is across your body at an angle, it makes your head look longer.

And when your forearm is at an angle away from your body, it makes the short head look even shorter.

The width of your grip is another way to think about this. When the grip is narrow, the long head stands out, while when the grip is wide, the short head stands out.

➧ Elbow Position

Last, think about where your elbows are. The long head is made by keeping your elbows behind your body. Having your elbows in front of your body, on the other hand, helps you hit the short head.

Top 8 Short Head Bicep Exercises

Here are the best short head bicep exercises for making your upper arms stronger, bigger, wider, and thicker.

1. Wide-Grip Barbell Curls
2. Spider Curls
3. Preacher Curls
4. Lying High Cable Curls
5. Concentration Curls
6. Inner Bicep Curls
7. Suspension Curls
8. Chin-Ups

Wide-Grip Barbell Curls

Barbell curls are a classic mass exercise. With a barbell, you can lift heavy weights and overload your biceps, which is a great way to get bigger and stronger.

Most of the time, they are done with a grip that spans from the hip to the shoulder. This grip maximizes biomechanical efficiency so that you can lift the heaviest weights possible.

But if you move your hands farther apart than shoulder-width apart, you can use this exercise to focus on your inner biceps. How wide? That’s debatable, but your hands should be farther apart than shoulder-width.

Move them out an inch or two and see how this exercise makes you feel. Try different grip widths to find the best one for your short head. You can also use an EZ bar, which may be easier on your wrists, to do barbell curls with a wide grip.

How to do it:

• Get a supinated, wider-than-shoulder grip on the barbell. Straighten your back and abs, and pull your shoulders back and down.
• Without using your legs or back, bend your elbows and pull the weight up to your shoulders.
• Put the bar back down, and do it again.

Pro Tip : Do not curl the barbell by letting it move on its own. Stay in good form and lift as much weight as you can.

Benefits:

• This is one of the best exercises for building muscle mass in the short head of the biceps.
• If you switch between a normal grip and a wide grip, you can work your biceps from different angles.
• Using a barbell is a better way to do advanced training techniques like forced reps.

Rep range:

• Hypertrophy: 10-12 reps
• Strength: 1-5 reps

Progression: Preacher curl

Spider Curl

Even though this exercise won’t make you a superhero like the Amazing Spider-Man, it is a great way to work your inner biceps.

Spider curls, which are also called prone incline curls, are an exercise that can’t be cheated on because your upper body is supported by a bench. In this position, it’s hard to use momentum to lift the weight.

How to do it:

• Set a bench that can be moved to a 45-degree angle and lean your chest against the sloped pad.
• For this move, you can use dumbbells, a barbell, or an EZ bar.
• Bring the weight up to the level of your shoulders.
• Slowly and carefully bring it down.
• Do the number of reps that are suggested.

Pro tip: For two seconds, pull your arms back when you reach the top. This is a very hard arm exercise, so go easy. Use a wide grip to hit your inner biceps hard.

Benefits:

• It helps you work your biceps on their own.
• Improves the shape and definition of the bicep as a whole.
• Unlike the preacher curl, this one won’t put too much pressure on the elbow joint.

Rep range:

• Hypertrophy: 10-12 reps
• Strength: 1-5 reps

Progression: Cable Hercules curl

Preacher curls

Wide-grip preacher curls are another good exercise that lets you focus on your biceps because your upper arms are fully supported by a pad.

Instead of doing preacher curls with a narrow grip or dumbbells, try doing them with a wide grip to focus more on the short head.

There are several preacher curl variations you can use to target your inner biceps:

• Dumbbell preacher curls
• Barbell preacher curls
• EZ bar preacher curls
• Cable preacher curls
• Reverse dumbbell preacher curls
• Dumbbell hammer preacher curls

Whenever you do a preacher curl, your upper arms should stay pressed against the angled pad. Your biceps should do all the work, so keep your elbows still.

At the start of each rep, your arms should be straight but not locked. If you overextend your elbow, you could hurt your joint or biceps.

How to do it:

• Lean toward the preacher curl bench’s angled pad.
• Put the top edge of the pad under your armpits. Make sure that the backs of your arms are flat against the pad.
• Stretch your arms out and use a supinated grip to grab the loaded bar.
• Pull the weight up until your forearms are perpendicular to the floor.
• Make sure your arms are parallel and your elbows are pointing forward.
• Bring the barbell down slowly until your arms are fully stretched out.
• Hold the weight for a second before you curl it up again.
• Do the number of reps that are suggested.

Pro tip: Control how you lower the weight and wait a second before curling it again for another rep.

Benefits:

• Focuses on the short head muscles to build biceps with good definition.
• The preacher curl makes it harder to cheat.

Rep range:

• Hypertrophy: 10-12 reps
• Strength: 1-5 reps

Progression: Spider curl

Lying High Cable Curls

Not many people do lying high cable curls, but they work the short head of the biceps very well because the elbows are bent.

They are similar to preacher curls in that your elbows are in front of your body, and it’s hard to cheat the movement because your upper body can’t move.

The lying high cable curl is different because you don’t have a place to rest your arms, you’re lying down instead of sitting, and the cable keeps the muscles tight.

For hypertrophy, it’s best to do both free weight exercises and cable exercises. This is because they work the muscle in different ways.

How to do it:

• Connect a straight bar to a cable machine with a low pulley. Sit on the ground with your legs stretched out and your feet on either side of the cable.
• Hold the bar firmly with your underhand and lie on your back with your head on the floor.
• Curl the bar up toward your chest while keeping your elbows close to your sides. At the top of the movement, pause and squeeze, just like you would with a standing curl.
• Slowly and deliberately move back to the starting position. Don’t lock out at the bottom; keep your elbows slightly bent. One repetition.

Lying cable curls let you push the weight and help you avoid momentum-based “cheat reps.”

Concentration Curl

The name “concentration curls” comes from the fact that you can really focus on the muscle you are working out. They don’t use the upper back or the legs, so they are very strict exercises.

At the top of each rep, concentration curls also make the muscles work harder, which makes them a good short-head exercise.

The best way to do this exercise is with light to moderate weights and medium to high repetitions. This is not a heavy weight exercise for building strength. Instead, take short breaks and go after the pump!

How to do it:

• Sit up straight on a bench or stool that is flat.
• Choose a weight that feels good.
• Spread your legs out so that the elbow of the arm you’re using to work can rest on the inside of your thigh.
• Keep your hand turned outward.
• Pull the weight up as high as you can.
• Stop at the point of contraction.
• Bring the weight down slowly.
• Do the recommended number of reps on each side before switching.

Pro tip: As you curl the weight up, turn your wrist to bring your pinky finger up. You will feel a stronger contraction if you turn your wrist in this way.

Benefits:

• Concentration curls make the peak and thickness of the biceps better.
• It lets you work on only one of your biceps at a time.

Rep range:

• Hypertrophy: 10-12 reps for each hand
• Strength: 3-5 reps for each hand

Progression: Spider curl

Inner Bicep Curl

Now, let’s talk about a variation of the dumbbell bicep curl that focuses on the short head.

How to do it:

• Grab a pair of dumbbells with your palms facing each other.
• Bring your shoulder blades back, pin your elbows to your sides, and turn your shoulders outward.
• Exhale and curl the weights while keeping the upper arms still.
• At the top, hold the contraction for two seconds before lowering the weight slowly.
• Repeat the set number of times.

Pro tip: Keep a 1-2-4 tempo: one second concentric, two seconds hold at peak contraction, and four seconds eccentric.

Benefits:

• It helps you use dumbbells to work on the short head of the biceps. We don’t need a bench.
• Easy to do, and you can train hard with it.

Rep range:

• Hypertrophy: 10-12 reps
• Strength: 1-5 reps

Progression: Spider curl

Suspension Bicep Curl

The use of suspension trainers has grown a lot in recent years.

The suspension bicep curl is a great way to work out for people who use TRX or gymnastic rings.

How to do it:

• Adjust the suspension straps so that the handles are at waist level.
• Step back and hold the handles with your palms facing each other.
• Slowly lean back until your arms are fully extended and your body is at a 45- to 60-degree angle with the floor.
• Keep your belly button in and your feet flat on the ground.
• Raise your body toward the handles by bending at the elbows.
• Slowly move back to where you started.

Pro tip: Depending on how strong you are, you can make the body angle bigger or smaller.

Benefits:

• Suspension trainers let you turn your wrists so you can work your muscles better.
• By changing the length of the suspension straps, you can always change how hard the workout is.

Rep range:

• Hypertrophy: 10-12 reps
• Strength: 1-5 reps

Progression: Wide grip chin-up

Chin-Ups

Chin-ups are one of the most important exercises for the biceps. But they are often forgotten when people try to build big biceps.

These are a versatile upper-body exercise that can be made harder by using weight belts or vests. You can also change the width of your grip to work on the short head of the bicep more.

How to do it:

• Grab a pull-up bar with your palms facing away from you and your knuckles facing you.
• Let your arms go all the way out and let yourself hang down.
• Put your core muscles together and pull yourself up until your chin is above the bar.
• Wait a moment, then slowly go back down to full extension.

Beginners can change this move to fit their skill level by using a resistance band or negatives, also called “slow-lowers.

” It’s important to remember that the supinated grip is what makes this a chin-up. A pull-up, on the other hand, uses the back and shoulders instead of the biceps.

Conclusion

To get big biceps, you need to include targeted moves in your workouts. Bicep workouts are a great way to finish off a workout for upper body strength, or they can be used as an extra exercise on days when you don’t want to do as much.

To get the most out of these bicep exercises, make sure to use the right form, move slowly, and squeeze your muscles at the top of the concentric phase.

FAQs – Best Short Head Bicep Exercises

Camila Smith

I am Camila Smith. I am a fitness expert and personal trainer and a life coach, blogger, and triathlete. As a health and fitness expert, my mission is to cut through the industry’s noise and empower people to find lasting health, happiness, and confidence through sustainable solutions. More About Camila Smith.