Biceps without dumbbells: effective pumping at home

Biceps is a shoulder muscle. Its main function is to flex the shoulder and forearm and evert the hand. The antagonist of the biceps is the triceps. He, in turn, is responsible for extending the arm. The biceps, or biceps muscle, affects the volume of the arm, which is an indicator of a man’s physical fitness and endurance, and this is where bodybuilding begins.

Home or gym?

This question is asked sooner or later by everyone who begins to lead a healthy lifestyle. It all depends on what goal the beginning athlete sets for himself. In order to simply keep your muscles in good shape, regular workouts at home and jogging in the mornings or evenings are enough.

However, if the goal is to achieve beautiful relief forms, “tubercles on the arms” and “cubes on the abs,” then there is no way to do without a variety of exercise machines - very important for thoroughly working out the muscles. The next very important advantage of the gym is the presence of partners, whose backup is simply necessary to perform any serious strength exercises on the machines.

The third and very important “pro” is a coach, a person who has already learned all the difficulties and mistakes of bodybuilding and now devotes time to beginners, sharing his experience and skills with them. It is the trainer who will tell you which exercises are most effective, which exercise machines are suitable for you, how to avoid mistakes in training, how to pump up your biceps and triceps, etc.

Exercises for pumping up biceps in the gym

Pumping up biceps in the gym requires regular training, usually 2-3 times a week. Consult a specialist or create a program yourself and determine the order of exercises. At the same time, keep in mind that the biceps act together with the spinal muscles, and exercises performed on machines involve related muscle groups, which allows them to be developed evenly.

Lifting a barbell to train biceps

An exercise for biceps, without which it is impossible to pump up the muscle. The weight of the bar is selected individually. Grasp the barbell from below, placing your hands at a comfortable distance. Place your body straight, squeeze your shoulder blades, bend your elbows. Perform barbell presses up to 10 times in 1 set, perform up to 4 approaches.

The nuances of training biceps by lifting a barbell:

Place your elbows close to your body. This feature of the exercise will allow you to evenly distribute the weight of the projectile. Beginners starting training put their elbows back.
Place your back against a support such as a wall or a power rack. Athletes practice without “assistants”.
The lower phase of the exercise is 2 times slower than the upper phase. Exhaling, lift the projectile, lower it, inhaling air.
Do not straighten your arms completely when lowering the bar. Keep your elbows slightly bent. This technique will keep your biceps tense and not overstrain your joints. Do not relax your flexor muscles as you complete the exercise.

Knowing how to pump up your biceps with a barbell, repeat the workout at home without the supervision of a trainer.

By the way, about nutrition

The results of training largely depend not only on the quantity of training and its quality. Proper sports nutrition is the subject of a huge amount of controversy and research. However, one thing is clear - training without proper nutrition will not be effective enough.

Before starting classes, it is recommended to consume carbohydrates and proteins, but in no case fats. Carbohydrates are needed to provide the body with energy for exercise, while proteins are needed for the muscles themselves. Proteins are a kind of building material for fibers.

The most common foods to eat before a workout are:

poultry with bread or rice;
lean beef with potatoes (boiled or steamed);
eggs and oatmeal.

If the portion is large, it is better to eat it a couple of hours before training so that the food has time to digest. The stomach must be empty during exercise, otherwise nausea, pain, and belching may occur. If the portion is small (half a plate of porridge), then you can eat it 30 minutes before training. In addition, before classes it is recommended to drink strong coffee or tea (without cream).

The body's main need during physical activity is water. It is very important not to forget to drink, even if you are not thirsty. Symptoms of dehydration may include: dizziness, headache, irritability, dry mouth, fatigue, etc. In this case, you should pause your workout for a few minutes and drink fluids.

Before starting your workout, you need to drink a glass of water, and then during the process you need to drink a little every twenty minutes, depending on your sweating. You can also drink freshly squeezed juices diluted with water.

Eating after a workout is very important. Everything that an athlete consumes in the first 20 minutes after exercise will go towards muscle recovery. They need carbohydrates and proteins for growth, because how can you pump up your biceps at home if you don’t eat everything you need?

It is best to drink some juice and eat rice with vegetables (or fruit, bread, potatoes, etc.).

A bodybuilder's diet should be low in fat. Fatty meats should be avoided. Fish, chicken and turkey breasts, sometimes veal are the best option; it is better to do without beef and pork. Only the white in eggs can be eaten. Depending on the goal that the student sets for himself, nutrition will vary. For weight gain - one diet, for relief - another.

Why is warm-up necessary?

Before pumping up your biceps at home, you need to familiarize yourself with the basic rules. In no case should you forget about warming up before training. It allows you to speed up blood circulation, stretch your muscles and joints, preparing them for serious stress and protect them from injury.

The most common option is a general warm-up for all muscle groups.

It is performed before training in order to warm up the muscles and ligaments, as well as to improve the functioning of the respiratory organs and organs of the cardiovascular system.

It can be in the form of jogging or jumping rope, in the form of stretching or simple light exercises for the main muscle groups. Neglecting stretching is stupid and dangerous.

How to pump up biceps at home? It is quite difficult, so weights should be used to increase the effectiveness of the exercises. If it is not possible to use dumbbells at home, there are alternative options.

Breathing technique

When practicing biceps exercises at home, special attention should be paid to breathing techniques. General recommendations on how to breathe during strength training boil down to the fact that the strength movement is done while exhaling. Inhalation is carried out during the relaxation phase.

Sometimes experienced athletes practice a short delay either at the “start” of the exercise or at the point of maximum effort. When you exhale, the core muscles naturally tense, which helps avoid injury when performing the exercise and stabilizes the spinal column.

Push-ups and pull-ups

Another way to pump up your biceps without dumbbells is to do pull-ups from the floor. A rather unusual exercise, but no less effective, is pulling up from the floor using a table and chair. To perform it, you should lie under the table and put your feet on a stool or chair. Then grab the edges of the table from below and slowly pull yourself up.

Push-ups are a classic exercise that must be performed with your hands shoulder-width apart. The back should be straight, not sagging. You should lower yourself deeply, preferably touching the floor with your chin. This exercise also works the triceps and pectoral muscles.

For this exercise, options are possible: push-ups on fists, push-ups on one hand, the main thing is not to make sudden movements. The muscle works when the load is high, and the load increases when the exercise is performed slowly.

Barbell exercises

The first way is to lift the barbell while standing. You should stand straight, with your feet shoulder-width apart. Bend your back slightly in the lumbar region. Then, bending and straightening your elbows, you need to lift the barbell to chest level. When gripping, your palms should face forward. Be sure to ensure that your elbows remain in the same position. Perform movements without jerking, smoothly.

The second way is to lift the barbell with a reverse grip. A similar exercise compared to the previous one, allowing you to use slightly different muscle groups. The only difference is that the grip should be reversed, palms facing down.

How to pump up your biceps with dumbbells?

Sitting on a stool, your legs should be spread slightly to the sides. The hand with the dumbbells is placed between the legs. Then slow flexion and extension of the elbow begins, arms alternate. Bending is done while exhaling. The second version of this exercise - the hand rests on the thigh, the technique is the same.

While sitting on a stool, spread your legs not very wide. Dumbbells should be taken in both hands, lowered to the right and left from the outside. Then the elbows slowly bend and straighten, and the dumbbells are raised to chest level. The second version of this exercise is alternate bending of arms.

How to train at home?

Rules for training at home:

When training at home, it is more convenient and safer to use an athletic bench rather than other items for sitting and lying exercises. It would be ideal if the design of the bench allows for adjustment of the backrest angle. This option allows you to do not only curls with dumbbells while sitting, but also many exercises for other muscles.
When using a horizontal bar, its fastening should be as reliable as possible , so that you can exercise not only with “your own” weight, but also safely use additional weights for pull-ups. Do not attach the horizontal bar to wooden, plasterboard or plasterboard surfaces. It is better if it is attached to a concrete or brick wall with several long anchors or dowels.
Before training, be sure to warm up and stretch the muscles being trained. And after training, you need to do a cool-down and stretching.
Smooth swings and arm rotations are suitable as a warm-up . First you need to perform rotations in the shoulder joints in both directions, then in the elbow and wrist joints. The hands should be clenched into a fist during swings.
Stretching the biceps brachii muscles occurs along with stretching the pectoral muscles . You can stretch with each hand separately or with both hands at the same time. In the first option, you need to grab a stable object at chest level with one straightened hand and smoothly move forward, feeling the stretching of the muscles of the chest and biceps, stay in this position for a few seconds and return to the starting position. Do this several times for both hands. The second stretch option involves using support for each arm. This can be a doorway, when resting your hands at chest level on the doorframes and leaning forward, you can also stretch your biceps and chest muscles. Jerking and strong muscle strain should not be allowed. There should be no pain when stretching!
After training, the same manipulations are performed. Cooling down and stretching after training is necessary to ensure that the muscles do not become “clogged” and gradually shorten as a result of intense contractions during strength training. This effect is best observed on the biceps, when an athlete standing in a calm state has his arms slightly bent at the elbows and not fully extended. This shouldn't happen. Even large and strong muscles must be functional, resilient and elastic.