10 Best Bodyweight Bicep Exercises To Grow Your Arms | PowerliftingTechnique.com

While dumbbell curls and barbell curls are the most common ways to train your biceps, you can create a great bodyweight workout for the biceps as well. Whether you find yourself without access to your normal equipment or just prefer to add some variety to your workout, bodyweight biceps exercises can be a great option. 

So how do you know which exercises are the best bodyweight bicep exercises? The best bodyweight biceps exercises will specifically isolate or at least heavily rely on your biceps to complete the movement. These include movements that require you to bend and straighten your arms at the elbow with only your body weight as load/resistance. 

I’ve compiled a list of the 10 best bodyweight exercises for biceps to help you grow your arms with things you may never have tried before but are time-tested, proven methods. 

10 Best Bodyweight Bicep Exercises

The best bicep bodyweight exercises are:

1. Bodyweight curls
2. Isometric bodyweight curls
3. Negative bodyweight curls
4. Inverted rows
5. Isometric inverted rows
6. Negative inverted rows
7. Chin-ups
8. Isometric chin-ups
9. Negative chin-ups
10. Isometric bicep holds

1. Bodyweight Curls

While your body weight is the only load you use for these bodyweight bicep curls, you can still rely on some equipment to get into a good position to leverage your body weight against your biceps. In this case, you’ll use a mounted rack, a barbell on a rack, a pull-up bar in a door frame at chest height, or any other stable anchor you can hold out in front of yourself. 

How To

1. Place your hands shoulder-width apart, palms up, on a racked barbell, pull-up bar, or another anchored handle in front of you at chest height.

2. Place your feet directly under the barbell or pull-up bar.

3. Lean back until your arms are fully extended and your upper body and legs are aligned straight. You should be at about a 45-degree angle.

4. Pull yourself up to the bar bending only at the elbows. Touch the bar to your chest or shoulders.

5. Repeat for reps.

Pro Tip

Similar to making push-ups easier by dropping to your knees, you can make these easier by bending at the hips instead of keeping your body straight. 

If you need assistance getting these done as you build biceps strength, try hinging at your hips as you curl instead of keeping your body planked and rigid. This will remove some of the weight of your lower body in the load you put on your biceps. 

2. Isometric Bodyweight Curls

These bodyweight curls can be modified to make them tougher and more interesting by simply holding the fully flexed position of the curl as you hold your chest/shoulders against the anchored bar. 

Set a time for yourself, like 30 seconds, and simply hold that position with your biceps flexed the whole time!

How To

1. Place your hands shoulder-width apart, palms up, on a racked barbell, pull-up bar, or another anchored handle in front of you at chest height. 

2. Place your feet directly under the barbell or pull-up bar.

3. Lean back until your arms are fully extended, and your upper body and legs are aligned straight. You should be at about a 45-degree angle.

4. Pull yourself up to the bar bending only at the elbows. Touch the bar to your chest or shoulders.

5. Hold this position with your biceps fully engaged for a set period of time (5+ seconds, for example).

6. Repeat for reps.

Pro Tip

These isometric exercises become truly effective when you focus on not simply holding the position but flexing and contracting your biceps as hard as you can while you do. 

Think of pulling so hard against the bar that you’re trying to pull your chest through the bar entirely and hold that intensity for the full time you set for yourself. 

It’s that intense time under tension that will get you results, so don’t baby it!

3. Negative Bodyweight Curls

You can also modify bodyweight curls by adding a tempo to the downward, or negative, portion of the lift when moving your chest away from the bar. 

When trained properly, negative or eccentric portions of the lift strengthen the lift overall. You can train them to make your biceps stronger by focusing on this half of the movement. 

How To

1. Place your hands shoulder-width apart, palms up, on a racked barbell, pull-up bar, or another anchored handle in front of you at chest height.

2. Place your feet directly under the barbell or pull-up bar.

3. Lean back until your arms are fully extended, and your upper body and legs are aligned straight. You should be at about a 45-degree angle.

4. Pull yourself up to the bar bending only at the elbows. Touch the bar to your chest or shoulders.

5. Lower your body for 5+ seconds until your arms are fully extended.

6. Repeat for reps using the same tempo for each negative portion of the rep.

Pro Tip

Time under tension is how muscles grow, and negative reps with a tempo give us a LOT of time under tension. That’s the whole benefit of this variation, so use a training partner to keep you honest or set a stopwatch to make sure you get the full tempo with each downward rep. 

If you set 5 seconds as your tempo, don’t rush it! If you set 10 seconds as your tempo, use the full 10 seconds! 

These will start hurting and sucking a few reps in – stay focused and give each rep its due time!

Wondering what the best tempo is when doing bicep curls? Check out Is It Better To Do Bicep Curls Fast or Slow?

4. Inverted Rows

While the inverted row is mostly thought of as a back exercise, it still requires the contraction and extension of the biceps to get the back involved in the first place. It’s a fantastic bodyweight bicep exercise when limited to unweighted options. 

How To

1. Lie underneath an anchored barbell on the floor with the bar on a rack above you or on a bench press with the bar racked overhead.

2. Grip the bar with your palms up about shoulder-width apart or slightly narrower.

3. With your body in an aligned, planked position and your heels resting on the ground, pull yourself to the bar so only your heels touch the floor and your chest touches the barbell.

4. Lower yourself back down until your elbows are fully extended.

5. Repeat for reps.

Pro Tip

Keep those hips locked! A common mistake with inverted rows is letting the hips bend, which takes away from the amount of body weight the biceps rely on to train effectively. 

Ensure your knees and hips are locked and straight, and only your heels touch the ground. 

You can also leverage bent knees to make it easier as you would by kneeling for push-ups. Simply bend your knees and bring your feet closer to your butt with the feet flat on the ground to remove some body weight from the total load. 

But if you do this regression, do it intentionally and don’t rely on it for too long so you can be consistent and work your way up to having your feet straight out. 

5. Isometric Inverted Rows

The isometric inverted row is another bodyweight exercise for the biceps that focuses on time under tension. You can make the same isometric modification here as you did with the bodyweight curls by holding your chest against the bar with intensely flexed biceps for a set time to make these spicy and challenging!

How To

1. Lie underneath an anchored barbell on the floor with the bar on a rack above you or on a bench press with the bar racked overhead.

2. Grip the bar with your palms up about shoulder-width apart or slightly narrower.

3. With your body in an aligned, planked position and your heels resting on the ground, pull yourself to the bar so only your heels touch the floor and your chest touches the barbell.

4. Hold your chest in this position against the barbell, flexing your biceps intensely for the full count you’ve assigned yourself (usually 5+ seconds).

5. Lower yourself back down until your elbows are fully extended.

6. Repeat for reps.

Pro Tip

Because you pause the exercise in the middle, everything becomes exaggerated, not just the amount of time you hold the bar to your chest. This means the small details make a big difference. 

Ensure your body is in the right position – is your torso aligned with your legs, locked at the hips? If you are using an easier method, like bending your knees, are you doing it on purpose, or are you getting lazy when they should be straight? Are your biceps flexed and squeezing as hard as they can during the hold?

Go through this checklist while you hold – we both know you have time to think, as every second feels like 10 seconds while holding this position!

Looking for other upper back and bicep exercises to add to your routine? Check out our list of the best inverted row alternatives.

6. Negative Inverted Rows

If you can’t hold the bar on your chest or want a different challenge to vary the inverted row, add a tempo to your negative descent!

How To

1. Lie underneath an anchored barbell on the floor with the bar on a rack above you or on a bench press with the bar racked overhead.

2. Grip the bar with your palms up about shoulder-width apart or slightly narrower.

3. With your body in an aligned, planked position and your heels resting on the ground, pull yourself to the bar so only your heels touch the floor and your chest touches the barbell.

4. Lower yourself back down until your elbows are fully extended, exaggerating this half of the movement over the time you assign yourself (5+ seconds, for example).

5. Repeat for reps.

Pro Tip

Keep your negative portion steady. If your tempo is 5 seconds, don’t hold it for 3 seconds and then drop for 2 or go 60% of the way down in 1 second and then spend 4 seconds on the last 40%. Make sure your body descends at a steady tempo over the time you set for yourself. 

Not only do you want to ensure your descent lasts the full 5 seconds, but you also want it to be steady and consistent to get the best results. 

7. Chin-Ups

I think chin-ups are one of the best bodyweight exercises for the biceps. They are pull-ups with your palms facing away from you, which supinates your arms to put more emphasis on your biceps! While your lats get a good workout, too, this is a great movement to include in your bodyweight bicep workout. 

How To

1. Grip a pull-up bar overhead at about shoulder-width apart or slightly narrower.

2. Allow yourself to hang, so your elbows are fully extended.

3. Pull yourself up to the bar until your chin passes it.

4. Lower yourself back down until your arms are fully extended again.

5. Repeat for reps.

Pro Tip

You can focus on keeping your biceps flexed and engaged the whole time to get more out of this exercise. 

Instead of fully relaxing at the bottom of the rep with your biceps disengaged, try stopping at a position where your elbows are still slightly bent, and your biceps are engaged. This added time under tension will go right to growing and strengthening your biceps. 

8. Isometric Chin-Ups

You may see a pattern here, but you can triple your options with some great bodyweight exercises for the biceps by incorporating isometric and negative tempo variations! The chin-up is a challenging but excellent option to make isometric to add flare to your biceps pump. 

How To

1. Grip a pull-up bar overhead with your palms facing away from you and hands about shoulder-width apart or slightly narrower.

2. Allow yourself to hang, so your elbows are fully extended.

3. Pull yourself up to the bar until your chin passes it.

4. Hold yourself in this position for a set time (5+ seconds, for example).

5. Lower yourself back down until your arms are fully extended again.

6. Repeat for reps.

Pro Tip

When the biceps are the focus, you can feel good about just getting your chin above the bar and won’t need to worry about the bar touching your chest as much. That last bit of range of motion mostly relies on your back muscles anyways. 

Simply ensure your arms are fully extended, your elbows are straight at the bottom, and your chin clears the bar, so you maximize the range of motion in your elbows from extended (straight) to flexed (bent). 

9. Negative Chin-Ups

You guessed it – we get our third option from chin-ups with the negative tempo, just like I recommend with bodyweight curls and inverted rows. 

There’s no getting around it – time under tension is the recipe for muscle growth, especially when you can’t use equipment for resistance and have to rely on weightless bicep workouts. Negative tempos give us all the TUT we could ever want. 

How To

1. Grip a pull-up bar overhead with your palms facing away from you and hands about shoulder-width apart or slightly narrower.

2. Allow yourself to hang, so your elbows are fully extended.

3. Pull yourself up to the bar until your chin passes it.

4. Lower yourself back down over the tempo you assign yourself (5+ seconds, for example) until your arms are fully extended again.

5. Repeat for reps.

Pro Tip

This is a fantastic way to train yourself to do unassisted chin-ups in the first place.

Most people are stronger on the eccentric or downward portion of any lift – for example, you can typically descend a squat with control more easily than you can stand it up. 

The same goes for chin-ups. You can jump up, get your chin above the bar, and lower yourself with control even before you have the strength to pull yourself up without assistance. 

I recommend negative chin-ups strongly over assisted chin-ups with counterweight or elastic bands because lifters are less reliant on external assistance and can move on to conventional chin-ups more quickly. 

Wondering if rows and chin-up and pull-up variations are enough to train your back and biceps? Check out Are Rows & Pull-Ups Enough for Back and Biceps?

10. Isometric Bicep Holds

Isometric bicep holds are one of my favorite biceps bodyweight exercises when I’m looking for some variety in my training.

They are fun and different from the bodyweight curls because you aren’t moving your body for this lift. Instead, you use a firmly anchored surface, like a heavy table, a safety bar on a squat rack, or a super heavy barbell to try a curl that will never move. 

You simply pull against an immovable object in the curl position and pull as hard as you can for a set period of time!

You get the same benefits as the bodyweight isometric curl. Still, you can be much more intense in flexing and maintaining tension when pulling as hard as you can against an anchored object in an upright, strong position. 

How To

1. Place your hands with your palms up under a horizontally placed, immovable object or surface (heavy barbell you can’t move, anchored table, or squat rack).

2. With your elbows at your sides, as if you were performing a curl, pull your hands against the bottom of that surface as hard as you can.

3. Hold this intense position for a set time (5+ seconds usually).

4. Rest and repeat for reps.

Pro Tip

Think about the range of motion of a curl – there’s the bottom third (elbows at an angle greater than 90 degrees), the middle (elbows at 90 degrees), and the top third (elbows at a more acute angle than 90 degrees). 

You can do isometrics in each position, depending on where you place your anchored, immovable grip. 

The bodyweight isometric curl ONLY trains the acute, or top portion, of the lift as your biceps are fully flexed. So you can use isometric bicep holds to manipulate which portion of the biceps curl to emphasize. 

For example, you can strengthen the bottom third of the lift with a lower immovable object. You can train the middle with an object placed where your elbows bend 90 degrees to meet it. 

Find ways to train all three to get the best results!

How To Create Your Own Bodyweight Bicep Routine

As you think about creating bodyweight biceps workouts, focus on three key things:

• Variety
• Progression
• Total sets and reps

Variety

Although you are creating a program specifically for the biceps, you want to keep a well-rounded program by incorporating a few different bodyweight bicep exercises. 

For example, inverted rows and chin-ups are compound exercises that also incorporate back muscles. These should be included along with isolated exercises like the isometric bicep holds and bodyweight curls. 

Beyond including a variation of each of these, you can and should have variety by changing the exercises you select and cycling through negatives, isometric holds, and sets for reps.

Including variety in your bodyweight bicep workouts is also a good way to train your biceps from multiple angles and fix uneven bicep strength or appearance.

Progression

No program is any good if you don’t progress it to keep it challenging as your body adapts and gets stronger. 

For sets you perform for reps, you can add more reps or reduce your rest time between sets to increase the intensity and progress those exercises. 

For negative tempos, you can increase the tempo and make the negative portion longer. You can also add more reps of negative tempos and shorten the time between sets. 

For isometrics, you can increase the time you hold the “squeeze” and improve your intensity by squeezing even tighter on those reps. You can also decrease rest time. 

Finally, supersets are a great way to keep the biceps blasted by pairing two biceps bodyweight exercises and alternating sets between each one to keep the biceps going. However, you’re training slightly different exercises, one after the other. 

In most scenarios, it would be silly to ignore biceps exercises with equipment. Program bodyweight bicep exercises without equipment as components of a larger program that uses dumbbells, barbells, cables, and machines!

Where these are all available, I love programming bodyweight exercises early in the workout as a warm-up or as a finisher at the end, when body weight is all I can handle to burn out a few final sets. 

Whatever you do to progress your program, make sure it continues to be intense as you adapt and get stronger. 

Total Sets and Reps

Just because you do one set of each exercise doesn’t mean you had a great bodyweight bicep workout (though 10 sets is a decent start). 

Pick 3-4 of these exercises and perform 3-5 sets of each for a total of 9-20 sets in your workout. At an average of 8 reps per set, you’ve got 72-160 biceps reps in a single workout!

Your biceps will get the message much clearer that they need to grow and adapt when you give them a consistent number of sets and reps per week, whether you’re using body weight or any other load to train them. 

If you’re looking for bodyweight triceps exercises to round out your arm training, check out the 12 best bodyweight triceps exercises.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can You Work Your Biceps With Bodyweight?

Yes, you can train your biceps using only your body weight. Exercises like chin-ups, inverted rows, and bodyweight curls target the biceps and rely only on your body weight to create a load for them to pull. 

Can You Get Big Arms With Bodyweight Exercises?

If you eat in a caloric surplus and put your arm muscles under stress, you can grow your arms with bodyweight bicep workouts. However, you will eventually plateau and need more load to keep growing. At this point, bodyweight exercises can be included in a more complex program.

About The Author

Adam Gardner

Adam Gardner is a proud resident of Utah, where he lives with his wife and two kids. He has been competing in powerlifting since 2016 in both the USPA and the APF. For the past three years, he and his wife, Merrili, have coached beginning lifters to learn the fundamentals of powerlifting and compete in their first powerlifting competitions.