If you want to start working out, you might immediately consider adding bicep exercises to your routine. After all, bicep exercises are great for strengthening your arms and enhancing their appearance.
But then again, the bicep workouts you’re following may be neglecting your long-head biceps.
Fortunately, that problem can be solved by incorporating long-head bicep exercises into your workout routine. And if you’re here to do just that, here’s everything you need to know about exercising this muscle part, including valuable knowledge to help you understand how you can train your long-head biceps effectively.
The Anatomy of the Biceps
Before diving into practical long-head bicep exercises, you should first understand the different parts of the biceps. Doing so will help you understand how particular muscles are trained during other bicep workouts. In addition, knowing the anatomy of the biceps will help you know the best means to prepare the muscles.
The biceps, also known as the biceps brachii, consists of two heads. These include the long head and the short head biceps. Together, these parts function as your main elbow flexors.
Furthermore, you should know that all muscles have an origin (the part that doesn’t move during exercises) and an insertion (the part that moves during exercises). Both parts are responsible for securing the muscles’ tendons to your bones.
Although short and long heads originate in the scapula, they are attached to different parts. After all, the long head bicep is attached to the supraglenoid tubercle. On the other hand, the short head bicep is attached to the coracoid process.
In terms of location, the long head is situated on top of your upper arm’s anterior area, while the short head bicep is found in your upper arm’s interior space. Therefore, working out the short head will improve your bicep’s width, while working out the long head will provide your biceps that tall peak you’re likely after.
Why a Regular Bicep Workout Might Neglect the Long Head Biceps
Regular bicep exercises such as bicep curls and chin-ups primarily target the short head of the bicep muscle, which is the more significant and visible part of the muscle. These exercises involve flexion of the elbow joint, which mainly recruits the short head of the biceps
Besides that, most beginners make the mistake of using heavier weights or more reps in their workout. That said, you can further build your long-head biceps by incorporating the following techniques into your following bicep workouts below:
- Bringing your hands closer
- Utilizing a neutral grip
- Doing curls with your elbows positioned on either side of your body
- Doing curls with your elbows placed at the back of your body
3 Best Long Head Bicep Exercises You Can Do
If you want to develop your long-head biceps, here are three different long-head bicep exercises you can do to build and strengthen them below:
1. Incline Dumbbell Curls
Although it’s optimal to use an incline gym bench, you may also use any seat with an inclined back. The best thing about this workout is that you can’t cheat your lifts. After all, being positioned inclined takes away the momentum, ensuring you have to do your curls the proper way.
Steps to do this exercise:
- Rest your back on an inclined gym bench or seat at an angle of sixty degrees
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand and extend your arms
- Curl the dumbbells until they reach your shoulders (make sure that your shoulders aren’t moving as you execute this move)
- Hold the curl for around one second before slowly lowering the dumbbells
Tips:
- Maintain a neutral wrist position throughout the movement to avoid excessive stress on your wrists.
- Keep your elbows tucked in at your sides to maximize the activation of the bicep muscles.
- Use a weight that challenges you but allows you to maintain proper form throughout the exercise.
2. Hammer Curls
If you’re a beginner, hammer curls may be to your liking. Since this exercise utilizes a neutral wrist position, you won’t have difficulty learning this exercise. This long-head bicep exercise is also great for targeting your inner biceps and forearms, allowing you to build thicker arms in the long run.
Steps to do this exercise:
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand and go in a standing position
- Make sure your wrists are positioned so that they face each other
- While keeping your arms on your sides, flex your elbows to bring the dumbbells up to shoulder height
- Finally, slowly bring the dumbbells downwards
Tips:
- Keep your elbows tucked in at your sides throughout the movement to maximize the activation of the bicep muscles.
- Keep your wrists neutral and avoid excessive wrist flexion or extension.
- Use a weight that challenges you but allows you to maintain proper form throughout the exercise.
3. Preacher Curl
The preacher curl is an isolation exercise that targets the bicep muscles, particularly the long head. It is named after the preacher curl bench that is used for the exercise.
Steps to do this exercise:
- Sit on the preacher curl bench and adjust the height so your arms can fully extend over the pad. Your armpits should rest on the top of the pad, and your feet should be planted firmly on the floor.
- Grasp an EZ bar or dumbbell with an underhand grip, with your hands spaced slightly narrower than shoulder-width apart.
- Keeping your elbows stationary, curl the weight up towards your shoulders while exhaling.
- Squeeze your biceps at the top of the movement and hold briefly.
- Slowly lower the weight back down to the starting position while inhaling.
- Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
Tips:
- Keep your elbows stationary throughout the movement to maximize the activation of the bicep muscles.
- Focus on squeezing your biceps at the top of the movement for maximum contraction.
- Use a weight that challenges you but allows you to maintain proper form throughout the exercise.
Conclusion
If you want to exercise your biceps, it’s important to give attention to your long-head biceps as well. After all, most exercises are catered to build the short head.
More importantly, if you want biceps with taller peaks, long-head bicep exercises are definitely the way to go.
And now that you have a better understanding of your bicep anatomy, you can do the proper exercises to develop your long-head biceps easily.
