Top 11 Compound Bicep Exercises: Build Bigger, Stronger Arms

The best movements to help trigger growth in your arms are compound exercises.

However, choosing the right bicep exercises is a big factor in whether you'll achieve the arms you're aiming for.

That's why I'll share the best exercises I'd use with my clients to get bigger and stronger biceps.

Below are the 11 best compound exercises for biceps:

1. Chin Ups
2. Inverted Row
3. Cable Drag Curls
4. V-Bar Lat Pulldowns
5. Neutral Grip Pull Ups
6. One Arm Bent Over Cable Pulls
7. Supinated Lat Pulldowns
8. Seated Underhand Cable Rows
9. Swinging Dumbbell Hammer Curls
10. Dumbbell Hammer Grip Rows
11. Dumbbell Zottman Curls

This article will discuss this selection of compound bicep exercises and why we want to promote compound lifts for arms versus single-joint movements. 

These exercises greatly influence building massive arms; we are here to break down the science. So, if you want to grow strong and massive biceps, don’t leave this page yet!

11 Best Compound Bicep Exercises

To grow your arms, it is best to implement compound lifts for the biceps. These multi-joint movements are a testament to strength and elicit the best growth response. 

Below, we will discuss some of the best bicep compound exercises for arms. We will discuss not only the execution of each movement but also tips and benefits for including each movement in your next workout. 

1. Chin Ups

The chin-up is easily one of this list's best bicep compound exercises. It requires the lifter to use an underhand grip, which influences elbow placement and puts more resistance on the bicep muscle. The chin-up is easily performed on a pull-up bar, which is most likely to exist at your local gym.

Since this movement requires using body weight, an advanced lifter would likely benefit more than a beginner. 

How To Do The Chin Up

1. Grab the pull up bar with an underhand grip, shoulder width apart. 
2. While hanging, you will begin to lift your body upward so that your chin is either level or above the pull up bar.
3. Once you have met this standard, slowly bring your body downward and repeat this process for the prescribed number of reps per working set.

Pro Tip

I recommend that those who struggle to perform a chin-up try to focus on an “eccentric” or “negative” rep chin-up. This means that when you move, you try to focus on the downward phase for at least 5-6 seconds. The upward phase is easily the hardest part. 

However, if you start at the top of the movement and focus on the negative aspect of the lift, this phase of the lift is quite exhausting. After 3-5 reps of doing this, your biceps will be screaming with exhaustion and ready to grow!

If you want to learn more about bodyweight exercises for biceps, check out this article that names the top 10 bodyweight exercises you can do for biceps!

2. Inverted Rows

The inverted row is typically a back-dominant movement that grows your posterior chain. 

However, the inverted row requires the arm's powerful flexors (the biceps) to be strong and capable of performing this bodyweight movement. Since this movement is an easier variation of a bodyweight exercise, it’s friendly for any beginner ready to learn.

This movement requires body weight but can be manipulated in a few ways to improve the biceps' engagement and make it a strong movement for bicep density. 

How To Do The Inverted Row

1. Place an empty barbell on j-hooks at just about hip height. 
2. Get underneath the barbell and place your grip shoulder-width apart.
3. Ensure your arms are directly underneath the bar and vertical to the ground when you grab the bar. 
4. Extend your legs straight to make the movement harder, or bend your knees to make the movement easier. 
5. Pull yourself to the bar, preferably with tight elbows to help favor the bicep muscle.
6. After you reach the bar, return to the starting position and repeat this process for the prescribed number of reps. 

Pro Tip

The inverted row favors the back muscles. If you change your grip from overhand to underhand, you put your biceps in a tougher position to perform. This means they will be the primary muscle used to generate movement, which helps them grow the most.

3. Cable Drag Curls

The cable drag curl is a compound exercise that requires the lifter to curl a straight bar from a low pulley by dragging it against the body. Dragging the bar means the elbows move backward, which causes the shoulder joint to move. This is traditionally not the case with most bicep curling movements.

This variation of a typical bicep curl helps to target different fibers of the bicep muscle. And although it sounds advanced, any lifter can benefit from this movement in their program. This movement only targets the bicep muscles, so it’s not like other movements in this article. 

How To Do The Cable Drag Curl

1. Adjust the pulley system so the cable starts from the bottom.
2. Use a straight bar attachment to connect to the cable system.
3. Grab the straight bar, stand tall, and ensure the amount of weight you choose comes off the weight stack so you immediately begin with resistance.
4. Start the curling motion by dragging the bar up the body until you reach the bottom of your chest.
5. While dragging, your elbows should move backward, requiring your shoulder joint to be in motion. This dragging motion helps make this bicep curl a more rigorous variation than a typical cable bicep curl.
6. Hold this position briefly at the top before moving to the starting position.
7. Repeat this process for the prescribed reps within the working set.

Pro Tip

As mentioned above, the cable drag curl primarily works the bicep muscle and doesn’t incorporate the back muscles. This helps to provide variation to programming so you can isolate the bicep muscle without doing a single joint exercise. 

If you struggle with the straight bar's grip, you can change the attachment to something such as an EZ bar or ropes to help adjust your grip for comfort.

4. V-Bar Lat Pulldowns

The name of this movement alludes to the idea that it is a back-dominant exercise. However, because the movement requires a v-bar attachment, the change of grip influences the elbow’s position during movement that accommodates to the elbow joint for recruiting more of the bicep.

Although this exercise recruits the biceps, it also recruits the back muscles. In return, using multiple muscle groups allows you to load more weight to help strengthen both the biceps and the back muscles. If placed correctly, this movement can be a great addition to any program. 

How To Do The V-Bar Lat Pulldown

1. Start by attaching the v-bar to the lat pulldown pulley system. This attachment is pivotal and makes the movement more bicep dominant.
2. As you pull the cable downward, lean back slightly, so the attachment makes contact with your upper chest.
3. Keep your elbows tight and close to the sides of your body during the downward phase and afterward during the upward phase.
4. Make sure every rep touches your chest. This increases the range of motion and puts more resistance on the elbow joint to further flex and complete each rep.

Pro Tip

If you perform multiple reps of this movement, you begin to “yank” the weight downward and recruit more of your back muscles than your biceps. 

To limit this issue, I suggest you change the tempo of this movement and start to fatigue the muscle in a different way. Instead of doing more than 10 reps on this exercise, perhaps aim to do 6, 8, or 10 reps. 

But use a variety of tempos to improve time under tension for more exhaustion. 

5. Neutral Grip Pull Ups

The chin up was noted as a top compound exercise to train the bicep muscle. However, the chin up requires an underhand grip that could be a tough position to place your grip. 

The idea of the neutral grip pull up is that it’s an easier variation of the chin up, but in the neutral position, you are much stronger because you are not recruiting only your bicep muscle but your back muscle as well. This might not be ideal for your routine, but compromises sometimes must happen.

If you continue to struggle with the neutral grip pull-up as a compound bicep movement, try using the previous exercise, “v-bar lat pulldown,” which primarily mimics this exercise as a pulling movement that recruits the bicep muscle for execution.

How To Do The Neutral Grip Pull Up

1. Grab the neutral grip of a pull up bar, meaning your grip has your palms facing each other. If you do not have access to this type of pull up attachment, use a dip bar instead. 
2. While hanging, you will begin to lift your body upward so that your chin is either level or above the pull up bar.
3. Once you have met this standard, slowly bring your body downward and repeat this process for the prescribed number of reps per working set.

Pro Tip

If you would like to focus on getting more reps, try a “band-supported” variation.

You would take a resistance band, tie it to the top of the attachment, and place your feet or knees through the band to assist you during each rep. This can allow you to perform this exercise with various resistance levels and occasionally change the band's size to help overload your anatomy for future success!

If you need more time in your routine, how about supersetting biceps with chest exercises too? Check out this article about the 3 benefits of training biceps with chest on the same day!

6. One Arm Bent Over Cable Pull

This exciting exercise can be done using a cable system or even a resistance band. The idea of the one arm bent over cable pull is for the lifter to perform an underhand row from a bent position toward the chest. Since it is a pulling movement, the lifter will train their back. 

However, since this movement requires an underhand grip, it will mostly recruit the bicep muscles, making this compound exercise a bicep-dominant variation compared to other pulling motions.

This exercise should be suitable for both beginners and advanced lifters. The only issues might be the setup and proper execution. Pulling while maintaining horizontal resistance is a must, so it’s important to pay close attention during execution and set up the pulley system to meet the needs of this exercise.

How To Do The One Arm Bent Over Cable Pull

1. For this exercise to work, you must maintain horizontal resistance throughout the movement. To do so, set the pulley system to hip height, so the cable stays level with the floor (horizontal).
2. Grab the pulley, and walk back until the weight comes off the weight stack to have immediate resistance. 
3. Bend over so that your upper body is level with the floor and your head directly faces the pulley system.
4. After establishing your bent position, extend your arm and begin performing the exercise.
5. Pull the cable towards your chest and maintain the underhand position. 
6. Once you have pulled the cable to the top of your chest, pause the movement briefly and stretch your arm back to the starting position. 
7. Repeated this process for the number of reps prescribed. 

Pro Tip

Many movements on this list require a cable pulley system. If this is impossible and you need to perform this movement, perhaps use a resistance band instead. Although the resistance band doesn’t provide consistent resistance throughout each rep, the resistance gets harder near the end of the lift, which is the strongest part of the lift.

Another tip would be to adjust your grip to accommodate discomfort while maintaining the underhand position. 

7. Supinated Lat Pulldown

The supinated lat pulldown requires an underhand grip that keeps the elbows from moving outward. Instead, it requires the elbows to stay tight to the body, accommodating the elbow joint for recruiting your bicep muscles.

Although this exercise is a pulling movement, the grip significantly affects the recruitment between varying muscle groups. It’s very similar to a chin-up and allows the lifter to adjust their resistance. This means you can go heavier than you would on a chin-up or lighter if you struggle to do bodyweight exercises.

That means this movement should be a friendly variation on the chin-up for any beginner who needs time to build strength.

How To Do The Supinated Lat Pulldown

1. Approach the lat pulldown machine and place your hands on the bar with an underhand grip. 
2. Make sure your grip is shoulder width apart.
3. While holding the attachment, sit and get positioned inside the pulley system. 
4. Pull the cable towards your upper chest while keeping the elbows close to your sides.
5. As you continue to pull the weight towards your chest, start leaning back slightly to help accommodate the touchpoint of your chest.
6. After making contact, bring the cable back to the starting position and perform the number of reps prescribed for this exercise.  

Pro Tip

When performing the supinated lat pulldown, lean back to improve the path of the movement. Many people perform any lat pulldown variation seated upright, which puts more strain on the shoulder joint. If you lean slightly backward, that will improve the movement and recruitment of the desired muscle. 

8. Seated Underhand Cable Row

Unlike other exercises on this list, the seated underhand cable row is performed from a seated position. That’s why it is so valuable to include it as a compound bicep exercise. When creating a program focused on bicep size and strength, it is important to select movements performed from various angles and positions.

This exercise will train your back muscles, but the underhand grip primarily engages your bicep muscles. The fact you perform this from a seated position without chest support also means you have to have a strong core, which might be tough on beginner lifters.

How To Do The Seated Underhand Cable Row

1. This exercise can be done inside a predesigned seated cable rowing machine or seated on the floor with a straight bar attachment.
2. Get your hands on the straight bar with an underhand grip. 
3. Begin pulling the cable to stay horizontal and have a touch point just below your chest.
4. Once you reach the correct touch point, return the cable to the starting position and repeat this process for each prescribed rep. 

Pro Tip

Aiming too low on the seated underhand cable row might not recruit the bicep muscle correctly. 

You want the cable to stay horizontal so that it is “at level” with the ground so resistance is correctly displaced on the bicep muscle. If you keep the cable horizontal, the touch point (where the resistance will touch you) should be the lower part of your chest or close to your stomach. 

It’s also important to be seated upright or leaning back slightly so your back does not become rounded. 

9. Swinging Dumbbell Hammer Curls

The swinging dumbbell hammer curl might seem odd for compound movement, but not every compound bicep exercise requires pulling or motion. The fact you start to “swing” the dumbbell means you will incorporate the shoulder joint for generating movement. 

The goal isn’t to train the shoulder joint. The goal is to overload the bicep by getting a “partial” swing of the dumbbell to help you lift more than normal weight.

Because this movement requires a specific strategy of “partially” swinging the dumbbell, it’s best suited for an advanced lifter, not a beginner. 

How To Do The Swinging Dumbbell Hammer Curl

1. Start by holding the dumbbells with a hammer grip (neutral grip) and slightly swing the weight upward using the shoulder joint to gain momentum.
2. Curl the weight slightly past 90 degrees with the elbow, if possible.
3. Use as much control as possible when bringing the weight downward. This will help recruit more of the bicep muscle to help fatigue it much faster. Swinging the weight upward and downward wouldn’t fatigue the bicep muscle as much.
4. Alternate each rep to focus on one arm at a time.

Pro Tip

When doing the swinging dumbbell hammer curl, it’s intended to be done using alternating reps. 

However, if you struggle to perform the movement or want an accommodating variation for your program, do both arms simultaneously to evenly execute the swing of the motion for both arms.

10. Dumbbell Hammer Grip Rows

The dumbbell hammer grip row is a compound bicep exercise that recruits the bicep muscle through the rowing motion. This exercise uses a neutral grip, which helps to influence the use of the biceps for executing the movement. 

The neutral grip doesn’t necessarily isolate the bicep muscle to take priority, but it doesn’t allow it to get more engagement than when using an overhand grip. This type of movement can be done bent over or with chest support, depending on what other movements you are performing and if you can maintain posture with a strong core.

How To Do The Dumbbell Hammer Grip Rows

1. This exercise requires a neutral grip of the dumbbells for performance.
2. You can do this movement bent over or with chest support.
3. To execute the movement properly, row the dumbbells towards your chest and ensure your forearms stay vertical with the ground during the rowing motion.
4. Aiming too high could recruit more of the upper back, and aiming too low could recruit more of the lower back. 

Pro Tip

If you are a beginner or perhaps struggle with keeping posture due to a weak core, you should do this movement with chest support. This helps to eliminate any other muscular coordination needed to make this movement successful. If you are advanced, perhaps do the movement bent over to challenge more parts of your body than the pulling muscles. 

11. Dumbbell Zottman Curls

The dumbbell Zottman curl is a unique compound exercise requiring you to generate movement using your elbow and wrist joints. 

When performing the movement, you start with an underhand grip, but once you are at the top of the curl, you twist your grip to use an overhand grip to help work different parts of your biceps during the downward phase of the curl. This movement is unique as it requires the use of the elbow joint and wrist joint. 

As you change the grip of the movement from start to finish, you change the engagement of the various bicep heads during movement.

How To Do The Dumbbell Hammer Grip Rows

1. Start by placing both hands in the underhand position.
2. Curl the weight upward, and once at the top of the lift, twist your wrists so your grip goes from underhand to overhand. 
3. Once overhand, curl the weight to target different parts of the bicep head. Continue to work underhand and overhand grip, adjusting how resistance is forced during each rep to grow the different parts of the bicep. 

Pro Tip

If possible, try to do this movement one arm at a time. Focusing solely on the working arm can help improve the execution of this movement. If you want to grow your arms and find an effective movement that grows different bicep parts, look no further.

Sample Workout With Compound Bicep Exercises

Below, I’ve provided two sample workouts for strength and size. 

When doing these compound workouts for the biceps, I would suggest only doing each program once a week, getting 2-3 days of rest between sessions.

You’ll notice that many movements call for RPE or rate of perceived exertion. This means you are looking for an intensity level corresponding to the RPE value provided.

If an exercise asks for RPE10, you hit the heaviest weight possible and can’t do any more reps than prescribed. The movement should seem easier using RPE9, RPE8, or RPE7. Even though resistance training aims to be tough, sometimes a tough workout doesn’t need the heaviest load.

Building Strength Workout:

• Chin Up – 5×5
• V-Bar Lat Pulldown – 3×10 with RPE9
• Seated Underhand Cable Rows – 3 x 12 with RPE8
• Swinging Dumbbell Hammer Curls – 3 x 6 
• Cable Drag Curls – 3 x 15

Building Size Workout:

• Neutral Grip Pull Ups – 5×5
• Supinated Cable Lat Pulldown – 3×10 with RPE9
• One Arm Bent Over Cable Pull – 3x12e with RPE8
• Dumbbell Zottman Curls – 2×10
• Cable Drag Curls – 5×20

If you are looking for more things to do on bicep days, give this article a look at what else to do during bicep workouts.

Compound exercises can be a good thing or a bad thing. 

Compound movements are good for arms since they can overload your muscles and help them get bigger and stronger.

But the bicep may not take priority if you choose the wrong compound exercises. Compound exercises don’t help your biceps as much as isolation exercises.

But some compound movements prioritize the bicep muscle and can be better than isolation exercises. 

Why Should You Do Compound Bicep Exercises?

Compound exercises recruit multiple muscle groups, making the movement much more exhausting. 

The more exhausting and fatiguing a movement can become, the better of a trigger it is to help stimulate growth and build the muscle being trained. That’s the science that helps justify why these 11 movements are so important to train. 

Even though the compound exercises have to do with mostly “pulling” motions of movement, we have carefully selected 11 exercises that recruit the bicep muscle due to:

• Position
• Grip
• Leverage

Now, this list of compound movements are all better than isolation exercises for biceps. Let’s dive into the list! 

If you are looking at not just growing your biceps but your back as well, check out this article about the top 15 compound back exercises to perform!

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Bicep Curl a Compound Exercise?

The bicep curl is an isolation exercise as it only uses the elbow joint to generate movement. It’s beneficial to use the bicep curl with programming. However, compound exercises require stronger contractions to help overload the bicep muscle. 

Are Hammer Curls a Compound Exercise?

The hammer curl can become a compound exercise if you incorporate a “swinging” motion, as mentioned above in my list of 11 compound exercises for the biceps. The swing requires the shoulder joint to create momentum, just enough to help curl the overloading weight. 

How Do You Train All Three Bicep Heads?

To train all the heads of the bicep, you need to use varying grips like the overhand, neutral, and underhand grip. In addition to grip, you must also incorporate movements that pull resistance from above and in front of the body to displace resistance at different angles for the different heads. 

What Are the Differences Between Compound and Isolation Bicep Exercises?

The differences between compound and isolation exercises involve the number of joints and muscles per movement. An isolation exercise incorporates a single joint; in this case, the bicep would be trained through the elbow joint. Compound arm exercises incorporate 2 or more joints, which for the bicep tends to mean the elbow joint and the shoulder joint. This means we use multiple muscle groups. 

References

1. Solan M. Building better muscle [Internet]. Harvard Health. 2022. Available from: https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/building-better-muscle

About The Author

Joseph Lucero is a Strength Coach and Author and owns Harvesting Strength LLC. He's CSCS Certified, and when he's not helping clients get stronger, he writes about strength and conditioning to help readers. You can connect with him on LinkedIn and Instagram. You can book a free 20-minute consultation with him to see if a custom program would help you achieve your goals.