9 Short Head Biceps Exercises For Toned Arms

Every weightlifter dreams of having big biceps because big arms with shaped biceps are essentials for a shredded body. Many people consider the bicep as one muscle and workout for it, but it is the spot where they make a mistake.

A lean and fully bulked bicep looks like one bicep muscle, but it is a muscle group. A bicep has a long head and a short head.

So, to gain shaped biceps, you have to work on both. Regular gym exercises like barbell curls, dumbbell curls, cable curls, or random curls are not enough to hit both long and short heads.

To get a muscular and fully grown bicep, you should never neglect the short head of the bicep because it is the portion that can help to widen the muscles and gain bulk mass.

In this article, we have summed up the nine best short head bicep workouts that could help you have shaped arms and also looked into the anatomy of the biceps.

Anatomy Of Bicep Muscles

In bicep brachii, two brachialis muscles are involved in elbow flexion. One is a short head, and the other is a long head.

Short Head

The short head is a wide biceps brachialis muscle connected with the long head. You can find short head muscles on the inner arm. When you work out the short head, it gives definition to your biceps. A short head workout's benefit is that it widens the biceps and gives a muscular look to the arms.

Long Head

The long head bicep is present on the outer side of the arms and runs alongside the short head bicep but is slim and has a higher peak. You can notice a long head when your arm is flexed; it takes the shape of a ball. Workout for a long head only gives height to the bicep. However, to get a muscular arm with a high and wide bicep, you must work equally on both heads.  

Best Short Head Bicep Exercises

Here are some best short head bicep exercises that you can follow to get wider arms:

1. Concentration Curl

Short head bicep activation can be increased through supination and flexion. During dumbbell concentration curls, the start occurs in a neutral position and the finishing in a supinated position, so the short head becomes the target. Flexion and suspension shift the load towards the short head, and the muscles come into action.

During dumbbell concentration curls, the biceps are greatly activated. While doing this exercise, you rest your elbow against the leg and many muscles, including short heads, gain the advantage of movement. Hence, activation of short heads during concentration curl activates other muscles too.

Concentration curls exercise for the short head is similar to dumbbell curls. You can perform it in a standing or seated position. It is recommended to perform concentration curls on the front of the body instead of across the body because it can help to target the inner arm easily.

How to do it?

1. Take a chair or workout bench. Sit upright with your feet flat on the ground and spread your knees.
2. Hold a dumbbell and rest your elbow on the inner tight so that the weight hangs down.
3. Lean forwards by slightly tilting your body and keeping your eyes on your bicep.
4. Pull the weight upwards towards the biceps slowly and pump your bicep.
5. Lower the weight and repeat the exercise while enhancing the lifting speed.
6. For a quick demonstration of concentration curls, watch this video.

Tips

Keep yourself focused on the weight and hand grip so that your concentration is on one bicep muscle to let this exercise work like a wonder to build your muscles rapidly.

2. Spider Curl

During spider curl, arms are held in front of the body, and elbows stay in front of the torso. The bicep heads don't cross the shoulder joint, and the muscles stay active because the elbow angle is decreased through the range of motion.

Spider curls are different from other short head workouts where you lean forward against the workout bench while your arms hang in front of you straight down. After that, you curl up the weight while your arms stay perpendicular to the floor.

Spider curls exercise similar to preacher curl. However, spider curls are more challenging because of the body angle, and the load stays at the top of movement during the curl. Both exercises have the same effects because the arms angle is changed in both of them.

During spiral curls, the elbows are kept close to the body, and the hands are supinated so that the pinky finger points upwards when the movement ends. Spiral curl is a strenuous exercise because it involves curling, and it is challenging to lift the weight while being in momentum.

How to do it?

Incline the bench to 45 degrees and lean the upper body on the backrest.

1. Take a grip of the dumbbells and let your arms extend down.
2. Curl up the weight without losing the balance of your elbows.
3. Once the weight goes up to your shoulder, try to lower it.
4. Keep the grip wide and hammer the inner biceps.
5. Repeat the exercise.
6. For a quick demonstration of spider curls, watch this video.

Tips

Focus on supinating the wrists during the range of motion and avoid pointing the elbows out during the movement.

3. Cable Preacher Curl

Cable preacher curl, also known as Scott curl, is an effective short head biceps exercise that not only works on the biceps but also on the secondary muscles involved in the movement. This easy exercise is for everyone because cable provides significant variation by keeping muscle tension constant. Also, this exercise requires little stabilization because no free weights are involved.

The advantage of doing preacher curls is that it removes the chances of cheating and pushes the biceps to do work. You can do this exercise in various ways, and many people prefer it because the arm position remains fixed.

 As your biceps remain fully engaged during this workout, preacher cable curls are the best way to gain big biceps.

How to do it?

1. Place a preacher cable bench in front of a low cable pulley with a dedicated bar.
2. Grab the bar attachment tightly and keep your upper arms on the bench flat while keeping the chest area on the padding.
3. Contact your biceps while curling the weight up, and exhale while doing this step. Hold your breath for a few seconds.
4. Lower the bar down and keep lowering until your arms are fully extended. However, don't straighten your arms because it can tear your bicep muscles.
5. Repeat the exercise till the desired number of reps is reached.
6. For a quick demonstration of cable preacher curls, watch this video.

Tips

While doing preacher curl, never straighten your arms while extending because it can cause torn bicep muscles. Try to hold your breath as long as possible to increase this exercise's effectiveness. You can also do dumbbell preacher curls on the preacher curl bench.

4. EZ Bar Preacher Curls

EZ bar preacher curl is a beneficial exercise because it differs from conventional bicep curls. You need a preacher bench and EZ bar curl to perform this exercise.

The short bicep head remains engaged during EZ preacher curl because instead of shifting the onus to the shoulder and back, the curl targets the short head.

EZ bar curl has a zig-zag pattern that gives you a firm grip without supinating your arms. This helps in preventing negative movement. As preacher curls allow you complete control over negative movement, every muscle is set to tear, and you can get thick and wide biceps faster.

With a slight change to the angle of your arms, you can focus and direct the tension towards the long and short head muscle group brachialis biceps.

How to do it?

1. Set yourself slightly wider than the shoulder-width grip on an EZ bar and keep your elbows on the preacher bench and triceps over the resting pad.
2. Push the EZ bar weight upwards to start a curl and stop before you reach the full range of motion. Keep holding the EZ bar with the tight grip in front of you.
3. At this stage, your arms should be vertices, and the pressure of the EZ bar should be transferred to the bench to get the maximum of this exercise.
4. Keep your chest up and curl the bar towards your face while keeping the triceps in the locked position.
5. Bring the barbell down and pause to squeeze your biceps. Pull the barbell up with full power.
6. For a quick demonstration of EZ bar preacher curls, watch this video.

Tips

Do this exercise while standing slightly wider than shoulder-width apart to get the most out of this exercise and build the inner bicep. Your arms should hang straight while lying on the bench.

5. Supine Overhead Biceps Curl

Supine overhead bicep curls are a challenging core exercise for biceps that gives instant results and involves your entire core in the workout. You need a bench for this exercise and suitable weights. The weight is shifted to the bench while you bring in upward; this way, the exercise targets the biceps.

Supine overhead directly hits the short head of the biceps and, in turn, increases the muscular mass. The main advantage of this exercise is that it directly acts on the biceps and increases the width in a shorter time. You can combine it with any other exercise for a long head to get a shredded and shaped upper arm.

How to do it?

1. Set a bench and lean on it.
2. Hold a suitable weight in your hands and extend your arms, so they hang out.
3. Begin to curl the weights up and rotate the palm 180 degrees until the weight faces the body at the top of the movement.
4. Return to step two and reverse the movement. The weights provide enough tension for rapid muscle growth.
5. For a quick demonstration of supine overhead bicep curls, watch this video.

Tips

During the lowering phase of the exercise, focus on your biceps to get more of it.

6. Wider Grip Barbell Curls

If you are looking for an efficient and classic short head bicep workout, then wide grip barbell curls are the perfect exercise for you. The short head of the biceps is the main target because the wider grip of barbells activates the muscles and helps you gain mass.

For maximum effectiveness, the width of the barbell should be shouldered apart so that the curl could target the muscles of the inner arms. The grip should be tight because when the barbell is lowered, weight is directly shifted to the short head of the biceps. This action breaks down the muscle tissue to grow muscular mass.

Wider grip barbell curls can help you get fuller biceps, lift heavy weights, and enhance the grip of your hands.

How to do it?

1. Start with holding the barbell with an underarm grip
2. Place your hands outside the shoulder width
3. While standing straight, keep the elbows tucked and the chest up. Curl the barbell until it reaches your chest.
4. Pause at the top of the chest and tightly grip the barbell.
5. Lower the barbell down slowly and bring it to the starting position
6. Make sure the weight doesn't fall in front of you.
7. Repeat the exercise until reps are completed.
8. For a quick demonstration of wide grip barbell curls, watch this video.

Tips

Keep the barbell shoulder-width apart to get most of this exercise. Also, don't let the weight fall in front of you while standing with feet shoulder-width apart to avoid an injury during the exercise.

7. Rope Curl

The rope curl exercise is done on a rope cable curl machine and targets the long and short heads of the biceps. Many variations of rope cable curl are there that you can adopt as exercise. Cable rope curls involve a cable machine, but some variations require no equipment at all.  

Rope curl is an easy exercise and is most suitable for beginners. If your physical fitness level is not very high, you can jump-start it by adding rope curls to your everyday short head bicep workout.

After concentration curls, cable curl is the most effective exercise to shape your biceps. Likewise, concentration and rope curl work on the biceps brachii and engage the brachialis beneath the biceps muscles. The core of your body is also involved in this workout, so the upper body workout routine is followed if you do this short head biceps exercise.

How to do it?

1. Place a rope on the pulley and stand 12 inches away from it.
2. Grasp the rope with palms and stand straight.
3. Pull the elbows to your side to get the starting position.
4. Pull the arms up and exhale.
5. Pause for a second and bring the weight back to its original position.
6. Repeat until desired reps are completed.

For a quick demonstration of Rope curls, watch this video.

Tips

Don’t lean back while you lift the weight.

8. Reverse Curls

Reverse curls are another exercise for the biceps short head, which is different from the others. The main difference is that the grip is pronated in this exercise rather than supinated as in other short head biceps exercises. Therefore, the muscle activation is altered, and forearms remain engaged, which helps build bigger biceps.

Reverse curls are the best exercise for biceps brachialis. Many variations of this exercise are there, and you can perform it with a barbell, EZ bar, or dumbbell.  During this exercise, you are not in a biomechanically efficient position, so the chances of carrying heavy weights are reduced. However, reverse curls can work wonders for tuning the inner biceps and forearms.

How to do it?

1. Grab a barbell or dumbbell with a pronated grip (underhand grip) while getting in a starting position.  
2. Keep your back straight and elbow tucked.
3. Bring the weight to the top range of motion.
4. Stop before you reach the shoulders.
5. Take a pause and squeeze your biceps before going back to the starting point.
6. For a quick demonstration of Reverse curls, watch this video.

Tips

Change in grip during reverse curls directly affects your strength. You can lift heavy weights during the usual bicep curl, but they are cut off when you switch towards the reverse curls where forearms and biceps brachii are involved. It is recommended to start by lifting light weights rather than prioritizing heavy ones.

9. Zottman Curl

Zottman curls are named after an American trainer named George Zottman, who was born in 1867 and died in 1943. This exercise is an old-school biceps workout. During Zottman curls, both bicep brachii and brachialis remain engaged and increase the width of the short head of the biceps.

The best thing about Zottman curls is that they are a time-efficient exercise with forearm supination. If you want to complete the biceps workout but have little time to do this every day, then you can add Zottman curls to your exercise routine.  

How to do it?

1. Take the starting position and grab two dumbbells in your hands with a supinated grip.
2. Keep the elbows tucked and curl the dumbbells to bring them close to your chest.
3. Pause and squeeze the biceps at the top range of motion.
4. Rotate the arms with a pronated grip (underhand grip) just like reverse curls.
5. While keeping the elbows tucked, and upper arms locked, lower the dumbbells and come back to starting position.
6. Repeat the movement and rotate the arms back to get a supinated grip and complete one rep.
7. Repeat until the desired reps are complete.
8. For a quick demonstration of zottman curls, watch this video.

Tips

During reverse curls, you can try lifting lighter weights than standard curls in a supinated position.

Training Techniques

Before adding these exercises to your workout list, here are some training techniques you can follow to get the best results.

A. Add Variety

Though all the short head biceps exercises mentioned in the article are effective in increasing shoulder width. However, it is not recommended that you do all of these because it will put an excessive strain on the muscles, making recovery difficult.

It is better to try a set of a few workouts at once and then add variety to the sets. You can work on the triceps, the short head of the biceps, and then on the log head. Also, you can add variation to the curls you are following if you are doing concentration curls one day, and the next day you should do preacher curls.

B. Switch Movements

The biggest mistake that people make in bicep exercises is that they just do one exercise and think that it can work for all. It is better to switch to different exercises to allow different movements. The muscles create a memory of a single exercise, and it loses its effectiveness after some time. If you try different exercises, the chance of muscle memory buildup decreases, making training sessions livelier and more effective.

C. Know Your Limits

If you are doing a short head, inner bicep curls exercise, make sure not to go beyond 12 reps in total. Your last rep should be a big struggle. If you proceed further, you may end up burning fat and face a reduction in muscle building. Don't go beyond the capacity of muscle because it can put a strain on the shoulder joint. If you feel too strained, stop and take a break before trying again. Never exceed the limits of your body’s capabilities, or you might render it useless by overexerting.

D. Gradually Reduce The Reps

When you have gained a bulky body, decrease the number of reps gradually. For example, if you have started a short head biceps workout at 20 reps to build biceps, you should come back to 12 reps after getting the desired results. The professional trainers recommend keeping the number of reps at 8.

Whatever exercise you follow, you must concentrate on the muscles you want to build. Whether you follow chin-ups, dumbbell exercises, or rope curl, the primary focus should be pulling the weight through the biceps. This way, you can get maximum results without working out a lot.

Frequently Asked Questions

What exercises work at the short head of the biceps?

The short head of the bicep is a group of muscles found on the inner side of the arm. When you do the short head of biceps exercises, then the short head muscles running alongside the long head of the upper arm are targeted. The target creates a tear in muscles and enhances the building of muscular mass. So, as a result, you get massive biceps.

What does the short head of the biceps do?

The short head of the biceps brachii widens the arms. It runs alongside the long head. Both the short and long heads of the bicep coordinate and produce movements. If you work out on the long head of the muscles, it increases the biceps peak. However, short head biceps exercises increase the width of the bicep.

How do you target the short head of the biceps or the long head?

Long head bicep exercises target the long head muscles and increase the height of the arms. Conversely, short head bicep exercises like hammer curl target the inner muscles of arms and increase their overall width. Both long and short head exercises target the inner arms and give you a muscular look.

Which bicep exercises hit the upper arm?

Exercises like cable rope Hammer Curl, dumbbell concentration curl, Incline Dumbbell Curls, seated barbell curls, wide grip barbell curl, and Facing-Away Cable Curl hit the upper arm and help to increase the height of the bicep by inducing the muscle buildup. They are long head exercises and are highly beneficial if you want swole biceps like weightlifters and bodybuilders.

How do you lift a short head?

A lifted short head is the dream of every fitness freak. If you are one of them, then you can also lift your short head through short head bicep exercises like hammer curl. These exercises start at rest and finish at a supinated position, targeting the short heads on the inner arms. The muscles respond to such workouts by increasing the width of the short head.

What should be the shoulder width in the short head bicep curl?

While doing short head bicep exercises like hammer curl, the shoulder width grip should always be greater than the shoulders apart. This helps you get a stable position and shift the weight to the inner biceps while lifting loads. Therefore, don't forget to keep the feet with a slightly wider grip greater than the shoulders apart to get the most out of short head bicep exercises.

Final Words

The article lists some of the best short head bicep workouts that target the short head to widen the biceps muscle. Chin-ups, reverse curl, EZ bar curls, and other short head biceps workouts target the short head muscle to tone the inner biceps. You can combine some of these exercises and add them to your daily workout routine to get a shredded body with toned biceps.