Build Bigger Arms Anywhere with the Bodyweight Biceps Curl – Watch How It’s Done

If you think not having access to a gym means that building bigger biceps is out of the question, it might be time to rethink your approach.

Bodyweight curls turn your own mass into the load, stripping away momentum and forcing your arms to do the work. Eliminating swinging, demanding controlled tension from start to finish, and adding in some core work to boot. Even if you are training in a gym, these are worth your time.

Set up right, bodyweight bicep curls will humble you quickly – while building arms that don’t just look good, but actually pull their weight.

A bodyweight curl is any movement where you pull your body towards your hands using a supinated (underhand) grip to bias the biceps. This is most commonly done using a bar, rings, suspension trainer or even a towel anchored to a door – leaning back and curling your body upwards.

Think of it as an inverted bicep curl – instead of lifting weight, you become the weight. The more horizontal parallel to the ground you can get your body, the harder it gets. The more upright, the easier. This also allows you to adjust and scale the difficult level, or even use mechanical dropsets to keep torching those bis.

1. Direct Bicep Overload

With an underhand grip and elbows driving the movement, the biceps take centre stage versus traditional rows or chin-ups.

2. Scalable for Any Level

Adjust your foot position to control difficulty. Beginners stay upright. Advanced lifters go nearly horizontal.

3. Grip and Forearm Development

Holding your bodyweight challenges your grip in a way dumbbells rarely do.

4. Joint-Friendly Training

No need to wrestle heavy weights into position. Smooth, controlled reps with less strain on the elbows.

• Biceps – pull your body towards your hands
• Brachialis – assists the curl
• Forearms – grip and stabilise
• Upper back – supports the movement
• Core – keeps your body rigid

1. Set up under a bar, rings or suspension trainer with an underhand grip
2. Walk your feet forward and lean back, arms straight
3. Keep your body in a rigid, straight line from head to heels
4. Curl your hands towards your head by bending your elbows, your feet acting as a lever. Squeeze your biceps at the top
5. Lower under strict control until your arms are straight again

• Keep elbows tucked and pointing up, don’t let them drop close to your body, bringing in the lats and turning this into a row.
• Think ‘pull with your biceps’, not your back. Squeeze your bis hard at the top of each rep.
• Stay rigid from head to toe – no sagging hips or banana back.
• Turn your wrists as you curl upwards to shorted the biceps, imagine finishing with your pinkies close your hand.
• Control the descent and explode on the curl
• If you find yourself jerking your hips to get up, it’s probably too hard. Adjust your angle accordingly.

Rings or Suspension Trainer Bodyweight Curls

Allow for a more natural wrist position, more fluid range of motion and deeper squeeze at the top (by pulling past your head).

Feet-Elevated Bodyweight Curls

Raise your feet on a box or bench to increase load and difficulty – also turns this move into an inverted plank, working core core and posterior chain.

Slow Tempo Reps

5-6 seconds down, pause at full stretch, 3 seconds back up. Maximise time under tension when load is light.

Single-Arm Assisted Curls

Use one arm as the primary driver, the other for light assistance. Serious work.