No Equipment Biceps Workout at Home

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by Allo Editorial Team

July 21, 2022

Man in a white t-shirt flexing his large bicep over a blurry background.

Working out your biceps at home without any equipment can seem like a near impossible task. To help you get your arms pumped, we’ve put together this targeted bicep workout that you can do at home in as little as 30 minutes.

This workout asks you to get innovative around finding ways to create resistance. If you do have dumbbells or resistance bands, feel free to use them. If not, we’ve got some great suggestions for ways to work those biceps with everyday household items.

No matter what you use to do these exercises, they will get you started on building your upper arm strength and improving your mobility. But before we jump in, let’s take a look at the anatomy of the bicep.

Bicep Muscles

Your biceps, or biceps brachii , are one of the main muscles in your arms, responsible for both shoulder and elbow movements. The muscle starts at the scapula and runs all the way to the radius in the forearm.

The muscle is split into two heads called the long head and the short head. When you flex your bicep, the long head is the part on top that forms the silhouette of the upper arm, and the short head runs underneath creating the interior bulge of the muscle.

At Home Bicep Exercises

Since the biceps are so essential to our arm movements and upper body mobility in general, training the upper arms is a great way to begin building strength as well as a healthy and sustainable workout routine.

Before any workout, be sure to fuel up with enough protein to energize you through your workout and start to repair and build your muscles as quickly as possible.

It’s also important to stretch and warm up before any workout. Make sure you are stretching all the muscles in your arms as well as your shoulders, neck, back, and core. You may even want to give your hips and legs a stretch as well since a few of these exercises will have you using your legs for resistance.

Water Bottle Bicep Curls

Bicep curls are one of the most popular bicep exercises, and the beauty is that you don’t even need dumbbells to do them. You can use any roughly equal weight items like water bottles, cans of soup, or even weigh down some tote bags with books.

Start with a water bottle in each hand held down by your sides with your thumbs out.
Keep your wrists straight as you lift the bottles and bring them to your shoulders.
Press your forearms into your biceps and squeeze.
Release and lower your hands back to the start position.
Repeat for 15-20 reps.
Repeat for 3 sets.

Towel Curls

Towel curls are another great way to incorporate the bicep-busting curl motion into your routine using items on hand and your own body. Depending on your flexibility, you might need a larger towel, but in general, even a hand towel should work.

Towel curls are best done seated for added stability, but it’s important that you sit at the edge of your chair to allow your leg to descend past the height of the seat. If you’d like to challenge yourself and work on your balance, you can try these standing, but it’s not necessary for the main element of this workout.

Sit on the edge of a chair and wrap a towel around the back of one of your legs.
Hold both ends of the towel and lift your hands towards your shoulders, squeezing your biceps when you reach the top.
Lower your hands and leg back to the start position.
Repeat for 15-30 reps.
Repeat for 3 sets.

Bicep Push Ups

Bicep push ups use an alternate hand placement and orientation from standard push-ups to more directly target the biceps.

You will need to flip your hands around so that your fingers are pointing down towards your feet and then shift them down towards your hips. The closer to your hips you get with your hand the more difficult the exercise becomes.

Increase your stability and take some of the strain out of your wrists by splaying your fingers out on the mat beneath you.

Start in a standard push-up position then bring your fingers around to the outside until they are pointing back towards your feet and inch your hands back so they are under your chest and not your shoulders.
Maintain control as you lower your chest toward the ground as far as you can go.
Push yourself back up until your arms are straight.
Repeat for 10-20 reps.
Repeat for 3 sets.

Curls with Your Leg

For this exercise, you will once again be using the weight of your leg as resistance. Unlike the towel curls, leg curls need to be done standing.

If you feel unsteady on one foot, feel free to lean against a wall or door frame to steady yourself as you work through the motions.

From a standing position, grab one of your legs with the opposite arm.
Raise your leg up to your shoulder squeezing your bicep at the top of the motion.
Maintain control as you lower your arm and leg back to the start position.
Repeat for 15-30 reps.
Repeat for 3 sets.

Doorway Curls

Doorway curls are a great bicep exercise that you can do pretty much anywhere. While a door frame will likely be the most convenient place to do this exercise at home, you can also do it with a secure pole or tree at a park or outdoor gym.

Start standing in a doorway facing the inside of the frame.
Use both hands to grab the door frame and lean back until your elbows are straight as you bring your toes to touch the bottom of the door frame.
Flex your biceps as you pull your chest towards the frame holding for a moment at the top.
Maintain control as you lean back and extend your arms.
Repeat for 20-50 reps.
Repeat for 3 sets.

Get Those Gains with Allo

One of the most essential nutrients for growing bigger, stronger muscles is protein. Not only is it important to get a good amount of protein after a workout to help repair and grow muscle, but studies have shown that getting more protein earlier in the day, at breakfast, is more beneficial than eating larger amounts of protein later in the day.

But getting enough protein at breakfast can be difficult, especially if you aren’t exactly jumping at the chance to wake up an hour earlier just to cook some eggs. The easiest way to add more protein to your morning is with Allo protein powder for hot coffee.

Just pour your favorite flavor of Allo protein powder or protein creamer into any 8 oz cup of hot coffee, hot tea, hot matcha, espresso, or hot chocolate to add 10 grams of high-quality hydrolyzed whey protein to your morning brew.

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