Biceps are difficult to train without any sports equipment, unlike other parts of the body. To tackle this, someone came up with the idea of doing bicep curls, which in theory can help you train this muscle. Do they really work more than a classic dumbbell curl? And most importantly: what is a bicep?
Normal push-ups mainly work the pecs (chest muscles), deltoids (shoulders) and triceps (back of the upper arm). It also uses the core muscles for good stabilization. The reason that push-ups are generally not recommended for training the biceps is because push-ups are "push" exercises, while the biceps are "pull" muscles.
There are many excellent bodyweight 'pull' exercises that train the biceps, including chin ups, pull-ups, inverted paddles, and inverted curls. Admittedly, everyone has a flaw, compared to push-ups: These exercises require some form of sports equipment at home or in the gym, be it a pull-up bar or a weight bar supported on a squat rack. If we could add more bicep activation to the push-ups, that would solve our problems, right?
How to do a bicep curl?
This flexion variant requires strong core muscles as well as great overall strength, so if you're new to exercise, don't start trying bicep curls. You can gradually introduce this type of push into your calisthenics exercise routine.
I'd like to point out that doing bicep curls will never be as effective on your biceps as doing curls or inverted paddles. If you still want to do this type of push-up, you can do it by placing your hands further back and turning them to activate your biceps more. This pose will not only require a large amount of upper body strength, but it will also put much more pressure on your deltoids (shoulders) and wrists.
To perform them, push up, instead of placing your hands directly under your shoulder as you would otherwise, put them further back and rotate them as far as you can (without too much discomfort). Keep your core tight, your elbows bent, and focus on your biceps while doing push-ups. Lower your upper body and then push up again.
