Place the short head of the biceps in the center of the target and pump up muscular arms.
It is not difficult to tighten some muscle group, it is enough to dedicate a few additional exercises to it. If your upper pecs are lagging, just do a little more incline bench presses. Medium deltas not impressive? Add side raises and overhead presses. Lame quadriceps? Front squats, sissy squats and leg extensions in the simulator will help you.

But what if you need to tighten the short head of the biceps? In this case, the task is somewhat more complicated.

The short head is located under the long one, and therefore it is sometimes called the internal one. But just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean you can ignore it. By pumping the short and long heads of the biceps, and at the same time the shoulder muscle, you will take a giant step towards your goal – large and muscular arms.

So how do you focus on the short head? In their book Strong Arms and Torso, Joe Webben and Jim Stoppani write: “Because the long head of the biceps lies outside the short head, using a narrow grip (narrower than shoulder width) during the barbell curl shifts the focus to the long head. Conversely, a wide grip will target a short head.”

This is your first clue.

During biceps curls, not only the grip, but also the position of the hands affects which head of the biceps – or both, because biceps means “two-headed” – is involved in the work to a greater extent. As a rule, if the long head in the exercise is not fully stretched, the emphasis shifts to the short head, and vice versa.
The difference is most apparent when comparing the incline dumbbell raise (arms hanging down behind the plane of the torso) with the Scott bench isolated curl. In the first exercise, the long head is fully extended at the lowest point; in the second case, it is practically not stretched.

Choosing the right exercises with an emphasis on the short head is one of the points of the global strategy for its development. Here are 6 great ways to target the short head of the biceps in pursuit of muscular arms.

1. Two workouts in one split
Small muscle groups, which include biceps, recover faster after intense exercise than large muscle masses in the legs or back. You can train them more often, especially if your split designed for five days or more.

In this case, the structuring of the split is of paramount importance. You should not train biceps on Monday, back on Tuesday, and again biceps on Wednesday, this is the worst possible scenario. Arm flexors simply do not have enough time to recover and grow.
Training biceps the day before or after a back workout is also not worth it. To optimize your pulling schedule, it’s wise to use other upper body workouts, leg days, or rest days between biceps workouts.

Just because you train biceps twice in one split doesn’t mean you have to repeat the same exercises. Consider the first workout to be mass-building and include long and short head exercises. The second block is dedicated to the short head and consists of slightly different movements with different grips and rep ranges.

You can even try alternative moves—negatives instead of forced reps, partial reps instead of drop sets—to work your biceps in every possible way.

2. Train your biceps after your back.
A simple solution to the problem of timing your biceps workout is to start right after your back workout. (Never train the biceps to the back; this will impair strength in many pulling exercises and weaken the grip on the bar or handle of the machine.) Most back exercises are multi-joint, so the biceps are already receiving serious stress. It remains only to bring the matter to its logical end, because the biceps have already gotten great.

Training small muscle groups immediately after large muscles is a strategy that many bodybuilders will be familiar with, but typically you won’t be able to generate the same amount of force after a series of exhausting pulls.

This explains why the second biceps workout should be done on a day dedicated to arm muscles only. There will be no biceps pre-fatigue and you will be able to train them with more intensity and more weight – a great combination to generate maximum training stimulus.

3. Start with mass-building exercises for a short head
Biceps curls are almost always single-joint exercises, and therefore the standard recommendation to start with a multi-joint movement is not appropriate here. Instead, choose an exercise where you can lift the most weight. For most people, this will be standing curls. Standing curls allow you to generate a little momentum from your lower body and are great for starting your arm workout.
As mentioned, a slightly wider grip on the bar (or EZ bar, if you prefer) will help shift the focus to the short head. I use this strategy: 2 sets with a close grip and 2 more with a slightly wider grip (or 3 and 1) instead of 4 sets with a shoulder-width grip. This will allow you to load both the short and long heads more strongly in different sets already at the beginning of the arm training.

Let’s not forget, at the beginning of the workout you are full of energy, and therefore you can hang a few additional pancakes on the bar and test your muscles for strength. Work in the lower rep range for mass: After warming up, grab a weight that will get you to failure in 6-8 reps. If you can lift the barbell more than eight times, add a couple of plates.

4. Focus on the short head
At the beginning of the article, we talked about how to work a lagging muscle group, so at all costs add 1-2 exercises specifically for a short head. Bet on starting your workout when the tanks are full of fuel. Let’s say the first thing you did was a few wide grip barbell raises. Now it’s time to add another movement for the short head. Good options are isolated flexion on the Scott bench, concentrated flexion on the prone block, flexion on the upper block.

By changing the intensity of the load, you can give the short head new training stimuli. For example, instead of a weight that takes you to failure in 6-8 reps, put on a weight that will allow you to repeat the exercise 10-12 times.

Adding a second exercise with a slightly different angle and intensity is the best way to work the short head and achieve impressive results.

5. Try the “new” exercises for the short head
Since isolated biceps curls focus more on the short head than the long head, they are an obvious choice for your workout. But they can be done in many different ways: dumbbell raises with one hand, the EZ bar variation, or Scott bench curls with a barbell, dumbbells and an EZ bar. Doing this exercise while standing seated will even allow you to build up a little momentum and finish a few cheating reps.
Standing upright curls are another exercise for the short head. Try doing it with one hand or slightly change the angle of the pull by placing the handlebars a little higher (or a little lower) than you are used to.

You can find more short head exercises in the DailyFit.ru Exercise Catalog. When you find an exercise you like, use it for 6-8 weeks. After that, it is advisable to change the program to generate new incentives, otherwise progress will slow down and you will start to stagnate.

6. Train for failure
Choosing the right exercises at the right intensity is a good start, but you still have a lot of work to do. When it comes to stimulating growth at the cellular level, don’t stop at muscle failure. Moreover, for maximum growth in 1-2 approaches, you need to go beyond muscle failure. It follows from this that high-intensity training techniques can be an excellent growth stimulus.

For arm training, some high-intensity training techniques are best suited:

Forced repetitions. With the help of a partner, it’s not that hard to finish 1-2 exhausting sets of isolated biceps curls after muscle failure. The belayer is just helping you get past the dead center. If you’re doing single-arm isolated curls, use your free hand to complete a few extra reps.
Partial repetitions. This technique works great for biceps, but it’s best to use it towards the end of your workout so you don’t sap your strength right from the start. Make a full contraction, then lower the projectile a few centimeters and bend the arm again, not allowing it to fully straighten. This technique focuses on peak contractions.
Drop sets. Drop sets are easy to perform on cable machines, as you can quickly change the working weight. Instead of ending the set when failure is reached, drop 25% of the load and get to the second point of muscle failure.
Get pumping. At the end of the workout, when fatigue builds up, do a few short head multi-rep sets (and halve the pauses) to pump the muscles with blood, fill them with fluid, stretch the fascia that binds muscle fibers, and stimulate the secretion of growth hormone. Pumping is hard to miss – good luck taking your sweat-soaked T-shirt off!