I’m not a proponent of too much isolation work for your bicep workouts. Especially for skinny beginners I think it’s just wasting time and resources that could be used to focus on the big compound lifts that really build muscle mass. That being said here are some bicep exercises that you can use sparingly in your workouts.1. Preacher curls. I like these for a couple of reasons: they take my shoulders almost completely out of the lift and they are one of the few bicep exercises I actually feel in my my biceps and not in my forearms. I always make sure to cut the rep a little short at the bottom of the movement and not go to a full stretch. Otherwise I sometimes feel too much pressure on the bottom of my bicep.
2. Reverse grip curls. These will set your forearms on fire. If you want to work on your grip with these even more you can wrap a towel around the handle to add some thickness during your bicep workouts.
3. Hammer curls. This is another exercise that will be tough on your forearms. This is also a great exercise to wrap a towel around the handle to make your grip work a little harder.
4. Curls on an incline bench. Curling in this position makes it so you can cheat with your shoulders to get the bar up. If you have should problems though you might want to stay clear of this one though. Start out with a steep angle close to 90 degrees and then go from there.
5. Cable curls lying on a decline bench. All right, this one is a little weird I admit. And you will need a training partner to help you get into position. Place a decline bench in the cable rack and use the high pulley to do curls. Like all movements in your bicep workouts start out really light with these until you get the movement down and slow slowly progress from there.
