Heavy dumbbells aren’t the only way to build bigger biceps. In fact, research suggests that lighter weights can be just as effective for muscle growth, provided you perform enough total volume and take your sets close to failure.
Coach Alan Dyck recently shared a simple high-volume finisher that uses dumbbells as light as 3-5kg. Designed to leave your arms pumped, the workout combines descending rep targets with progressively heavier weights, keeping your biceps under tension from start to finish.
The Workout
Complete bicep curls for:
- 50 reps with 8lb (roughly 3kg) dumbbells
- 40 reps with 10lb (roughly 4kg) dumbbells
- 30 reps with 12lb (roughly 5kg) dumbbells
‘Grab the little eight-pound dumbbells, we’re gonna bust out 50 reps,’ says Dyck.
The high rep count means the burn builds quickly, but Dyck advises resisting the temptation to completely rest between reps.
‘When it gets tough, never completely relax, always keep that tension on, maybe wait half a second, up to the next rep you go,’ he says.
What to read next
Keeping constant tension on the biceps increases the amount of time the muscles spend working, making even relatively light dumbbells feel surprisingly challenging.
Why it Works
Dyck recommends using the workout as an occasional finisher rather than the foundation of your arm training.
‘This is something you’re gonna want to try every couple of weeks, just to mix it up,’ he says.
If your usual arm sessions revolve around heavier curls in lower rep ranges, throwing in a high-volume finisher like this can provide a different stimulus while delivering the kind of arm pump that lighter weights are surprisingly good at producing.
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