15 Short Head Bicep Exercises

What Is The Short Head?

Before we get into short head bicep exercises, it’s vital to understand the basics of bicep anatomy. I’ll also explain the short head’s function and how to activate it using specific positioning and exercises.

The “bi” in bicep means there are two muscle heads on the front of your arm. Together, these two muscles are called the biceps brachii.

In the illustration below, you can see that the long head is the outer part and the short head is the inner part of the bicep. In addition to the two heads, there’s a third muscle called the brachialis.

Now that you know the anatomy of the inner and outer bicep, let’s look at how to work the short head of the biceps using different body mechanics.

How To Work The Short Head

Targeting the inner bicep depends on your hand, arm, and elbow position. More specifically, your arm angle relative to your body changes the load distribution, and the muscles emphasized during an exercise.

Hand Position

When I talk about hand position, I refer to supination and pronation. These fancy words are the technical terms for hand or wrist rotation.

In practical terms, supination is when your palm faces up, and pronation is when your palm faces down.

The more pronated your hand, the more you work the long head. While the more supinated your hand, the more you work the short head.

Exercises for Short Head of Biceps

To make this list of exercises easier to digest, I’ve divided it into sections based on the equipment used. So, for example, there is a section for barbells, dumbbells, cables, and “others.”

This segmentation also makes it easier to find the exercises that work with your gym equipment. So whether you work out at a fancy health club or in your backyard, there are at least a few short head bicep exercises you can do.

Barbell Short Head Bicep Exercises

First, let’s look at some short head bicep exercises you can do using various types of barbells.

1. Barbell Bicep Curl

One of the most common bicep exercises is the barbell curl. It’s a simple movement that beginners can grasp quickly. But the barbell curl also enables you to lift a significant amount of weight to overload the biceps and make them grow.

In addition, this exercise is excellent for targeting the long head of the bicep. Use an underhand grip and hands shoulder-width or slightly wider to target your inner arm.

Dumbbell Short Head Bicep Exercises

Dumbbells are arguably the most versatile equipment for working the short head of the bicep. The reason is that you have more control over your grip and forearm position.

So here are some of the best dumbbell exercises for the short head.

5. Dumbbell Bicep Curls

Traditional dumbbell curls are a lot like barbell curls, except each arm works independently. And that forces you to use more stabilizer muscles to control the weight. You can even alternate arms with each rep if you like.

However, unlike barbell curls, you can easily change your hand position and forearm angle with dumbbells. So the DB curl enables you to target the short head by angling your forearms out and using a supinated grip at the same time.

6. Dumbbell Preacher Curls

Another option is to use dumbbells on the preacher bench. For this variation, you perform the preacher curl while holding a dumbbell in each hand.

You can do DB preacher curls with both arms simultaneously or one arm at a time.

Cable Short Head Bicep Exercises

Cables are another good equipment option for training the short head of the biceps. With this apparatus, you can keep more constant tension on the muscles compared to free weights.

9. Cable Straight Bar or EZ Bar Curl

Perform the curl movement with a straight bar or EZ bar cable attachment for this exercise. Begin by facing the cable and stepping back about 1-2 feet away from the low pulley.

Standing a little farther away from the pulley forces your elbows to stay slightly in front of your body, which works more short head. Again, try using a wider grip to isolate your inner bicep further.

10. Cable Hercules Curl

The Hercules curl is an exercise where you stand between two cables set at about shoulder height. Then, holding a handle in each hand, you curl the cable towards your head.

One advantage of the Hercules curl is that it externally rotates both arms, which we know targets the short head of the biceps. Plus, the movement replicates the front double bicep pose used by bodybuilders. So it’s great for making your biceps look more prominent from the front when flexing.

Other Short Head Bicep Exercises

In this section, I’ve included alternate short head bicep exercises using the lat pulldown, cable row, and preacher curl machine.

13. Lat Pulldown Overhead Curls

In many of the exercises so far, you target the short head by positioning your upper arms in front of your body. But you can isolate the inner bicep even more by performing curls with your arms completely overhead.

One of the easiest ways to do this is by using the lat pulldown cable station. Start by grabbing the bar or handles then sitting down with your arms extended above your head.

Now curl the weight down behind your head while keeping your elbows pinned close to the side of your head as much as possible.

14. Seated Cable Curls

Another way to target the short head is by doing curls on the cable low row station. Your upper arms should stay in front of your body as you curl the handles towards your forehead.

You can do this exercise with your arms unsupported if you’d like. Or you can scoot forward so your legs are bent and use your knees to support your elbows like a preacher curl.

15. Machine Preacher Curls

Lastly, most commercial gyms have a preacher curl machine. You can use this exercise to target the short head just like you would with a barbell or dumbbell preacher curl.

Remember, use a wider grip with your hands outside your elbows to target the inner bicep. Or sit sideways on the seat and perform the exercise with one arm to further isolate the short head.

Short Head Bicep Workout

Now you have several excellent exercises for hitting the inner bicep. But you might have analysis paralysis from all those options.

So I’m going to give you an example short head bicep workout. In addition, I’ll explain how to program these exercises in terms of frequency and sets/reps.

Use These Bicep Stretches Before You Workout

Short Head Bicep Workout Frequency

The first thing to establish is how often you train your biceps. But, of course, the answer to that depends on your experience and your goals.

For beginners or people who can only work out a few days a week, a total body 3-day split works well. That means you would do a couple of biceps exercises each workout three times per week.

More advanced lifters might work single muscle groups in each workout with a 5-day or 6-day split. This routine is called the bro split workout, and it works excellent for growth (despite the name).

In that case, you would work your arms for an entire workout once or twice a week. And you want to include at least a couple of short head exercises in those workouts.