Best Chest and Bicep Workout Routine for Beginners

Before diving into our list, let’s look at why working chest and biceps together can be beneficial to your weight training routine.

What Is the Benefit of Combining Chest and Bicep Exercises?

The benefit of combining chest and bicep exercises is training each muscle group when neither of them is heavily worked out.

Chest exercises don’t demand bicep activation, and bicep movements don’t use your chest.

So, training either after the other means training fresh muscles, allowing you to lift more weight.

Here’s an example that will explain this.

Let’s say you work your back and biceps on the same day (given that it’s common to combine these muscle groups).

Many biceps exercises demand your back muscles. So, if you start with bicep work, you’ll have tired out your back by the time you hit them.

The same applies when training chest and tricep—another common workout combination.

“While the biceps are involved in shoulder flexion (and can thus get pretty sore from chest flyes, for example), and can be taxed significantly through close grip pulling during back training, their direct work is based on a large variety of curls of different kinds.”

- Dr. Mike Israetel, Ph.D., Sports Physiologist

Based on years of observation and research, here are our top five bicep and chest workouts.

1. Powerlifting Chest and Bicep Workout Routine

The powerlifting chest and biceps workout will use heavier weights and fewer reps than the other routines. The goal of this workout is to build pure strength with little focus on hypertrophy.

This workout is centered around the barbell bench press and deadlifts.

While the deadlift is more hamstring and glute-focused than upper body, it uses your biceps as an important stabilizer muscle.

Here’s one way you can do this routine:

Chest Workout

Core lift:

• Bench press (85% of your one-rep max) 5 sets x 5 reps

Assistance lifts:

• Barbell or dumbbell incline bench press (50% of your one-rep max): 5 sets x 15 reps
• Chest dips (free or machine-assisted) 5 sets x 12 reps

Bicep Workout

Core lift:

• Deadlift (85% of your one-rep max) 5 sets x 5 reps

Assistance lifts:

• Single-arm dumbbell rows (50% of your one-rep max) 5 sets of 15 reps
• Incline dumbbell curls or chin-ups (free or machine-assisted) 5 sets of 12 reps

The best thing about this powerlifting routine is that it combines building strength and gaining lean muscle mass training in the same workout.

However, if you want to focus on pure strength, we recommend increasing the weight and lowering the reps on your assistance lifts.

A word of caution based on our experience: don't overload isolation exercises (like dumbbell curls) to over 50% of your one-rep max. Because they don’t use other muscles, you might risk straining the only muscle being used.

Related: Best Powerlifting Exercises

Here are some friendly tips to help you make the most out of your bicep and chest training exercises:

• Use compound movements: Compound movements work more muscle groups per exercise than isolation movements. They help you build muscle faster and burn more calories.
• Focus on eccentric movements: Research shows that training the eccentric part of the lift (when the muscles are lengthened and under pressure) builds muscular size and strength more effectively than the concentric part (when muscles are shortened under pressure) [1].
• Progressive overload: Studies show that progressive overload (gradually increasing the weight, frequency, or number of repetitions in your lift) is one of the best ways to enhance muscle growth [2].
• Optimal recovery: Stay well-hydrated throughout the day to ensure that you maximize your muscle recovery [3]. Additionally, getting enough rest ensures that you maintain high testosterone levels, recover quickly, and build muscle faster [4].
• Nutrition and supplementation: In addition to consuming a high-protein diet, we recommend taking a quality whey protein powder to supplement your nutrition and make your gains faster.