Back and bicep workout plan

A back and bicep workout for three days a week, at the gym or with two dumbbells.

Who it is for

Every day starts with two back exercises while you are fresh, then rear shoulder work, one curl and one triceps exercise, in about 30 minutes. The triceps are there so the front and back of the arm grow evenly, not as a second focus.

• You like a pull day and want it written out with sets, reps and rest
• You are new to lifting and want short sessions of five or six exercises
• You train at home with a pair of dumbbells: the second tab has no machines
• Chest and legs get trained on other days, or not at all yet

How to lay out the week

Train every other day, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Day A pairs the lat pulldown with the seated cable row, then the reverse pec deck, a dumbbell curl and an overhead cable extension. Day B starts on the machine row and moves to the close-grip pulldown, then face pulls, pushdowns and hammer curls. Day C begins with the close-grip pulldown for 3 sets and closes with a cable curl and pushdowns. For the first two weeks there are still three sessions, but they alternate A and B, so you meet each machine twice before day C arrives. Rest is 90 seconds on rows and a minute on the arm work.

How to add weight

Back lifts move up faster than curls. When you reach 12 on every set of the cable row or machine row, put the pin one plate lower and go back to 10; the close-grip pulldown works from 8 to 12. Curls and hammer curls go from 10 to 12, so a 1 or 2 kg step is enough. With dumbbells only, once your heaviest pair is easy for 12 rows, slow the lowering to 3 seconds and squeeze for a second at the top. Write down every set; with two sets per arm exercise, a single extra rep is real progress.

If you use Claude or ChatGPT, you can connect it to AIm later: it reads the same log.

Warm-up

1. Two minutes on a rower with long, easy strokes.
2. Hang from a pull-up bar for 10 to 20 seconds, then do ten band pull-aparts.
3. A light set of 12 curls with a small dumbbell, then a half-weight set of the first row.

Mistakes to avoid

• Turning every row into a curl. Lead with the elbows and let your hands just hold the handle.
• Leaning far back on the pulldown to drag the bar down. A small lean is fine, a swing is not.
• Curling heavy before the rows. The back comes first here so tired biceps do not cut your rows short.
• Rounding over on the bent-over dumbbell row. Hinge until your back is flat and almost level, and hold it there.

Best back and bicep workout: why this order

Every row and pulldown bends the elbow, so the biceps already work hard before any curl. Put the curls first and your arms give out before your back has done its job. This plan does the opposite: two back exercises at the start, rear shoulder work in the middle, and just 2 sets of curls at the end, which is enough when the rows came first.

Back and biceps with dumbbells

The dumbbell tab needs a pair of dumbbells and a bench or a firm chair. The one-arm row, with one hand and knee on the bench, lets you go heavier and pull further back. The bent-over row trains both sides at once. Prone Y-T-W raises on the floor cover the rear shoulders, and the arms get dumbbell curls, hammer curls, kickbacks and an overhead extension.

Back and bicep day inside a full week

If you only want one back and bicep day among other training, take day A on its own and put chest and legs on other days. For a whole week already laid out that way, the push pull legs routine has a pull day close to this one.