Introduction

What better way to show the average person you're fit and strong?

That's right... By flexing your biceps!

But how to properly flex your biceps? And what makes your biceps flex stand out?

That's what you will learn in this article!

I'll begin by describing some essential things regarding body posture for doing a GREAT biceps flex. Then, I'll discuss how other muscles of your arm and shoulder all together make your biceps pose more visually appealing.

Finally, I'll provide a step-by-step guide on how to properly flex your biceps.

Body posture for awesome biceps flex

In a proper biceps flex, your muscles should stand out to be evaluated for factors such as muscle size, biceps peak, muscle separations, etc. In fact, flexing your biceps is simple. You simply have to bend your arm at your elbow and tighten your biceps. How hard can that be, right?

The truth is, if you want to do a proper biceps flex, the positioning of your upper body, specifically your shoulders and arms, plays a significant role in how your biceps flex will look aesthetically.

Both the front and the back double biceps pose part of the 8 mandatory bodybuilding poses, but your can of course also do a single arm biceps pose. But to correctly flex your biceps, you should pay attention to the following aspects of your posture:

Proper shoulder positioning

To keep your shoulders in the correct position, you need to move your scapula in the proper place.

Simply put, you have to:

This means performing a downward rotation of your shoulder blades (scapula). This involves adduction (pulling your shoulder blades together) and depression (pulling your shoulder blades downward) using your trapezius muscles.

This will move your shoulders backward and downward, and your chest will protrude.

External rotation of your arm

This involves external shoulder rotation, which means turning a joint away from the center of your body. In this case, it means rotating your arms "outward."

To be more specific, imagine you are flexing your biceps right now. To rotate your arm outward (while your elbow is bent), pull your fist toward your back, and you'll feel and see your shoulder rotating.

Forearm supination

Keep your arms relaxed by your side. Now, turn your forearm outward so that your palm faces forward. This is forearm supination.

When flexing your biceps, you should rotate your forearm outward in this way. If you also tense your forearm in supination while doing this, it will engage your forearm muscles, enhancing the overall appearance of your biceps flex.

Wrist flexion

This means bending your wrist so that your hand moves toward the inside of your forearm.

What makes a great biceps flex?

So, what makes a good biceps flex? Of course, the size of your biceps is the determining factor, but it's not only the size that matters. Other aspects of a biceps flex play a role as well.

Size of your biceps

First and foremost, the total size of your biceps is the most important thing when you're flexing your biceps for someone else (even for yourself when you're trying to gauge your progress).

Big biceps will fill your T-shirt sleeves and will catch the eyes of others. So, if you want to have a great biceps flex, having big and well-defined muscles is a must! (duh!)

Great and big deltoids

Whether you're doing a front or a back biceps pose, your shoulder muscles play a major role in the overall aesthetics of your pose.

When doing a front biceps flex, big front deltoids significantly impact the overall visuals of your biceps flex. With well-developed front deltoids, the transition from your shoulders to your arm muscles becomes much more pronounced, making your biceps stand out even more.

On the other hand, in a back biceps pose, your rear and side deltoids are the shoulder muscles that play a significant role in how impressive your biceps flex appears. That's because in a back biceps pose, you're also showcasing the rear portion of your shoulder muscles, and if you have enough mass in those muscles, the individual muscles groups (your biceps, triceps, rear deltoids) will be even more distinguishable from each other.

Big forearms

Having big forearms will help a great biceps pose because they play a prominent role in the overall muscle proportions of your arm.

Big biceps with tiny forearm muscles will look kind of weird, and even the untrained eye of the average person who doesn't go to the gym will notice something is off. Still, they can't pinpoint what it is.

In contrast, the proportions will be much better when you have massive forearms, making your biceps pose much more pleasing to the eyes of trained and untrained individuals.

The problem of small forearms (and often small triceps as well) in combination with big biceps is usually noticed with new gym members who follow a "bro workout routine" (i.e., Monday is chest day, Tuesday biceps on a machine or dumbbells, Wednesday chest day, Thursday chest day, Friday biceps, Saturday back, Sunday rest.... or some variation of this).

So be wise, and train all of your muscles equally as hard. Also, focus on heavy compound exercises, and you'll notice your forearms will grow without having to target them with specific exercises. That will greatly help your biceps flex!

Huge triceps

You should always see your muscles as antagonist pairs. The antagonist for your biceps is your triceps.

Did you know that the trick of having big arms muscles is developing your triceps well?

Without fantastic and huge triceps, your biceps flex will look awkward and weird, especially when you do a back biceps pose (because in a back biceps pose, the long and the medial heads of your triceps will be visible as well).

Even when you do a front biceps flex, your triceps will be visible (in particular, the long and the medial heads of your triceps).

When your triceps take up so much visual space during a biceps pose, it's only logical that having great triceps will significantly enhance your biceps flex.

Strong muscle contractions

Even if you consider all other aspects in this list and have worked on building muscle mass with good proportions, not actually contracting your muscles during a biceps flex will break your pose.

No matter what pose you're doing, make sure you're contracting your muscles really hard to make them pop out!

Correct posing and upper body posture

Finally, good upper body posture (see the previous section for details).

Flexing your biceps is one thing, but you need to ensure your shoulders and arms are in the correct position so that your overall pose and body posture will guide the eye to your biceps flex. Together with the size of your biceps (nr. 1 above), all other aspects listed above will determine whether you have an awesome biceps flex or not.

Okay, great...now you know what upper body posture you need to maintain and what other aspects you have to work on. Let's now see how to properly flex your biceps in the next section below.

How to properly flex your biceps

So now the part you've been waiting for. With the above information in the back of your mind, it's easy to properly flex your biceps:

1. Retract your shoulder blade

Pull your shoulder blades together and down, as I described in the section about body posture.

2. Extend your arm out to the side

Ensure your arm is parallel to the floor, making a 90-degree angle with your body.

It's best to practice this in front of the mirror to see if you're extending your arm straight to the side and to check if your arm is parallel to the floor.

3. Externally rotate your arm

4. Keep your forearm in supination

In this case, it means to rotate your forearm so that your palm faces the sky. Refer to the section about body posture if you want to know more about supination.

5. Make a fist and bend your elbow

Ensure your upper arm stays parallel to the floor, and keep your shoulder blade retracted to the back. Now, make a fist and bend your elbow to bring your fist to your head.

6. Flex your wrist

Bend your wrist as if you want to touch your shoulder muscles (but maintain a fist). You'll notice your fist loosens as you flex your wrist towards your biceps. At the same time, maximally turn your forearm in a supinated position.

7. Now, the big secret for a GREAT biceps flex: pull your fist toward your back

This, again, is the external rotation of your arm. See the image below to understand what I mean by 'pulling your fist backward.'

8. Contract and squeeze your muscles

When all your posture and arm position are correct, what's left is to contract your biceps and squeeze as hard as you can to show your biceps peak!

Keep your wrist flexed and keep your forearm maximally supinated, all while you're contracting your biceps muscle as hard as you can. This will also contract your forearm muscles, making your whole arm rock-hard and tight!

Also, remember to keep your upper arm parallel to the floor and to keep retracting your shoulder blade to the back.

Well, that's it. It's easy to do a biceps flex, right?

Conclusion

The next time you flex your biceps to show somebody your gains, consider the above points so that your muscles look great.

If you’re out of shape though and you think you’re biceps look horrible, get in shape first to lose some excess body fat and see your muscles more clearly.

No matter how out of shape you are, though, don’t let that deter you from flexing your muscles and doing bodybuilding poses to perfect your posing technique.

Remember that when working out your arms, try to target all your arm’s muscles in multiple ways. Don't limit yourself solely to the good ol' Dumbbell Curls and Triceps Overhead Extensions. Do lots of accessory work as well!

Although curls and triceps extensions are great exercises and a staple in my arms routine, I always do some accessory and compound exercises that considerably impact specific arm muscles.

Think of hammer curls as an accessory exercise and pull-ups and Dips as compound exercises that intensely target your biceps and triceps, respectively.

In fact, when working out my arms, the majority of the exercises in my current workout routine consist of compound, basic exercises (close grip bench pressing, dips, and different variations of pull-ups), which I then finish off by doing isolation work for my biceps and triceps.

What do you like the most about flexing your biceps? Let me know in the comments below!