Upper Body Bodyweight Workout (Bicep Workout for Women)

This upper body workout is an excellent bicep workout for women that involves using your bodyweight to increase core strength.

To be honest, as a woman, working out my biceps has not been my first goal. Like many women, I wanted a nice butt and a slim waist, so I would focus on lower body and ab workouts. But biceps? Why?

It turns out fitness is not just about looking good, it’s about being strong and feeling amazing. It’s about pushing your limits and acquiring new skills. I can tell I neglected working out my upper body. One of my goals is to be able to do a handstand by the age of 50, so I definitely need to increase my upper body strength. If like me, you have decided to work on your upper body, you will love this bicep workout for women.

Bicep Workout for Women

You will notice that my upper body workout doesn’t involve dumbbells. You may think it’s weird since I am such a proponent of using dumbbells for lower body workouts. The thing is, biceps workouts for women aren’t usually meant to get big biceps. They are simply to increase strength and endurance (or to work towards a hand stand😜). That’s why I love bodyweight exercises. They are in my opinion the best upper body workout method for women. They involve your whole body and improve core strength.

This bicep workout for women includes 10 exercises. You can repeat the routine once or twice if you need more of a challenge.

1. Push Ups (10 Reps)

Push Ups are the ultimate body weight bicep workout exercise, right? How could you not do pushups? For the longest time, I could only do one full body push up. I am pretty proud of how many more I can do. I still need more upper body strength as you will see in my video. How to do a push up:

Start in the plank position (next exercise).

Contract your core.
Lower your body by bending your elbows.
Make sure your whole body including your head forms a straight line (as much as possible).

Your nose will just graze the ground and your elbows will be at a 90 degrees angle at the end of the movement.
Push back up to the starting position.

2. Plank (30 seconds)

You probably know how to do a plank already, but here are some pointers:

Place your hands (or elbows) under your shoulders and your toes on the floor.
Engage your core and lift your body up from your shoulders (don’t just collapse into your shoulders).

Hold the position as long as you can. This bicep workout for women requires you to hold it for 30 seconds.

As you can see, my body is not forming a straight line and that’s because I focus on bringing my weight towards my hands more than in my feet. I make sure I engage my core, bring my weight into my palms and lift out of my shoulders. I am also holding my camera remote control in one hand!

3. Dolphin to Plank (10 Reps)

The dolphin pose is a major component of this bicep workout for women. Here’s how you do the dolphin pose:

Begin on your hands and knees.
Put your elbows on the floor, tuck your toes in and straighten your knees as you lift up your butt in the air.
Make sure you lift out of your shoulders and push your butt back to bring your heels as close to the ground as you can.

4. Pulsing Dolphin (10 Reps)

With pulsing dolphin, you are simply bringing your head towards your fingers and back by pressing into your forearms and moving at the shoulder joint.

5. Dolphin to Down Dog (10 Reps)

Starting in the dolphin pose, you will press into your palms and lift your elbows from the ground into down dog.

6. Dolphin to Plank With One Arm Back (10 on each side)

Follow the instructions for dolphin to blank, but bring one arm back when you are in the plank position.

7. Pseudo Plank

The pseudo plank is an effective modifier that I found to include in this bicep workout for women. Starting in the plank position, bring your weight forward as much as you can.

8. Dive-Bomber Push Up (10 Reps)

I am going to give you the modified version first, because I cannot to the full dive-bomber push up. If you can, great! Do that!

Modified Dive-Bomber Push Up:

Start in the child’s pose (sitting in your heels, your arms stretched out in front of you).

Lift up your butt in the air as you transfer your weight into your elbows.
Press into your palms as your raise your elbows.
Straighten your arms.

As you transfer your weight forward, imagine you are trying to pass under a fence.
Reverse the move to get back into child’s pose.

Full Dive-Bomber Push Up:

Your starting position is similar to down dog, bot your legs and arms are not locked straight.
Bend your arms and bring your chest towards the ground (again, imagine going under a fence).