Did you know that the average percentage of U.S. adults that meet recommended physical activity guidelines is merely 22.9%?
If you want to live a long, productive, and healthy life, you need to look out for your health.
That means eating right, getting enough sleep, and engaging in enough physical activity. A full-body workout includes arm workouts.
Are you interested in learning about how to start strengthening your arms? Continue reading for a guide to some simple arm workouts for beginners.
What You Need to Know Before Getting Started
When it comes to doing arm workouts, it helps to understand that your arms have 20+ muscles. The various exercises will help strengthen all of them.
Arm exercises primarily focus on your biceps–the front portion of your upper arm residing between your shoulders and elbows–and your triceps–the backside of your arm between your shoulders and elbows.
A thorough arm training session will also focus on your forearms, which include the brachioradialis. The brachioradialis mostly flexes the forearms at the elbows. They also aid with the rotation of the forearms.
When getting started with arm exercises, make it a goal to do each exercise for two or three sets with 10 to 12 repetitions per set. That’ll allow you to get a good arm workout that’ll set you on the path to achieving your fitness goals.
Arm Workouts to Add to Your Regimen
There are tons of arm workouts you can work into your daily routine. You can rotate them to get variety and keep your workouts more enjoyable.
What follows is a look at some of the best exercises to get you started:
Dumbbell Bicep Curl
Doing dumbbell biceps curls will help you build upper arm strength. While there are various ways you can complete this particular exercise, what follows is one variation suitable for anyone from the novice to the highly experienced:
1. Begin this exercise by standing straight up holding a dumbbell in each hand. Don’t use dumbbells that are too heavy. You want to get a good workout, but you shouldn’t go too heavy too soon.
With the dumbbells in your hands, ensure your arms are in a resting position at your side.
2. With your elbows near your torso’s side, rotate your palms so they’re facing forward.
3. Ensure your upper arms remain in place, contract your biceps, and curl the weights.
4. Continue lifting the dumbbells until you’ve completely contracted your biceps and the weights are at shoulder level.
5. Start to slowly lower the weights toward your hips.
6. Pay attention to your form when doing dumbbell biceps curls. You shouldn’t be arching your back when doing the repetitions. Only your lower arms should be moving when doing this exercise.
This is one of the arm workouts that will help you meet your fitness goals. If you want some guidance, consider hiring a personal trainer.
Cable Rope Curl
If you’re considering easy workouts for your arms, add cable rope curls to the list.
One tip before getting underway is to start off at a lighter weight than might otherwise think necessary. Get accustomed to doing this type of arm exercise before gradually increasing the weight.
1. Hold onto the cable curl bar while you stand with your face toward the cable machine and your torso upright.
2. Keep your upper arms still with your arms facing upward and your elbows beside your torso.
3. Curl the weight as you contract your biceps. Do so until the bar is raised to your shoulders.
4. Return the curl bar to the beginning position — but don’t do it too fast. Take your time and maintain control all the way back down.
This is one of the easier arm exercises to do, so give it a try if you’re new to arm exercises.
Chest Fly
This is an easy exercise, but you’ll need to recline on the floor. So, if you’d prefer not to recline on anything lower than a workout bench, you might want to skip this one. Otherwise, it’s an effective exercise for building arm strength.
1. Get a mat, and lay on your back. Ensure your back is flat against the mat.
2. With dumbbells in each hand facing upwards, you need to extend your arms out on the floor.
3. Raise the dumbbells so that they both meet above your chest.
4. Return the weights to the starting position.
5. Don’t let your joints lock when your arms are straight.
Dumbbell Hammer Curl
The dumbbell hammer curl is similar to the regular bicep curl. So, if you’ve done the regular bicep curl, you’ll find that the dumbbell hammer curl is a piece of cake.
1. Start off by setting your feet apart at a shoulder-width stance. Your feet should be facing forward.
2. With your palms facing each other, hold a dumbbell in each hand by your sides.
3. Keep your upper arm erect and curl the dumbbells up while contracting your bicep muscles. Do so until the weights are shoulder height.
4. During the entire dumbbell hammer curl exercise, ensure your thumbs always face up toward your shoulders.
5. Lower the weights back to your sides.
If you’re interested in building arm strength, the dumbbell hammer curl is one of the simple workouts that can help you achieve your objective.
Tricep Extension
Another good exercise for your tricep is what’s called a tricep extension. It’s worth adding to any routine to build up arm strength. The tricep extension is also relatively easy to execute.
1. Hold a dumbbell in each hand, and extend your arms above your head.
2. Move your arms downward until your elbows are at a 90 degree angle.
3. Lift the dumbbells above your head.
Bench Bodyweight Triceps Dips
If your goal is to work out your triceps, exercises employing dips are golden. For the bench bodyweight triceps dips, your bodyweight will be used in place of dumbbells or barbells. It’s a great way to introduce yourself to dip routines.
1. Begin the bench bodyweight triceps dips by sitting on the bench. You then need to slide off the bench. You need to ensure your hand position stabilizes you throughout the exercise.
2. Grasp the edge of the bench, ensure your arms are completely extended and shoulder-width apart, and ensure the bench is situated behind you.
3. Your feet should be positioned out in front of you.
4. With your shoulders close to your body, lower yourself down by bending at the elbows. You should do this until your elbows are at an angle of less than 90 degrees.
5. Use your tricep muscles to lift your torso back to the starting position.
Table Triceps Pushdown
The table triceps pushdown is great if you’re looking to incorporate simple arm exercises into your regimen. One reason it’s so popular is that there’s a relatively low learning curve. It’s great even for beginners.
1. You’ll need to connect a rope to the pulley to get started. Hold onto the end of the rope with both hands. Your palms should be facing one another.
2. Stand up straight but lean your body forward a little bit.
3. Position your upper arms near your body and perpendicular to the ground. Ensure your forearms are facing each other and point in the direction of the pulley.
4. Pull the rope toward, using only your tricep muscles, until it reaches your thighs and your arms are completely extended.
5. While exercising control, you need to let the rope return to the starting position.
Dumbbell Skull Crusher
Your tricep muscles will get a great workout when you do the dumbbell skull crusher exercise.
1. Recline on your back on a flat bench. Your back must be flat against the bench if you’re going to do this exercise safely and effectively.
2. Position your body so the lower portion of your legs are in front of the bench. Your head should be right at the top of the bench.
3. Position your feet on the ground and extend your arms above your chest with your elbows spread out shoulder-width in distance.
4. With the dumbbells in your hands, flex your elbows. Lower the dumbbells toward your head, and ensure that you keep your upper arms at a 90 degree angle to your body. Your thumbs should be facing downward.
5. Lower the dumbbell behind your head until the bottom of the weights reaches the top of the bench.
6. Reverse this process until the dumbbell returns to above your chest.
Overhead Press
Another simple exercise for building arm strength is the overhead press. It will exercise your shoulders, triceps, and some chest muscles.
1. Stand in an upright position while looking straight ahead of you
2. Hold the bar with your arms spread out a little wider than should-width apart. You should hold the bar on your upper chest.
3. Press the barbell directly overhead so that your arms are fully extended upward. Keep your hips in a fixed position so that they don’t tilt when you raise the barbell.
Another variation of this is to use dumbbells rather than a barbell. You can hold one dumbbell per hand and lift your arms similar to the way you would with a barbell. It might be easier to initially go with dumbbells if you’re a novice.
Zottman Curls
This particular exercise is ideal when you want to focus on the biceps brachii, which is a large muscle located on the front of your upper arm between the elbow and shoulder. It’s also referred to as the arm’s two-headed muscle.
1. Stand while keeping your torso upright. Pick up dumbbells and ensure the palms of your hands face one another. Your arms should be arm’s length apart.
2. Keep your upper arms still while you contract your biceps and curl the weight.
3. Rotate your wrists at the same time you contract the bicep muscles, and ensure your palms face upward while so doing.
4. Continue until the weights reach shoulder height.
5. The next step is to rotate your wrists until the palms of your hands face downward — all while your biceps are contracted.
6. Start lowering the weights back down — but ensure you do so slowly.
7. Rotate your wrists so that your palms face your body — all while the weights move closer to your thighs.
Dead Hang
Dead hangs are fairly easy to execute. But it’s up to you to decide how long you can hold on. The longer you can cling to the pull-up bar the better, but you can increase the length of time you hang on as you get better at it.
This exercise will strengthen your arm muscles and enhance endurance.
1. Position yourself under a pull-up bar.
2. Hold onto the bar with your arms spread shoulder-width apart. Your palms should be facing away, rather than toward, you. When holding onto the bar, your feet should be off the ground.
3. While holding the pull-up bar, your body should be relaxed. Try to hold on for at least 15 seconds — but more is better if you’re able to do so.
Arm Workouts for Beginners
If you’re looking to reach peak physical health, you’ll want a plan that targets your entire body. And if you’re new to working out, it pays to find resources specifically geared toward people who are just getting started.
The arm workouts for beginners detained above are a great place to start if you’re interested in strengthening your arms. It’s enough to get you started as you incorporate different workouts into your regimen.
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