Let’s face it, strong arms enhance your look. The amount of work you have to put in depends on your current arm size, shape, and your desired results.

Arm training requires a lot of patience. Despite the numerous disappointments along the way, it consistently remains a popular subject for gym fanatics and athletes.

Strong arms make you feel more confident and functional. They will also enhance your physique and make it easier to perform daily tasks such as lifting small children with ease or carrying in grocery bags.

Women tend to want smaller, toned arms while guys want their arms huge and muscular. To tone your arms you will need to combine good training with a healthy diet regimen.

Overtaxing your arms too much, especially if you have just begun, is a wrong approach. You can cause injury if not careful.

Check out these tips to help best strengthen your arms.

Hey! Not just the arms!

Research has shown that working the lower body pumps huge amounts of the hormone testosterone, a bodybuilding hormone, into the blood.  Charge up your legs with some squats and lunges.

Some yoga poses such as the downward dog focus on the arms while still giving reasonable action to the lower body.

Relying solely on isolation exercises (those that work the biceps only) may not yield the results you want, as quickly as you want, because the shoulders, chest, back, and triceps also need to be strong. Your grip must be strong too. Use weighted pulls and thicker bars for lifting to make it better.

You are not fueling enough to tone the arms

To develop toned muscles it is imperative you fuel your body.  Muscle thrives on protein which helps to repair and grow it.

Make sure you are eating ample amounts of protein before and after your workouts to help with muscle recovery.

In short when exercising your arms, make sure you replenish your body with protein and carbohydrates to help with repair and growth.  The growth is what will have your arms looking extremely toned and taut.

Inadequate recovery time for arms

There are a lot of muscles in and around your arms and they are smaller than the muscles in your lower body so make sure you allow yourself enough recovery time after working them.  Do not work those muscles again for at least 1 to 2 days so they can repair.

This rest period also gives you time to focus on your diet.

Every plate should have a balanced portion of macros (carbs, protein and fat) which includes ample amounts of fruits, and veggies.

Is there such a thing as too much direct arm work?

When beginning an arm and upper body workout regimen start slow and low (with weight that is).  You do not want to jump in with extremely heavy weights if your body isn’t used to it because you may experience extreme soreness or worse, injure yourself.

One sensitive area is the shoulder and rotator cuff so you want to be mindful of lifting too heavy as that is very sensitive.

Begin your arm exercise with light weight and 12 to 20 reps (high reps) and gradually increase the weight and decrease the reps to see the results you want.

Try these recommended arm and upper workout routines below to start.  Oscillate between these workout routines for your arms to keep your body confused.

You got this!

Upper Body Stretch Routine

PIN ME | DOWNLAD | SAVE

Bi Bi Tri’s Upper Body Every Minute On The Minute (EMOM) Workout For Women

If you are tapped for time, try this upper body workout for women that will have your workout over and done in under 20 minutes.

Equipment needed:  Timer and medium dumbbells (8 lbs to 10 lbs) depending on fitness level.

PIN ME | DOWNLAD | SAVE

TRANSFORMATION WORKOUT FOR WOMEN

PIN ME | DOWNLOAD | SAVE

JELLY ARMS WORKOUT

PIN ME

TONED ARMS WORKOUT

PIN ME

TIGHT AND TONED UPPER BODY DUMBBELL WORKOUT

PIN ME | DOWNLOAD

BYE BYE BINGO ARMS WORKOUT

PIN ME | SAVE ME | DOWNLOAD

TIGHT AND TONED DUMBBELL WORKOUT

Exercise Demonstrations

Biceps Curls

Overhead Triceps Extension

Shoulder Press

Front and Lateral Raise

Triceps Dips

Skullcrushers