As with any other muscle group, even for the muscles of the arms our desire to reach the goal must not lead us in the most absolute way to start training with an excessive load. Especially for those who train for aesthetic purposes, getting toned and well-defined arm muscles is a vitally important goal. However, training these muscle groups brings not only aesthetic benefits, but also sports benefits. With the muscles of the upper limbs in training, our strength and endurance will improve. So let’s see how to get toned arms.
The arms are composed of a main bone, the humerus, and various muscles: the biceps brachialis , the anterior brachialis, the coracobrachialis muscle, the triceps brachialis and the anconeus, commonly known as the forearm.
All these muscles can be trained with bodyweight exercise sessions or with the help of tools (such as weights, dumbbells and bars). In this article, we are going to detail some arm exercises that you can perform. The intensification of the exercises must be gradual and well thought out.
7 exercises for the arms
In general, we show you some of the most useful arm exercises below. We will divide them into three subgroups: let’s start with those that you can perform in the gym, we continue with those with free body, to be done at home (or in an open-air space) and, finally, we conclude with those to be performed at the barre.
Exercises for the arms to do in the gym
1. Barbell curls
We are going to tell you about one of the exercises for the upper limb muscle groups par excellence. In general, it should be performed with the barbell straight and standing upright; if you do it while standing, we advise you to place one foot in front of the other and therefore not to place them parallel. In this way, I will avoid shifting the center of gravity, damaging your spine .
2. We train the triceps with dumbbells
In this paragraph we will be able to list and describe different exercises, but we will focus specifically on the extension of the vertical triceps with the dumbbells. This movement consists of grasping a dumbbell with both hands and placing it behind the neck, holding it in an upright position. Then, we extend our arms, until we push the dumbbells up.
We must always make sure that we keep our back straight. When done right, this exercise is phenomenal for our arms.
3. Pulley for the biceps
To perform this exercise, you will need to use the low pulley present in the gym. To begin, take a barbell and grasp it while holding it in the supine position (that is, with the palms of the hand facing the body). Then, do some common bicep movements. Again, keep in mind that it is essential to keep your back straight; you can place one foot forward to avoid losing balance.
Bodyweight exercises for the arms
4. Bending of the arms
This exercise will allow you to strengthen the muscles of the abdomen , chest and back, not just those of the arms. It’s extremely simple: position yourself with your face facing the floor, resting on your palms and on your toes.
5. Triceps on the bench
One of the most effective alternatives for defining the triceps is this. It consists of sitting on a bench, placing the palms of the hands to the side as a support and pushing the feet forward. Push the back down as far as possible to train the triceps.
If you want to make it more difficult, place another surface in front of you and place your feet on it. Therefore, the more experienced can also add some weight on the muscles to maximize the effort.
Exercises for the arms with bars
6. The pull-ups
Pull-ups consist of hooking onto a bar to train your back, chest and of course your arms. So here is one of the main advantages of exercises with the bar: they work many muscle groups at the same time.
Performing this exercise can be difficult at first, but you will gain more strength and depth over time . Grasp the bar with your palms facing yourself; then, lift your body by leveraging your arms, then return to the starting position, extending them.
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7. The parallel bars
This type of exercise at the bar can be found in public parks with equipped “stations” for physical activity, but also in the gym.
The exercise consists of supporting yourself with the bars and lifting the weight of your body until the arms are fully extended, while slightly tilting the torso forward. We recommend bending the legs to “shorten” the length of the body and gain stability.
Finally, it should be noted that several sports – including tennis, boxing and swimming – are optimal for training the arms. Find the sport that suits you and that you like the most and start training to get the toned arms you always wanted.