Whatever your fitness goals are, you can achieve more than you might think in just a month. With our 30-day arms challenge, you’ll finish with stronger, more defined arms, and we’re pretty sure you’ll enjoy yourself along the way too.
That’s because the plan progresses at a manageable pace, and starts with achievable short workouts that help you build the strength in your arms quickly, without making your arms sore for days afterwards.
There are six moves on the plan, and you tackle three of them most days. Three of the arms exercises on the plan use just your bodyweight, and three involve dumbbells. For the first half of the plan you’ll be doing bodyweight exercises and then in the second half you bring in the dumbbells to help you keep progressing as you get stronger.
A set of dumbbells is needed for the challenge, and we’d recommend a minimum weight of 5kg per weight if possible, though you can certainly choose a lighter weight if that is too challenging.
If you don’t own a pair already, here are the best dumbbells deals available today.
Or, if you’d like to set yourself up for the long term, browse our recommendations of the best adjustable dumbbells. They are more expensive than a fixed-weight pair, but they allow you to gradually increase the weight as you get stronger. Once you've completed this 30-day plan, a pair will allow you to tackle this dumbbell arms workout.
Below you’ll find a guide showing you how to do each of the six exercises involved followed by the plan itself.
30-Day Arms Challenge: Exercise Guides
The exercises in our 30-day arms challenge use your own body weight for the first half of the month, and then up the intensity by incorporating dumbbells for the second half.
All six moves below will target your biceps (the front of your upper arms), triceps (back of the upper arms) and deltoids (shoulders).
Push-up on knees
Begin on your hands and knees, with your hands underneath your shoulders, arms straight, feet off the floor and your body in a straight line from head to knees. Tighten your stomach muscles to help keep your body in a straight line, then bend your elbows to lower your chest to the floor. Push through your hands to lift your body back to the start.
Too difficult? Just do the first half—lowering to the floor—as slowly as you can. Refer to our guide on how to do a push-up for more advanced versions to try.
Triceps dip
Sit on a chair or sofa and place your hands either side of you. Slide your bottom off the chair, bending your knees at right angles. Bend your elbows to lower your hips to the floor until they are at right angles. Press up until your elbows are straight but not locked.
Walking plank
Get into a press-up position. Lower yourself on to your right forearm, then bring your left arm down too, so they’re both flat on the floor. Place your right hand on the ground and push up, allowing your left hand to follow. Alternate your leading arm and keep your hips as still as possible throughout.
Triceps extension
Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding a dumbbell above your head with a straight arm. Keeping your back straight and upper arm by your ear, bend your elbow to slowly lower the dumbbell behind your head. Straighten your arm to lift the dumbbell to the starting position. Perform all the repetitions on one side then switch sides.
Biceps curl
This move is one of the best biceps workouts to strengthen your arms with weights. Hold dumbbells by your thighs, with your palms facing away from you. Keeping your upper arms still, bend your elbows to lift the dumbbells to shoulder height. Slowly lower and repeat.
Standing shoulder press
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Hold dumbbells by your shoulders with your palms facing forwards and elbows pointing to the sides. Raise the dumbbells straight up until your arms are straight. Slowly lower to the starting position.
30-day arms challenge
Ready to put those moves into action? Get going with your 30-day arms workout plan below! Either save the image to your device for easy reference, or follow the day-by-day guidelines listed underneath.
Bear in mind that to see muscle tone you need to burn fat, so add try to complete two to three cardio workouts a week as well.
Day 1
3 x Push-up on knees
3 x Triceps dip
3 x Walking plank
Day 2
4 x Push-up on knees
4 x Triceps dip
4 x Walking plank
Day 3
5 x Push-up on knees
5 x Triceps dip
5 x Walking plank
Day 4
6 x Push-up on knees
6 x Triceps dip
6 x Walking plank
Day 5
7 x Push-up on knees
7 x Triceps dip
7 x Walking plank
Day 6
8 x Push-up on knees
8 x Triceps dip
8 x Walking plank
Day 7
9 x Push-up on knees
9 x Triceps dip
9 x Walking plank
Day 8
Rest day!
Day 9
10 x Push-up on knees
10 x Triceps dip
10 x Walking plank
Day 10
11 x Push-up on knees
11 x Triceps dip
11 x Walking plank
Day 11
12 x Push-up on knees
12 x Triceps dip
12 x Walking plank
Day 12
13 x Push-up on knees
13 x Triceps dip
13 x Walking plank
Day 13
14 x Push-up on knees
14 x Triceps dip
14 x Walking plank
Day 14
15 x Push-up on knees
15 x Triceps dip
15 x Walking plank
Day 15
16 x Push-up on knees
16 x Triceps dip
16 x Walking plank
Day 16
Rest day!
Day 17
3 x Triceps extension
3 x Biceps curl
3 x Standing shoulder press
Day 18
4 x Triceps extension
4 x Biceps curl
4 x Standing shoulder press
Day 19
5 x Triceps extension
5 x Biceps curl
5 x Standing shoulder press
Day 20
6 x Triceps extension
6 x Biceps curl
6 x Standing shoulder press
Day 21
7 x Triceps extension
7 x Biceps curl
7 x Standing shoulder press
Day 22
8 x Triceps extension
8 x Biceps curl
8 x Standing shoulder press
Day 23
9 x Triceps extension
9 x Biceps curl
9 x Standing shoulder press
Day 24
Rest day!
Day 25
10 x Triceps extension
10 x Biceps curl
10 x Standing shoulder press
Day 26
11 x Triceps extension
11 x Biceps curl
11 x Standing shoulder press
Day 27
12 x Triceps extension
12 x Biceps curl
12 x Standing shoulder press
Day 28
13 x Triceps extension
13 x Biceps curl
13 x Standing shoulder press
Day 29
14 x Triceps extension
14 x Biceps curl
14 x Standing shoulder press
Day 30
15 x Triceps extension
15 x Biceps curl
15 x Standing shoulder press
Congratulations! You’ve completed our 30-day arms challenge.
Liked this? More 30-day challenges:
- Take our 30-day dumbbell challenge to tone your entire body
- Get a stomach of steel in just one month with our 30-day abs challenge
- This full-body home workout challenge builds strength and definition in 30 days