From building visible muscle to making everyday lifting tasks easier, there are plenty of reasons to develop strength in your arms. But you don't just have to do endless bicep curls to see results, as this varied 20-minute dumbbell routine shows.
If you're working out at home, all you need is a set of the best adjustable dumbbells. These are a space-saving way to build muscle, but they're also flexible, allowing you to increase the load as you develop strength.
For those training at the gym, use these beginner strength training tips to find a load that'll challenge you but isn't so heavy that you struggle to lift it and end up impacting your form, which can lead to injury.
With weights by your side, you can begin The Body Coach's 20-minute arm workout. The routine, designed by Joe Wicks (the personal trainer known as The Body Coach), works your biceps and triceps for a time-efficient muscle-building session.
There are five exercises, and you'll do two sets of 10-15 repetitions of each; one heavy set and one light set. So, you'll need two pairs of dumbbells (a light option and a heavy option), or you can change the load of your adjustable weights between sets.
Watch The Body Coach's 20-minute arm workout
Although bicep curls make an appearance in the routine, so do other arm-focused exercises like tricep push-ups, hammer curls, overhead tricep extensions, and bicep cross-body curls. If you're new to these moves, Wicks demonstrates each during the short session.
It's always important to focus on your form if you want to see results from your workout, but it is especially important for avoiding injury when working with weights. Fortunately, you can use the best bicep workouts to practice your technique before taking on Wicks' routine.
If you add this routine to your workout schedule, or even if you just use some of the five moves regularly in your sessions, you'll develop strength and start to build muscle. But you'll need to use the progressive overload technique to avoid plateauing.
It might sound complex, but the aim is to challenge your muscles as you get stronger by increasing the weight you lift. Alternatively, you could increase the number of reps you do for each exercise or reduce the rest time between sets.
If you're after a way to build stronger arms and develop muscle in your upper body, then it's worth learning how to do dumbbell pullovers. This compound exercise works multiple muscles simultaneously and engages your arms and shoulders.
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