10 Best Arm Exercises With Weights (At Home Workout)

With these arm exercises with weights, you’ll transform your arms and feel more powerful with each lift. And it doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or looking to upgrade your workout routine, these arm exercises are key to building your strength and confidence.

Adding weights to your arm workouts at home or the gym can sculpt your biceps and triceps faster than just body weight. Using these arm exercises with weights can quickly make you feel more confidence as you show off your toned, defined arms.

But most people are doing their arm exercises all wrong and the weights could put them at risk of injury. Nothing would be more frustrating than exercising so hard but still having flabby arms, and wasting your time.

The good news is that these arm exercises with dumbbells are a game-changer and can be done by women, seniors, and anybody over the age of 50. By adding resistance with weights to your arm workouts, you’ll be able to target those stubborn arms and finally sculpt them.

Ready to start? Let’s dive into the arm exercises that’ll take your arm workouts to the next level!

Why Using Dumbbells for Arm Exercises Is Better

While you can do arm exercises with bodyweight to get results, you’ll be able to get even better results by using dumbbells. Using dumbbells to exercise your arms has advantages over bodyweight.

The problem with just using your bodyweight for arm exercises is you’re limited by the amount of exercises you can do.

Your arms are smaller muscles, but you’ll still have to push and pull the rest of your bodyweight to do those exercises. This can make it really hard to properly work out your arms, especially if you’re a beginner.

Your arms are made of your biceps and triceps. The biceps are the muscles on the front side of your upper arms and contain two main muscles (long head and short head). The triceps are located on the back of your upper arms and consist of three main muscles (long head, lateral head, and medial head).

Targeted Muscle Isolation

Doing arm exercises with weights like dumbbells allows you to better target the specific muscle and isolate it. You’ll be able to keep proper form when doing dumbbell arm exercises as to oppose bodyweight exercises. Having to move your entire bodyweight makes it harder to fully isolate and target the upper arms.

Enhanced Range of Motion

With dumbbells you’ll be able to have a fuller range of motion. Having more range of motion in your arm exercises will create better results by increasing engagement in your upper arm muscles. This leads to better arm activation and increases muscle fiber recruitment.

You’ll also have more muscle breakdown and microtears by having a fuller range of motion. These microtears might sound a little scary but it’s perfect normal and needed for muscle growth and strengthening. You’ll get better muscle toning in your arms after your body repairs and rebuilds these microtears.¹

Easier Balance and Stability

If you’re a beginner to strength training or over the age of 50, then it’ll be easier to use weights for your arm workouts than bodyweight. With bodyweight, you have to coordinate, balance, and move your entire body, but not with weights.

Since you’ll only have to move your arms, you could do many of these exercises while sitting too. Doing arm exercises with weights while sitting will be much better for those who are beginners, have balance issues, have joint problems or injuries, and seniors over 50 with limited mobility.

How to Tone Your Arms Fast Using Weights

You’ve might have heard that spot reduction is a “myth” and doesn’t work. But this isn’t entirely true.

The truth is you can definitely target tone your arms (and other stubborn body parts). By doing arm exercises with weights, you’ll build muscle, which will help to tighten and tone your arms.

One study found that those strength training one arm had more fat loss on that arm compared to the untrained arm.² Tennis players usually have one arm that’s more muscular than the other.³

Another study in the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness found those who trained their upper body lost more fat than their lower body.⁴ And vice versa, those training their lower body lost more fat than their upper body.

While genetics do play a significant role in body fat distribution, that doesn’t mean you’re doomed with flabby arms and bat wings forever. Genetics might make it challenging to lose the upper arm fat, but you can still get results by doing the right exercises, diet and lifestyle choices.

If you have excess weight to lose as well, then you’ll get even faster results in targeted arm fat by:

• Putting your body into a calorie deficit
• Combining these arm exercises with high-intensity workouts
• Adding in post-workout cardio exercise for extra fat-burning

But with that said, you’ll still get results just by using these weighted arm exercises. Now let’s get into the 10 best dumbbell exercises for arms…

Hammer Biceps Curl

1. Start by standing with your feet shoulder-width apart. Hold a dumbbell in each hand at your side with your arms straight, your feet apart, and your chest held high.
2. Next, pinch your shoulder blades together as he begins to curl the dumbbells up until they reach your shoulders.
3. Then slowly lower them back to the starting position. Just make sure you don’t swing the dumbbells and keep a strict form throughout the movement.

Zottman Bicep Curls

1. This is one of my favorite biceps exercises. Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Hold a dumbbell in each hand at your side with the palms up. Make sure your feet are hip-width apart, and squeeze your shoulder blades together.
2. Then, slowly bring the dumbbells up until they reach shoulder level.
3. At the top, flip the dumbbells around so your palms are facing down, and then lower them back to the ground. When they reach the bottom, flip your hands back around to the starting position and repeat.

Halfway Dumbbell Curls

1. Hold a dumbbell in each hand at your side with your palms facing each other to start.
2. Raise one dumbbell in your left hand so your left arm is bent at a 90-degree angle.
3. Then, with your right hand in your palm facing up, begin to curl the dumbbell up.
4. Halfway through the exercise, switch arms so your right arm is bent at a 90-degree angle, holding the dumbbell while your left arm is curling.

Plank Curls

1. Start in the pushup position, holding a dumbbell in each hand. Keep your body straight and your abs tight.
2. Then, begin to curl one dumbbell up to your shoulder while holding yourself up with your other arm.
3. Slowly lower that dumbbell back to the ground and then repeat on the other side.
4. Make sure your hips don’t sway too much during this exercise, and try to keep your body straight so you’ll also work your abs.

Overhead Triceps Extension

1. Grab a pair of dumbbells, lift them up over your head, and bring them back behind your head.
2. Try to keep your elbows from flaring out and hold them in a straight line with your body.
3. Slowly lift the weights up over your head so your arms are extended.
4. Then, slowly bring them back down toward the starting position behind your head. You do this exercise: standing, kneeling, or even sitting.
5. In this exercise demonstration, I have one foot in front of the other, with my knees slightly bent. This exercise can also easily be done while sitting too.

Lying Tricep Extensions

1. Lay on your back with your knees bent and hold a dumbbell in each hand over your body with your palms facing each other.
2. Slowly begin to lower the weights back behind your head while keeping your upper arm perpendicular to your body.
3. When the dumbbells reach the bottom, you will bring them back to the starting position and squeeze your triceps at the top.

Dumbbell Triceps Kickback

1. Hold a dumbbell in each hand and lean forward, raising your arms parallel to the floor.
2. Next bend your elbows and slowly begin to raise the dumbbells up until your lower arms are in a straight line with your upper arms.
3. Squeeze your triceps when the dumbbells reach the top position before slowly lowering back down.
4. Be careful not to swing the dumbbells while doing this exercise. Then, bring the dumbbells back to the starting position.

Close-grip Pushups

1. I prefer these over triceps dip if you’re strong enough to do the pushup. Start off in the pushup position with your feet together and your arms shoulder-width apart. You can also do this exercise from the kneeling position if you’re not strong enough yet to do it from your feet.
2. Then, slowly begin to lower your body to the ground by bending your elbows.
3. Try to keep your elbows in throughout the exercise so they rub up against your body.
4. When you reach the bottom, bring yourself back up to the starting position, and once you reach the top, squeeze the back of your arms.

Plank-to-Pushups

1. Start off in the push-up position with your hands underneath your shoulders. If you’re not strong enough to do this exercise you may feel you can also do it from your knees.
2. Slowly begin by bending your elbows to lower to the ground, followed by the other elbow until you’re in the plank position.
3. Once both elbows are on the ground, you can begin to raise yourself back into the push-up position using your hands.
4. Try to squeeze the back of your arms at the top of this exercise. You can also put your arms a little farther out in front to focus more on the triceps. This exercise is also great for your core muscles.

SuperBand Biceps Curl

You’ll need a SuperBand for this exercise. I wanted to include one exercise using another piece of “weighted” fitness equipment other than dumbbells to show you other available options.

1. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Grab a Superband and place your feet underneath it. Move your feet so they are shoulder-width apart.
2. Hold the Superband with your arms straight like you were in the Hammer Curl position with your chest out and your shoulders back.
3. Then, slowly begin to curl the Superband up towards your shoulders before slowly lowering it back down. Try to keep your upper body from rocking back and forth.

How to Do These Arm Exercises

The biggest tip I can give you for when you’re doing these arm exercises is to perform them slowly and under control. Try not to do the exercises too fast since going slower will work the muscles better, giving you better results.

Ideally, you’d do each exercise until you feel the burn in the muscle. This burning sensation in the muscle is caused by the buildup of lactic acid. As your muscles work harder, they need more energy, and when oxygen levels are low during exercise, your body switches to anaerobic energy, causing the build up of lactic acid.

This is basically just a sign that you’re working the muscle effectively. You’ll also be breaking down the muscle efficiently, allowing your body to then repair and rebuild the muscles stronger. This will help you tone your arms faster than just doing a handful of reps.

How heavy should the weights be for these arms exercises?

The weight of dumbbells should be enough for you to start “feeling the burn” after 6-8 reps. Once you start to feel the burn you should keep going until you can’t keep proper form any longer.

For women, I usually recommend using 6-10 pound dumbbells. If you’re a beginner, you should start with 6-pound dumbbells and work your way up from there. You don’t want to lift too heavy dumbbells to the point that your form suffers.

What weights are the best for arm exercises?

Dumbbells are going to be the best weights for arm exercises most of the time. Dumbbells are the best for women because they’re much easier to use. They offer better control and balance as well as the ability to focus on each individual arm compared to barbells.

I prefer and recommend using vinyl coated dumbbells. They’re easier to grip with their no-slip coating and more comfortable to hold. They’re also easier on the floors and the coating protects the dumbbells over time. Pick color coated dumbbells because it’ll be easier to tell different weights apart.

Using these Dumbbell Arm Exercises in a Workout Routine

Each one of these arm exercises works either your biceps or your triceps. You can mix and match to put them into highly effective arm workouts. Doing this will make your workout time more efficient, and you can quickly do a highly effective arm exercise in just 10 minutes.

The first five will train your biceps, and the last five will train your triceps. It’ll be best to alternate between one of the biceps exercises and one of the tricep exercises. Then, go back and forth for 2-4 total sets.

This is advantageous because after completing the biceps exercise, you’ll allow it to rest while you exercise the triceps. You’ll also create a better “muscle pump” due to increased blood flow and nutrient delivery. This can help give you better and faster results.

If you want to get even faster results, then you can take this arms workout to the next level by combining it with high-intensity exercise. High-intensity exercise will increase fat-burning by boosting your metabolism and creating an Afterburn effect.

The Afterburn effect, known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), is your body’s ability to burn calories and fat at an elevated rate even after your workout is finished. One study found the Afterburn effect can burn fat up to 38 hours after you’ve finished working out.⁵

Then after you complete this arm workout, you’ll get even faster results by adding in 20-40 minutes of cardio exercise. Following up your arm workout with cardio can increase the burn of mobilized fatty acids and increase fat-burning in the targeted arm area.

Here’s an example arm workout that combines all of the above:

Order	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Rest
A1.	Jumping Jacks	3	20	x
A2.	Hammer Curls	3	10	x
A3.	Lying Triceps Extension	3	12	30 sec.
B1.	Running in Place	3	30 sec.	x
B2.	Zottman Curls	3	10	x
B3.	Triceps Kickback	2	10	30 sec.
C1.	Mountain Climbers	3	20	x
C2.	Halfway DB Curls	3	8/side	x
C3.	Overhead Triceps Extension	3	12	30 sec.

Getting The Most of These Arm Exercises

If you’re trying to get rid of the upper arm fat then you’ll need to also reduce body fat. Putting your body in an overall state of calorie deficit for enough total body fat loss is needed. This total body fat loss will then contribute to target spot reducing upper arm fat.

Most women seem to lose fat best when consuming 1200-1500 calories per day.⁶ This of course is ballpark number so you’ll need to test and figure out what works best for you.

Intermittent fasting is a proven way to burn body fat quicker. One study found those following a fasting routine were able to reduce their calorie intake by 550 calories daily.⁷

Fasting causes your body to start burning through fat stores quicker since you won’t have any incoming calories or sugars. Without these nutrients, your body will enter a ketogenic state, which means it will start burning body fat for fuel.

Ketones are the energy source your body makes from body fat stores for fuel. Try adding C8-MCTs to your morning coffee or tea to kickstart this ketogenic process. These C8-MCTs don’t break your fast and are quickly converted into ketones via your liver.⁷

The ketogenic process can take many hours to activate but can be triggered sooner with C8-MCTs in the morning after an overnight of fasting. Then, continue fasting until about lunchtime. The C8-MCTs will give you an energy boost, curb hunger, and provide mental clarity (ketones fuel your brain too).

Ideally, you’d do these arm exercises and workout towards the end of your fasting period. At the end of your fasting period your body has maxed out on the fat-burning. So by working out at the end of your fasting period you’ll burn even more fat off your body and arms.

Summary

• Dumbbell arm exercises have advantages over using your bodyweight and barbells for most women. You’ll be able to control them better and you’ll be able to work your arm muscles better. This will create better results as well as reduce your risk of injury.
• Many say spot reduction can’t be done but it’s more than possible. Follow this arm toning workout while also putting your body into a calorie deficit, and add in high-intensity exercise with post-workout cardio. This will further enhance targeted fat burning in your arms and help to tone them faster.
• Alternate between biceps and triceps exercises to get the most out of these workouts. You’ll get better results by pushing each exercise to the point you feel the burn, and do as many as you can before fatigue makes your form go bad.
• Using high-intensity exercise and post-workout cardio will help to burn off 300-1000 calories. Figure this number in when calculating your daily calorie intake. This will play a major role in not only targeted fat loss in your arms but also overall body fat loss.