The arms are an important area for women to maintain muscle tone and firm skin. Whether you aim to have guns reminiscent of the US army or simply want to look good in a singlet or sleeveless dress, you need to do at least a little bit of resistance training to really get those arms looking good. The best arm exercises for women are not necessarily the same for every woman, so you will need to experiment to see what works best for you. However in this article we will list what we think are 5 of the best exercises you can do as a woman to tone and shape your arms. As you will see, you don’t necessarily require specialized equipment for these exercises and as such you can do them at home if you don’t currently attend a gym. The exercises displayed below may not be perfect for you but they can certainly serve as a good starting point for you to figure out what is going to help you the most to get the results you want for your body. The best arm exercises for one woman may not be the best for another woman, but most women should be able to benefit from the range presented below.

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5 Of The Best Arm Exercises For Women

There are countless different exercises and variations of these moves that ladies can do to strengthen their arm muscles, however in this article we will focus on the fundamental exercises you can do at home with commonly found items. In this way there is no need to go to the gym, however as you progress you will probably find that you want to mix your fitness routine up a bit. You can do this with different forms of resistance training exercises as your strength improves.

For all of these exercises make sure to be careful and start with no or very light weights in order to make sure your form is good. It is best to do them in front of a mnirror if you can. For each exercise aim for 3 sets of 10 repetitions with 1 to 2 minutes rest in between each set.

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Biceps

Whether we like it or not, the biceps would have to be the yardstick by which our muscles are measured. If we have biceps, we are said to be in shape. In truth the biceps are an important muscle for pulling movements but actually contribute far less to our overall pulling strength than a larger muscle such as the back. However… the biceps are very visible so our modern society has evolved to train and display them proudly.

The most commonly done and arguably the most popular of all exercises is probably the bicep curl. When someone thinks of working out they often think of the bicep curl. This exercise is easy to do and can be done with commonly found household items such as jugs of water, laundry detergent bottles, bags of fruit or you can even do it as you bring the groceries in by curling your reusable grocery bags.

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Triceps

Sitting along the opposite edge of the arm in the same area as the biceps, the triceps are also prominently positioned so taught and trim triceps will make your arms look great. Many women carry fat deposits on the underside of the arm where the triceps are so keeping the tricep muscles strong will help to reduce the saggy underarm look.

One of the simplest and most effective exercises to do to strengthen and tone the triceps is the bench dip. This can be done using any solid surface such as the edge of a bench or desk or even on the bottom of steps. Just make sure that whatever you are holding on to with your arms is stable and you are not going to fall or pull anything down, you don’t want to hurt yourself! Start with your arms straight and slowly lower yourself (not too far at first) and push yourself back up. Keep your elbows in and you should feel a good workout in your tricep muscles!

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 Shoulders

Next on the list of arm muscles to target is the shoulders. You may think that the shoulders are not part of the arms but as the shoulder muscle comes down and meets up with the bicep it plays an important part in setting the shape of the upper arm. Strong shoulders are not only important for aesthetics but are also very important for the stability of your upper body including your neck and back.

The shoulder press or military press is a great exercise for strengthening and toning your shoulders. Just like with the bicep curl, the shoulder press can be done using common household items if proper weights are not available. You can use anything that weighs a few poinds and is easy to hold such as cans of soup, bags of rice or bottles of shampoo. You can do this exercise either sitting or standing, just experiment to see what works best for you. It is best to start off seated as this gives you more support and always start off with a very light weight to make sure you don’t hurt yourself; you can always increase the weight later!

Start with the weights just above shoulder height and keeping them in front of your shoulders, push them straight up. Keep your head looking forward and move the weights slowly.

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Upper back – Lats

The Latissimus Dorsi or lat muscle is the one that goes from the armpits around and down the back. When bodybuilders have huge lats they can almost look like a cobra flaring up. when this is firm and tight it can really help improve the appearance of the upper body especially in tight tops and sleeveless dresses where a fatty lat area can be accentuated by a tight tube top.

The most basic and common way to work this is any kind of row. It is best to do these kind of exercises at a gym under correct supervision but a simple way to work this at home is by putting a towel around something, holding either end and using your body weight as resistance lean back and pull yourself forward. Keep your shoulders back and down and focus on your form.

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Forearms

Having shapely forearms is not something that many people focus on but it can really help define your arms and make a great difference to the way you look and feel. It is also important to keep your body in proportion or it will look strange with strong biceps and triceps but weak little forearms. As we get older it will also help keep our skin looking tight.

The forearms will generally be worked by bicep curls, tricep dips, shoulder press and any kind of row, but to really isolate the forearms you can do wrist curls. To do this use a light weight and keeping your forearm flat curl your wrist up and down slowly. You can do this both palms up and also palms down.

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The arm exercises for women presented above should give anyone a great starting point and help them to both tone and strengthen their arms. Happy training!

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