BEST ARM WORKOUTS AT HOME

Getting an arm workout done when you’re stuck at home isn’t easy, and you’re not always going to have a way to get out and exercise with proper equipment. But how do you exercise your arms in an easy, quick way that’s still going to have some noticeable benefits to your health? Thankfully, it’s not too difficult to pick up some workouts for arms and the muscles within that you can do at home, at work or even just when you’ve got a spare moment somewhere else. Not only are they simple, but they can still give you excellent results if you’re consistent.

WITHOUT EQUIPMENT

If you don’t have any weights or other equipment on hand, then you’ll have to make do with your arm muscles themselves. Luckily, there’s plenty of exercise techniques that don’t rely on anything other than the floor and/or a wall, and they can give you clear benefits no matter how fit you might be. They include:

PLANKS

The original forearm plank is perhaps one of the most straightforward ways to work out your arms and upper body, and it barely takes any effort. There’s various versions, but the easiest takes hardly any effort to set up: find an empty space of floor and get into the plank position, where you’re essentially on all fours (palms and feet) with your arms stretched forwards and your legs stretched out against the ground., Either hold your arms all the way out or bend them at the elbow and rest on them, then just wait for your arm muscles to get tired.

The idea behind planks is that you’re forcing your body to maintain a position that strengthens many of your muscles, essentially putting pressure on them in the same way that lifting a heavy object would. Versions like the plank tap work by making you tap your shoulders while you’re in the plank position, meaning that you’re shifting your weight and moving around like you would with other arm exercises.

There’s also the side plank, where you support your body from the side. These can take more effort to pull off, especially if you don’t have your body back against a wall, but it can also be a good way to perform arm exercises and improve your muscle strength slightly without needing to take much time out of your daily routine. Even better, many versions target your core too, not just your biceps and triceps.

PUSH-UPS

A single push-up targets your torso, glutes, core, forearms, shoulder muscles and dozens of other places on your body, and the reps don’t take very long. The starting position is simple: it’s basically the same as a plank, except you’re supposed to drop your body down and then push yourself back up. This is a more active way of building upper body and arm strength as well as arm muscle, but it can take a while to build up the strength needed to do it consistently.

The push-up position can also be used for the downward dog movement, where you ‘walk’ your hands back, tap your toe with one hand and then ‘walk’ forward again and perform a push-up like normal. This takes more coordination and can take a while to repeat smoothly, but it helps with muscles slightly lower down your body and can be a good workout for arms that need some extra strength training.

You can also do a decline push-up by placing your legs on a raised surface, meaning that you put more weight on your arms and elbows. Just be careful, since this can take a while to get used to, since your elbows have to support your body as it faces towards the floor. An incline push-up is also possible, and is performed by angling yourself upwards and doing the same elbows motion as before.

BURPEES

A burpee is essentially a ‘push-up into a standing jump’. It’s performed by pushing yourself up with your elbows as normal, then moving your legs forward and hopping off the ground so that you land in a crouched position. From there, you can rise up and jump (or at least hop), and then slowly lower yourself back down to perform another push-up. The ‘slowly lower’ part can be the hardest piece of the technique to get right, but it’s easy to do and works out most of your body without weights.

WITH EQUIPMENT

If you have small weights or other gear, there are other exercises that you can do to quickly and easily get some more arm exercise done. Some arms workout techniques include:

BICEP CURLS

A bicep curl is the most basic option when it comes to using weights. Hold the weight or small dumbbell side level with your waist and about a shoulder-width apart from each other, then slowly begin to raise them in an alternating pattern. To do this, bend your elbows and try to raise them up without moving your back too much: the effort should come from your arm muscles, not your back ones. The size and weight of the dumbbells needs to be carefully chosen ,since you don’t want to harm your body at all.

You can do this with one weight, but you’ll still need to swap it between arms and bend your elbows separately if you want the same results across both arms. Make sure that you return to the starting position properly, since this will ensure that you don’t hurt your arms by using the weights incorrectly.

You can also do side curls, which are just bicep curls except your arms move upwards sideways from your body. Again, since you’ll want to keep the weights a shoulder-width apart, make sure you aren’t crossing your arms too much.

RESISTANCE BANDS

A resistance band is perfect for a range of exercise types, with one of the most being squats. To do this, you stand on the resistance band with one hand on each end, then simply squat: be sure to bend your elbows so that there’s still proper tension in the band and that each arm is facing the right way. You can do this on any floor surface, with harder ones being better. Alternatively, you can keep the band on the floor and choose to move your arms instead, which is called the lateral rise: the starting position for this is the same as squats, but you move your arms and elbows upwards and to the side instead, making them arm exercises.

You can also do leg-based exercises with them, although you usually have to be sitting on the floor or a chair for it. Use your elbows to hold the band tight around the bottom of your foot, and then stretch your foot out slightly to apply tension to both your legs and elbows. If done on the floor, you’ll want to make sure that you don’t bash anything against the ground. Try to keep your arms a shoulder-width apart, just for simplicity.

HOW CAN I BUILD ARM MUSCLE WITHOUT WEIGHTS?

You can still exercise all of your body without any weights, especially if you have enough floor space to lay your body down somewhere. Building muscle in this way is generally the same as if you had weights: you just need to try different exercises. Weights aren’t the only way that you can strengthen your arm muscles, and there’s a lot of ways to exercise your abs, core, centre area, legs, stomach and even your belly area if you’re careful, not to mention the extra cardio exercise that you can do. The floor is often the most useful tool you can have second to a wall, so be creative and try to think of what else you can do.

For example, you can squat against a wall to strengthen your legs, or use an indoor floor area to do a push-up routine that goes through multiple exercises without actually moving from that one spot. The only real limitation is the fact that you have no dedicated gear, so you won’t be able to rely on the same kind of consistency, but practice will get you the results you want anyway. Remember that your elbows, knees and chest are all areas that might need the most attention, not to mention any belly fat you might have.

HOW CAN I SLIM MY ARM FAT IN A WEEK AT HOME?

You can’t choose how to lose weight, but you can certainly direct it towards your arm muscles and fat. The easiest way to slim your arm fat is to just eat better and keep exercising: you can’t rely on arm exercises to do it for you, so you just have to be dedicated and try to lose weight the hard way. It shouldn’t take long for you to notice results, especially if you’ve been following a diet plan too.