3 Exercises for Strengthening Arm Muscles

If you're not used to working your arms, go slowly or you'll get injured. Discover three exercises for strengthening arm muscles.

Reviewed and approved by the pedagogue in physical education and nutritionist Elisa Morales Lupayante.

Written by Katherine Flórez

Last update: 15 December, 2022

When it comes to taking care of ourselves from a physical point of view, strengthening the arm muscles becomes a necessity, as it’s necessary to work the various areas of the body to maintain a good balance.

In addition, having a minimum amount of strength in the arms is essential to carry out various daily tasks.

The strength of these extremities is determined by their muscle mass; for this reason, it’s necessary to work on it constantly, through the practice of certain exercises.

On the other hand, muscle mass is not the only factor taken into account when it comes to strengthening the muscles of the arms; tone is also a determining factor.

What is muscle tone?

Tension fulfills the function of maintaining the organism in partial muscular contraction. It positively influences the body’s posture. In other words, it prevents the body from slackening.

Muscle tone must be present in each of the muscles of the organism, including, also, the arms.

Continuing with the influential factors in the muscular strengthening of the arms, both the elasticity and hydration of these also play a fundamental role. For this reason, we need to nourish them adequately.

The importance of targeting arm muscles

When it comes to the muscular function of the arms, it’s not only strength or aesthetics that are relevant. When we fail to exercise them properly, they can present important problems, such as muscular atrophy and hypotonia.

These are very significant diseases for the body and the best way to prevent them (or treat them, as the case may be) is through physical exercise.

Having said that, we’re going to expose a series of exercises to strengthen the muscles of the arms.

Exercises for strengthening arm muscles

There are many ways you can strengthen your arms. Along with a proper diet and hydration, exercise is crucial.

Here are three great exercises:

1. Triceps dips

When people create exercise routines focused on arm strength, they tend to get a lot of things wrong.

The most common problem is that they tend to be all about the biceps, neglecting other muscles like the deltoids and triceps.

As such, we’ll focus on triceps dips; you can do them anywhere and they’re very easy.

• Firstly, stand with your back to a surface where you can rest your hands (this could be a bench, wall, or chair, for example).
• Your legs should be shoulder-width apart.
• Your arms should form a 90-degree angle when you lower your body.
• Then, taking advantage of gravity and your own body weight, lower your body while keeping your legs straight.
• We recommend doing 4 sets of 10 repetitions each.

2. Arm scissors

This exercise works all the major muscles of your arms but focuses on the deltoids, which makes up part of your shoulders.

• Firstly, stand normally (feet shoulder-width apart).
• Then, hold a dumbbell in each hand, arms extended out from either side of your body.
• Bring the weights towards the front of your body, as if they were going to meet each other, but instead, keep going until you form an X (hence the name “scissors”).
• The pace of this move shouldn’t be fast but also not too slow.
• It’s recommended to do 3 sets of 10 repetitions each.

3. Side push-ups

Push-ups are one of the most common strength-training exercises.

Here, we’ll show you an effective version for our particular goal. It’s a bit more complicated and may require some extra effort.

• Firstly, you’ll need an exercise or yoga mat.
• Then, support yourself with one palm and both feet together on the mat.
• Just like with regular push-ups, bend the arm that’s supporting your body and return to your starting position, extending your other arm above you.
• It’s a good idea to do them slowly to avoid injury and to switch arms after each push-up.
• Do 3 sets on each arm.

If you want a personalized training plan to, among other things, strengthen your arm muscles, gain flexibility as well as good form, we recommend that you consult with a trainer.