Arm Exercise Programs

Including arm exercise in your fitness programme is important, not just for men who want impressive-looking biceps, but for women as well. It’s a common misapprehension among women that doing arm exercise will result in unfeminine bulky arms: on the contrary, working these muscles is key to ensuring those limbs stay lean, slender and attractive. Women in particular are prone to the loose and flabby skin on the upper arms known as ‘bingo wings’, particularly in later life. Working the triceps during your fitness programme is the way to prevent this unwelcome phenomenon from developing.

Arm exercise is a popular element to everyone’s workout routine, whatever their age and level of fitness. They’re easy to perform, and adaptable to every exerciser’s particular needs. That’s why it’s not just the bodybuilders you’ll see working their biceps and triceps in the gym.

The key to developing an effective programme for these muscles is to make sure you have a varied and balanced plan that will develop all the muscles equally. Here are some of the most popular elements you can include in your workout:

• Biceps (the muscles in the top of your upper arms)
  • Hammer Curls
  • Incline dumbbell curls
  • Machine/cable dumbbell curls
  • Preacher curls
  • Seated alternate dumbbell curls
  • Standing barbell curls
• Triceps (the underside of your upper arms):
  • Close grip bench presses
  • Kick backs
  • Lying triceps extensions/Skull crushers
  • Standing triceps extensions
  • Standing triceps extensions (cable)
• Forearms:
  • Barbell wrist curls
  • Dumbbell wrist curls
  • Reverse barbell wrist curls
  • Reverse curls

Make sure your programme includes moves from each of these three groups, and your arms will be getting a complete workout.