Great Arm Exercises for a Toned Upper Body

Ladies, how many times a week do you get excited about doing arm day? Wait, you don’t do arm day?

I understand the draw of squats and lunges and planks. But working your arms and shoulders is the secret to looking toned and tight, especially when pulling on tank tops and summer dresses. Here are my favorite arm and shoulder exercises for toned arms.

Alternating Dumbbell Shoulder Press

Dumbbell presses are a compound movement – they work more than one muscle at a time, especially if you hold your non-working arm at a 90-degree angle. Added benefit: when you perform shoulder presses while standing, your core is forced to jump in to help stabilize you.

How to:

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand. Bring the dumbbells up to your chest, and then out to the sides of your head so that your elbows are at a 90-degree angle and your palms are facing forward.

Brace your core and push your right fist up towards the ceiling, locking out your elbows at the top; keep your left elbow steady, held at an angle. Slowly bring your right fist back to a 90-degree angle. Repeat movement with left side.

Tips:

To engage your core, keep your back straight and think about drawing your belly button towards your spine without sucking in your gut.

Try not to let your “resting” arm, the one held steady at 90-degrees, move while the other arm is pushing up and lowering down.

Face Pulls

Did you know that your shoulder is made up of more than one muscle? Did you know that for strong, beautiful shoulders you should work all parts of the shoulder complex? The next two exercises will help you to do just that.

I started doing face pulls when we lived in Hawaii. Body building and physique competitions are popular in Hawaii and going to the only gym on our side of the island allowed us to learn a lot. What’s great about face pulls is that they help you to both gain strength and structure (aka tone).

How to:

Set the cable pulley about a foot above eye level with the rope attachment connected.

Grasp the rope, one side in each hand. Take a step backwards so that your arms are straight. Stagger your stance and brace your core.

Pull the rope towards you, with your hands moving past your jaw line. Pause before slowly returning to your start position.

Tips:

Don’t let your ego overstep it’s bounds. Smooth, controlled reps are more important here than big weights. I like to shoot for a weight that has me almost to exhaustion at rep 15-20.

Keep your shoulders down and back. If you feel yourself shrugging, lower the weight.

Dumbbell Side Laterals

There’s nothing complicated about shoulder raises, but they require concentration to be done right. Don’t let the simplicity of the movement fool you – side laterals are hard, even with light weights. I’ve been doing side laterals since I started lifting weights and I still never use dumbbells heavier than the 15-pounder.

How to:

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, a dumbbell in each hand by your thighs. Brace your core then lift dumbbells on either side, elbows slightly bent, until your arms are parallel to the ground.

Slowly and in a controlled manner, lower the dumbbells back to your sides.

Tips:

Remember, this is a shoulder exercise, not a total body exercise. If you need to use the momentum of your body to get the dumbbells up, or you find yourself shrugging to start the movement, swap for lighter dumbbells.

Stand tall with your shoulders down and back.

Push-ups

Do you have a love/hate relationship with push-ups? Join the club. I wrote an entire article about why you should learn to do real push ups (you can read it here). Like almost anything else, push-ups take practice to get better at. Push-ups are wonderful because a) they don’t require equipment and b) it’s a total upper body exercise.

If you’re new to push-ups, don’t get nervous! This is an exercise that it totally scalable to what you can do right now. If a text-book push-up is too much right now, place your hands on a bench so that your body is at an incline. This takes some of the weight off of your upper body, but still lets your practice the proper movement.

How to:

Start in a straight arm plank position, with your hands about shoulder-width apart and your core braced. Slowly lower chest close to the floor, pause and push back up for one rep.

Tips:

To engage your core, keep your back straight and think about drawing your belly button towards your spine without sucking in your gut.

To hone in on your triceps, bring your hands closer together.

Bench Dips

Dips are another compound, upper body movement. The primary muscle worked are your triceps, but to do a dip, your body activates your shoulders and chest muscles too. All you need is a stable, flat surface.

How to:

Sit on the edge of the bench you’re using. Place your hands on either side of your butt, fingers lightly gripping the edge of the bench. Walk your feet forward until your butt comes off the bench and you have room to lower your hips in front of it.

Bend your elbows and lower your hips, pause and then straighten your elbows to return to the start position.

Tips:

Use your legs only as balance. As you get stronger, walk your feet out further from the bench so that you are pushing more weight. Eventually, work your way up to elevating your feet as well.

Keep your hips as close to the bench as possible so that you don’t put undue stress on your shoulders.

Cable Tricep Pushdowns

I love using the cable machine to work arms. Unlike when using dumbbells, a cable machine keeps the tension on your muscles through the entire movement. More time under tension = greater workout.

How to:

Attach a rope handle to the cable pulley and move to the top of the pulley station. Stand about a foot from the cable and grasp rope with both hands, palms facing in.

Keeping your elbows tucked close to your ribs, push down on the rope handle and extended your arms until elbows are straight. Slowly return to your start position in a controlled manner.

Tips:

Keeping your elbows locked into place next to your body helps to target your triceps specifically. Think about only using your triceps to perform the movement, leaving momentum out of it.

Dual Cable Curls

Curls are a basic exercise that almost everyone has done at one time or another. Want to work your biceps? Curl. I like cable curls specifically because again, the cable machine ensures that your muscles are under constant tension, even at the start position.

How to:

Attach a single handle to each cable pulley and lower the pulley to the floor. Stand between the pulleys, equi-distant from each side. The pulleys should be at roughly a 45-degree angle from your body.

Grasp the handles in each hand, palms facing forward. Lock your elbows in to your sides.

Stagger your stance for support. Keeping your elbows tight to your sides, slowly bring the handles forward and up towards your armpits. Pause and then return to your start position.

Tips:

Start with light weights. As soon as you feel your form breaking and momentum kicking in, take a rest.

Arm Day Workout

Here’s how to put these exercises to work.

Warm-up: 5 minutes on the rowing machine

Mobility work: focus specifically on shoulders and chest

3 x 12 Standing Dumbbell Shoulder Press

3 x 12 Push-ups

3 x 10-15 Bench Dips

Giant:

3 x 12 Dumbbell Side Laterals

3 x 12 Dual Cable Curls

3 x 12 Tricep Cable Pushdowns

Finisher:

2 x 20 Cable Face Pulls

Stretch