So much attention gets placed on how to develop the booty or get thick thighs or a taut waist, that women’s upper limbs can get lost in the shuffle. That’s not a good thing, because well developed arms are not only functional in day to day life, but can also be quite sexy when the muscle it toned and shapely.
Too many women overlook arm development, exercises, or producing a proper workout routine for this area of the body, and their shoulders, biceps, and triceps lag behind an awesome lower physique. In this post, I want to share a full arm workout, that I have used to get awesome results on my own arms.
How Can Women Get Toned Arms?
Arming Yourself
So, while I am a man, the workout I am going to share with you will work quite well for a female. My arms are probably the best developed aspect of my body from years of lifting.
Why is that? Well, years ago I sustained an injury in my lower back and in my shoulder, which limited the amount of weights that I could lift using those body parts.
Other guys got to focus on putting on a ton of muscle mass, I had to focus on developing the most size I could within my new physical limitations, but making my gains look aesthetic as hell.
The arms were a natural testing ground. I could still lift heavier weight in certain exercises, but the shoulder injury prevented me from being able to do others effectively. I figured, if my arms aren’t going to be utterly massive, they are going to look great.
I eventually developed my arm day into a circuit, not only to save time, but to really make my muscles work and grow to their potential. Below is that arm workout routine.
My Arm Development Circuit
I include exercises for the shoulders, biceps, and triceps. However, this circuit also can hit the back and traps…so it isn’t strictly arms that are getting worked; but they are getting the most of it.
I do 4-5 rounds of this workout and then go hit the isolate the tricep muscles with an additional exercise, doing 5-6 sets. The triceps are the bigger muscle group and are imperative to getting amazing looking arms.
I start the first round with light weights to warm up and then increase the weights used until the 4-5 rounds which is the heavy effort. I’ll put the weights I use, to give you an idea of the progression for each set, but adjust that number to your own ability level.
I go from one exercise right into the other with little to no rest. I will take 2-4 minutes in between each round. Obviously, less rest raises the difficulty.
Look up these exercises on YouTube to get the idea of proper form.
1st exercise: Dumbbell Lateral Raises (20lbs to 25 to 30)
2nd: Bent-over Lateral Flys (same as above) This works the back but also back of shoulders.
3rd: Dumbbell hammer curls (35lbs to 40 to 45)
4th: Shrugs (same as hammer curls)
5th: Front Raises with a barbell (3o to 40 lbs)
6th: Barbell Curls (5o to 60 to sometimes 70 lbs)
Separate exercise: Tricep Pushdowns with either a rope or bar, using negative reps (explained below) (I start with 45 lbs and move it up to 65 gradually).
That’s the workout. It is actually quite exhausting because you’re doing 24-30 sets in the circuit and then following that up with 5-6 of the tricep pushdown.
On the tricep push downs, I use negative reps. Meaning, I push the rope or bar down at regular speed, but on the way up I take 3 seconds to get it back up to around my chest before pushing it back down. That 3 seconds on the way up really makes the muscle work and can get great development from utilizing this.
Also, you can substitute out an exercise like bent over lateral raises for another tricep exercise with dumbells, such as kickbacks. The reason I don’t do that myself, if because my bad should won’t allow me to do those types of tricep exercises.
That’s all I’ve done for the past three years for my arms. These muscle groups also assist in other exercises that I do, but these are the direct hits.
If you want to change up the exercises, for the second workout of the week, do so. I do this 2 times per week. It can be a good idea to throw in different exercises and work loads to keep the body guessing.