Building your arms strength is an essential part of any comprehensive workout routine. A variety of bodyweight exercises can help build and tone your arms. This article explains which muscles to focus on to build strong arms. It also teaches you the best ten exercises for your arms that are weightless and build up your whole arm muscles.
I. MAJOR ARM MUSCLE GROUP
They are the complete attachment that hangs out from the shoulder joint. It comprises both fore and upper arms. The workout routines involving the upper arm could include muscles of the triceps and biceps, as well as the deltoids.
1.1. BICEPS BRACHIALIS AND BRACHIORADIALIS
Biceps: The two-headed muscle, also known as the biceps, lies on the top of your arms. The two heads are composed of distinct muscle bellies from different locations. It is important to include short and long-head exercises in your training program to build strength in your arm.
Brachialis: located below the biceps on the upper arms. It acts as the main arm flexor. You should strengthen your biceps in order to become stronger and grow. For stronger and larger arms, brachialis exercises can assist you.
Brachioradialis: located over the elbow. It is an upper arm rather than a forearm muscle, and strengthening is essential if you wish to have a well-defined arm.
1.2. TRICEPS
A triceps is a tri-headed muscle group located in the back of the arm. There are three kinds of heads for muscles that are long, medial, and lateral heads. Similar to the biceps, the three muscles are derived from different locations and connect as they travel along your arm.
1.3. DELTOIDS SHOULDER MUSCLES
The “shoulder” muscles comprise the deltoids, a set of three muscles. The three muscles are situated in the shoulder joint. They enable your arm to rotate in all directions. Shoulder joints are like a ball within a socket joint.
The three heads touch through the muscle of the arm.
- Anterior Deltoid: the main muscle that regulates shoulder flexion and raises your arms forward of you.
- The posterior deltoid is the main reason behind your shoulder extension and for returning your arms to your body.
- Lateral Deltoid: principally controls shoulder abduction and lifting your arms towards the side.
II. BENEFITS OF BODYWEIGHT EXERCISES
There are many benefits from these workout routines
_ Low cost – Since there’s no equipment required there is no need to spend money on the gym or for weights.
_ Efficient – With a bodyweight workout routine, you can switch from one task to another with ease and allow the heart to stay at its elevated rate. This fact lets your body remain in a high-calorie burning state.
_ Flexible: suit all levels of fitnessIt is a fitness level-specific program that can be customized for all levels of fitness. This workout routine typically have variations to suit your fitness levels.
_ Work the entire body: A lot of bodyweight workouts are categorized as “compound movements,” which means that they involve multiple joints and engage multiple muscle groups at a given time. Compounded exercises build the essential strength required for daily pulling, pushing, and lifting.
_ Creates stability and flexibility
_ Arm strength training and cardio training
III. 10 TOP BODYWEIGHT ARM EXERCISES
Try a few weight-based exercises to your arm strength routine to build up tons of muscles and strength. You can add dumbbells or a resistance band if you would like to make them more challenging.
3.1 LATERAL PLANK WALK
You can add a bit of cardio to your upper body workout by doing this variation of the plank. To perform it, ensure that you have space to move around – at minimum, a couple of feet to each side. If you cannot travel a long distance in either direction, you can go in a circular motion instead.
How to do:
- Get into a standard push-up position.
- Instead of lifting yourself using your chest muscles, the lateral plank tests your upper and core muscles, upper arms, and stabilizer muscles, moving you in a sideways direction.
- Take both your legs and arm to the side and continue with the left leg and arm. You will end up in the same spot, just a few feet to the left.
- Keep going in that direction, or reverse the direction by moving your left leg and arm back and forth.
3.2 PUSH-UPS
This popular bodyweight arm exercise will also strengthen the chest muscles. There are enough variations available to achieve a variety of objectives. For example, a wider hand position is focused on the pecs, whereas narrow positions let the triceps do the work.
How to do:
- Kneel before leaning forward until you have both palms on the ground.
- Be sure that your hands are directly under your elbows and that your arms are straight beneath your forearms instead of being pushed forward.
- Stretch your feet out and help support your body weight using your toes.
- Maintain a straight line across the body.
- Lower your load by bent elbows.
- Push through your palms to complete one push-up.
3.3. FOREARM PLANK
How to do:
- Start from a forearm plank to get into the position.
- Go for a kneeling position before bending your elbows at 90 degrees.
- Move forward till your forearms and elbows are on the floor, then stretch your legs to the fullest extent.
- It is best to be in an exercise similar to the push-up posture.
- Maintain your straight-back line by stretching the core muscle.
- Keep the position to perform an isometric exercise.
If you wish to push it further, ensure your palms are facing upward to make balance more challenging.
3.4 REVERSE PLANK
This easy bodyweight exercise can enhance your arms strength and shoulders. It also target muscles in your lower body, such as your hamstrings, glutes, lower back, and hip flexors. It is a reversed version of the forearm forceps.
How to do:
- Place your feet on the floor and stretch your legs straight toward the front.
- Place your palms on the floor behind you and towards each other.
- Put both soles of your feet on the floor.
- Push through your palms to raise your body.
- Keep an even direction from the neck to your torso, and keep the most upright position.
- You should feel the stretch across your entire body.
If you need help learning the reverse plank, attempt the regular plank for a couple of weeks to build the required strength.
3.5 TRICEP DIPS
Choose a chair or elevated platform that will hold your weight for these dips for the tricep. Your lats, pecs, anterior deltoids and rhomboids, and stabilizers such as the traps on the lower and biceps will benefit from this workout for your arms.
How to do:
- Sit on the floor or an elevated platform
- Hold the sides to the outside of your legs using both hands.
- Move your fingers towards your feet, keeping your feet about hip-width apart.
- Push your body forward with your hands till your torso and butt are at the edge of the chair.
- Reduce your body so that your elbows are at a 90-degree angle. If they don’t go this far, anything that is 45deg angles is fine.
- Reinforce yourself to your starting point for one rep.
3.6 REAR DELTOID RAISE
This fitness exercise can be done without weights or utilize dumbbells or resistance bands to make the exercise more difficult.
- Keep your feet about shoulder-width apart.
- Pivot your hips until your torso becomes equal to the floor.
- Make your elbows bend slightly
- Squeeze your shoulder blades while you extend your arms toward the sides.
- Slowly lower them to the original position.
- Be sure to keep your neck and trap tight enough in this exercise.
3.7 CHIN-UPS/PULL-UPS
The two bodyweight exercises are excellent for general strength and well-being. The chin-up exercise is generally considered simpler than the pull-up. Choose a horizontal bar or buy a pull-up bar to use in the home. If neither option is feasible, look for a low table and perform exercises using body weights instead.
How to do:
- Get underneath the horizontal bar
- Grasp it using an overhand grip to perform a pull-up or an underneath grip to do an incline.
- Bring your feet upwards until you’re in a hanging position
- Lower the bar towards the ground, allowing you to raise the body until your head is clear of the bar.
3.8 BODYWEIGHT ROWS
For those who don’t own a horizontal bar to perform pull-ups or chin-ups, you can try this reverse variation to replicate the increase in strength of the upper body.
How to do:
- Slide under a low horizontal bar or an erect table
- Grasp the edge using both hands.
- Your body should be lifted so that only your heels are in contact with the flooring.
- Lift your body towards the bar or table until your chest touches
- Lower yourself back to your starting point.
The lower your bar is, the more difficult the bodyweight row.
3.9 INCHWORM WITH SHOULDER TAPS
The gradual progress of this arm exercise will increase the strength in your chest, upper back, and arms, as well as your lower back and abdominal muscles. The shoulder tap is designed to put your balancing muscles in high gear, and you can also work on standing with your hips straight.
How to do:
- Begin in a standing posture,
- Bend at your waist
- Place both hands on the floor in front of you.
- Begin walking forward, one hand at a stretch, until you’re in the high plank position.
- Engage your core to help stabilize your hips as you lift your left arm to meet your right shoulder.
- Press your left shoulder with your right hand.
- Return to your starting point and complete one rep.
3.10 SIDE PLANKS – GREAT BODYWEIGHT ARM EXERCISE
How to do:
- Be in a push-up position
- Roll to the side and hold the weight of your body with your forearm. The other arm is suspended.
- It is possible to raise this arm upwards for stability but the most important benefit of a side plank is the isometric pause and the stress on the stabilizer and core muscles.
- Keep a straight line through your torso.
- After completing one side, move into a side plank on your other side and begin the plank as soon as possible.
A side plank posture for more than a minute is enough to challenge many people. However, with the side planks, you can gradually increase your time to keep strengthening your muscles.The shorter time between sets can give you a more intense upper body and core muscles a more intense exercise.
IV. ADVICE FOR EFFICIENT BODYWEIGHT EXERCISES
To include these bodyweight workout as part of a program for building your arm strength, take note of the following suggestions:
- Do the workout twice weekly on days when you are not working out.
- Begin by doing three sets of 10 reps for the simplest exercise, like arm circles.
- Do three sets of one or two exercises that are moderately difficult and perform the exercises until failure for each set or stopping after 20 repetitions.
- Do three sets of the toughest exercises on the list that you can complete for at least five repetitions.
- Complete these sets until failure. Bodyweight exercise is not challenging enough if you can complete it more than 20 times.
V. CONCLUSION
Strengthening your arms is an essential part of your fitness regimen. The exercises listed in this article provide a great starting point and progression point for your arm workout without equipment. If you’re looking to strengthen your arms but don’t have the equipment, there are many excellent exercises that can get you going.
