Your 5-Minute Routine For Killer, Ageless Arms
These ridiculously effective arm exercises will help you sculpt stronger, leaner arms in less time than it takes to drive to the gym. All you need are a pair of dumbbells and—because these exercises target multiple muscles at once—only 5 quick minutes. Do this routine every other day for the next few weeks, and you’ll be thinking, “Cardigan? Please. Do you see these arms?!”
Try it: Do each exercise for 1 minute, performing as many repetitions as you can with good form. The description of each exercise is below; you can watch the full routine in the video above.
1. Bottom Half Of Super Sculpting Series
Targets: Front, side, and backs of shoulders
Hold a set of dumbbells in your hands with your arms by your sides, standing erect. Raise your arms straight in front of you to lift the weights to shoulder height. Pull your shoulders back and bend your elbows to 90-degrees. Reverse these steps to lower the dumbbells back to starting position.
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2. Bicep Curl with a Pulse
Targets: Biceps
Stand upright with your core engaged and arms by your sides. Hold a dumbbell in each hand, parallel to your body (hammer curl position). Think about “gluing” your elbows to your ribcage. Next, curl the weights halfway to your chest. Once you reach the “halfway” point, lower the weights just 1 inch. Then, complete the full curl, bringing the head of the dumbbells to your shoulder. Lower the dumbbells to starting position. That’s 1 rep. (The teeny 1-inch drop adds more time under tension for the biceps, and intensifies a standard bicep curl— that means more ammo for the “guns!”)
3. Top Half Of Super Sculpting Series
Targets: Front, side, and backs of shoulders
Stand with elbows at shoulder height and bent to 90 degrees, forearms parallel to the floor with 1 weight in each hand and palms facing down. Without moving your elbows, raise forearms perpendicular to the floor, palms now facing forward. Next, press the weights overhead, extending arms. Slowly reverse the move. That’s 1 rep.
4. Triceps Kick Back to Reverse Fly
Targets: Triceps and backs of shoulders
From standing, bend knees slightly and hinge forward at hips, arms extended by your sides with 1 dumbbell in each hand. Pull weights toward your ribcage, and then, keeping elbows close to sides, extend arms and squeeze through your triceps. Bend the elbows and lower the weights back to start. Next, raise weights out to sides at shoulder height, maintaining a slight bend elbows. Slowly lower weights back to start. That’s 1 rep.
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5. Full Range Of Super Sculpting Series
Targets: Front, side, and backs of shoulders
This exercise merges Move #1 and #3. It should follow this sequence: Hold a set of dumbbells in your hands with your arms by your sides, standing erect. Raise your arms straight in front of you to lift the weights to shoulder height. Pull your shoulders back and bend your elbows to 90-degrees, forearms parallel to the floor with palms facing down. Next, press the weights overhead, extending arms. Slowly reverse the move. That’s 1 rep.