The 30 best arm exercises

To help you diversify your arm workout, we would like to introduce you to the 30 best arm exercises in the following article.

Exercise 1 - Hammer curls
Grab two dumbbells like a hammer and position your arms stretched next to your body in the starting position. Now make sure your elbows are close to your body while simultaneously lifting the dumbbells upward. Make sure that you eliminate the momentum by consciously placing the upper arms, because this is the only way to optimally train the brachialis as well as the biceps.

Exercise 2 - Dips
Unless you have a dip stand available, you can easily do dips between two exercise benches. Place your legs on one bench while supporting yourself on the other bench with your hands behind your back. From this position, lower your upper body until your arms are parallel to the floor. Then slowly push yourself back up. In order not to risk shoulder injuries, you should in no case go lower.

Exercise 3 - Close Grip Curls
Close grip curls are basically nothing more than another variation of the classic biceps curl. Grip the barbell slightly less than shoulder width, stabilize your upper arms and then perform a slow clean curl.

Exercise 4 - Tight pull-ups
To perform close pull-ups, grip the pull-up bar a little closer than shoulder-width in an underhand grip. While consciously tightening your abdominal muscles to stabilize your body, slowly pull yourself up the bar until your chin rises above it. In any case, avoid swinging to get your chin over the bar by the skin of your teeth. Many an athlete has suffered serious jaw injuries in the course of such an attempt.

Exercise 5 - Triceps press with the suspension trainer
Attach the suspension trainer to a hook on the ceiling or to a pull-up bar so that the handle loops are at about the height of your diaphragm. Now grasp the loops with outstretched arms in an overhand grip, stand on your toes and slowly tilt your body forward. Keeping your upper arms at a stable 90-degree angle if possible, lower your body until your hands are behind your head. Now push yourself back up to the starting position.

Exercise 6 - Diamond pushups
Get into the push-up position, but place your hands closer together so that they almost touch. Now form a triangle with the thumbs and index fingers of both hands that looks like a diamond. Since your stability is significantly reduced due to the much closer arm position compared to classic push-ups, you should pay particular attention to consciously tense your core muscles during the execution.

Exercise 7 - Triceps press with dumbbells
Take two dumbbells and lie with your back flat on a bench. Extend your arms upward and make sure the dumbbells are exactly parallel to each other. Position your arms slightly behind your head and slowly bend your forearms until there is a 90-degree angle between your upper and lower arms. Now return to the starting position. Be careful not to hyperextend your elbows at the apex of the movement.

Exercise 8 - Poundstone curls
Poundstone curls are all about keeping your upper arms locked to the side of your torso throughout the entire movement. Apart from this small modification, the exercise works like the classic biceps curl.

Exercise 9 - Inverted Rowing with the Suspension Trainer
Attach the suspension trainer to a ceiling hook or sturdy bar and adjust the height of the handle loops so that your upper body is still hovering just above the floor when you hold onto it with your arms extended. Grasp the hand loops in an underhand grip, tense your core muscles and pull yourself up from this position as if you were going to row. At the apex, hold the tension for two to three seconds and then slowly release.

Exercise 10 - Biceps curls with the suspension trainer
With the suspension trainer you can also easily train your biceps. All you have to do is attach the handle loops of the trainer at about the height of your diaphragm and grasp them in an underhand grip. Now stabilize your abdominal muscles and pull yourself up using only your biceps. It is especially important that you stand slightly inclined backwards throughout the entire exercise, so that your arms are permanently under load.

Exercise 11 - Tight push-ups
Assume the push-up position, place your slightly less than shoulder-width apart and perform a push-up. At this point, however, you should make sure that your chest is not touching the floor. Stop about five centimeters before to avoid putting too much stress on your elbow and shoulder joints.

Exercise 12 - Cable curls behind the back
Adjust the cable pulley so that the pulley is at the lowest point. Now stand in a slight stride position with your back to the machine and grasp the handle in an underhand grip. Your upper arm should be extended slightly behind your torso in the starting position. From this position, perform one set before repeating with your other arm.

Exercise 13 - Scott curls with the barbell
Before you start the exercise, make sure that the seat and barbell rest are adjusted optimally. The pad of the rack should ideally be at your armpits, while your back is straight and your elbows sit comfortably on the pad. Now grab the barbell at shoulder width and perform a curl. Due to the stable position of your upper arms, deflection is almost impossible.

Exercise 14 - Reverse curls
The reverse curl is simply a variation of the classic biceps curl where you grip the barbell in an overhand grip rather than an underhand grip.

Exercise 15 - Biceps curls with wide grip
As the name suggests, the only difference from the traditional curl is that you grip the bar a little wider than shoulder width.

Exercise 16 - Standing shoulder press
Even though the shoulder press is primarily a shoulder exercise, it's great for building strong triceps. Take a barbell about shoulder width in the upper grip and assume a stable position. Then bring the bar to the starting position of the exercise at the height of your chest. Then press the weight vertically upward and slowly lower it back down. Again, make sure that you do not hyperextend your elbow joints.

Exercise 17 - Modified overlays
This exercise is a combination of pullovers and triceps presses, so you should choose a lighter training weight. To begin, lie flat on a bench and perform a pullover with your arms almost extended. Once your arms have reached maximum verticality, lower the barbell to your chest and slowly press it back up before returning to the starting position with your arms extended.

Exercise 18 - Curls with the barbell
For conventional curls, grip the barbell shoulder-width apart in an overhand grip. However, make sure that your upper body remains stable and that you avoid gaining momentum.

Exercise 19 - Side curls with exercise bands
Take two exercise bands and attach them to two opposite points at shoulder height. Grasp the end of the bands and raise your arms to create a 90-degree angle between them and your torso. From this stretched position, start curling, holding the maximum contraction for two to three seconds.

Exercise 20 - Reverse triceps press
In the reverse triceps press, you don't start with extended arms, but with bent arms. Because of the physical inertia significantly more force acts on your elbows, it is recommended to choose a slightly lower training weight, with which you can do twelve repetitions in any case.

Exercise 21 - Tight bench press
Lie flat on the bench and grip the bar much closer than shoulder width. Your index fingers should be at the level of the transition between the ribbed and smooth sections of the bar. However, before you start performing the exercise, make sure that you always maintain a 45-degree angle between your upper arms and your torso.

Exercise 22 - Triceps press with barbell
The triceps press with the barbell works in exactly the same way as the triceps press with dumbbells. However, since you cannot change your grip width during the exercise, it is necessary to find an adequate grip width in advance.

Exercise 23 - Face Pulls
Attach the piece of rope to the cable pulley and adjust it so that the pulley is at the same height as your head. Now pull the cable with both arms up to your forehead and slowly let it down again.

Exercise 24 - Kickbacks
Take two dumbbells, bend your knees slightly and bend your upper body slightly forward. Now fix your arms bent at a 45-degree angle to your upper body and bring the dumbbells back until your arms are stretched. Then return to the starting position.

Exercise 25 - Tate Press
Grab two dumbbells and stretch your arms straight up. Now rotate your elbows outward and lower your forearms to your chest so that they form a big L. Finally, push the weight back up. Finally, press the weight back up.

Exercise 26 - Upright rowing
For upright rowing, grasp the barbell shoulder-width apart in an overhand grip and pull it up to the level of your chin. Also in this exercise you should not work with momentum because of the not inconsiderable risk of injury.

Exercise 27 - Lateral lift with training bands
Stand on one end of each exercise band. Now grab the opposite ends of the bands with your hands and lift your arms until there is a 90-degree angle between your upper arms and torso.

Exercise 28 - Hindu push-up
In the Hindu push-up, you first start in the classic push-up position, shifting your weight back and stretching your butt into the air. Then you slide forward in a gliding motion and lift your upper body upward.

Exercise 29 - Cleans with dumbbells
Cleans with dumbbells are performed in a seated position. Accordingly, you position yourself in a stable position on a bench and lean slightly forward. Now you bring the dumbbells, which you hold in the upper grip with outstretched arms next to your body, explosively upward by rotation and then return to the starting position.

Exercise 30 - Flying standing
To perform flying standing you need only two dumbbells. In principle, the exercise is very similar to the classic lateral raise. The only difference is that you do not use the full range of motion.